The Student Room Group

How to make extra income?

Hi everyone,

I'm studying for a psychology degree at the moment and working at a bakery part time to earn a bit of money. Problem is, it doesn't provide quite enough money for me to be comfortable money-wise. I can't get a second job because i work shifts at the bakery, so have to be available any time to work.

Anyone have any ways to earn a bit of extra income? Im not too fussy, id try most things :smile:
Reply 1
Would it not be more beneficial for you to find a stable job with proper shifts like a supermarket/retail position? They are normally better paid as well, plus if you work in tesco/Sainsburys you get the bonus of discount off your food shopping.

Other than that the only suggestions are probably those survey paying sites, tutoring or even matched betting if you have some capital you can start up with.


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Reply 2
Original post by Alarae
Would it not be more beneficial for you to find a stable job with proper shifts like a supermarket/retail position? They are normally better paid as well, plus if you work in tesco/Sainsburys you get the bonus of discount off your food shopping.

Other than that the only suggestions are probably those survey paying sites, tutoring or even matched betting if you have some capital you can start up with.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App


Thanks for the advice, I like the idea of working for a big chain like that but unfortunately the jobs are quite hard to come by but i do keep my eyes open :smile: plus there are certain advantages to the job i have now.....i'm paid in cash weekly, i can take my holidays when i want, there's no weekend or bank holiday working, it's early shifts which i like and a good location to get to :smile:
Try elancing maybe? I'm doing that as a second job at the moment and managed to land an ongoing admin assisstant role which pays about £6 an hour, it isn't much money but it's a good little earner. I'm working full time at the moment and needed some extra cash to help fund my medicine degree which I'm starting in September. I use Guru.com which is USA based but I think you can also use elance.com or something which I think is UK based. Just make sure you use paypal to collect your wages.
Reply 4
Original post by littleeggy
Try elancing maybe? I'm doing that as a second job at the moment and managed to land an ongoing admin assisstant role which pays about £6 an hour, it isn't much money but it's a good little earner. I'm working full time at the moment and needed some extra cash to help fund my medicine degree which I'm starting in September. I use Guru.com which is USA based but I think you can also use elance.com or something which I think is UK based. Just make sure you use paypal to collect your wages.


Thank you for your advice :smile: what kind of things do you have to do for your admin assistant role? Also, as it's US based, do you get paid in dollars?
Reply 5
Original post by SpottedZebra
Hi everyone,

I'm studying for a psychology degree at the moment and working at a bakery part time to earn a bit of money. Problem is, it doesn't provide quite enough money for me to be comfortable money-wise. I can't get a second job because i work shifts at the bakery, so have to be available any time to work.

Anyone have any ways to earn a bit of extra income? Im not too fussy, id try most things :smile:


Online freelancing, although you have to pick the wheat from the chaff. There are a LOT of low paying crappy jobs, but quite a few diamonds in there as well. There a wide range of sites, such as freelancer, elance, and odesk that have thousands of online jobs daily that you can do from your computer and don't need any specialist knowledge except knowing how to speak english.
sellng worn thongs on the tinternet. serious.
Reply 7
Original post by dgeorge
Online freelancing, although you have to pick the wheat from the chaff. There are a LOT of low paying crappy jobs, but quite a few diamonds in there as well. There a wide range of sites, such as freelancer, elance, and odesk that have thousands of online jobs daily that you can do from your computer and don't need any specialist knowledge except knowing how to speak english.


Thank you :smile: do i need to be wary that some of these sites are scams? or are most genuine?
Original post by SpottedZebra
Thank you for your advice :smile: what kind of things do you have to do for your admin assistant role? Also, as it's US based, do you get paid in dollars?


Hello, yes I get paid in dollars. But as I said, if you prefer, you can use a UK based free lancer site. I just do things like proof reading, typing stuff up from audio, menial admin tasks using word and excel. Nothing difficult believe me! These are the kind of tasks that I can easily do while listening to TV which I would be doing anyway. As the poster above has said, there are some really low crappy paid jobs but also some real gems too.

I have a full time admin based job at the moment and a LinkedIn profile so I tend to link my elance account with that so people can see my skills and current experience.
Good luck! :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by littleeggy
Hello, yes I get paid in dollars. But as I said, if you prefer, you can use a UK based free lancer site. I just do things like proof reading, typing stuff up from audio, menial admin tasks using word and excel. Nothing difficult believe me! These are the kind of tasks that I can easily do while listening to TV which I would be doing anyway. As the poster above has said, there are some really low crappy paid jobs but also some real gems too.

I have a full time admin based job at the moment and a LinkedIn profile so I tend to link my elance account with that so people can see my skills and current experience.
Good luck! :smile:


HAve you found being paid in dollars a problem, or is there a way to convert to pounds through paypal or something? Also are the jobs you do long term or just one off jobs? :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by SpottedZebra
Thank you :smile: do i need to be wary that some of these sites are scams? or are most genuine?


The sites I listed are all bid sites - where others post jobs and you make an application. The sites themselves are all legit, but it's the people who post them who may be shady. My personal general rule is to stay away from jobs coming out from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. They usually want a ton of work for pennies.

Other good ideas are content mills like Demand Studios, Constant Content, Textbroker, etc.
Reply 11
Original post by dgeorge
The sites I listed are all bid sites - where others post jobs and you make an application. The sites themselves are all legit, but it's the people who post them who may be shady. My personal general rule is to stay away from jobs coming out from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. They usually want a ton of work for pennies.

Other good ideas are content mills like Demand Studios, Constant Content, Textbroker, etc.


Thank you :smile:
Original post by SpottedZebra
HAve you found being paid in dollars a problem, or is there a way to convert to pounds through paypal or something? Also are the jobs you do long term or just one off jobs? :smile:


You can create a dollars account or convert to pounds. I've created a dollars account so I can convert it all to pounds later. I just want to keep track of the amount i've been paid in dollars I just find it easier to do it that way. It's a bidding site so it just depends, some people advertise for a long term admin assistant to help with things, some people advertise for a one off job that they want done e.g. transcribing a DVD. Just depends.

The work I'm doing at the moment is a long term admin assistant post for about £5.50 ($8.50) an hour, 5 hours a week.

As I said, it's not much but helps to contribute to my uni fund. If I find something long term that is better paid then I will let the person know and quit. But as he has has trained me to do the tasks he wants done, I might be able to negotiate a slightler higher salary. It's all a game, you have to be able to bargain with people. If you are starting out, it is best to bid for a low price for short term roles. You will get a good reputation on the site and will eventually be able to bid for higher paying roles as you have skills and experience.
Reply 13
Original post by littleeggy
You can create a dollars account or convert to pounds. I've created a dollars account so I can convert it all to pounds later. I just want to keep track of the amount i've been paid in dollars I just find it easier to do it that way. It's a bidding site so it just depends, some people advertise for a long term admin assistant to help with things, some people advertise for a one off job that they want done e.g. transcribing a DVD. Just depends.

The work I'm doing at the moment is a long term admin assistant post for about £5.50 ($8.50) an hour, 5 hours a week.

As I said, it's not much but helps to contribute to my uni fund. If I find something long term that is better paid then I will let the person know and quit. But as he has has trained me to do the tasks he wants done, I might be able to negotiate a slightler higher salary. It's all a game, you have to be able to bargain with people. If you are starting out, it is best to bid for a low price for short term roles. You will get a good reputation on the site and will eventually be able to bid for higher paying roles as you have skills and experience.


Thank you :smile:

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