Do side hustles actually make you rich? No, they won’t replace your normal income (at least not in the beginning).
Social media has created a problem by glorifying side hustles, popularizing the idea that side hustles are the way to make millions. There is video after video of people saying they make X amount per month with just four hours of work, and it’s just not true.
If it were, would they be paying advertising money to beg you to pay for their seminars?
This article offers methods for you to make a bit of extra cash from free-to-use apps. These are legit ways to make a bit of extra cash in your spare time. Use them during your free time – while you’re sitting in a waiting room, taking the train to work, or when boring people are talking.
Method 1 – Earn Rewards by Using Receipt-Scanning Apps
There are hundreds of apps out there that pay you to scan your receipts. Apps like Fetch Rewards, Ibotta, Upside, Receipt Hog, and Swagbucks reward you points to upload your receipts. You can then redeem those points for gift cards from popular brands or cash deposited straight to your bank or PayPal account.
Most of these receipt-scanning apps offer sign-up bonuses too. For instance, Ibotta gives you a $10 bonus once you scan your first receipt when you join using a referral code. Upside provides an extra bonus of up to 50¢ per gallon of gas the first time you use it to fill up your car by adding a promo code. Fetch offers referral bonuses too, as high as 4,000 points (worth $4) when you use an influencer’s link to download the app.
Some people get really hardcore into using these apps. Clever side-hustlers can use a receipt maker tool to try and recreate any receipts that they’ve lost to try and get their points.
If you own a business or frequently shop at a business that doesn’t offer a scannable receipt, offer to provide them with the tools to set up their own system so you can get rewards.
Method 2 – Referral Codes
There are quite a number of mobile apps that provide a one-time new user bonus when you use someone’s referral code. You should take advantage of this extra bonus whenever possible.
That means stop downloading apps from the Apple Store or Google Play directly. Search the web for a referral code beforehand. It doesn’t make sense to download an app and get nothing in return for doing so when you can earn free rewards from using a referral link or code.
Method 3 – Survey Apps
Survey apps are apps that pay you money for answering questions. Top-ranked survey apps are Swagbucks, Amazon Shopping Panel, and Survey Junkie.
The downside to this method is that these types of surveys are short-lived. If you take too long to respond to a survey request, you’ll lose out to others who are faster at completing the questionnaire. The Amazon Shopping Panel is probably the favorite app among survey app side hustlers because it’s from a well-known brand and tends to pay out more than the others.
Method 4 – Cash Back Apps
Cash back apps are platforms that pay you cash back for using their shopping portal.
Let’s say you were going to buy clothes at J.Crew. Instead of jumping directly to jcrew.com, use a cash back portal like Mr. Rebates or Rakuten to start your shopping session.
Companies like J.Crew pay cash back portals a commission which they’ll share a percentage of with you. Currently, if you use Mr. Rebates to shop at J.Crew, you’ll earn 4% back on your total purchases.
That’s a pretty good return for adding a small extra step to your online shopping habits.
Bottom Line
Don’t be fooled by those who say they are rich through their side hustles because they wouldn’t be called side hustles if they were full-time money makers.
Nevertheless, by leveraging receipt-scanning apps, survey apps, and cash back apps, you’ll earn a decent amount of money. At the very least, the income will be enough for what we call “beer money” – money that will cover your weekend of “going out” expenses.
So start on your side hustle journey today!
