How to make an extra $100 in a day

If you need a little more money in your pocket to see you through to the end of the month, there are a lot of ways you can make an extra $100 a day — and some of them you can do online from home.

Check out these ways to make $100 today!

Got a little bit of extra time on your hands? Just follow this advice to monetize those spare moments. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to putting an extra Ben Franklin in your billfold.

As you read through this list, keep in mind that all of the figures about potential earnings are before taxes.

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Pet sitting/walking: Rover and Wag

• Potential earnings: $16/hour
• Work 6.25 hours in one day to earn $100

Are you an animal lover? Then you might be a good candidate to sell your on-demand services as a pet-sitter or a dog walker through a variety of apps including Rover and Wag.

To qualify for the job, you typically just have to demonstrate prior experience with animals, be competent at using collars and harnesses, and demonstrate that you can remain in control of unpredictable situations with dogs.

The average hourly salary for a dog walker with Rover is $16, according to Glassdoor. But the earnings could be higher if you manage to take more than one dog out for a walk at a time.

Nanny for hire: SitterCity

• Potential earnings: $17.50/hour
• Work just under 6 hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re good with kids, you might consider being a babysitter or nanny for hire. SitterCity is one app that can connect you with families in need of child care. Just log on and complete a profile with your bio, preferences, availability and a photo. It’s free to register!

According to SitterCity, the average wage for a nanny in June 2019 was $17.50.

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Similar services you may want to check out include Bambino, UrbanSitter, and SeekingSitters.

Take online surveys: MTurk 

• Potential earnings: $7.30/hour
• Work 13 and a half hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re wondering how to make $100 a day online, don’t overlook using Amazon as part of your strategy. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gives you the opportunity to take surveys and do other kinds of micro-gigs for a small cash reward.

One of our staff members did a deep dive on working MTurk gigs. He spent 30 minutes a day for a month and managed to earn $110! That works out to be about $7.30/hour. You can read all about his experience here.

However, we should make one final point: While it’s easy to complete MTurk tasks while sitting on the couch watching TV, the work can be repetitive and boring. You probably wouldn’t want to plan on doing this more than a few hours a day.

Deliver groceries: Shipt and Instacart

• Potential earnings: $16 to $22 an hour
• Work 4 and a half hours in one day to earn $100

Apps like Shipt and Instacart give you the opportunity to pick up grocery orders and deliver them to people’s homes. All you need to get started is to be 18+, have a smartphone, valid driver’s license, auto insurance and a reliable vehicle — plus be able to lift about 40 pounds.

Shipt says you can earn anywhere between $16 to $22 an hour. There’s the potential to earn even more when you factor in tips.

Do small tasks online: Fiverr

• Potential earnings: $20/hour (assuming you can do four tasks in an hour)
• Work 5 hours in one day to earn $100

No matter what kind of skill set you have, you can probably find a way to make $100 a day online with Fiverr!

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Fiverr is a site where people post a variety of tasks they’ll do starting at $5 a pop. When we checked, we found the following services being offered:

• Make an animated logo video intro
• Give personalized dating advice
• Perform property title searches
• Scrape business data with emails from Google Maps
• Proofread and edit any text up to 1,000 words

Some of these tasks might only take about 15 minutes or so. The key is to know which ones fit that criteria.

Once you cull the herd, you’d have to perform about 20 of them in a day. It sounds like a lot, but it is possible — particularly if you’re proficient in whatever it is you do. There’s a market for just about everything out there.

Pick up odd jobs: TaskRabbit

• Potential earnings: $25/hour
• Work 4 hours in one day to earn $100

Are you good with furniture assembly, mounting and installation, moving and packing or general handyman jobs? TaskRabbit lets you pick up odd jobs in those and other categories.

The pay varies by job. Here are some sample rates advertised on the service’s homepage:

• Assemble a table/desk – starting at $49
• Mount a TV or mirror- starting at $56
• Move boxes via truck – starting at $51
• Clean bathroom/kitchen – starting at $54

You’re not paid by the hour, but by the task — no matter how long it takes to complete. So let’s say it takes you two hours to mount a flat-screen TV on a wall in somebody’s home. If you do that in two homes over the span of about four hours, you’ll have your $100.

Online tutoring/teaching: Chegg and Udemy

• Potential earnings: $20/hour
• Work 5 hours in one day to earn $100

If you’re looking to make $100 a day on the internet, either tutoring online or creating your own online classes could be a good ongoing source of income for you. Chegg is a leader in the former space, while Udemy dominates the latter.

Sites like these allow you to virtually connect with students in need of lessons and do the teaching right from your home computer. This is a particularly good job for teachers who may be off during the summer.

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According to Chegg, pay rates start at $20+ an hour.

Ride-share driver: Uber and Lyft

• Potential earnings: $15 to $16 an hour
• Work just over 6 hours in one day to earn $100

It’s entirely possible to make a living driving for ride-share services like Uber and Lyft — but you only need a handful of hours to make $100 fast!

You can expect to make estimated earnings of $15 to $16 an hour by being a ride-share driver, according to Glassdoor. Meanwhile, you can read about money expert Clark Howard’s experience of driving for both services here.

Final thought

It’s not that difficult to make $100 a day. The key is to know the opportunities that are out there and hone in on what makes sense for your life.

Maybe after reading this article, you’ll decide that you need to make a lot more than $100 in a day. In that case, you may want to see our piece that outlines 6 steps to make $1,000.

Meanwhile, if you specifically want to start earning money from home, check out our Work From Home Guide.

More Clark.com stories you may like: 

How to earn the Southwest Companion Pass through 2020

The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is about the most valuable thing ever for those who want to travel for free with points and miles.

Companion Pass holders get to add someone to all of their reservations for just the cost of taxes and fees, typically $5.60 per domestic flight. This year and in previous years, my wife and I have both earned our passes by receiving the sign-up bonuses for both a personal and a small business credit card, plus a little extra spending.

But now, Southwest has released a new small business credit card with a bombshell offer of 80,000 points for new applicants. By itself, this offer will get you most of the way to the 110,000 points needed to earn the pass, which is valid until the end of the next calendar year.

About the new Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business credit card

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business small business credit card offers you 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on new purchases within three months of account opening. You also earn 3x points for Southwest purchases and 2x points for spending on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable, and phone services. You earn one point per dollar spent elsewhere.

Benefits include four upgraded boardings per year and up to 365 credits each year towards in-flight Wi-Fi purchases (normally $8 each). You’ll also receive a $100 credit towards the application fee for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, which includes PreCheck. There’s a $199 annual fee for this card, but you receive 9,000 points each year, worth about $135 in travel.

Southwest Rapid Rewards points are worth about 1.5 cents each towards airfare, making this sign-up bonus by itself worth around $1,200 in award travel.

How to use this card to get your Companion Pass

By meeting the $5,000 minimum spending requirement, you’ll earn at total of at least 85,000 points, leaving you just 25,000 points away from earning the Companion Pass, which will be valid until the end of 2020.

You can earn those additional 25,000 points through additional spending on your card, or any of the other Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards you might have, or by flying Southwest.

In fact, you may have enough points already to allow this card to put you over the top and get the Companion Pass. But if you also apply for one of the personal Rapid Reward cards you’ll quickly earn more than enough points, as their sign-up bonuses are currently 40,000 points.

What you can do with the Companion Pass

You can add your designated companion to any ticket in your name, including both paid and award tickets. It even works if someone else pays for the ticket or if someone else uses their points to book your award flight.

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There’s no limit to the number of times you can add a companion, so this pass has nearly unlimited value. You can change your designated companion three times per calendar year,  just note that you must fly with your companion when he or she has a ticket.

Can you qualify for a small business credit card?

Operating nearly any kind of business, no matter how small, can allow you to be approved for a small business credit card. This includes not just corporations and LLC’s, but also unincorporated sole proprietors.

So, if you babysit, drive for a ride sharing company or just sell stuff online, you can qualify for the small business credit card. If you don’t have an Employer Identification Number (EIN), you can use your Social Security Number (SSN) instead.

A quick word about credit cards

The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is incredibly valuable, but you always have to look at the big picture before applying for a new credit card.

Money expert Clark Howard only recommends using rewards credit cards when you can avoid interest charges by paying off your entire statement balance every month. If having a credit card will cause you to make unnecessary purchases, then it’s best not to worry about them. For more information, read Clark’s philosophy on credit cards.

More Clark.com stories you may like:

Sam’s Club Mastercard review: Great rewards on gas, travel and dining

Review Summary: The Sam’s Club® Mastercard® offers a very high rate of cash back on gas, but much less so at Sam’s Club and for most other purchases.

Pros

Cons

• 5% cash back on most gas purchases
• 3% back on travel and dining
• No annual fee

• Only 1% cash back at Sam’s Club
• Bonus cash back on gas is limited to $6,000 a year and excludes supermarkets and other warehouse stores that sell gas
• Minimal sign-up bonus

How the Sam’s Club® Mastercard®credit card works

The Sam’s Club Mastercard has no annual fee with your paid Sam’s Club membership and can double as your membership card. This card can be used at Sam’s Club and anywhere else that accepts Mastercard. You earn cash back on your purchases, which automatically gets loaded to your membership account.

Sam’s Club Mastercard review: Table of contents

How to earn rewards 

With this card, you earn 5% cash back on your first $6,000 of gas purchased at U.S. gas stations. You also earn 3% cash back on all travel and dining purchases, and 1% cash back at Sam’s Club and on all other purchases. Just note that you can only earn a maximum of $5,000 in cash back rewards each year.

Fidelity Rewards review: Earn 2% cash back with no annual fee

Review Summary: The Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Credit Card offers a simple but valuable cash back offer. This card is also appealing to those who want their rewards to go directly into an investment account.

Pros

Cons

• $100 welcome bonus after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days of the account opening
• 2% cash back on everything with no limits
• Rewards are deposited into a qualifying Fidelity investment account
• No annual fee

• Must be a Fidelity customer to apply
• 1% foreign transaction fee

How the Fidelity Rewards credit card works

This card offers you 2% cash back on all purchases and your rewards must be deposited into a qualifying Fidelity account such as a brokerage account, 529 college savings plan, retirement account or health savings account (HSA). Otherwise, it’s a very simple card that comes with some valuable shopping and travel benefits. There’s no annual fee and a 1% foreign transaction fee.

Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature review: Table of contents

How to earn rewards 

The Fidelity Rewards card offers you a blanket two reward points per dollar spent, and reward points don’t expire as long as your account remains open. There is no limit to the number of points you can earn.

Review: U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card

Review Summary: This card lets you choose the bonus categories where you earn 5% cash back, plus it has a $150 welcome bonus and no annual fee.

Pros

Cons

• Choose your 5% cash back bonus categories each quarter
• Also earn 2% cash back on one “everyday” category
• $150 welcome bonus and no annual fee

• 3% foreign transaction fee (2% if in US Dollars)
• You must remember to enroll in the cash back categories every quarter
• Higher standard interest rate than most non-rewards cards

How the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card credit card works

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How to earn rewards 

You start off with a $150 welcome bonus after you use your card to spend $500 within 90 days of account opening. This card offers you 5% cash back on up to $2,000 spent each quarter on two categories of purchases. You even get to choose the two categories that are eligible for the bonus out of a list of 12. These categories include things like home utilities, department stores and ground transportation. However, you must remember to enroll in the categories of your choosing every quarter.

You also earn 2% cash back from one of three categories that you choose — gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores are included here. You receive 1% cash back on all other purchases.