How to Make Money Doing Almost Nothing
There's
almost no limit to the ways you can make money, but most of them
require work (that particular balance is known as "the human
condition"). However, there are ways to make extra cash without going
too far out of your way. Here are a few.
A
small disclaimer that should go without saying: The idea is to make a bit of
extra cash while you idle in the checkout line, in a waiting room, or
without doing anything at all. With the exception of large capital
investments or owning a business, most things won't make you a ton of
money for that little effort. However, a few extra bucks here and there
is still something, and if you add up everything here you could give
your petty cash fund a nice pad. If you want to put a bit more effort
in, there are plenty of ways to make even more money in your spare time.1
Get Paid for Answers with Google Opinions and Other Surveys
Recently, Google released a new app to the Play Store called Google Opinion Rewards.
The concept is simple: answer a few questions every once in a while and
get some free credit for the Play Store. It won't be much, but the app
will send you a notification when you can fill out a new survey and
they're typically only a few questions long. Within thirty seconds or
so, you could get an extra dollar. That's a return on your time
investment roughly equal to making $120 per hour.2
Of
course, if you don't have Android or simply prefer real money to Google
Play credit, there are plenty of other services you can try. CashCrate
is another site that pays money in exchange for filling out surveys
that can be done within a matter of minutes. As with Google's version,
there's a limit to how much you can make with surveys alone (and there
are other, more burdensome options like completing offers that will
attempt to suck you in further), but filling out one minute surveys once
a day or when they pop up can still accumulate actual money if you're
diligent.
If
you're looking for sites that you can perform quick tasks to earn a bit
of money, here are a few of the legit ones. While individual tasks can
be quick, it's also up to you to not let it take up your time if you
want to keep to the minimal effort goal:
- Google Opinion Rewards
- CashCrate
- 20|20 panel
- Amazon Mechanical Turk
- Harvard Business School Research Study Participation
There
are, of course, some things you should be aware of when pursuing sites
like this: for starters, not all of them are going to be legitimate. If
you try to turn answering surveys into a full-time job, it would be easy
to find yourself on the business end of a phishing scam. Just accept
that it's a buck or two here and there and you'll be better off (and if
you do want to take it further, know the right ways to do so).
Secondly, these things are only viable because somewhere, some focus
group or marketing machine needs data to drive its decisions. It's very
obvious to see why Google would shell out a pittance for data on
consumer habits. If you're okay with this then fire the app up, but if
you don't like the idea of a company having even anonymized data from
you on its servers, you should probably sit this out (and by "it" I mean
both paid survey apps and, quite possibly, the entire internet).
Make Money While You're Out with Apps Like Ibotta and Gigwalk
Couponing
is a lot like most hobbies. If you really want to get enthusiastic
about it, there's almost no limit to how deep the rabbit hole goes.
However, you don't have to go all out and turn couponing into a
full-time job if you don't want to. Apps like previously-featured Ibotta
allow you to pick up a few cents here and there during your regular,
everyday shopping. Ibotta will show you a selection of items that have
deals available for them. Some of the deals require you to complete a
quick survey or even "learn a fact" which is, essentially, just tapping
"Okay" once. After that, you just have to scan a picture of your receipt
to claim your reward.
Gigwalk
can be used on a similar principle, checking for nearby "gigs" that you
can complete for cash. Retailers sign up and enter tasks like auditing a
display or checking to make sure things are in order. You can think of
it like bite-sized secret shopping.
The great thing is that many gigs are available at large retailers like
Walmart, so if there's one available at the store you're already going
to, you can make an extra few bucks just by stopping by the electronics
department.
Use a Credit Card with Good Rewards
Credit
card companies will be all too happy to tell you how wonderful their
rewards programs are and, in general, you probably shouldn't take them
at their word. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't credit cards
with some actually good rewards! It's hard to go wrong with simple
cash-back rewards, even if the return isn't huge.
When it comes to maximizing credit card rewards, it's not terribly difficult. Start by getting a credit card with good rewards,
and then use it for things you're already planning to buy (and be sure
to pay it off immediately). While this is the no-effort method, you can
also turn up the bonus a bit by purchasing gift cards for stores you'll shop at anyway
since many credit cards will pay more rewards for purchases at grocery
stores that sell gift cards than for those stores themselves. Once
you've accumulated your rewards, it doesn't hurt to know how to spend them wisely.RELATED TOPICS
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