Finding weird ways to make money is something I’ve been doing since I was a kid. Whether that was buying and reselling fundraiser candy, selling birdhouses I built, or even selling the gold I made in video games.
That was decades ago, and nowadays there are far more side hustles out there, and plenty of them are pretty weird. But the problem with most lists like this is that they’re full of ideas for selling bodily fluids or cuddling with strangers. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of weird but not too weird options to put some extra cash in your pocket.
Table of Contents
What are Weird (But Legal) Ways to Make Money in 2024?
1. Start a Blog
Blogging is my absolute favorite weird way to make money, and believe it or not, you can actually make a good amount of money with a blog (my blogging business did 7-figures of revenue last year alone!). And as a professional blogger, I get a lot of questions about what I do… especially from confused neighbors and older relatives.
Start a blog for less than $3/month
Bluehost is the exact platform this blog was built on, and it’s the perfect place for new bloggers who want a professional-looking blog.
Before I explain more, let me be very clear about something — blogging certainly isn’t a get-rich-quick business model… I don’t think any legit ways are. It takes time to build an audience and monetize your website with ads, affiliate products, online courses, etc.
Once you do get it going… it can get wild! I work from home most of the time, but I can work nearly whenever and wherever I want from my laptop. I know plenty of bloggers who even travel full-time while they run their sites.
Interested in starting a blog? Here’s what to do next:
- Learn the exact steps to start your blog in How to Start a Blog: The Easy Step-by-Step Guide.
- Check out Bluehost — this is the same blog hosting platform I used to start my blog, and you can start for less than $3/mont. Plus, Bluehost with WordPress for free, which is the world’s most popular blogging platform
- Let my team set up your blog with Launch That Blog. This service is free when you sign up for Bluehost through my unique link, and my team will handle the entire installation process, from plugins, themes, training resources, and more.
2. Buy and Deliver Booze
You can get paid to delivering booze, takeout, groceries, and more for DoorDash. Out of the weird ways to make money on this list, this isn’t the weirdest, but it’s still a relatively new side job!
Delivering for DoorDash
DoorDash drivers deliver for local and chain restaurants and convenience stores. Drivers schedule their hours in advance or can hop on the app and work if it’s busy, and one of the weirdest parts about this job is that you can bring a friend while on delivery! Drivers are paid weekly. Learn more in our full DoorDash Driver review.
Make money with DoorDash
DoorDash is the largest and most popular food delivery service in the U.S.
3. Be Opinionated
Online survey sites will legitimately pay you to give your honest opinions and feedback about different products and services. A lot of people think that’s a weird way to make money, but survey sites are paying you for valuable market research data that helps companies improve their offerings and create better marketing campaigns.
You’re not going to make a ton of cash taking online surveys — think $1-$3 per survey — but it’s a super-easy way to put a little extra money in your pocket.
If you’re interested, here are two of the best online survey sites to get started with. Both pay in points that convert to cash via PayPal or direct deposit to your bank account, and sign-up takes 10 minutes or less:
4. Fill Up Your Gas Tank
One of the weirdest ways to make extra money IMO is getting paid to do everyday stuff you’re doing already, like getting gas! And considering how high gas prices are these days, who wouldn’t want to make money filling up their tank?
The Upside app (formerly known as GetUpside) will pay you up to $0.25 back on every gallon of gas you purchase. It’s free to sign-up, and the Upside app works at over 50,000 locations in the U.S.
5. Store Stuff for People
If you have extra space in your house — a garage, closet, attic, garage, carport, or basement — or even an empty storage unit or unused plot of land, a weird way to make extra money is renting out that space to store other people’s stuff.
Okay, maybe not super weird, but it’s definitely unconventional!
Neighbor is like the Airbnb of storage, and you can make a somewhat passive income renting out your space. The amount you make varies based on the type of space and where you live, but there are some ideas of how much extra money you can make with Neighbor:
- Garage $75-$300/month
- Driveway $35-$100/month
- Parking lot $35-$200/month
- Basement $25-$800/month
- Bedroom $15-$100/month
- Shed $40-$75/month
- Warehouse $100-$350/month
- Closet $15-$90/month
- Attic $70-$200/month
- Street parking $25-$200/month
- Unpaved $50-$130/month
- Carport $30-$190/month
6. Share Your Car
If you’re looking for more somewhat passive weird ways to make money, you might want to check out HyreCar a peer-to-peer car rental platform. The way it works is that you list your car, when it’s available, and what your rates are. Food delivery and rideshare drivers who need a temporary car for work, then rent your car out through the platform.
HyreCar checks out every driver with a criminal background and driving record before they can rent, and you’re covered with up to $1,000,000 in liability protection on every rental. HyreCar says most cars are listed for $35/day. Learn more in our full HyreCar review.
Want even more ways to turn your car into a money-making machine? Check out Ways to Make Money With Your Car in 2024.
7. Play With Pets
Dog walking, pet sitting, boarding — these are all ways you can make extra money with Rover. You can set your rates and earn more by providing additional services like bathing and grooming, pick-up and drop-off, and so on.
This is an excellent side hustle if you love playing with pets… okay, it would be weird if you didn’t love pets. And here’s an idea of how much money you can make with Rover:
- Dogwalkers can make around $12-$25/walk
- Dog boarders and overnight pet sitters charge $20-$60/night
- For drop-in visits, you can make $12-$30/visit
Make money playing with pets
over makes it easy to connect with pet owners in your area
Learn more in our full Rover app review.
8. Sell Your Junk
There’s a saying… one man’s junk is another person’s weird way to make money… or something like that! Selling old electronics on Decluttr, flipping furniture you find on the side of the road, or reselling flea market finds — these are all legit ways to put extra cash in your pocket.
One of the easiest ones to start with is Decluttr. This site takes used video games, game consoles, computers, tablets, cell phones, and even textbooks and Legos, and pays you cash. Decluttr refurbishes and resells them.
Sell your tech junk to Decluttr
Receive an instant bid for your electronics, and if you accept Decluttr sends you a prepaid shipping label, and they pay 24 hours after receiving your item
9. Watch Videos
Would you believe that companies will pay you to watch videos? There are legitimate market research companies that pay people to watch short ads, trending news videos, music videos, and more. You’re not going to get rich, but it’s a weird way to make a little extra money.
If you’re interested, check out:
- MyPoints: Make money watching videos, taking surveys, playing games, and more. Users earn up to $2.50-$3.50/day watching videos.
- InboxDollars: Watch videos that range from 3 minutes to half an hour long, and users make anywhere from $20-$100/month.
10. Make and Sell Virtually Anything on Etsy
Not to yuck any yums, but there is some weird stuff on Etsy! We’re talking deer teeth jewelry, Nicolas Cage fan art, soap shaped like body parts, and so much more.
While you can sell pretty much anything on Etsy, one of the best things to sell are printables. These are digital files that you design for invitations, home decor, planner pages, sticker sheets, thank you cards, party games, and so on.
This is an excellent business idea because you can sell your products virtually indefinitely with no additional work. Remember, these are one-and-done digital files that require no storage or shipping.
Start designing Etsy printables
The Gold City Ventures E-Printables course will teach you how to set up and run a profitable side hustle selling printables on Etsy
The Final Word on Weird Ways To Make Money
We’re huge fans of finding unconventional ways to make money — you’ve got to make that make paper however you can! There are all sorts of ideas these days, but if you want to make an extra $1,000/month or more, we highly recommend delivering for DoorDash. It’s not the weirdest idea on this list, but drivers get to work whenever they way. Want something even faster? Then taking online surveys for Branded Surveys or Survey Junkie is an excellent option, and you’ll make around $1-$3/survey.
FAQs
There are so many unique but legit ways to make extra money, like:
Renting out your car to strangers, getting paid to watch videos, or making money when you get gas.
Check out our list of 20 Best Ideas to Make $100 a Day for options that actually work in 2024.
The Apple boxes seems odd to me. Who normally buys those?
I’d be all about the poop though, but not in an area where that program is available.
Dude I have no idea to be honest with you – maybe just Apple junkies?
It’s also people who resell apple products. Having the boxes increase the value of the product.
Ah that makes sense!
Even though we sell the boxes sometimes, we actually are the crazy people who buy them.
It’s something about an apple that most “home end” customers want a nice shiny box to go with their machine.
When you buy things wholesale or through off lease vendors boxes don’t come with.
Is there also a market for iPhone boxes?? Got one of those kicking around…
Wow ! This is amazing, you can sell your poop. It’s a legitimate treatment. If you guys haven’t heard the story it was developed out of desperation to help people a few years ago. And apparently now, you can also pay off your college loans doing it. Amazing.
I guess the downside is that you can only make 1600 doing it. Then again, someone does own 140 million identities now (thank you Equifax), so I guess they could do it forever!
Haha yeah check out the post that links to fitnancials.com – pretty fascinating
Those are great ways to make some extra cash. And some are definitely not usual hehe. I have been wanting to open an Etsy store but haven’t found the right product yet. I am focusing on my blog right now but will revisit the Etsy business in the near future 🙂
Etsy is a great way to make money!
Etsy is awesome, my cousin sells crazy cool homemade wood and metal furniture. But finding the right product to make is always hard.
That’s why personally I choose Shopify to do my selling with drop shipping. As I am not the most creative person!
So true!! I ran across an article about how Hummel figurines had gone down in value (way down), realized I had a few I would like to unload, looked on Etsy, and sure enough, there were over 200 listed. Even more on e-bay, and way cheaper. So much for my dreams of retiring on all my knickknacks!!
Thanks for allowing me to share!
Still, wish the poop one was a larger location base than Massachusetts!
Thanks to Alexis for opening my eyes to the possibilities!
That whole poop thing is pretty funny and crazy what folks will do for money. Really agree on the Etsy thing. With the right product, you can do well.
I totally get the poop thing. I worked with someone who got c diff. She had been bitten by a dog, and when they gave her antibiotics to stop the infection, it wiped out all of the flora in her intestines, leaving her body with no way to naturally break things down. She went into kidney failure and almost died. So they did this procedure where they introduced new but hopefully similar flora into her intestines–they got it from her sister. And guess how they introduced it?? Through her nose!!! It’s a procedure you can look up on the internet, because I did. It saved her life.
That’s crazy!!!!!!!
It is!! She recovered…and then went to work somewhere else. It was a happy ending for everyone!! ?
Never imagined shit has potential..:)
I see what you did there