5 Quick Money Making Ideas

Reward apps and websites

One of the easiest ways to generate a few dollars is using rewards apps or websites.

For my UK readers, check out this post from Inkmattic for cash back sites!

One of my favorites is the Fetch rewards app! I don’t know if this app is new or just hasn’t been as popular as others because I didn’t hear of it until a few months ago, and it’s super easy to use! I’ve tried other grocery or receipt scanning apps, but they didn’t amount too much. Fetch is by far the easiest to use and easiest to accumulate rewards. All you have to do is scan a receipt to earn points that you can use to redeem gift cards! They even will take your Amazon and e-mail receipts so you get points for those, too.

I personally only redeem my points for gift cards to Amazon, but there are plenty of places to choose from. You do get bonus points for certain purchases, but I don’t take the time to figure out what to buy to get extra points- I don’t feel that’s cost effective or worth my time. If it’s not on my list, then I don’t need it. But, I occasionally get surprised when I purchase Dove body wash from Costco or Huggie’s and get an extra few thousand points, so just shop like normal and let the points add up! Easy. Money.

If you sign up for Fetch rewards, use my code 6UE42 to get an extra 2,000 (some times more!) points after you scan your first receipt!

Of course, Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is another common rewards site and has been around for a while. You earn percentages from your purchases that they pay out quarterly.

I do use it myself and enjoy the feeling of getting a little bit back on my purchases. I’ve already made over $100 this year using Rakuten, and I don’t shop many places besides just the grocery stores. If you have kids, you’ll find more benefit because you’re probably shopping more often and at more diverse stores than I might be!

I would still say the same thing about Rakuten as any other rewards app or credit card: Don’t buy things you don’t need just because there’s an incentive. That is not beneficial to your long term financial goals.

However, if you ever buy something out of your normal shopping habits, like I do for myself, or when I’m looking for gifts for the holidays, you better believe I’m checking Rakuten to get the cash back!

I usually get cash back for the tax preparation programs I use, or when I make larger purchases through backcountry.com. Really, just check it out and see if you’ll be able to get anything back for shopping at the places you normally shop.

Rakuten even gives you a bonus when you sign up so you should do it at least for that. The bonus usually requires that you spend as much as you’re getting back in bonus. If you have normal online shopping to do anyway, why not get some extra money for it? Use my link if you’d like to try it out at no cost to you!

These are just a couple of examples of apps that reward you for shopping. I’ve tried others and these ones are my favorites. Just be careful to continue to stick to a budget and don’t buy something just to get points. That really defeats the purpose of trying to save money. 🙂

Sell gift cards!

Okay, so here’s another quick and easy way to put some quick cash in your pocket. Do you have gift cards for places that you don’t generally go to? If you don’t really care about getting something from that particular store or would just really like to have the cash, check out cardpool.com. You can sell your gift cards and they will give you cash. It’s really easy, and a good way to convert an unused gift into cash for your pocket. Do keep in mind that they’ll pay you less than the value of the gift card, but that’s still better than letting it sit in a drawer until you decide (or can) use it.

Store rewards

While you may not see immediate payouts from store rewards, you should take a look at rewards for places that you’re already shopping. Because we have to feed our families, we’re still shopping in stores like Fred Meyer’s, Safeway, and Costco, to name a few. I utilize rewards at Fred Meyer and Costco because those are the main places I shop for food. For my family, it makes sense that I would try to stretch my dollars at these places.

Fred Meyer has a free rewards card that only requires you to type in a phone number when you check out. The reward points add up to cents off gallons of gas (a necessity like food) when you go to Fred Meyer fuel station, as well as a quarterly rebate check to the customer. They also send coupons based on your shopping history, which will help you in the future to keep your grocery costs down. You only get the rebate if you’re spending money at their store so, again, not really “making” you money, but helping you keep more of it when you’re already shopping at that store anyway.

Bonus: Our state does a bottle return program that gives me $.12 per can if I use the money in Fred Meyer! If you don’t have a special program like that, don’t forget about using your cans receipts in the stores, too.

Costco doesn’t necessarily have a rewards program, but there is an incentive to use their branded credit card.

I’m going to insert a little disclaimer here that I would urge anyone to be cautious when using a credit card, especially if you’ve struggled with credit card debt in the past. This may not be the right thing for you to do if it may cause you to take on debt.

I use this card for only two things: groceries and gas. I have a budget for both of those items, and don’t spend more than I know I am allowed. Because of that, I actually don’t spend a lot at Costco on an annual basis. But, they offer cash back of 4% on certain gas stations, and cash back on other purchases at Costco, which equated to an almost $200 check that I received in February. They do only disburse this once a year and it just happened that I got it during this time of crisis.

Be sure to check out the stores where you regularly shop to see if they offer rewards. Never hurts to save money!