Having a bit of extra pocket money to spend can be a great and freeing thing.
If you are just looking to earn a few extra fun dollars on the side, these are some great ideas you can try.
None of them are intended to make you rich – but they are really fun things that you can try to earn cash while meeting people and developing new skills.
Most of those listed are free to begin, meaning your creativity, time and effort are all you will need to get started.
Remember, this is a guide only. All the approximate numbers given are a guide only, and you may find that you have more or less success with certain tactics.
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A. Mobile Gigs
Your smartphone opens a huge number of opportunities for you to make money at times when you might be unproductive, commuting, or wasting time.
FreeCash: It pays you to test apps, play games & take surveys. Get paid up to $497.82 per offer! Start Earning!
Earn Haus: Earn up to $25 per survey. Plus same-day payments via PayPal, Venmo & Check! Join Earn Haus!
Swagbucks: Get paid to watch videos, shop online, take surveys and more. Join now & get $10 instantly!
InboxDollars: Paid over $57 Million to members to watch videos, take surveys, shop and more. Get $5 instantly!
KashKick: Get paid directly into your PayPal for watching videos, surfing, shopping and more. Join KashKick Now!
Gigwalk is one example of a program you can use, posting tasks that range in payment between $3 and $90 that you can complete while you’re out.
Tasks include shopping, rating, completing store surveys, taking photos, testing mobile apps, etc. To take part, you just need an iPhone or Android device.
You can also try Field Agent and Easy Shift, which pays in items like gift cards and has easy to find tasks to complete.
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B. Incentivized Freebie Websites
Incentivized Freebie Websites (IFW) (also known as GPT – Get Paid To), are both loved and hated by some.
IFW sites are basically online rewards programs that reward you for taking certain actions. It can be taking a survey, visiting a website, watching a video, signing up for a trial offer,…
And there are many of them around. Sifting through them to find the ones that are legit and actually pay can be a tedious task.
I have been using a number of IFWs for years and I can say that they are a great source for earning little pocket change and free gift cards.
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C. Listen to Music
If you love listening to and discovering new music, there are ways you can make a little money while doing so.
Some sites will allow you to review and rate new releases.
Generally reviews begin at about 5 cents, but as you gain a profile and background you can move up and earn a bit more.
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You stand to earn $30 to $40 a month in extra pocket money for something you might be doing anyway!
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D. Complete Paid Surveys
Customer feedback is a valuable resource for any business, and they get the feedback by paying market research companies to conduct surveys for them.
And to give people an incentive to participate, the market research companies pay people with some of the money they get from companies and businesses.
You can sign up for multiple websites to try your luck and see which type work best for you.
Once signed up with a site, you will usually receive emails with surveys available for completion and details of what you will earn.
Some surveys take under a minute, others can be much longer or multi-stage.
Generally, payment per survey is relatively small (between $1 and $5) but rises with more complex studies. Some companies offer gift cards or incentives in lieu of cash.
Surveys are definitely not a source of income you can rely on entirely, but they can bring you a nice sum of pocket money each month depending on how many you complete.
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E. Microjobs
As more and more people begin to work from home, the “microjobs” or freelance, single-job marketplace is growing bigger every day.
There are many jobs you can complete and plenty of places to find them.
In many cases, you can list your available services or apply for available jobs. TaskRabbit even provides offline jobs for you to complete.
Generally, these small jobs pay between $5 and $50 and can often be completed within an hour.
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F. Enter Competitions
In your spare time, it can be worthwhile to enter the free contests and competitions that are often offered by companies and retailers as a promotion.
Generally, you can enter by just providing a little bit of information, and the results can pay off hugely if you’re lucky.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time looking for these contest. There are many sites that aggregate information on local deals, coupons and contests. Sign up and enter whatever catches your eye, and you stand to make a lot.
Remember, this is more of a fun shot-in-the-dark than something you can depend on for usable income.
When getting started, you might consider setting up a separate email account to ensure that you don’t receive too many notifications or newsletters in your regular inbox.
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G. Pay to Click Earning
If you spend a lot of time online, getting paid to click on advertisements might be a great option for you!
Generally, you will be required to click on advertisements and view them.
Each click takes only a few seconds, and the earnings per click are very low. If, however, you are willing to dedicate time while you listen to music or watch TV, you stand to earn a few extra dollars without much mental or physical effort.
I should also mention that most paid to click sites have evolved to offer other opportunities as well.
For example, InboxDollars, started as a site where they would pay members to click on the ads in their newsletter emails. But these days, InboxDollars is a complete online rewards program where you can earn by doing a variety of stuff, like taking surveys, playing games, shopping, etc.
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H. FreeLancing
Freelancing has been growing as a profession immensely for the past few years.
There are tons of different things you can do as a freelancer, from writing simple articles to designing logos, to building websites and more.
You normally set your own prices, and can work from anywhere, anytime.
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Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are a lot of different ways to earn extra pocket money for kids and adults. You just have top pick a few that allows you to make the most money while spending the least amount of time and effort.
And with so many options, it shouldn’t be that hard to find the perfect way for you to earn extra pocket money!
It’s funny, I started doing freelance video production in high school, just to make a few dollars here and there. Ten years later I’m a television producer in Los Angeles! Just goes to show where life can take you if you allow yourself to become passionate about something and continue to pursue and grow at it.
Hard work pays off. I am glad you are doing good Jonathan.