Millions of homeowners fall behind on their mortgage every year, and most of them don't know that the window to turn things around is shorter than they think.

But here's the good news: earning an extra $1,000–$1,500 a month — enough to cover most mortgage payments — is more achievable than you'd expect.

It’s import to remind you that your ability to increase your income can come from sources outside a 9 to 5 job. Gone are the days when you were totally reliant on your boss to give you a raise or bonus that helps to boost to your income. 

Today, you can be proactive and start earning money in a number of ways that will fit with your lifestyle and available spare time. 

Making an extra $1500 per month (or an amount equal to your mortgage), can make a difference if you find yourself struggling to make your mortgage payments and paying for living expenses.

Here are some of the ways you can start earning extra money:

1. Short term gig solutions these companies will allow you to register, create an account or download an app to start earning money as quickly as possible. They take care of payment processing and usually have an audience of customers that need your help. 
   
2. Long term solutions involve starting your own business with the goal of earning passive or semi-passive income from home. These opportunities are like planting seeds, you set them up, promote them over time, and blooms will start to appear. Those blooms have the potential to turn into gardens that yield multiple sources of income with consistency and time. 

Let's Begin with Short term solutions

The goal is to start performing tasks you can begin, using free (or low cost) resources and items you already have. It’s not a good idea to spend a lot of money or go outside of your budget to make money if you’re struggling financially. 

These short term solutions involve (for the most part) gig apps that are free to download on your phone or favorite device.  They allow you to earn money doing things like making deliveries, performing jobs for homeowners or businesses or  completing tasks for a fixed or hourly rate.

You can also earn money providing services as a freelancer if you have a way to get paid (sign up for Paypal or Stripe), an audience, and the required equipment and supplies. 

Check out this article by Shopify 50+ Profitable Service Business Ideas for 2026 for a list of service businesses you can start. There is also a great video on the page that talks about freelancing. 

You'll find other platforms (like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Amazon KDP, LuLu, and Walmart Marketplace) that will allow you to upload new or gently used products for sale to their existing audience.

These platforms have an existing audience, but it will still be up to you to promote your products and services. These platforms can actually be a semi-long term solution, because it may take a while for your products to sell. With services, it may take a while to land your first client. 

Some of these tasks can be performed from home, others onsite. You can perform these tasks on a one time basis, or regularly to earn extra money.  

These solutions can involve purging your home for items (gently used or new clothes, unused electronics, shoes, appliances, home decor)  you can sell from your garage or online. 

These applications will provide a selling/service platform or marketplace that includes payment processing. In some cases they handle shipping and fulfillment. Be sure to check with the platform to determine whether delivery of the items will be your responsibility. If so, this cost will need to be factored into your business expenses.

Clicking on the links below will take you to the relevant platform where you can obtain more information and get signed up. 

Your Own Business: A Long Term Solution

The long term solutions discussed here will allow you to start your own business with free or low cost resources and low cost platforms that will allow you to sell or provide products, services and process payments.

When you decide to start your own side hustle or full time business, recognize that this option takes time. Yes there are gurus out there that would lead you to believe that you can make money overnight. It just doesn't happen that way. If you're struggling, this is not a way to make quick money.  

However, if you have time, you're willing to be persistent and you have the ability to nurture your business, this can be a lucrative option for you. But again, the items listed here are not quick ways to get paid. There is no way to predict when or how long it will take before your business takes off.

It may happen soon, most likely later. Having a coach helps, and taking specific automated steps helps, but you'll need to invest money for coaching, tools and resources to speed up your progress.

As we said earlier... taking this route is like planting a seed and providing the nutrients and environment for growth. The seeds may not immediately break through.  

And you may have a few weeds, late bloomers and a few dead leaves... additionally, once your flowers break through, they will still need sunshine and nutrients to flourish. Keep nurturing and planting more seeds and you'll end up with a garden that bears fruit that makes it worth your time.

It may take longer to see a profit, but over the long term, this has the potential to help you earn from home or any location, which may work better with your lifestyle. 

Start your business the simple way—one clear step at a time

This guide contains our custom GPT that walks you through setting up a simple system that helps you go from stuck to started—fast. You can also cut and paste the prompts into your favorite AI tool to get answers you can use to earn money. 

Businesses You Can Start

Here are some of the business models you can use to start earning money for free or with a minimal investment of cash. Scroll down to see the free and low cost platforms you can use to sell products in a variety of ways. 

Niche Related Ideas

Explore the ideas below and discover simple, step-by-step guidance to help you get started with each business. Click on the items below to learn more. 

If you’re someone who loves to write, use the topics above to create a eBook that earns money. Use one of the platforms below to promote your eBook to earn money. Read the article, From Idea to Income: Using Free Resources to Write Your First eBook.

Free or Low Cost Platforms to Sell Products

• Etsy is a popular, low cost platform that allows you to sell handmade, print on demand items and digital products that you've created. Sign up for a new account and get 40 free product listings.

• Beacons - is all about monetizing your audience quickly with simple, flexible offers—without needing a full website. It’s especially popular with creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs who want a clean “link-in-bio” storefront. They have a free plan.

• Gumroad - is one of the simplest ways to start making money online—especially if you’re creating digital products, tools, or educational content.Sell digital products, creative assets, courses and training, memberships and subscriptions. You can start selling for free, but they do charge transaction and payment processing fees 

• Payhip - This beginner friendly platform allows you to sell physical products, digital downloads, online courses and training, coaching services, website funnel help, and software and AI tools. They have a free plan that charges 5% per sale for . 

• Walmart Marketplace - Sell everyday consumer products with no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no listing fee, but there are referral fees depending on the product sold, once you make a sale. If you don't want to ship products yourself you can use Walmart Fulfillment and there are fees associated with that service. 

• Amazon KDP - KDP provides you with free and simple tools to self-publish print an digital books in more than 10 countries in over 45 languages.

• Barnes and Noble - Self publish books, workbooks, eBooks, journals and planers on their platform. To get started go to Nook Press set up a free account and upload your manuscript, add a cover design, set pricing, and publish!

• Pinterest Shopping - Sell digital, handmade, affiliate and physical products and services for free once approved. Start by creating a business account and integrate your shop with Etsy, Shopify and Woocommerce.  Apply for the Verified Merchant Program for a blue checkmark, which increases trust and helps with discoverability. 

The Best Strategy for Beginner Entrepreneurs

You will have your hands full in the first six months to a year running your business. During this time, you'll learn as much as you can about your audience, your niche, as well as sales and marketing best practices.

Then learn to how to use automation and AI to boost your manual processes and procedures so that you can consistently profit from one product before scaling to more products.