I'd like to preface this visit by saying that what you read here are NOT get rich quick schemes. I've invested a lot of time into researching how to make some additional income. We'll talk about some potentially great opportunities for you to make more money but like I said, you won't get rich off these ideas. For most people, these methods will probably just pad your wallet with a couple extra hundred bucks a month. I hope this post can get you started on what our site hopes to offer our readers. So lets jump right in!
Credit Card Churning: Some of you have probably heard of this one already. Its my favorite income earning method on this list but also the most high risk. I say that because it is only profitable IF you pay off your credit card bill in full each and every month. Missing even a single payment can wreak havoc on your gains. That being said, this method is relatively simple and is something you can start in less than a week or so. The basic idea is as follows:
1) Open a Credit Card with a large signup bonus.
2) Use the card for things you were going to purchase anyways, such as groceries, gas, and even rent and utilities in order to meet the minimum spending requirements (e.g. spend $3,000 in the first 3 months, get $500 back).
3) Payoff the Credit Card balance in FULL each month. After you meet the minimum spending requirements, the rewards will be automatically added to your account!
4) Open a new Credit Card and rinse and repeat.
There are some credit cards with very large sign-up bonuses, my favorite of which is the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP for short). At the time of this post, this card will reward you with $625 for meeting the minimum spend requirements of $4,000 in the first 3 months. In addition it has a myriad of other benefits such as special deals on flights and hotels. It has no annual fee in the first year, but in the second year there is a fee of $95. This can be avoided by canceling the card before the second year. The link above will take you to the application page.
The goal of many churners is to be able to vacation around the world completely for free. And I kid you not, this is actually possible. It does take a fair bit of time to build up to that point though (probably about six months to a year). Check out our churning post for more details on how to churn your way to a free vacation.
The idea is really simple. Go to Bing.com and sign-up for Microsoft Rewards (this is not a referral link). You can then complete a few daily tasks to earn credits. Once you've earned enough credits you can trade them in for gift cards to popular retailers including Amazon, Starbucks, and the Microsoft store. The tasks are extremely simple and include making 30 bing searches each day (worth 15 credits), daily quizzes (worth 3 credits each) and 20 mobile phone searches (worth 10 credits).
Swagbucks: Swagbucks.com is another rewards program that allows you to redeem their points for gift cards. This one has a much higher earning potential than Bing Rewards for a few reasons:
- The first is that there are simply more ways to earn. You can complete surveys, watch videos, and participate in special deals.
- The second reason is that by answering the surveys truthfully, you can often gain access to studies that will pay you for your time. There have been instances where I completed a survey and based on the information I provided I was asked to participate in a study that takes some of my time in exchange for paid compensation (best I've gotten so far was $100 for one hour). The surveys themselves don't have huge payouts (usually ~$1 or so) but when you factor in the potential for being invited to studies, you can make a fair amount of extra cash.
- The third reason is the referral program (the link I provided above is actually to my referral page. If you prefer to join Swagbucks and wish to avoid my referral page you can click this link instead: Swagbucks.com). Through the referral program, for every Swagbucks your friends earn, you will earn an additional 10%!
Bitcoin: You've probably heard of Bitcoin before - it's the most well known crypto-currency and also the most well established. I consider it an extremely volatile investment and for that reason I don't recommend anyone put in more money than they can afford to lose. That being said, we can both make $10 (denominated in Bitcoin) when you register for a Coinbase.com account and buy $100 worth. After that, it is up to you whether you sell and walk away with the $110, or hold onto it as a speculative investment. The offer is only available through the referral program. If you wish to buy Bitcoins from Coinbase without going through my referral link, you can instead click this link: Coinbase.com.
Uber: By now most people are familiar with the ride-sharing service Uber. It works like this, you download the app, enter in your current location and where you'd like to go, and within a few minutes a driver picks you up (for a fee of course). You probably also know that you can make a decent side income by signing up to be an Uber driver. In fact, some people make a living just by being an Uber driver.
If you own a car then Uber is a great way to earn some additional income (and the best part is you choose your own hours!). The real secret to maximizing your Uber income is to drive during peak hours of certain days. On a Friday night for instance, Uber charges higher fees meaning that you as the driver will make more money for each trip you complete. If you factor in holidays such as Halloween and New Years Eve, you might be making anywhere from 2 to 8 times the normal fee! That's some serious money.
Uber also has a referral program in place so if you are a driver and know friends who are looking to earn some side income, you can refer them and earn an extra $80!
Lyft: Like Uber, Lyft is a ride-sharing service. It works almost identical to Uber but from what I can tell, the payouts to drivers are a little higher. They also do bonuses for their drivers from time to time. If you click the on the link above to sign-up as a driver, we will both earn $100 after you complete 75 rides within 30 days (on top of the money you make from driving). According to the website, you can make up to 35/hr, but in my experience this number is closer to $28/hr.
Motif: Motif.com currently has a deal where you fund an account within $1,000 and make a single trade and they will give you $100. This can be a high-risk method because it requires you to make an investment trade. However, it is possible to earn this $100 with absolutely zero risk if you invest your $1,000 in U.S. Treasury bills. They also have a refer-a-friend program in place so that for each friend you refer, you both earn $100.
Now Motif also has a deal in place where you create what they call a 'Motif' (hence the website name) which is essentially just a basket of stocks or bonds with a common theme. If you create a Motif and lots of people invest into it, you will receive $1 for each investor. Some of the most popular Motif's on the site have thousands of investors (meaning the creator got $1 for each of those investors). So if you think you have what it takes to create a popular Motif then this is one avenue for making a fair amount of passive income.
Checking Account Bonuses: This method requires that you have a few thousand dollars sitting around that you know you won't need in the next 3 months or so. It works like this: Many banks are offering people one-time sign-up bonuses to open a checking account. A common one is to fund a checking account with $2,000 and leave it there for 90 days, at which point you receive a reward of anywhere from $50 to $300 (depending on the bank). This is my least favorite method on the list because it requires you to park a lot of cash for a fair amount of time. If something comes up during those 90 days and you need the money, then you'll end up forfeiting the bonus.
So before we end this post, I'm going to break down my earnings from all of these methods just to show your how much you could potentially earn (your experience will vary depending on how much time and effort you're willing to put into these).
Churning: My earnings from churning are pretty inconsistent. It really depends on the signup bonus of the card I'm using at the time. That being said, I think a fair estimate of my average monthly earnings from Churning alone is about $600. This is huge for me because I'm really not spending any extra time doing this. The only time investment required is the credit card application and that takes maybe 10 minutes to complete once a month.
Bing: I'll earn about $5 a month from Bing. Not a ton of money obviously, but it doesn't really take any extra time for me. I'll hit the daily search bonus just from jumping around between news articles I was going to read anyways.
Swagbucks: I'm not a huge fan of Swagbucks because it does require a time investment. The surveys typically takes about twenty minutes and you'll only earn ~$1. But if you get lucky and qualify for a study, you can earn anywhere from $30-100. I generally complete two to three surveys a day and qualify for one study a month on average. Total monthly earnings is around $110 from surveys and studies alone. Occasionally they have a really good deal on something I was going to signup for or buy anyways (for instance, you get $87 for signing up for Uber through Swagbucks) so some months you'll earn close to $200 if you're smart about it. Swagbucks can be combined with Churning but this is an advanced topic we will get to later on.
Bitcoin: You can only qualify for the Coinbase.com $10 signup bonus once. But if you know people who are interested in Bitcoin but aren't sure how to purchase it, you can make $10 for referring them. I only get about two referrals a month at the moment so average monthly earnings for me are about $20.
Uber: I have a full time job so I don't drive Uber very often (maybe 5 hours a week max). But since I drive on Weekend nights, I earn more per hour than most other Uber drivers (~$30/hr). I would say most months I earn about $500.
Lyft: I prefer driving Lyft over Uber because they generally pay the drivers a little more. The only issue I've encountered with Lyft is not as many people use the app (Uber is more popular). So I often switch between Lyft and Uber when I'm driving on Friday and Saturday nights. I probably earn about $500 a month from Lyft as well.
Motif: Like with Coinbase, you can only earn the Motif signup bonus once. But you can refer friends and you'll both get $100. I've had much less success referring people to Motif. I think this is due to the $1,000 deposit they require to earn the bonus is a little high for most people. I've only had one successful referral so far so I won't add this one to my monthly earnings.
Checking Account Bonuses: My least favorite ExtraBucks method on the list. As previously mentioned you have to park your cash for months at a time to earn relatively small bonuses. But at the end of the day its free money so I can't complain too much. I'd say I earn another $10 a month by harvesting checking account bonuses.
When we add these up, we get a rough average of $1,835 per month. For me, this is a game changing amount of money. I have much more financial freedom and I'm less stressed than I used to be. Plus, I'm always looking for new opportunities so I fully expect this number to increase over time. Combined with my full time employment, I can safely say I live a comfortable lifestyle.
With all that said, I hope you've learned a thing or two and are willing to learn more.
Thanks for reading,
Rybos
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