how to earn money the easy way

I started this mini-series on how we save money and I’ve gotta say, I’m enjoying it but it's a huge undertaking! You have to put in a little work to earn money (much like a career) but it pays off. I LOVE finding deals and saving money and I love when people tip me off to their tricks too. My mom passed down her frugal ways and I can’t even imagine how much I’ve saved or earned over the past 28 years in existence.

Check out my previous posts on how we save at Target and how we save on groceries.

Today I want to talk how I EARN money. It’s no secret that Mark and I have steady jobs, but I like to make a little on the side as well. Aside from my Etsy shop where I get to exercise my creative muscles while making a few bucks, I use programs, apps, and tricks to save and earn money during my everyday life.

ebates

I’ve talked about Ebates before so I’ll keep it short. I’ve really enjoyed Ebates and all of my friends and family that use it have let me know that they enjoy it too! If you don’t know about it, go here and check it out. You get cash back by shopping online at your normal stores. Go sign up and then refer your friends to make extra money and qualify for giveaways! I signed up last fall and here’s an overview of how I’ve done so far:

I made a lot of that by doing 95% of my Christmas shopping online and referring friends. Just so you know, I’m super wary of scams but you guys, I’ve gotten this money straight to my paypal account and in check form and it’s legit! Check out these other articles on ebates if you don’t believe me:

what is ebates?

how to get paid to shop

My mom (who thinks Facebook gives her viruses and doesn’t buy anything from China) uses ebates and LOVES it!

Have I convinced you yet? Go sign up!!!

shopkick

Speaking of Facebook, I saw a ‘promoted post’ for this app on there a few weeks ago. Shopkick is an interesting app…you download it and turn your Blue tooth on and (supposedly) when you walk into stores, you get “kicks” just for going. You rack up kicks and can earn gift cards this way.

I want you guys to know that I’m super honest with everything I write on this blog and I’ve gotta say, I’m not all that impressed with Shopkick. It’s worked about 50% of the time and it’s pretty frustrating walking around a store just getting the app to recognize where you are. You can scan certain items for extra kicks and even though I scanned it and it recognized the item (2 out of 4 times), it still didn’t give me the kicks for being IN the store where the item was located.

Anyway, I’m going to continue to give it a try because obviously some people are successful with it. I do like that it gives me 'bonus' kicks every day just for opening the app, but the payouts aren't very much. I think it's one of those things that you just use FOREVER and kind of forget about and then one day you've racked up $100 or so. Does anyone out there use shopkick and like it? Please let me know your secrets!

If you want to check it out, go here.

chase bank

I’ve mentioned our banking before too, but I wanted to touch on it again. Whatever you do, if you are spending money, you should be earning money!!! Check your bank and see what kind of rewards they offer. If they don’t offer rewards, switch banks! We have used Chase bank forever. It’s nice because it’s a large bank that is in multiple locations. We started using the Chase Freedom card a couple of years ago and we use it for everything. We never carry a balance so that means we pay it off every month (and avoid those interest charges) but we are constantly earning points. You earn 1% cash back for every dollar you spend and every quarter there is a promotion. For example, during two quarters (3 months each) you can earn 5% cash back on gas. It’s so easy to rack up points on the items you’re buying everyday anyway. 1% might not sound like much, but if you can only use your credit card, it accrues quickly. We have “made” between $50 and $120 a month just in rewards. That’s a nice chunk of change! So go check out your bank’s options and start getting some of your money back!

Sign up right now and get a $100 bonus!!!

groupon

Groupon has been around for quite a while and it really gained steam about 8(ish) years ago, but since then I think it’s died down a bit. Recently, though, I’ve been on Groupon and I realized I had forgotten how great of a tool it could be! As long as you can plan ahead, you can save quite a bit on entertainment and all sorts of things. For example, Mark and I aren’t big movie-goers, but if we want to go to a movie, we always go to Groupon and buy our movie tickets there. We go to Studio Movie Grill which is just down the street and they charge $10 per adult ticket. Groupon offers the same tickets for $5 or $6 each and all we have to do is show the app on our phone at the counter! Check it out, you’ll be surprised at how many deals there are!

There is no way I could put a number on how much money we have saved and earned over the years, but I can tell you one thing, it has made a huge difference in how we live our lives! If you want extra money in your pocket, be sure to check out these easy ways to get it!