Being alive right now is stupidly expensive, which means many of us are looking for ways to spend less and save more. But you can only cut so much. Sometimes you have to find a way to make more money, whether it’s getting a raise, changing jobs, or taking on a side gig.
That’s why u/bigdope-smallgirl asked people on Reddit to share the weirdest way they’ve ever made money, and the answers were honestly really surprising (and surprisingly lucrative). Here’s what they had to say:
1.
“I host trivia. It’s a couple of nights a week for two and a half hours a night. It’s $50 a night plus the different venues hook you up with food and drink deals. One place you get a free meal, which you can use for these giant pizzas that normally cost $25 otherwise I get free drinks and I make about $500 a month.
2.
“I bake fruitcakes from scratch using pecans instead of walnuts and cream sherry instead of harder spirits. I use 1/2 pound loaf pans so no one is stuck with a lot of leftovers. Baking starts in September through October so cakes have time to soak up the sherry.
—u/cuyler_32087
3.
“Once a month, on a Friday night, I host a parents’ night and babysit overnight. I still have a swing set, a wooden swing and things like that, so kids come to my house. I charge about $50 a kid , and I serve dinner and dessert we play outside until dusk come in and get cleaned up/put on pjs and then we watch a movie depending on the weather and age of the kids we can use our blowup movie screen and projector and watch the movie outside with popcorn and juice boxes After that it’s time to brush our teeth and settle down in the family room and the kids fall asleep around 9:15 I usually see between 8 and 10 kids and that costs $500. Kids LOVE the night and I have more demand than space.”
—u/furryfreeloader
4.
“One thing I did was a mock jury I found on Craigslist. Went to a law firm where they made food, drinks and snacks. We got to listen to a case and deliberate like a real jury would and it all became busy . Got paid $200 plus travel fees for about three and a half hours of work.”
5.
“I worked as a casualty for a military training exercise. It was $100 a day, paid in cash. If you did all three days of this exercise, you got an extra $25. They’re coming back to my area in two months.”
—u/wagon hitchhiker
6.
“I once met a guy who sold feeder roaches to Petco, PetSmart, etc. He made $200,000 out of his garage.”
—u/the_stupid_engineer
7.
“I sell cuttings and seedlings! Springtime I just sell my extra peppers and tomatoes, and then I have some beloved houseplants that need to be cut once in a while. I just root the cuttings in water and finally pot and sell. It’s not a ton of cash or something, but it’s a good way for my hobby to pay for itself over time.I’ve grown pomegranates from seed too, because where I live they’re an uncommon houseplant.The local garden center sold small trees for $129+ had no problem growing the little guys for a few months and selling for $20 while the seed packets were $5 for a bunch.
8.
“I have a flea market booth. The most lucrative part of it is the freeze-dried candy I buy from a local store. I buy in bulk and have 100% price and still sell a lot of candy! It helps that the local mall has quite a seen the same things for three times the price People want to try it but don’t want to pay those prices so they get happy when they see mine and buy three for the price of a mall It’s stupid but I’m happy the.”
—u/greenonioncrusades
9.
“I keep an eye out for class actions and sign up when I qualify. I’ve made a few hundred the last few years, but my main motivation is how tickled my husband gets when a random check comes in. Always looking looking for ways to impress him, LOL.”
—u/vavamama
10.
“I grow hemp legally and sell CBD products at local farmers markets. It was a big initial investment and I’ll be in the red for a while, but it’s starting to take off and turn a profit.”
11.
“I ‘teach English’ online and pretty much just chat with people. One of them is a kid where we read and watch 50/50 Pokémon or Godzilla. So I get paid minimum wage to watch Pokémon and old Godzilla film.”
—u/the polar bear__
12.
“My partner and I ushered at college football games. We got paid hourly (I think it was $11 an hour at the time), but the tips at the end of the night made it worth it.”
—u/virtual-beach305
13.
“I crochet and sell dolls.”
14.
“I pet people in my building, mostly doctors. Three doctors and some elderly couples. It’s GREAT for my dogs to play and have dogs over, LOL. I even take them to the park and on walks. I know that some people charge $80 a night (that’s what my pet sitter charges me) but they give me $40 Plus they bring me a little trinket wherever they go.
—u/christyg891
16.
“No wonder, but I model for art classes. I have a full-time job, but I usually do classes a month and get paid in cash, which is nice.”
17.
“I don’t think it’s weird, and it’s niche, so it’s not a normal thing, but I probably make an extra part-time job monthly on average, sometimes more. I have a full-time. ‘real’ job, but on the side I sell items I find in the alley.I have a Poshmark inventory of over 1,000 items and I haven’t even listed a large one closet. No one would ever guess where these things came from. Beyond sweat and time equity, it’s 100% profit.”
—u/low_employ8454
18.
“I had an Etsy shop that resold vintage and antique cast iron cookware that I would find in rust condition and restore to be collected or used again. Recently the shop shut down due to time constraints, but it was a great little side gig on time and I enjoyed it.”
—u/tannergd1
19.
“I DJ weddings and do light shows for bands that come through town. It just started as a hobby and it spread by word of mouth. People pay so much money for DJs and bands for weddings that it costs me $100 an hour seems really cheap.”
20.
“Rev! You transcribe the audio that you hear, and it can be anything from a police body cam to a lecture about blueberry fields. You can make decent money if you grind it out. You get graded. If you get too many bad grades, get ‘downgraded ‘ to a basic level when it comes to files, I easily profit from it guidelines for transcribing, correctly labeling speakers, etc.”
—u/twirlygirl313
21.
“I check local Facebook groups and find quite a few odd jobs there. People are always looking for random help. Last weekend I made $25 going to a lady’s house and cutting her cat’s toenails!”
—u/prinessbeca
22.
“Back at university I assembled furniture – 80% of the time for older people who ordered flat furniture and couldn’t put it together themselves. I enjoyed the puzzle of putting IKEA furniture together and I usually had an interesting conversation or two with the older generation.”
23.
“Not super weird, but I sharpen knives and tools to supplement my income. The startup costs are pretty low, and if you go to a farmer’s market in a more affluent part of town, you can usually get a decent amount of business. Kitchen and pocket knives is usually the standard, but if you can sharpen tools like mower blades, shears, chisels, etc., you can get a decent amount of consistent return business anywhere from a few hundred to about $1k a month depending on how hard I work on it.”
—u/os_jytz
24.
“I sell clothes, mostly on eBay. I buy items from various places very cheap and usually manage to sell at a decent profit margin. I’ve been at it for about five years. Lots of ups and downs in that time, but I sell an average of 10-15 pieces of clothing a day and grow every month.”
—u/lynndi0
25.
“I live in the Kansas City metro and soccer is pretty big here. I referee on the weekends in the fall and spring. The pay varies if you’re a referee or assistant referee. It also varies with age. In the end it always comes down to about $30 /hour.”
26.
“I had a plumbing backup and needed someone with a hose to clear the line. I looked on Craigslist and everyone was charging $99 for the hose. This one guy advertised for $69. I called him, he came and he had my line. ready in 20 minutes. He and his family had just come in from Ohio a few weeks ago because their 8-year-old daughter needed medical treatment, which was only available in Tampa. plumbing hose for $400.He was immediately taken with the hose job because his price was the lowest on all of Craigslist.He was making about $400 a day working at it for a good seven days that once the initial investment is made, but of course it’s not a glamorous job.”
—u/georgepana
27.
And finally: “There is a huge shortage of group fitness instructors and some studios or gyms will train you in spin or pilates hoping you’ll bring in money. I paid for my yoga teacher training, but I’ve earned the money back five times in a year and I work at a studio that pays. But it’s exhausting on your body. It’s a good chunk of change to work out.”
—u/cactusgirl69420
What’s the most unusual way you’ve ever made money? Tell me all about it in the comments.