95 Ways on How to Make Money With Minimal Effort
Under two hours a week, often far less. Set it up once and it mostly runs itself, or you dip in only when you feel like it. Don't expect a real income, but the time cost is close to zero.
How to Make Money With Minimal Effort: Quick Answer
The short answer: 95 real ways on this site fit here, spread across 6 categories. Index fund investing, Fundrise, and Public rank highest for earning potential in this group.
Of those, 90 cost nothing to start, and 94 need no prior experience at all.
95 ways, by category
Drive, deliver, or shop for other people through an app. Pay is per job or per hour, hours are flexible, and most only need a phone and (for driving gigs) a car and a clean background check. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Deliver restaurant orders by car, bike, or scooter depending on your city, on the same driver account as Uber. A good option if you already drive rideshare and want to fill quiet hours.
Steadier, more traditional work you do entirely from home, from customer support to ongoing virtual assistant contracts. Usually a real application process, not an instant sign-up. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Get paid by the minute to chat with people practicing English. No teaching degree required, just fluent conversational English and a webcam.
Turn things already sitting in your house, closet, or garage into cash. The fastest category here for same-day money, since you're selling something you already have. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Sell furniture, electronics, and bulky items to local buyers for cash, or ship smaller items nationwide. Local pickup means no fees and same-day cash, at the cost of meeting strangers to hand things over.
List furniture, electronics, or anything else lying around your house for local pickup. No shipping, no fees, and cash can land the same day you post.
Get an instant quote for old phones, tech, CDs, DVDs, and games in the UK, post them free, and get paid same-day on arrival. Quotes are sometimes downgraded on inspection if condition isn't exactly as described, so expect the final payout to occasionally undercut the initial quote.
Free classifieds marketplace to sell used goods for cash locally in India, with a very large, well-reviewed user base. No fees for basic listings; verify buyers yourself and use safe in-person meeting practices, since scam risk sits with users, not the platform.
South Africa's oldest online marketplace and auction site (rebranded from Bidorbuy in 2023): list and sell items fixed-price or auction, free to list, with a success fee only on sale, plus integrated payment and courier logistics.
The dominant classifieds and resale marketplace across Egypt and the UAE (Egypt's OLX rebranded to Dubizzle); free basic listings, with a paid "featured ad" upsell that has real complaints about underdelivering, so stick to the free tier.
Free UK classifieds marketplace for selling furniture, tech, cars, and more locally, a long-established UK institution. Verify buyers yourself and watch for the standard classifieds scam risk (fake payment confirmations, phone-harvesting).
Free classifieds marketplace to sell used goods and vehicles in Indonesia, operating since 2005. The core classifieds product is confirmed active; OLX Group's automotive arm has seen restructuring elsewhere, so stick to straightforward resale.
Free classifieds marketplace to sell used goods and vehicles locally in Pakistan. The free peer-to-peer listing works well; OLX's paid "featured ad" upsell has real complaints about underdelivering, so stick to the free tier.
Free classifieds marketplace for selling used goods across India, a long-operating, actively-filed Indian company. Same buyer-verification caution as any classifieds site applies.
New Zealand's dominant marketplace and auction site; the casual-seller Success Fee was removed in March 2026, though a payment transaction fee of about 2.19 percent still applies plus optional paid listing upgrades.
Spain's dominant peer-to-peer resale marketplace; free to list with no seller commission on cash-in-hand deals. Using the built-in shipping/escrow service (Envios) deducts a purchase-protection fee from the sale price.
Sweden's dominant classifieds and resale marketplace (30 years operating), free to list with no platform fee on private sales. One-off decluttering income, not recurring.
Free peer-to-peer resale marketplace for decluttering or reselling in Malaysia, no listing fees. Income is capped by what you own or can source to resell.
Singapore-founded resale marketplace; personal sellers list free with no selling fee (only Professional accounts above a revenue threshold pay a capped 2.5% fee). Income is capped by what you own to sell.
Vietnam's largest local classifieds and resale marketplace for electronics, motorbikes, and furniture; free to list, with optional paid boosted listings. This is a resale/flipping income model, not a platform that pays you directly, and higher-value categories (motorbikes, real estate) carry more seller-legitimacy risk.
Korea's dominant local resale and classifieds app (about 22 million users), free to list with no commission. A separate informal local-gig section connects users to short local jobs like dog walking or tutoring.
Ireland's largest classifieds marketplace for cars, property, and general goods. Most non-lifestyle categories charge a real listing fee, from around 1 to 5 euros and higher for cars, so it isn't free money.
Saudi Arabia's dominant classifieds and resale marketplace since 2007, one of the most-visited sites in the Kingdom, free to list. Regular business-volume reselling may need a commercial registration.
Kenya's largest free classifieds marketplace (part of the OLX Group network) for reselling goods; posting and browsing are free, paid "boost" listings are an optional upsell, not required to sell. Income depends entirely on what you have to sell, not a guaranteed source.
Germany's dominant local classifieds marketplace (formerly eBay Kleinanzeigen); free to list, no commission on private sales. Visibility boosts are optional paid upsells, not required to sell.
France's dominant classifieds marketplace for selling personal items or running a small buy-low-resell business; free to list. Above certain revenue thresholds French tax law requires registering as a professional.
The Netherlands' dominant classifieds marketplace, free to list most items. A resale/declutter play, or a recognized micro-business if run as a flipping operation.
Brazil's largest peer-to-peer classifieds app for selling used goods; free to list. Use OLX's protected-payment flow for shipped items to reduce peer-to-peer scam risk, a real and documented pattern on any classifieds site.
Turkey's largest and most established classifieds site, decades of operating history. Free listings are capped with limited visibility; use the built-in buyer protection since sellers without it risk fraud pre-shipment.
Italy's largest classifieds site for selling used goods and freelance gigs locally; free to post. Buyer protection is weak since it's peer-to-peer, so arrange safe meetups and payment yourself.
Morocco's dominant classifieds marketplace (Schibsted-backed), free to post as an individual. Money comes from selling your own items to local buyers, negotiated and paid off-platform.
Hong Kong's number one secondhand marketplace, no listing fee for basic selling. The "sell to us" instant-cash option lowballs versus a private sale.
Peer-to-peer resale marketplace for secondhand or new goods in the Philippines, free to list with no cut on basic sales. Review sentiment is weak, largely due to scam buyers and slow customer service, not the platform failing to pay sellers, so expect to deal with buyer-side friction.
Sri Lanka's largest classifieds marketplace; free to list, with optional paid promotion upsells. Buyer-side scam risk is a known classifieds hazard users must self-manage.
Thailand's largest classifieds and resale marketplace, free to list. Selling your own used goods isn't defined as employment under Thai law, so unlike gig-driving apps this is open to foreign residents without a work permit.
Sell used books, media, and clothing directly to Momox for an instant quote and free shipping. Payouts are on the low side and items in worse condition than described get repriced down after inspection.
Malaysia's oldest major classifieds marketplace, operating since 2007, for reselling personal items. Never share a TAC or OTP code with a buyer, a real and documented phishing pattern on this platform.
Portugal's classifieds marketplace, free to list and sell with no seller commission; payment and delivery are arranged directly between buyer and seller off-platform, so there's no built-in buyer protection.
Sweden's auction-style marketplace, founded 1999; sell via auction or fixed price. Tradera takes a commission on sold items, so verify current fee tiers before listing high-value items.
Chile's dominant classifieds marketplace, free for buyers and sellers; income is peer-to-peer resale, not a platform payout.
Dublin-based general classifieds marketplace, an alternative to DoneDeal, mostly free listings. Smaller and less support-responsive than DoneDeal.
Portugal-specific classifieds marketplace (launched 2008), free to post with no commission on sales. Same off-platform payment caveat as any classifieds site.
Nepal's number one classifieds marketplace, free to list. This is resale/flipping income, not a job — depends entirely on your own buying and reselling activity.
Free classifieds marketplace in Ghana; the free tier genuinely works, though the platform actively upsells paid visibility boosts. Some complaints about ads being throttled without a paid upgrade.
Classifieds and resale marketplace in Ethiopia, free to list. Real complaints exist about scam and fake listings, so use standard marketplace-safety practices, don't prepay and meet in person.
Tanzania's classifieds and resale marketplace, free to list. A listings tool, not an earner in itself, so frame it as selling locally, not getting paid by the platform.
Classifieds and resale marketplace in Uganda, free for basic selling with optional paid boosts. Real income depends on your own sourcing and negotiating skill, not guaranteed.
Turkey's major consignment resale app for used clothing, operated under the Trendyol corporate umbrella. Commission is high, roughly a third of the sale price, with additional buyer-side fees.
Order a free Clean Out Kit, fill it with clothes, and ship it back. ThredUp sells the items and pays you a cut, no listing or shipping labels on your end.
Get an instant price quote for old phones, tech, and media, ship it for free, and get paid the next business day. Lower payout than selling yourself, but zero hassle.
Spain-based consignment resale for secondhand branded clothing: send a free pickup bag and Percentil inspects, lists, and sells for you. Real catch: seller payout can be as low as 10 to 16 percent of the sale price, and only about 40 to 45 percent of submitted items are accepted.
Small paid tasks like surveys, data labeling, and website testing. Genuinely low pay per hour, but zero barrier to entry and cash out fast, so they're honest pocket-money options rather than an income. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Bite-size online tasks like short writing, data entry, and categorization, done whenever you have a few minutes. Genuinely small pay per task, but zero barrier to entry and you cash out through PayPal.
Paid survey panel run by Ipsos, one of the world's largest market-research firms, active in both the UK and Canada. Standard surveys pay small amounts with occasional higher-paid studies; recurring complaints cite app errors and unresponsive support if your account gets blocked.
Paid research interviews and studies, often $50-150 an hour, aimed at people with specific professional backgrounds or niche expertise rather than the general public.
UK-founded, publicly listed opinion-research panel; earn points redeemable for cash or gift cards for completing surveys. Per-survey pay is low and the £50 payout threshold is a genuine slow burn, but the public listing is an unusually strong trust signal for a survey site.
Toronto-based Canadian rewards app (real Dragons' Den investment) combining short surveys and receipt uploads for cash, with a $20 minimum cash-out. Earnings are modest and reaching the cash-out threshold can be slow.
Toronto-founded receipt-scanning cashback app: photograph grocery receipts for per-item rebates on featured offers, paid by cheque once you hit a $20 balance. Some long-time users report account suspensions with forfeited balances at the platform's discretion, so don't let a balance sit unused.
UK-based survey panel (Lightspeed Research) paying points redeemable for cash or vouchers. Reputation signals are genuinely mixed across sources, and several independent reviewers report account suspensions specifically at the withdrawal stage, so treat payout as not guaranteed.
Long-running Canadian household purchase-tracking panel: scan your grocery barcodes or receipts and redeem points for gift cards or merchandise, not primarily cash. Rewards build slowly, so treat this as pocket-money at best.
Dutch online survey panel running since the late 1990s, paid as points redeemable from a 10 euro minimum via bank transfer or PayPal. Realistic income is small, roughly 20 to 25 euros a month with daily participation.
One of Japan's major legitimate points-earning apps (operating since 2006, 5M+ members): surveys, shopping cashback, app trials, and sign-up bonuses, cashed out to bank transfer or gift cards. Best rewards require actually opening a credit card or trial subscription, a real commitment, not free money.
Location-based micro-task app in Germany: quick photo, survey, or product-check tasks paying a few euros each, cashed out via PayPal. Per-task pay is small and availability varies by city.
Record yourself talking through your experience using a website or app. Pays notably better per task than most surveys, but tests are limited and competitive to claim.
Academic and market research studies with clearer, better-disclosed pay rates than most survey panels, since researchers are held to ethical pay minimums.
Get paid small amounts for short digital tasks like data labeling and transcription checks. Pay per task is low, but you can start earning within minutes of signing up.
Earn points for surveys, watching videos, and shopping through their links, redeemable for gift cards or cash. Realistically pocket-money, not an income.
Turn a spare room, a car, or unused space into recurring income by renting it out through a platform that handles the booking and payment for you. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Rent out a car you already own to travelers, like Airbnb for vehicles. You need a qualifying car outright (this doesn't include buying one), and insurance plus wear are real costs to weigh against the daily rate.
List a photogenic room, studio, or space for hourly bookings for meetings, shoots, and events. Strong earnings for the right space, but it needs to be genuinely appealing and you coordinate access for each booking.
Rent out an RV or camper you already own when you're not using it. The platform handles insurance and payments, but cleaning, handoff, and the occasional repair are on you.
Rent out your private pool by the hour to locals who book through the app. Close to passive income if you own the right pool, though you'll want to check insurance and local rules before hosting strangers.
Rent out a spare corner of land, a field, or a backyard to campers who book through the platform. If you own suitable outdoor space it's close to passive income, though local rules on hosting campers vary a lot.
Rent out your driveway or parking space in the UK by the hour or day; JustPark has a long operating history and strong backers. Not a regulated financial product, so there's no FSCS-style protection, and you should confirm your own home insurance covers third-party use of the space.
Rent out garage, driveway, or storage space you already own or rent to people nearby who need somewhere to keep a car, RV, or boxes. Only works if you already have the unused space; it won't help you acquire any.
Australian peer-to-peer marketplace for renting out unused parking, storage, or driveway space; free to list. Reported host earnings average roughly $4,000 a year on unused space.
Rent out spare storage space (garage, loft, shed) to people nearby in the UK. Generally well-reviewed, though at least one reported case involved someone renting out space they didn't actually control, so verify identity on both sides.
List a parking spot you already own or lease for drivers to book by the hour or day. A narrow niche that requires already controlling the spot, close to zero effort once the listing is live.
Put idle cash to work over months and years instead of leaving it earning nothing. General information only, not personalized financial advice, and values can go up as well as down. Here's how to make money on a minimal (under 2h/wk) schedule in this category:
Buying a broad market index fund through a standard brokerage account is the classic long-horizon way to grow money you don't need soon. General information only, not advice; returns aren't guaranteed and the value can go down as well as up.
A real estate investment platform (REITs) with a low minimum, giving access to property income without buying or managing a building yourself. Real estate returns aren't guaranteed and funds can be less liquid than stocks.
A commission-free brokerage app for buying stocks, ETFs, bonds, and more, with fractional shares so you can start small. General information only, not advice; investments can lose value and nothing here is guaranteed.
A robo-advisor that builds and manages a diversified portfolio for you based on your goals, for a small annual fee. General information only, not advice; markets go down as well as up and returns are never guaranteed.
Buy fractional shares of individual rental homes for around a hundred dollars and collect a slice of the rent. General information only, not advice; property values and rental income can fall, and shares are hard to sell quickly.
Canadian investing, trading, and chequing app, IIROC-regulated, majority owned by Power Corporation of Canada. General information only, not personalized financial advice; CIPF protects up to $1,000,000 against firm insolvency, not against market losses. General information only, not advice; investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
Canadian discount brokerage operating since 1999, independent of the big banks, with $0-minimum self-directed accounts. General information only, not personalized financial advice; CIPF and supplemental private insurance cover firm failure, not investment losses. General information only, not advice; investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
Commission-free UK/EU investing app, FCA-authorised, with a free Stocks and Shares ISA. General information only, not personalized financial advice; FSCS protects up to £85,000 against firm failure, not against investment losses, which are always possible. Capital is at risk: investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
UK commission-free share-dealing app, FCA-authorised (FRN 783189), with paid tiers unlocking ISA and SIPP access. General information only, not personalized financial advice; FSCS protects against firm failure, not market losses. Capital is at risk: investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
UK DIY ETF investing platform, FCA-authorised, commission-free on self-managed portfolios with a 0.25% fee on the managed tier. General information only, not personalized financial advice; FSCS covers firm failure, not investment performance. Capital is at risk: investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
Refer people to India's largest stockbroker and earn a share of rewards through Zerodha's referral program; terms have changed over time, so check current conditions in-app before relying on a specific payout. General information only, not personalized financial advice, and investments can lose value.
Refer friends to open an account on Groww, a large, regulated Indian investing app, and both sides get a small cash reward after KYC. General information only, not personalized financial advice, and terms can change without notice. General information only, not advice; investments can lose value and returns aren't guaranteed.
UK app combining round-up investing with cash savings, FCA-regulated since 2016. General information only, not personalized financial advice; cash savings are separately protected up to £120,000 via the underlying bank, investments only up to £85,000 for firm failure. Capital is at risk: investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
UK robo-investing platform owned by Aviva, a FTSE 100 insurer, charging a 0.6% management fee plus underlying fund costs. General information only, not personalized financial advice; FSCS protects against firm failure, not market losses. Capital is at risk: investments can fall as well as rise and returns aren't guaranteed.
Rounds up everyday purchases to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change automatically. A low-friction way to start investing small amounts without thinking about it. General information only, not advice; the money is invested, so its value can go down as well as up.
Digital-only Canadian bank (a division of Equitable Bank) offering high-interest savings and chequing accounts. General information only, not personalized financial advice; deposits are CDIC-insured up to $100,000. Trustpilot reviews cite transfer delays as a real friction point. Rates can change at any time and aren't guaranteed.
ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) FSRA-regulated robo-investing app for UAE residents, client assets custodied via a regulated bank. General information only, not personalized financial advice; this is a savings and investing tool, not an income source, and investments can lose value.
Vancouver-founded prepaid Mastercard and savings app with rotating cashback and interest on its paid tier; funds are held in trust at a CDIC member, giving CDIC coverage up to $100,000. General information only, not personalized financial advice; reviews cite mixed customer-support responsiveness. Rates and cashback terms can change at any time and aren't guaranteed.
The Mexican federal government's own retail investment platform (operated by NAFIN), letting any adult with a CURP, RFC, and bank account buy government debt starting at 100 MXN, with no commissions. General information only, not personalized financial advice; this tracks short-term interest rates, not high yield, and is a savings vehicle, not a job. General information only, not advice; yields change with each auction and aren't guaranteed.
US government savings bonds with a rate tied to inflation, bought directly with no broker or fees. Among the lowest-risk options here, with a required one-year minimum hold.
An FDIC-insured online savings account paying meaningfully more interest than a typical bank. Not an income, but the lowest-risk way to make idle cash earn something instead of nothing. Rates change, so compare a few before opening one.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours a week does this actually take?
Minimal (under 2h/wk). 95 ways on this site fall in that range, across 6 categories.
What's the best one to start with?
Index fund investing has the highest earning potential in this group, 65/100. Buying a broad market index fund through a standard brokerage account is the classic long-horizon way to grow money you don't need soon. General information only, not advice; returns aren't guaranteed and the value can go down as well as up.