What do you do with your evenings? In this current time of expensive living, utilising our spare time to earn a bit of additional income is a great way to help make ends meet. But how can you earn money from home? How can you fit opportunities into your already busy life? What can you do with the time after you've got the kids to bed? Did you know that a lot of money can be made with your laptop? Let's have a look at what you can do and answer the question of how can I use my laptop to make money.
Complete online surveys
One of the most simple ways to earn extra income is by completing online surveys. Basic tasks such as signing up for free trials and sharing your opinion on current events can net you some money. Sign up with different market research sites and look for online opportunities to fit in with your daily routine. You could earn £5 or more every day by simply dedicating a bit of time in the evening to completing surveys.
Start a blog
How about starting a blog just like this one? You can carve out a little corner of the internet all for yourself, to write about subjects that matter to you or provide advice or share knowledge. Put adverts on your site and you can earn whenever someone visits. On top of that, other companies might want to get their message in front of your audience and they'll pay you for the privilege.
Become a social media manager
There are so many businesses out there, ranging in size, that don't have the capacity or skill to produce quality content for social media such as Twitter. This is where you could come in as a freelancer. If you are great in the world of social media, why not get paid for it? You could be producing posts for start-up businesses or working as part of a shift time for a larger organisation.
Offer virtual assistant services
Similar to the social media management idea, how about becoming a virtual assistant? There are hundreds, probably thousands of business people who don't have enough time in their busy day to complete all the tasks they need to. They require a helping hand, with activities such as diary management, travel booking and typing up notes. If you have a laptop, you could provide this service and get paid well.
Sell your belongings online
Fancy a declutter? Bought too many things impulsively and want to claw back some of the space in your home? Now is the time to sell your stuff online. Use fee-free platforms such as Facebook marketplace for bulky items and eBay for anything that is niche or will fetch more money via a bidding war. Take decent pictures and be sure to put the right figure for postage on the listing. If you underestimate how much it will cost to send via a courier, it will eat into your profits.
Buy & sell
How about using your time to buy and sell things online? If you can find items that people really need, at a price that you can afford to buy, you can sell them at a profit, making money. You could start your own website or simply sell on platforms such as eBay and Etsy. If you can get ahead of the game and predict popular products before other sellers get their hands on them, you can buy cheaply and make an extra profit when you sell.
Freelance writing
If you have a way with words, how about writing for a bit of extra income? Sell your story to newspapers – they need content and will pay you for it. Find opportunities online by looking for hashtags on Twitter such as #journorequest. You'll be surprised at how many outlets are interested in good stories and if you can write them, even better.
Create digital products
How can I use my laptop to make money? Well, how do you fancy creating a passive income? One that can earn you money even whilst you are asleep? A great way to do this is by creating digital products that people can download whenever they want. These digital products could include eBooks, fonts, and wallpapers for phones and desktops. website templates, audio files, back to school routine PDFs. There are lots of opportunities in the world of digital products and if you price them right, they can sell over and over again.
Start an online business
How do you fancy starting an online business? This could be anything you fancy, from a website selling fancy dress costumes to a platform where people can pay to download tutor videos to learn English. New businesses start every day and if you have a great name, branding, products, prices and customer service, your business could become a success. You could start small, run this in your spare time and you never know, it could grow to become your full-time job.
Earn cashback
Lots of people shop online. The average person makes 19 transactions online every year, so there will be people making more than that to accommodate for those people who don't shop online. If you do and are not clicking through to the retailer via a cashback website, you're missing out on free money. You could make 5% on your purchase, which, if you're spending £100, work out at £5. That cashback can quickly add up when you do a lot of online shopping.
Make investments
How can I use my laptop to make money? How about making your money make money? Look at investing some of your savings and you could do this in your spare time. You can find out more about investments here.
Start a YouTube channel
Every YouTuber started in the same position as you. Every channel was created and the first video was uploaded. If you love to create content and videos, YouTube could be a great outlet for you. You never know what a YouTube channel could grow to become and even small channels can create an income.
Tutor students
It's been half mentioned already but if you have the knowledge to share, you can be paid to tutor others via the internet. Once upon a time, tutoring was done face to face but with the popularity and easy access of video calls, this can now be done in this fashion. A huge bonus of online tutoring is that you don't have to commute anywhere and can log off one call, straight into another. Maximising the time you have to help others and make cash.
Sell your photographs
Our final answer to how can I use my laptop to make money is all about photography. If you have decent photographs that you have taken, why just leave them on your hard drive? Get them uploaded to photo-selling websites and make some money!
As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities you can partake in when you're looking for answers to the question of how can I use my laptop to make money. These barely scratch the surface too, there are so many possibilities and avenues you could venture upon to earn some extra income. Take some time to start something new and find ways to support your family from the comfort of your sofa with your laptop.