Whether you are new to your career or an industry veteran with 20 years of experience, it’s likely that you want to increase your take-home pay. Although we can’t guarantee you a raise this year, there are numerous ways to increase your income in 2024 — and you might not even have to leave the house for some of these options.
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Figuring out how to make money means using a three-pronged strategy: Reducing the percentage of your income you’ll need to pay taxes on, lowering the amount of money that goes to essentials — such as utilities — and earning extra money through your primary job or a secondary source. Luckily, technological advances and the rise of the gig economy mean that there are now easy ways tomake money both onlineand off.
If you want to boost your income this year, check out these expert money-making ideas.
Tap Into the Gig Economy
One of the best ways to increase your income in 2024 is to tap into the gig economy based on where you live and what you can offer. The gig economy has created various opportunities for bringing in more money regardless of your skillset.
Here are a few ways that you can make money from the gig economy:
Deliver food on an app like Uber Eats or DoorDash. You can deliver food on a bike if you live in a busy city.
Become a ride-share driver. If you don’t want to deliver food, you can become a ride-share driver on Uber or Lyft during peak hours to make some extra money.
Perform odd jobs on TaskRabbit. You can make money from tasks ranging from furniture assembly to helping someone move.
The goal is to determine which services are in demand where you live so that you can find a way to make money in the gig economy.
This leads us to the next point…
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Start Walking Dogs
Apps like Rover allow you to get paid to spend time with pets. The platform connects dog and cat owners looking for someone to care for their furry friends.
Your options for making money include:
Dog walks: You can make up to $35/hour to walk a dog in your community.
Dog sitting: You can house-sit for someone and get paid to ensure their pet gets cared for.
Pet check-ins: You can make money from checking in on cats and dogs during the day to ensure they get fed.
You can increase your income if you want to stay active or just spend more time with dogs.
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Upgrade Your Skills Online
If you’re concerned about lacking relevant skills, you can upgrade your skills by taking online courses or studying creators on social media. You can browse the offerings on a resource like Udemy or Teachable to see what skills you can learn. The money you can earn will depend on which skill you choose to learn.
Here are some examples of skills worth learning:
Graphic design
Video editing
Copywriting
Anything related to AI-powered tools
The objective is to upgrade your skills upfront so that you can drastically improve your income in the near future.
Try Flipping Stuff
You can get the hang ofselling onlineby cleaning out your home and listing the goods you’re ready to part with on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.
If you develop a knack for photographing and selling your items, offer to manage the listings for other people in your community — for a commission, of course.
Don’t hesitate to think outside the box and sell unconventional goods, too. Jeff Neal, for example, says he takes home $800 per month in profits, on top of the salary from his full-time job, by running his online store, The Critter Depot. His product? Feeder crickets.
Rent Out Your Extra Space
If you live in a popular city and travel often, consider renting out some or part of your home on a platform like Airbnb. Even occasionally renting your space for a weekend might be enough to net you a few hundred dollars.
You can also rent out your garage or any other unused space on Neighbor for those looking for storage in your community.
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Earn Rewards for Your Spending
You may as well earn points and cash for the money you’re already spending. There are apps like Rakuten that let you earn cash-back rewards for doing your shopping as you normally would. You can also use a cash-back rewards credit card to get money back when paying your bills.
Fill Out Surveys
While you won’t get rich from filling out surveys, you can make money from giving your opinion or watching videos. Websites like Swagbucks, InboxDollars and Survey Junkie will let you earn points and get gift cards while you scroll on your couch.
Completing simple tasks in your spare time can earn you points that can be converted to gift cards or cash. If you’re looking to maximize your time, this could be a viable option for making a few extra dollars.
Pay Off Your Debt
The idiom “you need to spend money to make money” wasn’t written with debt repayment in mind, but it could have been.
According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans had over $1 trillion in credit card debt at the end of 2023, which is a record high.
If you’re dealing with consumer debt, especially higher-interest credit cards or lines of credit, work on paying them down faster. Paying off that debt could put the hundreds or even thousands you’re paying annually in interest back in your pocket.
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Open an Etsy Shop
If you have an eye for design or are crafty, consider selling goods on Etsy by opening up your own shop. You can look through popular items to see what’s worth selling and then add your unique twist to it. You can also sell digital printables that can become a passive income stream if you create a product that sells.
Monetize Your Vlog, Blog or Website
If you have a website or YouTube channel, you might be able to make money by monetizing it. One quick way to earn money online is to place ads on your site — you’ll earn money anytime someone views or clicks the ad.
How much you earn depends on your platform and your contract with the advertiser. According to Hootsuite, the YouTube revenue per 100,000 views ranges from $1,000 to $3,000. You could also increase your income by promoting your own products or selling private advertising space.
Claim the Home Office Deduction
If you’re setting up a side gig that’s run out of the house and using part of your home exclusively for your business, you might be entitled to a home office deduction. The IRS allows you to claim a portion of your home expenses, such as rent, electricity, water, gas, internet and phone bills, for business purposes.
The home office deduction also might allow you to deduct a portion of your home maintenance and essential renovations, as long as they’re relevant to your business. So you’ll get an extra pay boost on top of the other benefits of upgrading your home.
It’s important that you make sure to keep your receipts. You’ll need to demonstrate that any purchases were legitimate business expenses if you’re ever the subject of an IRS audit.
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Automate Your Savings
The key to increasing your take-home pay is being smart with your money, and setting up automatic savings withdrawals can help. You can use a banking app like Ally Bank to automate your savings and set up different “buckets” that let you automatically save up for your various financial goals.
You can also make more money by investing your savings in dividend-paying stocks and index funds that give you a return on your money. Additionally, other types of savings, such as an IRA, might make you eligible for a tax credit, which effectively increases your income by lowering your liability.
Sell Your Influence
If you’re already active on sites like Facebook and Twitter, take a tip from social media masters Tony Robbins and Kim Kardashian and earn money online as an influencer. Not only is social media its own legitimate side gig, but using it to build your reputation in an industry related to your main job can raise your profile, making it easier for you to secure a raise.
You can also earn money directly by partnering with brands to use and review specific products or simply let a brand pay to place sponsored content on your profile.
How much you’ll make per blog or social mediapost depends on your following.
Change Your Utility Usage
Signing up for cellphone, cable and internet service is a balancing act between buying enough to cover what you need and not paying for services you don’t use. Look over your recent statements for those services to make sure you’re not paying for extras. You should also consider switching to an alternative cellphone carrier or check out television streaming services and call providers to negotiate better rates on the features you truly want.
Look over your electricity use, too. Some suppliers charge less for energy use later in the evening, so simply making dinner later in the day could help you save. And if you live in a sunny state with a high electricity cost, renting solar panels might save you even more money.
You may even want to consider using solar energy in your home as the government incentivizes Americans to switch to renewable energy sources. You can turn your solar panels into a side hustle and earn up to $3,000 annually by selling your excess energy to the utility company.
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Start Freelancing
This last point can bring many opportunities to increase your income together. You can start freelancing to perform jobs on a per-project basis to make extra money when you have the time to do so.
What kind of freelance work can you do?
You can create graphics on Upwork for up to $35/hour.
You can earn an average of $54/hour as an AI prompt engineer.
You can find clients for your personal training business by growing your Instagram following.
The goal is to learn new skills and leverage your existing capabilities to seek out freelancing opportunities.
Sylvie Tremblay contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 15 Ways To Dramatically Increase Your Income in 2024
