How I Make a Little Extra Cash

Freebies that you sign up for are great, right?  You know, you enter your name and address in a form online & they send you shampoo and conditioner samples.  I get freebies all the time, and I am sure there are even more resources to get even more freebies.  I just liked several pages on facebook such as "Freebies 4 Mom," "WomanFreebies.com," "Free Samples and Freebies," etc, etc.  Just do a little searching and you'll find them.  Then a few times a day you'll have a post show up in your news feed and you sign up if you want it.  But that's just the easy stuff and you don't get to choose what you want.

As a disclaimer, by providing the following recommendations, I am hoping that my referral will in turn earn me a little extra cash if you decide to sign up.  It's a little selfish, but I also really enjoy earning the extra cash and hope that you can also so it's not completely selfish.  I also would not recommend anything that I did not like myself.

A few years ago, while sitting in my college dorm room, I decided I would see if I could be one of those survey-takers to earn a little extra cash.  I tried out several different survey based websites, but I am only still taking surveys for one.  www.MySurvey.com  If you want to sign up, please let me know and I will email you a referral, because they don't have the option of posting a link.  I get a whole $1.50 for a referral, haha.  Basically you fill out a few profiles about yourself and they will have you take surveys based off the information you provide.  So if you are a 30 year old female with 2 kids, they'll tailor a lot of the surveys towards that.  Though a lot of them are about soda, grocery shopping, etc.  Sometimes they'll have you watch a short advertising clip and ask your opinion on it.  Each survey is assigned a certain amount of points usually based off the time it should take to complete it.  You then use those points to redeem for either certain rewards or gift cards.  I'm a fan of using them for Amazon gift cards.  It seems to take a decent enough time to earn a gift card, but when you're bored, you can just take a few surveys and see if you qualify.  I have never ever had issues with losing my points, not getting points, or not getting my rewards.

Another way to earn is through using Swagbucks.  Here is my referral link:  swagbucks.com/refer/aneubert.  I also earn a little extra if you use my referral link.  My Swag Name is aneubert if they ask.  Swagbucks is an interesting concept.  You can search & earn using either their website or the toolbar that you download just like you do with Google to earn points (you don't earn them every time you search).  You can also earn by watching videos, doing your online shopping, playing games, and answering surveys via their website.  You can also enter "Swag Codes" which can be found on their blog, their twitter, or their facebook page for bonus points.  Occasionally they have special days where you can earn extra points.  Just yesterday they had their "6th Birthday Party" and I earned a lot of extra points by joining the challenge and entering extra codes.  The way that I earned the most points was by purchasing tires for my car from Walmart.com, but I used their link to earn 4% back.  I think it ended up being $20 that they paid me just because I needed tires!  This is another points based system.  So you earn points and cash those in for gift cards, etc.  Again, I always get the Amazon gift cards.  I have had issues a couple times with not getting points that I should have earned, but I just facebook them or contacted them directly and they realized the error and gave me my points so it was more of a non-issue.

Finally, I'll let you in on a secret. I am a mystery shopper.  I signed up through (and recommend)  Kern Scheduling Services (KSS) International.  I don't get any extra bonus or anything by referrals, so this is a non-paid recommendation.  Here is how it works.  I get an email about a mystery shop opportunity.  I apply for it.  I am assigned the shop.  Then I print out anything I may need and go do the shop.  I then come home, submit receipts or forms I needed signed and do a quick survey about the shop.  Then I get paid in cash via PayPal.  Signing up for PayPal is free for non-businesses, so there is no charge.  There is also no charge to be a mystery shopper, and there never should be.  Anything else is a scam if there is a charge.  I have never ever had issues with getting paid.  It does take a while, usually if I do a shop in January, I'll get paid in February.  So if I do a shop January 1, it might take a lot longer to get paid than if I do a shop on January 31.  The shops are frequently compliance shops.  So I will go to a gas station, drug store chain, etc, and try to purchase alcohol or tobacco without my driver's license.  For those, I think you have to be between 18 and 25 or 30, but I can't remember for sure.  I have also gone to get my oil changed, gone to a store to take pictures of the set up and do an audit, and I am going to go to a movie theater and watch a movie and order popcorn this week.  All of your expenses are paid.  So I'll use the movie theater as an example.  I will pay up front for 2 tickets, popcorn, and maybe a drink (depending on if they try to up-sell me or not).  KSS will then reimburse me for all of my expenses.  On top of that, they will pay me $5.  So it is over a $40 value that I am getting plus an extra $5.  Same thing with the oil change.  My oil change was paid for plus I got $5 or $10.  I have yet to have actually gotten any tobacco or alcohol, but I would get to keep that if they actually sold it to me, get paid for it, and get an extra $5 or $10 on top of that.  I like that it is real money that they pay you and not points, so I can use it for whatever I want.

So if you want to earn some extra cash, but don't want to go through the trial and error process of trying to figure out what is a legitimate way to earn the money, I've done the research for you.  Again, please use me as a referral if you decide to sign up!  I'll take it as my Christmas present if you want. 

Happy earning!