I get the question often, asking me if I know any new ways to make money from your living room.    The answer? Yes, I do!  I really love working from home.    It is a way for me to be home with my children, while bringing in an income to help our family.

Any post on YourModernFamily may contain affiliate links for things that I use and love!

Here are 15 ways to make money from home

(These have ALL  been done by myself or by friends of mine at one point or another!)

1. Selling back my jewelry.
I have done this time and time again with jewelry that I won’t wear anymore or jewelry that has gone out of style.
Here is how it works:  I, personally, go to WP Diamonds because they are approved on the Better Business Bureau list and I have found them to be the easiest to work with.  Plus, they offer the best payout (& they offer free shipping and insurance, which was something that I wanted).    You let them know what you are sending in and they give you a value idea.   Then they send you a FedEx Priority Overnight shipping label and you have 14 days to take it to a FedEx branch near you.  When you ship it to them, it goes to New York and they look them over and give you a price of what your items (rings, diamonds, watches) are worth.  Once you give them the OK on the value that they send you, they will transfer you the money within a day (but I have found it to be sooner).  It is a check and it has always been very fair.  This is a very easy way to make money on something that you aren’t using anymore.
We have also done this when raising money for a fundraiser.  We each sold back our jewelry that we weren’t using and we donated 50% of it to the fundraiser.  It easily paid for what we needed (it was a group for mothers of preschoolers).
You could do this once a year and donate the money to charity (this is a great lesson for your kids to see!)

2. Selling things through MLM (multi level marketing).

3.  Sell your used toys on Craigslist.
I do this all of the time!   I would buy some toys for our four kids and use them for a few months and then sell it.  Often times I would clean it up and sell it for more than I bought it for.
Example- if I buy a child-slide that is not taken care of, was left outside and was dirty/used and I buy it for $2.  I will bring it home, clean it until it looks new, re-paint it (if needed) and sell it for $8 – I figured that I was simply being paid to clean it up.

4.  Make a product from home.  
My husband used to make these adorable signs (wooden signs) and we would sell them for a profit.   They said cute things like “Always kiss me Goodnight” or “These are a few of my favorite things” with kids’ handprints along the bottom.   I sold them at consignment sales and on craigslist.  (They would have been expensive to ship).  They took him around two hours to paint and I would sell them for $50-$60.

5.  Write a book. 
I have written four books so far.  I love to write (which is why I have a blog) but writing books is something that I really enjoy and find to be well worth it.  “It will make you money while you sleep”, as my friend Paula reminds me.  They are not easy and they do cost money and take a lot of time to make them (My books usually took several months to write and I spent money on editing, designing, etc…) but you can self-publish them to Amazon yourself.   Once word of mouth starts about your book, you are set.   My Potty Train in a Weekend has been on the best seller list on Amazon and my You Can be a Stay at Home Mom on One Income has also sold many copies.  My latest book, Freed from Clutter, is new, so I am excited to see where it goes!  My fourth book is called Blogging on the Side, it is written for bloggers, to learn how to combine their passion with a profit.

6. Tutor. 
If you are good at a subject, become a tutor.  I was a teacher, so I tutored children in reading, from my home.  It was usually neighborhood kids that would come by, and while we worked, I would offer their parents a book or magazine to read, but I always suggested that they watch us, so that they could help their child during the off-days.   It was a great way to earn $30 an hour.
ps- If you are a math teacher, you can charge more (high school math tutors often cost more than $55).

7.  Watch Pets
I have never been an actual “pet sitter” at my house, but I have watched neighbors pets while they were out of town and they have always been generous to give me an unexpected gift card or gift as a way to say ‘Thank you.”   If you were looking for ways to make money, and were open to having pets in your home, this would be a great way to earn an income.  Most people love their pets like they love a child, so they are looking for a loving place to leave them when they have to be away.

8. E-bay. 
What can you find around your house that would be worth a little money?   If you can find some older things (antique clocks or baseball cards), it would be worth it to get it appraised and sell it on e-bay.  You can sell just about anything on e-bay… furniture, guitars, toys.   My dad sold his guitar for thousands of dollars on e-bay, even after expecting to only make $100.  Everyone just kept bidding on it.  What a great surprise!

9. Ebates
How it works:  This is simply a cash-back website.  What that means is that before you make an online purchase, you will go to Ebates and you will click on their link to that same store.  Then you make a percentage back on your purchase.
So- if you are buying a $10 shirt at Kohls.com, you would go to Ebates instead, click on Kohls (on the ebates website) and buy your $10 shirt.  Then, you would earn $1 back (or whatever it would be).  It will come to you in a check or to paypal.   It is completely FREE to sign-up, plus if you refer someone, you make $5 if they make a purchase.   Double-win!
ps- here is the chart of how much money you will earn if you sign up here, because they are running a “BONUS SPECIAL” through March 31, 2015.

10. Have a drop in daycare in your house.  
I have a friend that has a “drop in daycare” at her house every morning from 9:00-12:00.  This means that anyone that needs to run errands, etc… can drop their kids off at her house for $8 an hour.  She makes a great side income this way and she still has her afternoon completely free to do what she needs to do.   She does activities with the kids, etc.   I used to babysit kids constantly and I can tell you that it is a VERY fun (tiring, but fun) job!

11.  Make other people’s meals. 
One of my friends cooks meals for people.  Every week she puts her “meals of the week” on her Facebook page and she “takes orders”.  Then one by one,  families will call her to place their orders for the week.  She will make them and deliver them every night, or they can pick them up.
Example: Monday is Roast Beef and Mashed potatoes with green beans.   They will order 6 servings on Sunday night and will pay her when she brings the meals.  She can charge whatever she wants and they always love it, so they come back for more!

12.  Sign up on Fiverr.com to do things for others (design, videos, etc…) 
I use Fiverr.com often- I will buy designs, I will buy video intros, etc… (for my blog) and I have also made money by writing articles on Fiverr.com for others.   It is very easy and you can start out charging $5 for a job and work your way up (or if you are experienced, you can charge more from the get-go!)

13.  Join a local online garage sale group.  
I am on many Facebook Yardsale groups and I just joined VarageSale, which is just a local online garage sale.  It seems really easy to use!

14.  Be a virtual assistant. 
There are MANY bloggers and companies that need someone to just do some online work for them (maybe posting to their Facebook Fan Page or pinning company images for them).   You can find these jobs in many groups on Facebook specifically for VA’s.   This job pays anywhere from $10 an hour to $30 an hour, depending on how in-depth your work is going to be.

15. Bed and Breakfast
This one is a little unusual, but a friend of mine actually rents out her spare bedroom or even her whole home.  She and her family will leave for a few days to go to a hotel, while she charges another family around 5 times the amount of money that she is paying to stay in her home. (example: She spends $100 for a weekend.  She charges the family that is “taking over” her house $500.  She just made $400.)   She said that they use this extra money to go to Disney every year. She does this using a site called Airbnb.  She thinks it is the best thing ever and tells me about it all of the time!  Worth a look!

16. BONUS- STOP PAYING FOR THINGS!
 Seriously!  I wrote a post once about my Master List of Freebie Websites and it will easily save you a TON of money.  There are stores & webpages giving away products all of the time- they are completely free (you pay shipping on some, but even then you are saving $50 or more from the free product).

You can see them here: MASTER LIST OF FREEBIES.

This book might be helpful to you… 

This post may help, as well: 

Disclaimer: none of these are guaranteed to make you money, but I certainly hope that they do!