No matter how you slice it, an extra $10,000 would be nice.
A bite out of college tuition.
A healthy starting point for retirement investing.
Depending on your location, it could even be a downpayment on a new home for your family to live in or rent out for profit.
But it’s a lot of money to save!
So we’ve gathered these weird ways you could earn that extra cash… and how much effort you’d need to put into each to do so.
- Sell Pine Cones
Yes, seriously.
Or K-Cups. Or instruction manuals. Or the cartons your eggs come in. People buy so much random stuff on eBay.
How many pine cones you’d have to sell: 25,000 at 25 cents each.
- Drive With Lyft
Need a fun, flexible way to earn money while also meeting lots of new people?
Try driving with Lyft!
Demand for ride-sharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.
We talked to Paul Pruce, who’s been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year. He earns $750 a week as a driver.
Best of all, he does it on his own time. You can drive days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you!
Not sure which ride-sharing app is best for you? Here's our guide to Lyft versus Uber.
How many hours you’d have to drive with Lyft: If you average about $18 an hour like Pruce, you could earn $10,000 after 556 hours of driving.
- Sell Your Poop
No, that’s not a typo.
In fact, some people once earned up to $13,000 a year for their… deposits.
There is one catch: You have to live in the vicinity of Medford, Massachusetts, where OpenBiome uses the poop to help physicians around the country treat infections of a nasty bacterial infection.
And you also have to be OK with… selling your poop.
How many “samples” you’d have to provide: 250. Hope you’re regular!
- Tell Companies How You Really Feel About Their Products
If you don’t mind filling out surveys while you’re vegging out on the couch, you could reap rewards.
Plus, you get a chance to make your voice heard. It’s like writing a Yelp review… that might win you a free vacation!
One platform we like is MyPoints. It lets you earn gift cards for taking polls, answering surveys and other things you do online — a great way to cash in on long lines or an endless commute. You’ll earn a $5 bonus when you complete your first five surveys.
How many surveys you’d have to take: Point values vary depending on how you redeem them. Let’s say each survey is worth $1; you’d have to complete 10,000 surveys.
- Put Your Trivial Knowledge to Good Use
If you’re one of those people who can pull useless pieces of knowledge from out of nowhere, you’ll want to download this app.
It’s called HQ Trivia. With at times more than a million players logging on at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern each day to play, you might’ve heard of it.
“Quiz Daddy” Scott Rogowsky is the game’s main host. He asks 12 questions. You’ve got three multiple-choice options and 10 seconds to answer each. If you get all 12 questions correct, you’ll split the grand prize (around $5,000 lately, though it’s been $25,000 or more on randomly chosen special occasions) amongst the other winners.
How much you win depends on how many winners share the pot with you.