You would have to be living under a rather large rock to not know what is going on in the world at the moment with the Coronavirus pandemic. Over half the world’s population is on lock down, with many working from home and people cannot leave the house except for very specific reasons. Many people have lost their jobs and we are about to head into a period of economic turmoil. As I have just finished handing in all of my assignments for my final year of university, I am using this period to make money online whilst I am at home. Anyone can use these methods to make money online, whether you are using it for savings or topping up you income in this time, these are some easy methods to try!

1. Try Matched Betting

You may have heard of matched betting. Most people on money making blogs across the internet rave about it and you won’t hear any different from me. Matched betting is a tax free way to make money online and the income that you can earn from it is crazy. I know the word betting is scary but matched betting takes advantage of the offers that bookmakers give, for example bet £20 and get a £10 free bet. You do this by betting both for a certain outcome and against it, so you lose a tiny amount and get a free bet which you can cash in! There is a bit more to it but that is a brief summary and it is largely no risk. 

I use Profit Accumulator as my matched betting platform of choice. They have a free trial where you can make £45 and then if you like it, use it to buy a subscription which is only £17.99 a month! The potential earnings of matched betting are crazy and you can start with minimal cash. In my first month I earned £287 and that is considered a small amount!  

2. Online Tutoring

This is a side hustle that is really being targeted right now. With schools closed and many parents working, many don’t have the time to home school their kids and so they are turning to online tutoring services. Tutorhouse and TutorHub are two popular platforms that you can sign up to to teach a subject. You don’t have to be a qualified teacher but some experience working with kids is generally looked favourably upon. If you have recently finished a degree or A Levels you can also specify which exam boards you are most familiar with alongside texts in subjects such as English Lit. 

3. Online Surveys

Online surveys have been about since the inception of the internet but many people don’t like them at all, they are often long and you can get screened out easily. A survey platform I found that is unlike others and that I love is Prolific Academic. It provides surveys for researchers at universities. Many are often about politics or psychology so usually they are quite fun and often well paid as the universities have good funding. One thing to be aware of is that the surveys get filled up quickly! I like to keep a tab open and check occasionally so I usually can get first dibs if a survey comes up!

4. eBay

As we are all stuck inside for the foreseeable future, many people are taking this as a great opportunity to clear out! Post Offices still remain open so you can use this clear out to find things to list on eBay and sell your old things for cash. You can definitely find lots of stuff you haven’t used recently and clear space and make a little extra money!

5. Freelancing 

Whilst many people are not doing their full time job, you can turn to sites like Fiverr and People Per Hour to freelance out your skills. Maybe you work in marketing and could work for someone as a Social Media Manager, or you are great at graphic design and can design a logo for someone, there are people looking for all sorts of skills on these sites. If you run a blog and could write freelance articles for another blogger, that is a great opportunity to make some money on the side. Make an account, set up your gig and you are good to go!

Make sure you keep track of these extra earnings and if you are earning more than £1000, you will need to register as self employed with HMRC to make sure these earnings are taxed correctly!