The whole purpose of this blog has been to help readers make more money. If you have followed us since the beginning, I hope you were able to implement one or several ideas, from making money around Christmas to starting investing or creating a stream of online income.

Everyone can make a little extra money, it is not that difficult. What I hear most around is “I don’t have time” or “I don’t know where to start”. To tackle the first point, ok, you don’t have time. But how about we crunch the numbers for a second?

If you manage to earn an extra $100 every month for the next 20 years, your retirement nest egg will have… $46,500 saved! Based on the money being invested at an average 6% rate of return.

Now, if you do not save that extra $100 per month, how long will it take you to earn $46,500 in your 50s? If you make $4,000 a month, that means you will have to stay a full year longer at your job. And I am not even including taxes being taken off your paycheck or the fact that inflation will eat up a good chunk as well.

Meanwhile, making an extra $100 every month to set aside for your retirement shouldn’t take a lot of time out of your ordinary routine.

If you have a day job, working an extra hour or two per week should get you there, depending on your hourly rate. You could also try to bank your raises from now on. After all, you are living on the money you currently make, so setting aside the difference should result in no change to your daily life.

Lately, I have made money in several ways that are not usual for me. I sold my old laptop for $200. I put my empty rooms for rent on Airbnb and made around $400 in November. I even made $500 in a day taking an aggressive position in Forex trading (I usually invest over longer periods of time and look for safer, lower returns. Do not try this with money you can’t afford to lose as it is a risky endeavor).

Renting my guest rooms was hard work but if we go back to the $100 a month example, I would have made in one month enough to cover the extra retirement funding of four months.. You can do it three times a year and be done with it.

There are many, may ways you can make up those $100. Freelancing, baby-sitting other kids, selling old stuff, or building a more aggressive investment portfolio, although the latter requires initial funds.

How I started was never saying no to a job. Since my teen years, I got a wide variety of side hustles and after a few years, I found out that I preferred tutoring rather than teaching the piano for example. I was happy flipping burgers but miserable in a call center or working in sales.

After defining what worked for me, I studied my employers. When did they need more staff? Could I get an extra shift during the holidays? What was, in there eyes, a good employee? I tried to be the best I could so they would hire me when I needed more hours.

Then I got fed up and decided to work for myself, but still juggling several sources of income, to more than cover my living expenses and make sure my future was covered as well.

Making that extra $100, or even $500 a month in extra income is not that hard if you are really motivated. Dig up the archives for more money making ideas!

This post was featured on the Yakezie Carnival, Lifestyle Carnival, thank you!