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4 Interesting Ways To Make Side Income Including Sleeping and Selling Your Poop

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 74 Comments

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Check out this list of interesting ways to make money! #makemoney #makingmoneyThere are many different ways to make a side income out there. You can make money at a part-time job, a full-time job, online, offline, and any other way that you are able to.

Side income can come in handy, and sometimes you may want to branch out and try something different.

Maybe you need a significant amount of side income to pay off a large unexpected expense or maybe you are just looking for a more interesting way to make money.

Whatever your reason may be, there is something out there for you to do.

If you’re interested in reading about the ways I’ve made extra money, read 10 Things I’ve Done To Make Extra Money. Also, don’t forget that even if you don’t have a blog, you can still make money through your social media accounts such as Twitter and Instagram!

Below are four interesting side income ideas:

 

1. Sleep for extra money.

The first of the four side income ideas I will discuss today is the NASA sleep study.

Getting paid to sleep sounds interesting, right? Well for some it can pay fairly well, to the tune of $18,000. All you have to do is lay in a bed for 70 days.

NASA is doing this research in order to find out more about how space affects astronauts. From their website they state:

Head-down bed rest helps researchers study people on earth in a way that causes some of the changes the body goes through while traveling in space without gravity… Watching you will help scientists learn how an astronaut’s body will change in weightlessness during space flight in the future.

You will be in the bed at all times, even to shower or use the bathroom. I think this would be a very difficult study to do as I would probably go crazy not seeing sunlight or walking for that many days, but it does pay well.

If you’re accepted into this study, you will receive $1,200 per week for your time.

 

2. Sell your poop for side income.

Being honest here, this side income idea is probably the reason most of you clicked over to this blog post.

Yes, you can actually make money selling your poop.

According to The Washington Post, you can make up to $13,000 a year by selling your poop to the company OpenBiome. OpenBiome needs it because it is “administered to patients who are very sick with infections of a bacteria called C. difficile.”

The company is willing to pay so much for these donations as finding a worthy donor is quite difficult. They need extremely healthy people, with only around 4% of people who have applied actually passing all of their tests.

So, what does the company pay?

They pay $40 for each sample you give. You receive a $50 weekly bonus on top of that if you donate five days each week. The average donor donates around three to four times a week.

If you are interested in this side income idea, you can check out the details on how to apply here.

Related content: How To Make $180,000+ A Year Selling Your Poop

 

3. Rent yourself out to others (as a friend).

I recently heard about the website Rentafriend.com and knew I had to include it in this side income ideas post.

This website allows you to get hired to be someone’s friend. They might bring you to a party, as a wedding guest, to go out to dinner with, to the gym (so they can have a workout buddy), and so on.

The website specifically says that it is platonic friendships only and is not an escort agency, so I’m assuming everyone on this website is strictly paying for friendships.

I did a simple search on their website to see who is listed on the website and I actually came across a Facebook friend of mine.

On Rentafriend.com, they state that some work full-time and make over $2,000 a week as a rental friend, whereas some work part-time and earn between $300 to $500 a weekend.

 

4. Rent your car out – probably one of the easier side income ideas in this post.

There are many car sharing websites out there, such as RelayRides, if you just do a simple Google search. With these car sharing websites, you can usually rent out your car hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly.

You most likely do you use your car at all hours of the day, so some people try to make extra money by renting out their car for when they aren’t using it.

You do need to be careful with this. Make sure your car insurance company will allow you to do this. You also have to realize that you might see some damage with your car as strangers will be driving it.

Depending on the car that you are renting and the duration of each rental, you may be able to make anywhere from $10 to over $100 for each time your car is rented out.

How far would you go to make side income? What side income ideas would you never do?

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  4. Revanche says

    I’ve got some practice at that lying in bed for long periods of time thing thanks to severe pain flares and even I would have a hard time going 70 days straight! even with twitter and other internet to keep you company, I bet most of us would be stir crazy after a week. I do wonder, though, do they change the sheets regularly? And how big is the bed? 🙂

    Reply

  10. Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom says

    70 days strapped to a bed. That’s some serious study, no wonder it pays so well!

    If I thought I was in the top 4% of healthy people, I’d be shipping my sh.. well you know, off today!

    Reply

  12. Clarisse says

    I had read about the NASA sleep study and that’s a pretty huge amount! 🙂 Renting your car is a great side income too, I know someone who already bought another car because she made a good income from renting her own car.

    Reply

  13. Ree Klein says

    You are CRAZY if you think I’m doing #1 or #2 (no pun intended!)!!!!

    But, your post illustrates that there are a bazillion ways to earn money. These days anyone who cries that there are no opportunities or it’s too hard to get a job is just plain lazy. Hey, maybe those are the people who should sign up for the sleep study!

    Cheers,
    Ree

    Reply

  14. Stephanie says

    Selling poop. You always find the weird stuff! Man, I’ve been a wedding date for a lot of my friends, who knew I should have been charging? I was just in it for the free dinner.

    Reply

  18. Gen Y Finance Guy says

    Now all you need to do is add a 5th option for making money from a side hustle. Donating sperm or eggs, not sure if that one goes before or after selling your poop.

    I admit that it was the selling poop that got me to click through, still a kid at heart.

    Cheers!

    Reply

  19. Michelle @ Modern Acupuncture Marketing says

    What have I been doing with my life, sleeping like a normal person and flushing away money? Got to be honest, I couldn’t do either of those options. I like the car renting idea though. I might be feel guilty getting paid to be nice to someone and go places with them. Interesting concept, though…

    Reply

  20. Rick Laming says

    Interesting read. As painful as laying in a bed for 70 days or as odd and uncomfortable it could be to sell my own excrement for some extra cash sounds. I think the idea of renting my car would be too much to bear. But nevertheless these are some great ideas. Good work on thinking outside the box!

    Thanks again.

    Rick Laming @Getrichbrothers.com

    Reply

  22. Fervent Finance says

    Interesting should have been in all caps, italicized, and in bold. Being paid to be a friend reminds me of the hilarious movie with Paul Rudd “I Love You, Man” where he doesn’t have any guy friends to be in his wedding party 🙁

    Reply

  26. nicole dziedzic says

    Okay I could do the sleeping one for sure, I mean who on here couldn’t need more sleep and get paid to do it, but the poop one sounds a little strange, I wouldn’t be able to do that one, I will just stick to the old way of selling my unused items online or yard sales.

    Reply

  28. Squirrelers says

    Goes to show that if people are desperate enough, there are ways to make legitimate side income! Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. A few of these, well, all I can say is “who knew?”

    Reply

  30. Mike Collins says

    Well that’s a catchy headline! Selling poop is something I’ve never heard of, and I like the idea of getting paid to sleep but 70 days? I’d miss too much and I’m guessing health would decline significantly.

    Reply

  31. Kali @ XY Planning Network says

    From the headline I was thinking selling your own waste was going to be the wildest part of this post.. but for some reason I think it’s even crazier that someone would literally pay to rent a friend. Wacky! I guess there truly is something for everyone out there.. 🙂

    Reply

  33. Michelle says

    I just saw a thing on t.v. about how Japanese people are so lonely that they are renting friends to do things with. It doesn’t surprise me that we have the same issue in the U.S. 🙁

    Reply

  34. Laurie says

    When I read that you can sell your own poop for side income, I told my hon about it and laughed.

    It’s also gross too. Ewww!!

    Now I wish you didn’t mention it.

    Reply

  36. diane @smartmoneysimplelife says

    Hmmm… you’ve got me thinking Michelle. I wonder if there are similarly wacky ways of side hustling in Australia. Definitely requires some research!

    I wonder what one would put on the customs declaration for poop? Would Aussie poop cut the mustard? Or, do we eat too much Vegemite?

    Interesting stuff for sure!

    Reply

  37. Jessica says

    Am I the only one who was excited about the sleep study? As a single Mom, I couldn’t do that to my son…but the idea that I could have sleep? I walk around sleep deprived and work 40 hours a week to make just over what the weekly amount is, in a month. Single Mom, work full time, full time online student. This 70 days sounds like an AMAZING vacation. Probably just me though. lol

    Reply

  38. Ryan says

    I love the idea of rent yourself as a friend. Weird, but it sounds like it will work, given that there are tons of people without any real friends.

    Reply

  39. Robyn Ferris says

    Living in rural Tenn. & herniated disc I could sure use any way to make extra cash. Please email me anything I could participate in. Thank you for in for sharing the information you find.

    Reply

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