If you've lost your job or just don't feel like holding down a traditional job, you still need to find a way to pay your bills, right? There are actually lots of ways to make small amounts of money that you can use to support yourself. As long as you don't expect to live like a millionaire, you can totally support yourself without having to hold down a traditional job. Small tasks and saving money are the key!
Finding Sources of Income
Make a job out of your hobby. The fact of the matter is that anything you do that makes money is going to take time. And time + money = a job. No matter what you're doing in order to make enough money to support yourself, it can technically be considered a job, even if it isn't a job in the traditional way. If you just want to avoid a job you hate or that feeling of working too hard, turn your favorite hobby into a job. No matter what you do, there is a way to monetize it.
Do website tasks. There are a number of websites that will let you do quick tasks for small amounts of money. The most popular is Amazon's Mechanical Turk, but Short Task is also a good option. Keep in mind that the amount of money you get from these tasks is very small, but you should be able to do them easily while doing other tasks (like watching tv, using the toilet, or riding on the bus).
House and pet sit. When people go away on vacation or for business, especially if it's for a long time, they will often want to make sure that nothing goes wrong in their home or with their pets so they'll pay someone a small amount to live in their home or to take their pets until they get back. Start by house sitting for people that you know to build up references, they advertise online and in newspapers.
Resell junk. Go to garage sales or hang out on websites like Craigslist and look for free or low cost items. Oftentimes you can slightly clean up an item or refurbish it a bit and get a lot more money when you resell it. Sometimes you don't need to do anything at all: people will often sell their items for less than they're worth if they just want to get rid of it quickly or they don't know what it's really worth.
Rent your home. If you own a house, you can rent a small, cheap apartment for yourself and then in turn rent out your own home. If your home rents well, your temporary apartment is cheap, and your mortgage is paid off or low, then this can be a good way to make some money. It can either be a very short-term thing (such as for conventions or special events) or it can be more long-term.
Use your body. No, not like that. You call sell your blood, plasma, and also profit from your body in other ways, such as selling your hair, eggs, sperm, or being a test subject for medical studies. Some of these processes can be very involved and long but some are very easy.
Run errands. Lots of people have quick errands or chores that they need done but don't want to do them or don't have the time. This can range from picking up groceries to mowing the lawn, a ride to the doctor to delivering a package. A good place to find such tasks that need doing is TaskRabbit. You will usually need a background check and a car, but as long as you have those you should be able to find lots of quick ways to earn cash.
Do stock photography. When websites, magazines, or other media need images, instead of taking them themselves they'll often pay a small fee and license someone else's pictures. This is called stock photography. Using a high quality camera, take some good pictures and then license them through Flickr or other stock photo websites. Get enough of them and you'll make money without having to do much more.
Tutor in a subject you know. If you know how to do something pretty well (for example, you were really good at math in school), you can take quick and easy tutoring jobs to help kids do better in school. You can find lots of advertisements for tutors on sites like Craigslist. You'll probably need references but the money can be good for almost no work.
Do some advertising work. There are lots of opportunities to make money by helping companies with things like advertising. You can get paid to take part in focus groups and surveys. You can also sometimes find work as a secret shopper, after which you can resell the products you buy to make money. 20|20 Panel is a common place to find opportunities like these.
Design products. If you've got Photoshop and basic art skills, you can make money be designing some t-shirts and other products and selling them online through special retailers. Websites like Society 6 and Redbubble allow you to make clothing and household items. They'll sell, produce, and ship them for you (in exchange for a cut of the profit), but you'll still make a good chunk of money off your sales.
Write website content. Lots of websites will give you money for producing content for them. Listiverse and eHow will pay for articles you write, for example. This requires that you be able to write content quickly, though, in order to be worth the effort. Have something to say and good command of your keyboard!
Run a blog. This can get pretty job-like but if you have fun and do it in a way that you enjoy then it won't be that big of a deal. Find a topic that you understand and enjoy and make blog posts, Youtube videos, etc. Ads places on your site and videos can make you a pretty tidy sum and tools like Google Ads makes it really easy to do too.