Make Money While Stuck At Home
It can be incredibly hard when you suddenly find yourself stuck at home without a way to earn money. I have been there before and I have had to learn how to get creative to earn money for expenses that weren’t in our regular budget. If I needed something for homeschooling, for example, I needed to figure out a way to earn money.
Normally a list of creative ideas like this would include things like selling at craft fairs or mystery shopping but I tried my best to think of only things I have done that could be done from home. These are things I have done in the past that have worked well for me. I hope they work well for you!
Rakuten
Anytime you are shopping from home, don’t forget to use Rakuten (formerly ebates). At this point I anticipate most of my shopping will be done online for the next several months. Rakuten is perfect to use all year long, any time you shop online. Rakuten allows you to earn cash back on items you are already buying.
Rakuten is easy and reliable. All you need is a PayPal account or you can opt to have them send you a check by mail. You can earn a great amount of money through Rakuten referrals too so don’t forget to share your refferal link.
Click Here To Earn Cash Back Through Rakuten!
Swagbucks
Swagbucks have a number of different methods for earning such as taking surveys, using the search bar or printing coupons. You can also earn by watching videos. I tend to let those videos play while I wash dishes or fold laundry, I average about $10-$20 a month.
I also go shopping through Swagbucks which generally gets me another $75-$150 a year, although as I mentioned above I recently switched to Rakuten because the payout is better. I usually cash out for Amazon gift cards, but there are other options.
Mobile Shopping Apps
Ibotta: This app offers rebates for taking a picture of your receipts. Some rewards are higher than others, and they can vary depending on the store and item. You can earn more by doing small tasks like watching a video about the product.
The only problem with this is you have to shop at specific stores. It’s not a heavy money maker but when you are looking for creative ways to earn money, every little bit counts.
Receipt Hog: This app is similar to Ibotta with the difference being you don’t have to shop at specific stores to earn. The payout is a little slow, but if I am already purchasing a product why would you throw away free money!
SavingStar: Very similar to the other two. This one does best for me. I love it when they have offers like Spend $35 on Starbucks and get $5. They usually give you a few trips to get to the threshold, and that total can include coupons. You can also “boost” your total but getting credit for watching videos or other small tasks. Looking back I can see I earned $115 this year. You can pick your payout as a bank deposit, Paypal deposit, or you can start a college fund and contribute to that.
Email Surveys
All of these companies are very similar. They offer you money in the form of points or straight out cash for taking surveys through their site. I recommend you do your research on each one, but the following are the ones I have had the best luck with.
Vindale Research, Opinion Outpost, My Points, Pinecone Research
User Testing
I have found that User Testing can be very lucrative. Each test takes me about 20 minutes. I also need the use of my laptop, tablet or cell phone, depending on the test, and a quiet space. Since I need it to be quiet I do this at night or early in the morning. I have found that signing up for multiple sites and frequently getting good reviews has earned me more tests. I have gotten about 2-3 tests a week that I qualify for the number gets higher as I take more tests and test well. The key is to pay attention to the directions. Each test rewards me between $10-$12.
User Testing, TryMyUI, Userlytics
Selling Giftcards
There are two sites that I use to sell gift cards I can’t use- we had a restaurant burn down in our area that I had won a $100 gift card to- or cards I won’t use. Cardpool, Raise, and I’ve never used this particular one, but a similar site is Giftcardgranny. All of them work by selling your gift card at a discounted rate. Your $50 gift card might earn $38 dollars but if you weren’t planning on using it or couldn’t, either way, I’d consider that a win!
Selling Photos
Foap App: Foap is an app that lets you sell your photos online. This is great if you have a photography hobby. Foap sells any photo you chose to send for $10 and you earn $5. I have used this app and so far have made $40. The payout method is PayPal. Similar App: Clashot
Selling Books with Bookscouter
Bookscouter is an all in one for selling books. They search for several sites that buy back used books and give you the best deal. I sold some books I had from college and received $359. This app made selling my old college textbooks so much easier. Now I have this app on my phone. When I go thrift shopping, I can look up any interesting books I find. If you’re stuck at home and decluttering though, perhaps you can find some treasures right in your house!
