31 Legit Passive Income Ideas to Make Money While You Sleep (You Need #1!)

You can make $1000s each month, without ever leaving the house.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make money while you sleep, then read on.

How Can I Make Money from My Bed?

Making money is always going to require some work.

However, there are ways to make cash that only require upfront work. Once that initial work is done, you get to sit back, relax and watch your money come in!

These types of money-making opportunities are called passive or residual money-making methods.

You do have to put in some work at the start, as we said, but once you’ve done that, you’ll make money while you sleep.

How much you’ll make varies – it is possible though to make hundreds or even thousands from these ventures each month. We’ll go into more detail about earnings below.

Ways to Make Money While you Sleep

Below, we’re going to list things that you can do to literally make money as you’re sleeping.

1. Get a job that pays you to sleep!

Let’s start with my favorite, getting paid to sleep!

Believe it or not, there are people who will actually pay you to sleep.

This includes researchers, universities, pharmaceutical companies conducting studies about their sleep, and even NASA.

Yes, NASA will pay you to sleep!

Participating in sleep research studies and medical trials is a great way to make some extra cash. Not to mention, you literally get paid to sleep!

Don’t know where to start?

Read these:

• NASA studies that pay
• University studies that pay
• Paid clinical trial studies

How much can you make?

It depends on the study. Normally, the longer a study last, the more it pays. For example, NASA paid its sleep study participants around $18,000!

Most sleep studies pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

2. Write an eBook

Kindle is one of those platforms that has opened up a wealth of earning opportunities online.

On Kindle, anyone can publish a book on a platform that’s visited by millions of people, and earn money from it.

You can write both fiction and non-fiction books. Once you’ve written and published the book, you can just sit back, and you’ll earn 75% of the profits on books priced at $2.99 or more.

I have personal experience with this. My own Kindle book “501 Free Websites You Can Use To Earn Extra Money In Your Spare Time” is making money around $500 a month without any promotion whatsoever. I published the book a few years back and now once a month I get a check from Amazon from sales of my Kindle book.

Of course actually writing the book will take time and effort – although it can still be done from your bed!

Once the book is up though, you’ll continue making money for years after, even while you sleep!

How much can you earn?

In a survey of authors from AuthorEarnings.com, 9,900 indie authors on Kindle were making more than $10,000 a year. Also, 50% of those were making more than $25,000 year.

How much you’ll earn will vary, depending on things, like how you’ve priced your book, how many titles you have in the store, and how many books you sell. It’s a great way to earn while you sleep if you like writing.

3. Invest in dividend stocks

“how do I make my money work for me?”

When it comes to investing, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, is the prime example of a successful investor, someone who knows how to make his money work for him so he can make money even when sleeping, on vacation, or whatever else he is doing.

If you can afford it, then consider investing in dividend stocks. You have to put in money upfront, and there’s no guarantee that the stocks will end up earning you money. If they do though, this can be a highly profitable venture.

You’ll have to do a lot of research upfront to find companies that may be worth investing in. Check out Dividend.com for information on investing. There’s a list of investment opportunities, which is particularly useful.

There are also a couple of brokerage platforms online that provide low cost investment options, such as Fidelity and TD Ameritrade.

There’s also a handy list from the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, which you can check out here. It includes companies that have increased their dividend payouts for 25 consecutive years.  Also, Investopedia has some great articles on investing in dividend stocks, like this one and this one.

How much can you earn?

It really varies, depending on factors, like how many shares you own, and how much the company pays in dividends.

This article from Investopedia provides an introduction to investing in dividends and gives you information about how much stocks can pay out.

4. Start a blog

Anyone can start a blog for free and monetize it. You can create a blog on any topic, and upload some articles. Once those articles are up, you’ll continue to make money from them as you sleep.

Here are a few ways to monetize a blog:

• Use affiliate links in your posts.
• Write sponsored content – collaborate with brands and companies who pay you to write blog posts for them.
• Put ads on your blog: You can join an ad network, like Google AdSense, and get paid when visitors to your site view or click on the ads.

We have a post on how to make money from blogging, which tells you exactly how to get started and how much you’ll earn. Make sure you check it out here to learn more about making an income from blogging.

You just need a domain name, which is your site’s URL, and a hosting provider to get started. You’ll also need to sign up to a blogging platform, like WordPress or Blogger.

Once you’ve got your blog up and running, you’ll continue to make money from ads and affiliate sales on blog posts that you wrote months or even years ago!

How much can you earn?

How much money people make from blogging varies a lot from person to person. With some people making just $30 a month from it and others making $30,000 a month from it!

Here are a few examples of what bloggers make:

• JustAGirlandHerBlog.com earned $51,803 during October 2016.
• ThisOutNumberedMama.com earned $1449.33 from June to August 2016.
• EmbracingSimpleBlog.com earned $2,415 in January 2016.
• MostlyMorgan.com earned $3,634.20 in September 2016.
• ArtsandClassy.com earned $5,008.58 in July 2017.

As you can see, there’s the potential to make $1000s each month from blogging.

5. Sell a course online

Are you knowledgeable about Photoshop?

Maybe you’re good at writing?

Whatever it is – you’re sure to be knowledgeable about a topic, and you could sell a course about it online. The course can include a range of mediums, like articles, presentations and videos.

Here are a few places where you can sell your courses online:

• Udemy
• Teachable
• Skillshare

How much can you earn?

How much money you make depends on how you price your course, and how many sales you make each month. It is possible to make a full-time, passive income from it though.

Here a few examples of what you can earn:

• David Travis has earned $185,000 through Udemy
• Through Udemy, Phil Ebiner makes $100,000 per year selling his courses.
• Felicia Ricci has earned $11,000 selling a music course through Udemy.
• Angela Fehr made $12,000 from the first course that she sold on Teachable.

6. Sell an app

Selling apps in the iOS or Android store can make you money while you sleep.

If you know how to code, then you can create the app yourself. Don’t worry if you don’t though – you can hire freelance app developers on UpWork to do it for you.

A few other places to hire app developers include:

• Nine Hertz
• Zco
• Y Media Labs
• Dom and Tom

How much can you earn?

How much you’ll earn varies! It really depends on how many apps you sell.

One user in this Reddit post says, “I have an app called Photo Table, it made $5,400 in 2012 and $3,400 in 2013. RevMob ads made around $900 in 2013 in the free version of Photo Table. My first iPhone app Artwork Evolution has made $2,000 since I launched in 2011.”

Another user on the same post says:

“I make apps in my spare time for a very niche area. We have 9 apps, 6 of which are paid. Other than the developer fee and a few quid for an icon pack I have no outgoings.

We make about £400 per month on iOS sales. It’s about £300 for Android for the same apps.

An important point here is I have done NO developing work since the start of December but we still make that money of course. I plan to make more apps in a closely related niche area and hopefully I’ll be able to give up my day job and get serious with developing while I have a steady income to rely on.”

So, there’s potential to make $100s a month. Some app developers even make $1000s a month.

7. Sell stuff on Amazon with FBA

Want to get paid while you sleep?

Then sell stuff on Amazon.

Selling products on Amazon can be a profitable venture. Amazon has a program called Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA.

As an FBA seller, you choose a product that you want to sell, get it delivered to an Amazon fulfillment center, and then Amazon will handle the rest. They’ll ship the items out to customers and handle customer service as well. This is such an easy way to sell stuff online.

Amazon charges fulfillment fees, which you can check out here.

Check out my post on how to sell on Amazon FBA for beginners here.

How much can you earn?

As an FBA seller, how much you’ll earn can really vary. Factors, such as how many units you sell each month, the fees and costs you pay, and the products that you’re selling can all have an effect on what you earn.

Here are a few examples from Reddit of earnings:

• In this thread, one person says they made $1633.34 in sales during their first month. This is sales, not profit; it’s important to note.
• In this thread, one person says they make $17,000 a month profit.
• Another person in the same thread linked above says they broke six figures in sales within 9 months. Again, this figure is sales, rather than just profit.

As you can see, there’s the potential to earn $1000s a month!

8. Sell stock music

If you love music, and enjoy writing it, then why not sell music through stock websites. You can license and earn royalties from it – just like you can when selling stock photos, but more on that below.

People buy music to add to videos, like YouTube videos, for example, ads and other things.

You can put one song up for sale, and sell it multiple times. This means that you can make money over and over again for the same song.

Here are a few stock music websites to consider selling your music through:

• AudioJungle
• Pond5
• The Music Case
• Productiontrax
• PremiumBeat

Most websites charge a commission, so the percentage of the money that you keep from your sales will vary from website to website.

How much can you earn?

How much money you’ll make depends on a number of factors, such as how you price your songs, how much commission you get from the website you’re selling through and how many sales you make each month.

Many people on Reddit, like in this post and this one, report earning hundreds per month selling their songs. The musicians featured in this article from The Guardian, make $30,000 to $40,000 per year!

9. Design & sell custom merchandise

If you’re good with design work, or are willing to pay a designer, then you could make money selling personalized t-shirts, phone cases, mugs, pillow cases, hats and more.

Just create your designs, and put your custom-designed merchandise up for sale, and you can make money as you sleep!

You can sell the same design over and over again.

Of course, you’ll need art/design skills and knowledge of programs, like Adobe Illustrator, or money to pay a designer to create the designs for you.

Or, if you are good at taking photographs, then you can upload your photos and sell your images on a range of different items, from t-shirts to greeting cards.

Here are a few websites where you can sell custom t-shirts:

• Teespring
• CafePress
• Spreadshirt
• Threadless
• SunFrog

Here are some websites where you can sell your designs and photos on more than just t-shirts. With these websites, you can also sell your designs on items, like phone cases, mugs, greeting cards and pillow cases:

• Instaprints
• RedBubble
• FineArtAmerica
• Gear Bubble

How much can you earn?

Like with any side hustle that involves selling stuff, how much you’ll make selling custom-designed merchandize will vary.

Factors, like how much commission you get from the site you’re selling through, how much you charge per unit and how many sales you make each month will affect how much you earn.

10. Sell stock photos online

On stock photo websites, you can put a photo up for sale and get paid over and over again.

That’s right, you take the picture once, but you sell the same photo hundreds of thousands of times. Multiply that by 100s of pictures and you’ve got yourself a great business that earns you passive income 24/7.

Many people need photos for things like blog posts, so they’re willing to pay for images.

If you enjoy taking photographs, then this is a pretty easy way to make cash, since anyone with a camera can do it, and you can continue to make money long after you’ve uploaded the photo – even while you sleep.

Here are a few places where you can sell stock photos:

• 500px
• Alamy
• Snapwire
• Shutterstock
• iStockPhoto
• CanStockPhoto
• DreamsTime
• BigStockPhoto

For more places to sell stock photos and to learn more about making money selling photos, read our Sell Stock Photos & Make Money article and our 11 Sites That Pay You for Your Photos.

How much can you earn?

How much you make will depend on a lot of factors, such as how many images you sell, the amount of commission you get from the site that you’re selling through and how you price your images.

For example, with iStockPhoto, the commission is 15% to 45% and on DreamsTime, it’s from 25% to 50%.

At 500px, you can earn between $34 and $249 per image, for example.

With iStockPhoto, you can earn from $1 to $20 an image.

So pay really does vary. If you made 20 sales a month, at $10 each, then you could easily make at least $200 a month doing this.

11. Start a YouTube channel

If writing isn’t your thing, then you may want to give YouTube a try. On YouTube, if you’re a YouTube Partner, then you can earn money whenever a viewer sees ads on one of your videos.

While anyone can start a YouTube channel, it’s more difficult to become a YouTube partner than it used to be. You need to have at least 10,000 total channel views to be eligible to put ads on your videos.

This means that at the start, you’ll need to be willing to put lots of videos out there. Once the videos are up though, and you’re a YouTube partner, you’ll keep earning from them, long after you’ve uploaded them, even while you sleep.

You can start a channel on whatever topic you want, whether it’s cooking videos, makeup tutorials, educational content, or travel videos.

How much can you earn?

YouTube and the YouTubers themselves don’t really disclose how much YouTubers make from their videos – so it’s hard to give an exact figure.

Also, other factors like how much each advertiser is paying to place their ads will affect earnings, making it hard to determine income.

There are a lot of estimations online though, which say that YouTubers earn anywhere from $0.25 to $7 per 1,000 views. You can use this tool from Social Blade to estimate earnings too.

12. Open a high-yield savings account

Saving money is important for your financial future, but it’s also a great way to make money while you sleep.

You just need to start a high-yield savings account. With this type of account, you get a great interest rate that grows your money. It’s far less risky than traditional investing as well.

Handily enough, many online banks now provide savings accounts that have much better interest rates.

Here are a few examples:

• Synchrony Bank: 1.3% APY
• FNBO Direct: 1.15% APY
• EverBank: 1.21% to 1.31% APY

All you need to do is open an account, deposit some money and then sit back and watch it gain interest. You basically grow your money as you sleep!

How much can you earn?

Giving an exact figure is tough, because there are so many factors at play, such as how much you put into the savings account, and the APY.

There’s a useful calculator from FNBO though, which you can use here to get some examples of how much you’ll make from a high-yield savings account. According to this calculator, if you deposit $5,000, which is the minimum amount, then you’d make $65 in the first year of savings.

This is a great way to make money in the long-term because it’s easy, low-risk and helps you to build a better financial future.

13. Rent out a property or room on Airbnb

Do you have a spare room?

Do you travel a lot, often leaving your home or apartment empty?

If so, then consider renting out your property or room on Airbnb.

Just put up a listing, and people will pay you to stay at your accommodation.

You get to choose whether you want to rent just a room or the entire place.

How much can you earn?

Earnings will vary hugely depending on factors, like where your property is located, how much you charge per night, what type of property you rent out and how often your place is rented out.

Airbnb has a handy calculator that you can use here to estimate your earnings.

You can also look at listings for similar properties in your area to get an idea of pricing.

14. Invest in crowd-funded real estate

Investing in crowd-funded real estate can make you money while you sleep!

Because buying a home costs so much, using a crowdfunding platform is a great alternative, as it’s so much more affordable.

One platform to check out is Fundrise. It’s a website that allows you to invest in real estate with as little as $500.

How much can you earn?

Earnings will vary, depending on how much you’ve invested and other factors. In this Quora post, one person says that they’ve earned $123.16 on a $1,000 base.

15. Buy existing websites

Starting your own website, as we mentioned above, can make you a lot of money – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a month.

However, you need to spend a lot of time building up a website before it becomes profitable.

Buying an existing website is a good alternative. These websites are already established and bringing in money.

You can find existing websites for sale on Flippa. On Flippa, you can see details for each site, such as how much income it generates per month.

How much can you earn?

Many sites listed on Flippa state that they bring in $1,000 to $4,000 per month. Check out the Flippa website here to see how much money you can make from a website.

16. Give peer-to-peer lending a try

Peer-to-peer lending involves one person loaning money to another person that could not qualify for traditional financing. Basically, it’s a way for you to earn interest on your money.

There are many platforms out there where you can try out peer-to-peer lending. One website to try is the Lending Club. You can choose how much you want to lend and how many loans you want to offer on the Lending Club.

How much can you earn?

Of course, as with any type of investment, whether it’s real estate or stocks, peer-to-peer lending comes with a risk.

Some people recommend spreading the money you lend out over a few different loans. So, for example, it would be better to have 100, $25 loans, than it would be to have one $2,500 loan.

According to statistics, you’ll see returns of between 5% and 9%.

Other Things You Can Do to Make Money While in Bed

Above, we’ve covered things that will literally make you money while you sleep. The books keep selling as you sleep, and the ads on your blog keep making you money as you sleep too, for example.

But, there are a few more things that you can do to earn money passively – just not while you’re asleep.

While they won’t make you money as you sleep, they’re still passive, and can still be done from your bed.

17. Use cashback websites

If you’re shopping online anyway, then you may as well make some money out of it.

Online, there are plenty of cashback websites that you can shop through, which give you money each time you shop.

One of the best is Ebates.

On Ebates, you can get cashback for shopping at popular stores, like Amazon, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Walmart,

On there, you can get up to 40% Cash Back at over 2,500 stores.

Other good cashback websites are TopCashBack and Mr. Rebates.

How much can you earn?

How much you’ll make depends on factors like, how often you shop online, how much you spend and what cashback percentage you get.

Ebates is definitely one of the best since its cashback offers are so high. If you spend $200 a month shopping online, you’d make $80 a month, just for doing something that you already do!

18. Make purchases using a cashback credit card

Cashback credit cards give you a percentage of your spending back. Like with cashback websites, you can use these credit cards to make money for something that you already do.

Of course, you should only make purchases with your credit card, if you know that you are able to pay them before you get charged interest.

Here are a few cashback credit cards to consider:

• Discover It Card
• Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card
• Citi Double Cash Card
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card
• Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card
• American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card
• Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa Card
• Capital One Quicksilver Card
• US Bank Cash + Signature Visa Card

How much can you earn?

The money you’ll make depends on the credit card you have. Typically, these cards give you between 1% and 6% cashback.

Also, how much money you spend will affect how much cashback you get.

Let’s say your family spends $600 a month on a credit card that gives 5% cashback, then each month, you’d make $30 back. In a year, you’d have an additional $360.

19. Join a few reward websites

Reward websites pay you to do easy tasks, like watching videos, playing games and shopping online.

In return for completing these tasks, you get cash or points that you can redeem for cash and gift cards.

How much can you earn?

To earn a good amount from reward websites, you need to join a few and make money from each one.

For example, you may only make $20 a month from each site, but combine a few and you’ll earn $100 plus a month.

Let’s take a look at three reward websites, and how much you can make from them each month:

• Treasure Trooper: With this website, you can earn $50 a month. View earnings on TreasureTrooper here.
• Swagbucks: With Swagbucks, you can make $30 to $125+ a month, according to people’s income reports on Reddit.
• Perk: Perk gives you the chance to make $30 to $120 a month, according to reports on this Reddit thread, and this one.

So, let’s say that you make $35 a month from Perk, $115 a month from Swagbucks and $50 a month from TreasureTrooper.

In total, you’d make $200 a month.

And, this is something that you can do from your bed. You could watch a few videos on your phone on Swagbucks before you go to bed. Or play some games on a Sunday morning on Perk.

Using rewards websites is definitely one of the best ways to make money from home.

20. Use coupon codes when you shop

Billions of dollars’ worth of coupons go unredeemed each year!

If you want to ensure that you don’t miss out on savings, then you should definitely be using coupon codes. You don’t even need to leave your home, or your bed to save cash either.

Online, there are tons of coupon websites, like:

• RetailMeNot
• CouponCabin
• Coupons.com
• Krazy Coupon Lady
• CouponMom

where you can find promo codes and coupon codes that save you a lot of cash.

For a bigger list of the best coupon sites, read this.

You can simply enter these codes when you shop online, and instantly make money from your bed.

How much can you earn?

A survey found that using coupons saved 30% of people more than $50 a week. This means that using coupons, you can add an extra $200 a month to your bank account.

21. Join a few survey websites

If you want to know how to earn money fast, then consider joining survey websites.

OK, you won’t be making money while you are sleeping, but it is as close as you can get to it. You can literally do this in bed. Take a few minutes each night before you go to sleep and take a few surveys. You can easily make an extra $100 or two every month.

Taking surveys online can easily be done from your phone while in bed, making it an easy way to make cash!

Like with reward websites, the key is to join multiple survey sites, so that you always have surveys available and, therefore, maximize your earnings.

How much can you earn?

Below, we give a few examples of some good survey websites to join, and how much you could potentially earn from each one.

• MySurvey: At MySurvey, you earn points that you can Redeem for money, or gift cards. This person on Reddit reports earning $20 to $25 for some surveys.
• Pinecone Research: People on Reddit report that they make $3 a survey and get around one to two surveys per week.
• QuickThoughts: This site also pays up to $3 per survey.
• SurveySavvy: With SurveySavvy, you can, generally, make from $1 to $2 a survey. However, you can also get surveys that pay from $5 to $10.
• Darwin’s Data: Darwin’s Data pays $25 a survey.

So, if you were to join the above survey websites and do the following, then you’d make $213 a month:

• Take two surveys a week on Pinecone Research, making $3 per survey. You earn $6 a week and around $24 a month.
• On QuickThoughts, you take the same number of surveys for the same pay per survey and, again, make $24 a month.
• You take two $25 surveys a month on MySurvey and earn $50 a month from the site.
• At SurveySavvy, you take a few $10 surveys each month, as well as a $2 survey each week, and make about $40 a month from the site.
• At Darwin’s data you take three surveys per month, each one paying $25 and make $75 a month.

More Passive Income Ideas

There are a ton of residual income opportunities out there. You just need to think outside the box. Sure, some of these require small investments, but many don’t requiter a cent of investment.

Here are a few more ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Buy a Laundromat
2. Start a profitable vending machine business
3. Create a lead generation website
4. Buy rental real estate
5. Get paid to wrap your car in ads
6. Pay off your debt (and use the money you were paying for interest to invest and make more money).
7. Create a membership community
8. Dropship
9. Rent out your stuff
10. Sell your own information product online

There a lot more of these ideas around. Get a pen and paper and start thinking. Come up with a list of things you can do once that will keep making you money. Trust me, you’ll find one that works for you!

Closing Thoughts

Making money while you sleep is possible and there are plenty of ways to do it. For many of these methods, you don’t need a ton of money to get started, or any particular skills or qualifications.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make money while you sleep, then give one or more of these a try, and start making yourself some money without even leaving the house!