Today, I’m going to cover a 15 of my favourite “easy” ways to make money as a UK resident. What’s important to note is there is no such thing as free money, so if you’re looking for a hustle with absolutely no work involved I’m afraid you won’t find any of that here. Instead, I’m going to focus on simple, practical ways for just about anyone to make some extra money.
Times are tough in the UK. With the cost of living constantly rising, and many feeling like they need to find additional ways to earn money, the “side hustle” has become a near necessity for many Brits.
With that out of the way, let’s get into the 15 best ideas to make money fairly easily. Spoiler Alert – almost all of these ideas have created millionaires…
- 1. Sell Unwanted Items on Ebay – Easiest Way to Make Money
- 2. Start a YouTube Channel
- 3. Car Washing / Detailing
- 4. Pressure Washing
- 5. Mowing Lawns
- 6. Start a Blog
- 7. Invest in a Stocks ISA – Laziest Easy Way To Make Money
- 8. Flipping
- 9. Make Arts and Crafts, Sell on Etsy
- 10. Dog Walking – Most Fun Easy Money Making Idea
- 11. GCSE Tutoring
- 12. Fill Out Surveys (Not The Best, But It Works)
- 13. Become a Freelancer
- 14. Test Out Websites
- 15. Content Writer – Best Free Money Making Idea
- How Much Can I Make From a Side-Hustle?
- Conclusion – Online or Offline, There Are Opportunities Everywhere
1. Sell Unwanted Items on Ebay – Easiest Way to Make Money
Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but eBay really is one of the quickest and easiest ways to put some cash in your pocket. There are very few other ways to make money, where as little as a few hours of working can bring in hundreds of pounds.
If you’re stuck for ideas of what to sell on your Ebay shop, just take a look around your house. Most people have a ton of unwanted things that are way too nice to simply take to the tip – why not get paid for them, and declutter your house at the same time?
While I was still in school my friend and I started selling clothes we really liked, that we found by hunting through charity shops. This eventually evolved over the time, to the point where we were turning over more than £3000 per month at its peak! Of course, not all of this was profit, but it still brought in very good money.
2. Start a YouTube Channel
Starting a YouTube channel is more of a longer term thing. If you need money now, then I’m afraid YouTube isn’t going to be your best option. This is because the main source of income for most small YouTube channels is advertising, and the only way to become eligible for this is if you break the 1000 subscriber mark, whilst also getting 4000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months.
Reaching these requirements may take months of time, but once you have, the rewards are well worth it. Imagine being paid to just make videos on your personal hobbies and interests! From crochet tutorials to studying ideas to playing video games, there are a load of topics that can be very lucrative if you are willing to dedicate some time to your content. YouTube is easy, but it’s not quick, so bear that in mind.
3. Car Washing / Detailing
If you have £200 to go out and get a pressure washer and some car cleaning equipment then congratulations! You have a car washing business. This one is great, and the earnings potential is very surprising to most people. Charging £15-£25 for a good hand car wash is an absolute bargain, and you can still walk away with an extra £50 or more per day by just knocking on neighbour’s doors.
Most people are too busy or lazy to wash their cars, but will happily hand someone a good bit of cash to take the problem out of their hands. This is a seriously good business, especially since the UK doesn’t have the cleanest of roads, so you can get repeat customers if you do a really good job.
The rough hourly rate you can expect to make is around £20-50 per hour, depending on your skill and level of equipment. You can also offer a range of levels, such as a quick snow foam + dry for a lower amount, ranging all the way up to a full immaculate detailing inside and out for well over £100.
Speaking of pressure washers, that brings me onto idea 4…
4. Pressure Washing
Just about everyone cares about the state of their property, especially people who are trying to sell their homes. Knock on doors of properties with for sale signs, and offer to pressure wash their patios, driveways and other hard surfaces, as well as pull the weeds out. It’s super easy to find clients this way.
Generally, you should charge based on the size of the property or how much work it looks like its going to take. Be prepared to spend more time than you initially expect on this though, as stubborn grime and weeds can add a good bit of time on top of what you initially expected. Do a good job, give them a business card and build up a repeat group of clients who can’t live without you.
5. Mowing Lawns
You often don’t even need a lawnmower for this one. Hear me out… There are countless homes who do have fully functioning lawnmowers and all the equipment you need to keep a garden in tip top shape, but the owners are just too busy for whatever reason to get round to doing it themselves. Offer to mow their lawn and let them decide how much to pay you afterwards. You will be surprised how much people value this job once they’ve seen the difference. For a smaller garden, expect to be able to charge around £20 at first, and more as you build your reputation in the local area.
6. Start a Blog
If you prefer to make money without leaving the house, blogging might be the one for you. Blogging can be about just about any kind of topic, from your mum’s best family recipes to travel, just about everyone has an interesting insight on a topic that other people would like to know about.
The good part of blogging, unlike many of the other ideas on this list is once you’ve done the work you can continue to get paid. Many bloggers make money from having advertising on their site or referral links to product, which make them a commission when people buy the products.
Blogging is one of the less easy ones to start, and can take as much or more time than the YouTube channel, but the earnings potential is very good. There are countless bloggers in the UK who do it as a full time business, and make well over £10,000 per month from their work.
That’s the great part about blogging – you can write a good article and continue to get paid from it years after you first posted it, so if passive income (money while you aren’t working) is what you are looking for, this is definitely one of the best routes you can take.
7. Invest in a Stocks ISA – Laziest Easy Way To Make Money
Investing into your ISA is one of the easiest ways to (potentially) earn more money, and it’s tax free! By spending some time on a bit of basic research on picking stocks or index funds, you can make good returns with patience. A majority of top earners take advantage of this, and it’s one of the most hands-off ways of earning more money. I personally did some research into the best index funds for consistent growth with lower risk, and invest £1000 per month into my ISA, which is automatically split up across four different funds.
I won’t tell you which four I picked right now because I don’t want to give investment advice. It’s no secret that the S&P500 has returned around 10% per year, for the last several decades.
If you aren’t sure what index funds are, they are typically investment products that track the value of a bunch of different companies. For example, an SP500 fund tracks 500 of the biggest companies in the US. This is generally considered a lot lower risk than trying to outsmart the market and picking individual stocks.
8. Flipping
Welcome to the world of flipping, a business created from lack of supply and high demand. If you can get your hands on a product which sells out fast, you are often able to sell it for a good margin more than what you bought it for. If you need examples, here are some common products that entrepreneurs flip:
- Rare trainer releases (certain shoes are limited to small quantities and fetch way over the RRP)
- PS5 – not as possible these days due to a greater supply, but when these first came out they were sold out everywhere. People were selling them on Ebay for £200 over the RRP.
- Clothing – Some brands like Supreme have limited edition releases which sell out in minutes.
- Gig Tickets – When a really famous musician does a tour, it often sells out in minutes. Get hold of some tickets before they sell out and be ready to make some good money. This can be risky though, as sometimes they will release more tickets or announce another date.
Sometimes flipping is considered immoral, which is the only notable downside I can think of. People don’t like having to spend £300 to see Adele, but that’s the world we live in.
There are a number of communities which do flipping full time, and they often have insider groups to help them decide on what to pounce on next, which can be useful as a beginner. These communities are a win-win for all flippers, because they can actually make things sell out even faster
9. Make Arts and Crafts, Sell on Etsy
If you are good with your hands, chances are you can make some nice arts and crafts that people will be willing to pay for. Start and Etsy store to showcase your skills, and watch the orders come in. Certain categories are highly competitive such as custom T Shirts, but if you have some really unique work that people will love, give it a try. Many hobbyists and artists make art for fun anyway, so you may as well list some of your creations for sale.
10. Dog Walking – Most Fun Easy Money Making Idea
Let’s face it, we all love dogs. Why not get paid to have fun with a bunch of different dogs every day? Dog walkers are hugely in demand, especially in more expensive commuter areas near cities, where just about everyone has to go into work and leave their beloved pooches at home.
Post flyers through letterboxes or chat to people in the park who have dogs on the weekend and offer your services. Dog walkers in my area (South East England) make around £15 per dog per walk, and will often take a group of 5-6 out every afternoon.
That’s potentially an extra £1800 per month if you are doing 6 dogs, Monday to Friday. There are very few other side-hustles you can do which pay this well, since you can do multiple jobs at once. There are a couple of things to note with this one though.
Firstly, almost all professionals have a license which enables them to do this. It’s recommended that you get a dog walking certification for legal reasons, and to make sure that you know what you’re doing.
Secondly, some dogs simply do not get along, which means that taking several out at a time may not be possible.
11. GCSE Tutoring
If you’re a University student, are a teacher, or are in sixth form, this is a great one – tutor people! If you’ve got a subject you adore and got a really good grade in, why not teach others how to also excel in that subject? If you are personable and enjoy helping younger people, this can be a great option. If you’re really good, parents will be willing to pay up to £50 per hour if you’ve got a track record to back up your asking price.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t do especially well in school since I was focussing on my work instead so I’m most definitely not academic enough for this ever to be an option, but if you’re studious and academically-minded, this will be an absolute walk in the park.
Tutoring is a profession where it can actually be beneficial to be younger, despite what many will say. This is because you are much more likely to have a recent memory of the specifics in the modern curriculum.
12. Fill Out Surveys (Not The Best, But It Works)
People often ask me if these survey sites are actually legit – is it possible to get paid just for answering some basic questions? The answer is yes, but it depends how strapped for cash you are. Many surveys don’t pay out a huge amount, so they aren’t worth it if you are looking for an extra £500 per month, for instance.
On the other hand, if it’s just an additional £20-50 of fun money per month which you can make whilst watching TV, maybe consider this as an option. I’m not going to give any recommendations just yet, because I haven’t tried any, but stay tuned as I plan on doing an in-depth comparison of the top online survey sites in the UK and which is the best.
13. Become a Freelancer
If you’re in a skilled profession, why not pick up some extra work as a freelancer? Small businesses (such as this site!) are willing to pay good money for a professional with excellent skills in a wide range of disciplines, such as writing, video editing, marketing, SEO, voice acting and more.
You can even do people’s accounts for them through many freelancing sites. So, if you’ve got the skills but need to pay the bills, give freelancing a look. Despite the name, Fiverr does actually have a ton of professionals who are able to charge serious money for their talent, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t do the same.
14. Test Out Websites
There are a ton of businesses who need users to test out their product and pick up bugs. A full test team can easily cost well over six figures per year, so many smaller businesses prefer to use individuals paid on a per-test basis. If you have a keen eye for detail and aren’t afraid to give out some constructive criticism, then why not take a deeper look into this lucrative side-hustle?
15. Content Writer – Best Free Money Making Idea
Yes, yes, AI this, AI that, blah blah blah. In 2023, after doing a ton of experiments across several websites and industries, I can safely say that paying a professional writer is still the way to go for a majority of businesses. So what does this mean?
Well, how does up to £0.15 per word sound to you? That’s right, this article would have cost up to £200 if I hired a professional blog writer to do it for me.
Online entrepreneurs often have their hands full with work, but still need to have a constant, high output of content to market their products and services. Good blog writers can create a huge return on investment, meaning that businesses are more than willing to pay top dollar for persuasive, well thought out content.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like you’re a specialist in anything “business-ey”. I know of a guy who owned a Soap Opera blog (before selling it for millions) who paid a lady several thousand dollars per month to write high quality, accurate articles on what was happening in the popular Soaps.
The world’s insatiable appetite for good content is never going to slow down, and I can’t see AI taking away the best writer’s jobs any time soon. Although it’s possible to generate accurate, grammatically correct content using AI, they all lack finesse.
Writing should have flair to it, a bit of pizzazz, because that’s what people want to read. Sterile, generic content with the personality of a damp spoon simply doesn’t translate into a big audience in most cases.
How Much Can I Make From a Side-Hustle?
These are just ball park figures, but almost all of these ideas have created millionaires. I’m going to break down how much you can probably expect to make from each of these ideas on a part time basis, as well as how long it might take to earn your first quid:
| Easy Money Idea | Time To Start Earning | Cost To Start | Idea of Earnings (Part Time) |
| EBay | 1-2 Days | £0-£1000 | £unlimited/mo |
| YouTube Channel | 3-4 Months | £0-£1000 | £unlimited/mo |
| Car Washing | 1 Day | £200-£500 | £200-500/mo |
| Pressure Washing | 1 Day | £200-£500 | £300-£1000/mo |
| Mowing Lawns | 1 Day | £150-£300 | £300-£1000/mo |
| Blogging | 3-4 Months | £100-£500 | £unlimited/mo |
| Investing in Stocks ISA | Months | £1000+ | Realistically £85 per month for every £10,000 |
| Flipping | 1 Day (depending on when products drop) | £250+ | £250-£1000/mo |
| Etsy | 1-2 Months | £250+ | £50-£500/mo |
| Dog Walker | 1 Day (if trained) | £0 | £200-£500/mo |
| GCSE Tutor | 1 Day | £0 | £400/mo |
| Surveys | 1 Day | £0 | £20-£50/mo |
| Freelancing | 1-2 Months | £0-£100 | £200-£1000/mo |
| Testing Websites | 1-2 Weeks | £0 | £100-£200/mo |
| Content Writer | 1-2 Months | £0 | £400-£2500/mo |
Conclusion – Online or Offline, There Are Opportunities Everywhere
Some people live by the phrase “there’s no such thing as easy money”. I think it depends on what you classify as easy, personally. If you came to this article expecting to make thousands of pounds by doing nothing, I’m sorry that you’re most likely disappointed as all of these ideas for making easy money do still involve work.
Hopefully you will have left this post feeling inspired. There is a world of opportunity out there for those who are willing to put themselves out there. So what do you think? Have you tried any of these ideas out? Let me know down below by leaving a comment and you could be featured in a case study on my site!