Passive Income Ideas Case Study: How I Increased My Monthly Income By $497 In 15 Days
Chain of Wealth
Today I am going to show you how I made an extra $497 of passive income in 15 days.
I was able to make this extra cash while still working my full time job and having a social life on the weekend.
I’m sure you know that successful people have tons of passive income streams.
In fact, the average millionaire has 7 streams of income!
I’m going to teach you some of my top passive income ideas that have now become my go-to strategies. (and they’re not what you think).
Now, you may be asking how I made extra cash while working full time and be able to make it to brunch on Saturday morning with friends.
I liked to call it, The Laundry Method.
In this case study, I am going to show you exactly how I did it, step-by-step.
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How The Laundry Method Saved Me Time and Made Me Extra Cash.
Now here’s what makes the Laundry Method amazing-
You get paid for the routine tasks you were going to do anyway.
The whole point is you are not actively going out of your way to do any additional work over and above your daily tasks.
This strategy will teach you how to take passive income ideas and actually implement them by incorporating them into every day life.
Before I learned about the Laundry Method, I was putting any little extra purchase on my credit card and was constantly feeling overwhelmed at work and at home.
2 weeks after learning this strategy I:
- Paid back my credit card
- Slept better at night
- Felt like I was in control of my life and not the other way around
- Was able to pay cash for a brunch out with my friends
(This was my statement before using the Laundry Method)
…(and this was what my credit card statement looked like after paying it off.)
I know you shouldn’t carry a balance, but as an elementary school teacher at the time, it was really tough trying to live life and make ends meet every month.
If you are like me and are looking for creative ways to make some extra money in a “passive income” way, this guide is for you.
The 3 Easy Steps to Using "The Laundry Method" To Make Passive Income During Your Regular Daily Routine
Step 1: Monetize Your Commute by Getting Paid to go to Work
Step 2: Make Money While You Sleep (Literally).
Step 3: Realize You Can Get Paid to Workout.
Bonus Step- Maximizing Your “Income Generating Time”, to earn even more money.
Here is why this technique works so well (and why it has to do with laundry):
Think about the last time you had to wash, dry, fold and put away laundry.
Is this your favorite thing to do?
I’m going to assume not.
In fact, most people would admit that laundry is their least favorite chore to do; but we do it all the time anyway.
Why not get paid for the activities/chores you already do on a regular basis? Maybe that would make doing these life necessities a little bit easier or better yet, fun!
There are 4 super easy steps to the Laundry Method and I go over each one and how I use it in day to day life.
One of the things I love the most about the Laundry Method is it’s an easy way for people to make passive income with no money or upfront investment.
Now it’s time to break down the step-by-step method I used.
Step 1: Monetize Your Commute by Getting Paid to go to Work
A handful of weeks ago, I always felt like a spinning tornado out of control.
I was overwhelmed at home with mountains of laundry piling up, dusty table tops and a floor that needed to be vacuumed.
I felt tired all the time and would just come home after work and grow roots into the couch all night.
With piles of uncleaned clothes, you can imagine the struggle I faced in the morning to pick something comfortable, yet professional to wear to work.
This delay often put me leaving late for work and then sitting in extra traffic each morning.
It was exhausting-
I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean and barely able to keep my head above water.
What added to the stress what that I was always eating out- more like stopping and getting something to eat on the way home and eating my dinner at stop lights. This is not ideal for anyone, especially someone who already has a tight budget.
I knew that something needed to change.
That’s when I learned about the Laundry Method.
Like most other people, every Monday through Friday I am in the rat race to get to work and then home in the evening.
One day, a co-worker asked if I could pick them up and give them a lift to work that day since their car was in the shop.
Happy to help, it was no problem to pick them up in the morning and then drop them off in the evening. After all, they lived right on my direct route to and from work anyway, so it was no extra hassle.
Then it got me thinking-
If my co-worker needed a ride to work one day, other people probably did to. Since I lived in the residential area of town and drove to the “business- side” of town every day, maybe other people would need rides into work or home from work.
I decided to download Uber and give it a try.
My theory was that I would turn on the app when I was leaving my house and pick someone up going in my same direction.
Then do the reverse when I was going home.
Sure, I would have to leave a little earlier in the morning and potentially arrive home a few minutes later, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
To my surprise, it worked!
I was able to make $10 round trip.
Now, I know this does not sound like much, but when you multiply it by five days a week, suddenly that is an extra $50.
I can live with that kind of income when I was going in that direction anyway. Here is what I did:
- When I would start my car, I would turn on the app, set my ending destination (Uber only lets you do this twice a day), and wait for 3 minutes or about the length of a song. Sometimes I would get a rider immediately, sometimes not. It just depended on the day.
- I would leave for work taking the route that I normally would & 4 out of 5 days a week, I would snag someone needing a ride in my general direction.
- I would then drop them off at their destination and continue on to work myself I would then repeat this same process going home
A side note: somedays I had a little extra energy and would drive for about an hour after work, let me tell you, that little bit of effort went a really long way.
Step 2: Make Money While You Sleep (Literally).
(This is my favorite passive income idea, as you can really make money while you sleep!)
Now, I don’t think that many people wake up in the morning and jump out of bed to do a load of laundry or sweep the floor, but as adults, we know that these tasks need to be done.
Back in the day, I put off cleaning so when I eventually did clean, it felt like it would take me all day.
I would clean one mess, only to make another over the next few days, and it didn’t really matter because I lived by myself and it seemed like such a hassle.
I am not a dirty person but after a long day at work I just felt no motivation to clean on my little bit of time to relax.
One day my friend told me about all the money she was making renting out her spare bedroom in her apartment for just one week a month.
In one week she made $300!
It gets better, then she told me she rarely even saw her guest since he was in town for a conference.
Well, if she could do it and make that kind of money, then so could I.
So I decided to try it out.
Here’s what I did.
I went home-
- Cleaned my whole house
- Took some really nice pictures of my spare bedroom and living areas
- Created an Airbnb profile
- Sat back and waited for someone to book the room
This side hustle was so successful, I earned over $7,000 in 6 months!
Now, I’m not a neat freak, but my mom did teach me to have a clean house when guests are over.
Inspired by making some easy money, I have started cleaning my house on a daily basis and it only takes 10 minutes as you don’t let things get as dirty.
Once I had figured out how to replicated this success, I created an online course called Hosting Your Pad where I teach people the exact steps I used to make the money.
Now, with my hustle, I made an effort to always keep my house clean for prospective guests, because they can book in an instant and be there 2 hours later.
It’s crazy to think that this simple bed keeps my whole place tidy and earns me money while I sleep!
Keeping organized and tidy is really not that hard if you are doing it daily.
I realized that sometimes I didn’t have time to do a quick cleaning, which meant I always had to always be “guest ready.”
This turned out being a great experience!
Click here so you can also host!
Since I am always guest ready now with a cleaner home, I feel like my whole life is more organized.
I no longer have mountains of dirty laundry to do, which makes getting ready for work easier and when I get home, I am more motivated to continue to keep the place nice looking.
Then, to make it an even sweeter deal, the money that I was earning to not live in a pigsty, helped me pay off my credit card debt and afforded to go to brunch with my friends.
The best part?
I was able to pay cash- which is the best feeling ever and something that had not really happened until now.
Maybe you don’t need a motivator to clean your house like I do.
Step 3: Realize You Can Get Paid to Workout.
Now, with making passive income built into my daily routine, like driving to work in Step 1 and keeping the place tidy in Step 2, I was inspired.
When you read the title to step 3, I bet it made you shake your head.
Here’s what I did to get paid to workout-
With the newfound inspiration I looked for ways to make money while I went for a walk or jog.
To my delight, there were a ton of ways to make money.
I am not a marathon runner but I do like to regularly get out and get some fresh air.
I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful neighborhood with lots of fountains, ponds and even a walking trail.
Better yet, I have like a million neighbors; and I am sure you know what comes with a neighbor- that’s right, a dog.
Now, I love dogs but I do not have the free time or schedule to have one of my own.
Thankfully, with phone applications on the rise, you can find just about any activity in the app store.
There are apps that you can download for free on your phone like Wag.
Once you fill out the paperwork, you can find a dog to walk nearby- the same way you would order an Uber after dinner.
Some nights I would be tired feeling and want to just lay on the couch like a lump all night.
I’ll admit, the idea of getting to walk a dog and make money motivated me to get off the couch and into my sneakers.
I didn’t realize but since I was moving around more and getting some fresh air, this even helped me sleep better at night- thus reducing all of my other day time stress.
Here’s what I would do:
I would simply walk outside, turn on the app and it would notify me if someone close by was in need of a dog walker.
- I’d walk up (it usually wasn’t too far)
- Collect the dog- I would get any necessary information from the owner
- Go for a nice long walk with a dog and take the dog home
- I’d then automatically get paid in my account
Maybe you have your own dog that you take to the park a few times a week.
Would it be that much more work to pick up another dog on the way and then get paid for going to do what you normally do anyway?
Once I realized I could make money walking or jogging, I looked for other ways to make money exercising.
You guessed it, there is an app to ride your bike and get paid for it.
A delivery service!
You could go out for a bike ride and deliver someone’s dinner to them from UberEats.
Just take a backpack so it’s easy to carry and now you’re being paid to go for your evening ride.
(BONUS Step): Maximizing Your “Income Generating Time”, to earn even more money.
So I’ve covered three ways you can make money by using the Laundry Method by building passive income into routine activities to earn extra money.
In this bonus step, I’m going to dive into how to maximize your income generating time.
The first step is to identify which tasks are part of your daily or weekly routine that you could get paid for.
You could get paid for most routine tasks with a little bit of tweaking to them.
Grab a piece of paper or jot down some notes on your phone.
Make a list of tasks that seem to take time or tasks you want to earn money for.
For example, do you work out by running?
Do you drive your car to work, the grocery store or over to your parent’s house?
Or do you have a spare room in your house collecting dust?
These are the routine errands that I am faced with on the regular- so that was how I created my list.
Once you have your list together, hop onto the app store or jump onto Google.
Search for activities related to the tasks you’d like to get paid for.
I know it sounds simple, but it’s as easy as that.
Whether you like or dislike grocery shopping, you could get paid for it.
There are apps that you can grocery shop for other people and deliver it to their houses. Suddenly when you are getting paid to grocery shop, it doesn’t seem too bad and you can even knock out your routine shopping as well.
Or maybe you have children and someone needs a babysitter. You could sign up through Care.com and offer your services.
You already have to make lunch for one or two little guys, does an extra sandwich take that long?
Pro tip: This can be a way your child gets to make a new friend to play with.
Perhaps you love to write. Growing up I wanted to be an author but never knew how (or had the courage) to actually write a book. I even sat down a few times to do it but nothing came out of it.
Starting a blog was the best thing I have done because it allows me to practice writing but still have fun with it and I even make a little extra cash each month with it.
Simple as that.
(Here is an example of a post ^)
Now, in a good day, I will have made money driving to work, then driving home with Uber.
When I get home, I’ll go for a walk and make some more money with Wag.
Then once I’m home for the evening, I’ll chat to my guest to see how their day had gone that I met through Airbnb.
Every single thing I had done that day made me some sort of extra cash, and the best part is I did not have to go out of my regular routine at all- in fact, it would motivate me to get out of the house and be more active.
“The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they use their time.”
I heard once that millionaires typically have 7 streams of income.
The Laundry Method can help you achieve multiple forms of income and I like to call it passive income, because I make money doing the activities I would have done anyway.
So to wrap this up, I was able to make an additional $497 in passive income while working my full time job and not doing anything out of my regular routine; and I did it in only 15 days all thanks to the Laundry Method.
No longer will I need to stress over the idea of having to get a second job working an additional 4 hours at night after my full time job and then all weekend to make extra money. I have learned how to make passive income in my regular daily activities.
Do You Have Any Passive Income Ideas You Could Add?
Hopefully this guide helps people monetize their lives!
I’d love to know if you have any passive income strategies that I could add to this article.
Either share with me in the comments below what your plan, or send this over to a friend who has been stressed about making some extra cash but has a packed schedule.