Real Ways to Make a Little Extra

If you do even the minimal amount of research for ways to make money online, chances are that you have probably been bombarded with articles, ads, pop-ups and posts that talk about the easy ways to earn quickly. The problem is, most of them aren’t as advertised.

You’ll probably end up hearing about people making a living or at least a really nice side income by taking surveys, watching videos, and clicking on ads. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Most of the time, you will either have to invest a lot of time to earn a little money or you’ll be paid in gift cards that you might now want. That is if you ever get paid at all.

But don’t fret, there is some good news, despite the frustration and confusion that can arise with trying to make some cash on the Internet. That’s where these tools come in.

None of these will get you rich or help you quit your day job, but all of them can easily help pay a bill or two a month or be stored up to use for special occasions.

The easiest (and laziest) method is to download an app called Panel App. Basically, you let it run in the background of your phone or device and it tracks data from browsing. If you’re not into that, it’s OK. But if you’re alright with it, all you have to do is open the app once in a while and your points will go up. You can optionally take short surveys to increase the points but it is not required. You can redeem your points for gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, the Google Play Store or for a Visa card. They take a while to earn but you really don’t do much at all. If you want to check it out for yourself, use the link panelapp.me/kbno to earn points right away.

There are also apps that are essentially market research tools that companies use to find out about buying habits. Two of the easiest and best I have found are Receipt Hog and Fetch Rewards.

Receipt Hog allows you to take a picture of receipts from almost anywhere and earn points. Once in a while, and much more so in November and December usually, the app provides optional surveys for extra points. If you connect your Amazon account, you earn even more. You can also play an in-app slot machine with no risk of losing points, you can either win nothing or earn a few more. You can cash out your earnings for gift cards to Amazon, money in Paypal or a Visa.

Fetch Rewards works in much the same way, but only takes receipts from grocery, convenience, and warehouse stores and takes a little longer to earn. However, this app does have a few more options to spend your points. You can sign up with the code C3GUG.

If you shop at physical stores a lot or just like browsing, you might want to check out Shopkick. Make sure your Bluetooth is active and you will be given a listing of stores in your area that participate. In some cases, you can simply walk in and collect points. In others, you scan items from the shelves. If you buy any items on the list, the points add up quickly. You can watch short videos for extra credit. There are tons of reward options, including all those mentioned for the other apps (minus the Visa) and more. You can even donate to charity. Once again, be sure to use the code GOAL530986.

I’ve probably saved my favorite for last. That’s because it’s super easy and builds up quick. The name of it is Voxpopme. The idea is pretty much to do surveys via video. But, it’s not really involved at all. You simply answer a brief question in a video of 60 seconds or less and in my case it seems like you earn any amount from $0.50 to $100 each time you do it. After you reach $15, you can cash out with Paypal. Use this link to get started with the app.