The common definition of passive income is income that you earn without being actively involved. That typically means that you continue to make income with no or very little effort on your part to maintain that cash flow. For the purpose of this article, we are going to lump passive income and portfolio income into the passive category, and active income into the non-passive category – although the IRS categorizes and treats each type of income differently. You can see why the idea of passive income would be appealing. Typically when someone needs additional income, they get the stereotypical suggestion to “get a part-time job.” But what if you don’t have the time or energy to put in all those extra hours? I know I didn't. Plus, that wasn't as appealing as making money without needing to trade my time. For that, you may need some passive income ideas – ways to make money with little investment of time and effort on your part. And a great benefit of this is if you are trying to pay off debt quickly, this can be a huge help! Here’s a list of quite a few passive income ideas, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to find at least two or three that cater to your situation and skills.