When it comes to passive income ideas, one that some people overlook is simply drip feeding spare money on a regular basis into dividend shares.

That is flexible and genuinely passive: you can let BP or Unilever, Microsoft or Nvidia do the work for you and simply collect the dividends.

Cheap to get started

Another advantage of this passive income plan is that it does not require much money to get started.

How much depends on an individual’s circumstances. But imagine someone put in £5 a day, more or less the price of a fancy coffee in some places. Then, imagine that it earns a dividend yield of 5%. That means that, for each £100 invested, it will hopefully earn £5 a year in passive income

Doing that for a decade, but initially reinvesting the dividends rather than taking them out as income, would lead to a portfolio worth just under £23k. At a 5% dividend yield, that could then earn £1,147 of passive income annually. Not bad for £5 a day!

Turning an idea into a reality

I made some assumptions here. I used a compound annual growth rate of 5%. In reality, share price falls can eat into it, but share price rises can boost it – it is not all about dividends.

Five percent seems realistic to me, but one factor that can eat into returns is stockbroking commissions, fees and charges. So it is important to choose the right share-dealing account, Stocks and Shares ISA or trading app.

Dividends are never guaranteed. Therefore, finding good shares to buy and at an attractive price matters – as does diversifying the portfolio across different ones.

An income share to consider

One dividend share that I currently earn passive income from is Dunelm (LSE: DNLM). I think it is worth considering for investors who are looking to earn some income from the stock market.

The homewares retailer is a proven operator, with a large estate of shops and strong online presence. It plans to focus even more on selling its own branded products, helping to differentiate it from competitors.

The Dunelm share price looks attractive to me right now. It has fallen 28% in a year partly because a weak start to trading in its current financial year has alarmed investors.

While the retailer pinned it on the summer weather, there is a risk the weak trend could continue, hurting revenues and profits. Still, Dunelm is solidly profitable and yields 5.6%. That is just the ordinary dividends – it also often pays out excess cash as special dividends.

From dreaming to doing

As I said, this passive income plan is simple. It is also simple to start. But lots of people who dream of earning money by owning dividend shares do not make that start and let the opportunity pass them by.

In reality, making a start can be as simple as opening an ISA, putting in the first few pounds and beginning the hunt for shares to buy.

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Christopher Ruane owns shares in Dunelm.