My role on Passive Family Income is to blog about ways to make extra money. Usually that involves additional effort on your part, as in starting a side business or taking a part-time job.
But what if there was a way to bring in some extra money without any additional effort on your part? What if you could earn money just by doing the things you’re already doing?
The good news is that you can and here’s how.
4 Easy Ways to Make Money
1 – Pay for Things in a way that Pays YOU – How do you pay for things? For most people the answer is plastic: either a credit card or debit card.
If you’re using credit, make sure it’s a card that gives you rewards of some type. And make sure those rewards are a good fit for how you spend money. If you spend money mostly at the gas station and grocery store, seek out cards that reward those spending behaviors. And if you travel rarely, ditch the miles card for something you’ll use more, like cash back.
Even if you don’t use credit, you can earn rewards. I pay for most of my day to day spending using a debit card so I found an account that rewards me for my debit card use. Those are rarer than reward credit cards, but they do exist.
2 – Use Store Loyalty Cards – I know, I know, they’re a pain and you end up with a wallet that’s six inches thick. But in many places you can have your account looked up at the register using your phone number. Or – if you’re more technologically minded — you can keep your reward info on your smart phone and have the cashier scan that.
Almost anywhere you regularly shop is going to have a customer loyalty program these days. That includes grocery stores, pet stores, shoe stores, drug stores, department stores, restaurants, and movie theaters. Even the salon that I go to has one. And even if you’ve chosen a different rewards credit card than one that offers miles, you can still earn points with airlines and hotels while being loyal to the same company or chain.
So take advantage of the free perks that are available to regular customers.
3 – Get Paid to Search the Internet – Swagbucks is a site that pays you to do all kinds of things: watch videos, take surveys, and print coupons among them. But all of those are things you may or may not be doing anyway.
Searching the internet, however, is something almost everyone who is online does every day. And Swagbucks will pay you to do that too.
The way the site works is you get points (or bucks) for doing different things. Swagbucks randomly rewards bucks for internet searches using their search engine. You can cash in your bucks for all kinds of things, but one of the most popular has to be Amazon gift cards. 450 Swagbucks will earn you a $5 Amazon gift card.
You won’t get rich doing it, but it may fund your book habit or pay for some Christmas gifts each year.
4 – Shop Online Through a Cash Back Site – If you’re going to be shopping at an online retailer, make sure you check with online cash back sites to see if they offer a rebate or coupon for that retailer. My favorite site for this is Mr. Rebates, but there are several other reputable ones as well.
Look for a site that is free to use (Mr. Rebates actually pays you $5 for signing up) and has plenty of retailers. At a good site you’ll find hundreds or even thousands of online stores. Then you’ll earn anywhere from 1% to 30% cash back on your purchase just by visiting the cash back site first, and thenclicking through to the retailer. A couple of extra clicks can add up to some nice money back.
If you’re not used to shopping this way, try it out this holiday season and you could be getting a nice rebate check in the new year.
What ways have you found to make money on the things you’re already doing?
This post was written by staff writer Julie Mayfield.
Related posts:
- 8 Ways to Make Money Online Without a Website
- 3 Ways to Make Money in the New Year
- 3 Ways to Make Money Blogging
- Cheap Family Vacations – Ways to Save Money
- How to Make the Most of Gift Cards
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Does repurposing the content you write on your blog to create paid infoproducts count?
I haven’t taken reward or discount cards seriously in the past – but my MLM business based in the UK offers its customers access to a Discount club as an incentive, and has signed up with over 2000 High Street shops.
I’ve been getting generous cash backs on my utility bills, making it worth the while.