Most Americans don’t have enough money in the bank to handle a $500 emergency. This fact should make most of us nervous and has led many to think of ways to improve their income. Most people would love to work from home and create passive income. There are a few ways to use your free time and skills you already have to improve your bottom line with minimal effort. These are five ways to protect your bottom line without leaving the house.

Online Tutoring

Begin with what you already know. Do you speak another language? Are you good at math?

There are people waiting to pay you for your expertise and your time. You can tutor

one-on-one or in small groups with school-aged or university-aged kids. And, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home. There are several platforms available to help you find clients, collect payments, and keep track of your student’s progress.

Create a Online Course

When it comes to making money the easy way, nothing is better than the passive income that you can make online. One of the easiest ways to do that is to create an online course. Numerous platforms exist that allow you to sell your expertise in the form of an online course. You create a series of videos or audio clips along with assignments and additional reading that will allow you to teach something you know a lot about. That can be a course on beating procrastination, video editing, storytelling, or gardening. The best part of making online courses is that you simply set it up and let it generate money for you.

Rent Out Your Extra-Space

Maybe you have a spare room but aren’t excited about the idea of inviting strangers into your house. You can still make money renting it out as extra-space storage. It doesn’t have to be a room in the home, either. It can be a storage shed, or part of a garage, or even a storage unit parked on your property. You will need to make sure that your renters sign a contract that is in compliance with your local laws and that you are not liable for damage to any items stored on your property, but many of these forms are available online.

Extra-space storage is a profitable way to make money from your home without a lot of effort.

Sell Online

Maybe you’ve Marie Kondo’d your way through all of the closets in your home and have come up with a mountain of things that don’t spark joy but aren’t ready for the trash yet. Some of them might be downright valuable. No need to fear, you can sell these items online. Think of it as getting into the online thrifting business. There are numerous platforms that are designed specifically to sell second-hand items and you can always take advantage of established sites like eBay to move harder to categorize items (like car parts).

Freelance Your Digital Skills

With businesses shutting down and many people out of work, you may find that you have more time on your hands than before. If you can spare the time, try offering your services online. If you are good at social media management, writing, editing, photography, or even graphic design, why not offer your services as a freelancer? Whether you are a photoshop whiz kid or simply interested in doing some voice work for ads and audiobooks, you can offer your services online and work from home without much effort.

There are dozens of ways for you to make money from home. In these uncertain times, creating multiple streams of income is something that we should all examine. You might not get rich, but a few extra dollars in your account never hurt anybody.