By Ashley Rogers
May 30, 2023
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Who isn’t looking for ways to get cash? From the easy ways to make money – think things you can do on your couch whenever your free – to weird but lucrative things you might never have thought of, to ways to get legit full time jobs in 15 minutes, this list is exhaustive, with something for everyone. Now get out there, and get some cash!
Watch Too Many Cat Videos? Now Get Paid For It
Obsessed with watching trending dance challenges, goofy pets, pranks, and tutorials? Then you’re going to want to download Swagbucks. You could make an extra $100 a month watching videos with this app.
Once you sign up for a Swagbucks account, you’ll be presented with a variety of videos to watch each day. Watch the ones you want, rate them afterward and earn reward points called SB. Redeem them for gift cards from Amazon, Visa, Target, Walmart, Apple and hundreds more retailers. If you prefer cash, you can collect your earnings via PayPal.
Swagbucks has been around since 2008 and has paid out more than $647 million to its members to date. In a Penny Hoarder article*, one Swagbucks member said that she earned $1,200 in Amazon gift cards in a single year.
Get up to $11 in sign up bonuses
*https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/is-swagbucks-worth-it
Earn $40/Month Or More Taking Suveys
With a 4.4-star rating on Trustpilot and over 20 million members, Survey Junkie is another trusted paid survey site that offers a reliable way to earn extra cash.
How to start making money with Survey Junkie:
- Download the app and create an account
- Fill out a questionnaire to get matched with surveys and participate in focus groups
- Surveys start at just three minutes long
- Earn reward points for each survey and focus group activity you complete
As soon as you’ve earned 500 points ($5), you can start redeeming them for cash with a linked PayPal account or for gift cards from Visa, Amazon, Target Walmart and more.
The opportunities to earn with Survey Junkie are endless, which means your points will build up fast if you’re consistent.
Start Earning Passive Income With A Free $10
Investing is a great way to passively earn extra cash. You make some initial investment choices, and then sit back and watch your wealth build over time. Take Tesla stock for example. If you had invested at the start of 2021, you would have had a 64% return on your money by January 2022.
Where you choose to invest is just as important as the assets you choose to invest in, and that’s why we recommend Stash. This app has more than 4,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — which are essentially a collection of stocks — for you to choose from to build your portfolio with. And the best part is you can start investing with this Stash in minutes, with as little as $1 thanks to the app’s fractional share offerings.
Stash is even giving away a $10 bonus after new members deposit $5 into their portfolio.
Paid non-client endorsem*nt. See Apple App Store and Google Play reviews. View important disclosures.
Earn Up To $100/Month Taking Surveys On This Website
Using its Survey Matching Engine, Branded Surveys matches you with surveys based on your interests. The more details you provide in your user profile when you sign up, the more surveys that pay up to $5 apiece you’ll be eligible for.
Completed surveys earn you reward points and once you earn 500 points ($5), you can start redeeming them for cash via PayPal, direct deposits with the Branded Pay feature (U.S. only) and gift cards from Amazon, Visa and other retailers and restaurants. Active members can earn $100 a month taking surveys.
Since 2012, Branded Surveys has paid over $20 million to its more than 2 million members. And with more than 40,000 positive reviews on Trustpilot, this is a survey site you can rely on to make extra money.
Borrow Up To $100k And Crush Those Big Financial Goals
When it comes to raising the funds needed for some of life’s bigger moments — like buying a car or starting a business — a loan can be the best way to do that. With the online financial marketplace Credible, you can compare and shop loans from multiple lenders in one place.
Here’s how it works:
- Take a two-minute questionnaire about your needs
- Credible will come back with a list of loan offers you prequalify for
- Compare rates, pick the loan with the terms you like best and apply for it through Credible
- If approved, you’ll get access to your funds in a few days
Credible offers loans ranging between $1,000 and $100,000, with rates starting at 2.49%. If you have a credit score of 600 or higher, you’re more likely to qualify for low rates.
Credible is 100% free and it won’t impact your credit score.*
Use Credible to get a loan quickly
*Requesting prequalified rates on Credible is free and doesn’t affect your credit score. However, applying for or closing a loan will involve a hard credit pull that impacts your credit score and closing a loan will result in costs to you.
Your Credit Score Is Costing You Money. We Have A Hack
From higher interest rates on loans to being unable to rent an apartment, a bad credit score can cost you a lot. If yours isn’t where you want it to be, Credit Sesame can help you improve it.
The app offers a ton of different credit boosting and protection features for you to take advantage of:
- Access your credit score daily for free and get a free credit report card that breaks down what’s impacting your score
- Get personalized tips and a custom action plan to help you improve your credit
- Provides free 24/7 credit monitoring with identity theft warnings and fraud detection
On top of all this, if you open an account with Credit Sesame’s fee-free mobile bank account, Sesame Cash, you can build credit with every transaction you make.
Get Up To $300 In Free Stock When You Start Using This App
Public is an app that lets you invest fee-free without account minimums, as well as connect with other investors to exchange ideas and learn from each others trades and investments.
Just some of the things we are obsessed with from this app:
- Invest in stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) with as little as $5 thanks to fractional shares (less than whole shares, making them cheaper to buy)
- Trade commission-free and no account minimums
- Follow other investors on the platform and see what they are buying
- Chat with other users, including subject matter experts
When you sign up for Public and make a deposit, you’ll get up to $300 in free stock to get you started.
This App Will Invest Your Spare Change In Stock
We have trick that helps people invest their spare change from purchases: an app called Acorns. It also allows its users to invest the cash back they receive when they shop online.
A lot of companies provide the opportunity to get cash back when you shop online, but Acorns is doing things a little bit differently.
- Shop at over 350 brands like Airbnb, Apple, Macy’s, Sephora and so many more through the Acorns app, or install the app’s Chrome extension
- Instead of getting cash back (what most companies provide), take various offers like invest 10% of a purchase at Nike, or a food order at Uber Eats, or one of the many others
- That money then get’s put in your Acorns investment account to grow
Get Help Finding Jaw-Dropping Deals For Your Online Shopping
Right now, it’s more important than ever to spend wisely and save as much money as you can. Capital One Shopping scours the internet for saving on purchases and you can even earn Shopping Credits you can redeem for gift cards, too.
It’s a free browser extension and app that works behind the scenes as you shop to find you savings. It does this in four major ways:
- Price Comparison – When shopping online at Amazon, Target, Home Depot and Best Buy, the Capital One Shopping browser extension automatically scans the web for jaw-dropping deals for items you’re interested in buying.
- Automatic Coupons – When shopping at any of the tens of thousands of other online retailers it monitors, Capital One Shopping will search for coupon codes to apply to your shopping and automatically apply the one that will get you the most savings (you can only use one code at a time).
- Shopping Credits – Earn Shopping Credits for select purchases with a linked credit or debit card. They can be redeemed for gift cards for dozens of merchants.
- Price Drop Monitoring – Add an item to your Capital One Shopping watchlist and if it receives a price drop, you’ll be alerted right away.
Sign-up for Capital One Shopping today to start find coupons and deals
Spend 5 Minutes To Avoid $329 In Bank Fees
Banks make billions of dollars in fees every year — account maintenance fees, overdraft fees, transaction fees. Basically, whatever service a bank provides, there’s typically a fee associated with it one way or another.
When you bank with Chime you won’t have to worry about hidden fees eating up your hard-earned money.
Here’s why we love it:
- Chime accounts have no minimum balance fees, monthly fees or foreign transaction fees
- It has more than 38,000 fee-free ATMs via Visa Plus Alliance and MoneyPass
- Gives access to your paycheck up to 2 days early when you set up direct deposit
- Allows you to save money towards your goals with automatic round ups on purchases made with the Chime debit card
Protect your money by banking fee-free with Chime
This App Wants To Save Everyone Up To $270/Month
Rocket Money can help you save hundred of dollars a month with just a few clicks. When you link your bank account, the app will give you an instant summary of all your subscriptions, recurring bills and frequent charges (so you don’t have to spend hours sorting through your bank statements). The average person spends a whopping $270 a month on this stuff. That’s a lot of potential savings.
See a subscription that’s not worth keeping and cancel it directly through the app with the click of a button.
For your frequent charges (like all those takeout orders you may be making right now), use Rocket Money to set a budget for each category so you can curb your spending and leave more wiggle room in your budget. The app will track your spending and tell you how much per day you can spend in any category for the month to meet goals.
We’ve Found A Legit High-Paying Side Gig
If you’re looking for an easy-going side gig with steady pay and flexibility, DoorDash is an option you should definitely look into.
DoorDash is an on-demand delivery service that contracts people to deliver orders right to a customer’s doorsteps. Deliver food as a “Dasher” via car, bike, scooter or motorcycle on your own time and make anywhere between $10 and $25 an hour (depending on location). You’ll get your money direct deposited into your bank account every week and can track your earnings through the app.
Unlike services like Uber or Lyft that limit you to only working in the state your vehicle is registered in, you can make deliveries anywhere DoorDash is available. So no matter where you go, if you’re in need of some extra spending money, you can just pull out your phone, open the DoorDash app and start taking orders.
Start earning money with DoorDash within a week when you apply today
Diversify How You Make Money With Real Estate
Real estate investments can provide you with a consistent source of income through rent payments at a much faster rate than stocks and bonds, and at less risk to you.
While most of us can’t afford to buy rental properties outright, you can start buying partial shares in real estate through a platform called Fundrise with as little as $10.
This private real estate investing platform has five portfolios for members to choose from. The starter portfolio has a $10 deposit minimum and deposited cash is invested entirely in Fundrise’s Flagship Fund.
Dividends from properties you’ve invested in are paid out quarterly, while the properties themselves appreciate in value over time. In 2021, the average annual return for investors on the platform was 22.99%.
Add more money to your portfolio as time goes on to increase your returns and Fundrise takes care of the rest. It will add new properties to your portfolio over time, making your diversified portfolio stronger year after year.
If you want to dip your toe into real estate investing, Fundrise is one of the best ways to do it.
Tap Into Your Home Equity For Big Expenses
Looking for an easier way to get the cash you need to cover a big expense without putting it on a credit card or applying for a loan? Well, if you’re a homeowner, you can get that cash by tapping into your home’s property value right now with Unison.
Unison is a service that offers home equity investments. This is not to be confused with a home equity loan – or a loan of any kind — which you have to pay back through monthly payments with added interest. Instead, the company Unison will invest in your home, giving up to 17.5% of your home’s value in cash in exchange for a share of the proceeds later down the line when you sell it.
Here’s exactly how it works:
- Go to Unison’s website and get an equity estimate in seconds
- If you like what you see, move forward with an application — it takes 5 minutes
- If your approved, when you get the cash, you can use the funds however you want to
- When you sell your home (or 30 years pass), Unison gets paid back its initial investment, plus any shared appreciation
The best part about this method is that since you’re not borrowing money, there’s no risk of debt. If you need a big chunk of cash quickly this is very cost-effective.
In Summary
Get creative when it comes to getting cash into your pocket. There are ways to earn cash just for paying your rent! Why not get a side hustle you can do from your couch? And there are apps out there that will help you cut cash from your budget that you might not realize you are even spending!
