13 Simple (and Legal) Ways that Help Millennials Pay Rent

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No matter your level of adulting, there’s an invisible line that should be avoided. And that’s the “move-back-in-with-your-parents-cause-you’re-outta-money” line.

For real though, you don’t want to resort to that.

Even if you have the best relationship in the world with them, it’s not your own space.

They probably also have a knack for saying stuff that really riles you up, or is that just my own immigrant parents? (“Don’t eat so late, you’re gonna get fat,” “You’re throwing this away? Why? I’ll save it for later.”)

So to avoid that situation altogether, let’s make rent. Regularly.

Of course, you’ll still need a full-time job on your own. But to give you some extra cushion though, you can check out these simple ways to make rent.

1. Extremely Passive Income – Just Leave This App On & Get Paid

Panel App is a loyalty incentive app that will give you points just by leaving the app running in the background. This is passive income at it’s best.

Because it gives you points on location, go ahead and enable location services. Then just turn the app on before you go about your day and head to school, work, gym, walk your dog, wherever.

After testing it we think it’s a great (lazy) app that rewards you for doing almost nothing. If you’re still skeptical, know this:

You don’t have to complete offers
You don’t have to watch ads
You don’t have to buy anything
You don’t have to do anything but leave the app running

We snagged a $5 Amazon gift card via email after a few weeks of just leaving the app on and forgetting about it. You can also choose VISA gift cards, MasterCard gift cards or sweepstakes entries.

Overall, a solid choice for earning a bit of money to add to your rent for literally just leaving the app running on your phone!

TIP: When you’re a new member, it’ll ask you if you want to keep the app running in the background. Just tap “Yes” to continue getting paid!

2. Get a Personal Loan Fast Even if You Have Bad Credit

Your credit score is important but sometimes, unfortunate circumstances happen to good people. It’s not always a fair representation of your financial history to be judged by 3 digits.

Even if you have a poor credit score you could still get a personal loan for your short-term financial needs.

OppLoans can help.

Submitting an application doesn’t affect your FICO credit score and you’ll be able to get the best personal loan that you may need for car repairs, medical, family, rent, major purchase, etc.

Here’s who can qualify:

Residents of AL, AR, AZ, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KY, KS, LA, ME, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, ND, NE, NV, NM, OH, OK, OR, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, SC, WA, WI, WY, VA
Have a minimum monthly income of $1,500 for the states listed above except AL is $3,500, and GA & ID is $3,000
Employed at your current job for at least 3 months
18+ years old (19 if from AL or NE) and cannot be an active duty service member
A traditional bank account in your name that’s been open for at least 90 days
You get your paychecks via direct deposit

Qualified borrowers will be able to borrow up to $4,000 depending on their state.

And when monthly payments are made back on the loan, OppLoans will notify the 3 credit bureaus to build up your payment history!

3. Invest in the Legal Cannabis Industry with Just $5 to Grow More Rent Money. No Experience Necessary.

Mitch / Adobe *photo for illustrative purposes only

If investing sounds complicated and expensive for you, it doesn’t have to be.

You know you should start, but where to begin? You don’t want to just pick randomly as you want to invest in an industry you believe in. Something that can really take off and make money, especially for rent.

So how about investing in the legal cannabis industry? It’s big business as retail sales are projected to hit $10 billion this year and is expected to grow to $24.5 billion by 2021.

You can do it with Stash, a microinvesting app that lets you invest for as little as $5 and it takes less than 2 minutes to get started. We’ll even give you a free $5 to get started.

They curate from over 150 investments which include stocks and Exchange Traded Funds and you’ll get to choose an investment blend that meets your goals and interests.

When you sign up with Stash, go ahead and take a look at the app’s portfolio options, including one cannabis-related ETF, to round out your portfolio.

Take the $5 that we’re giving you and start investing with Stash.

4. Some Bathroom Money Making: Get Paid for Playing Free Digital Scratch-Offs While You’re Just…Sitting There

Don’t bother going to the liquor store to buy physical scratchers (they get expensive too).

Instead, play digital scratchers for free on Lucktastic. Even in the bathroom.

There are a ton of different scratchers you can play, and you can earn both cash and tokens.

Scratched all of them for the day? Don’t worry, there are specific night-time scratchers that are available every night too!

When you want to redeem your earnings, you can choose from:

Amazon gift cards
CVS gift cards
Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards
Check mailed to you
Visa gift cards

Lucktastic keeps things free by showing a few ads here and there plus it’s easy to play and multi-task at the same time.

Average savings in a month: $18.58
What it could add up to in a year: $223
Additional Earnings: Cash prizes up to $1M

5. Make Stupid Easy Money Trying and Playing Games

There are so many new games coming out on the daily that it’s hard to choose which to play.

My strategy? Only focus on the games that pay me for my time.

You can do it with AppStation, an app that pays you to try out new games.

When you earn coins from trying new games, you can redeem for:

PayPal Cash
Amazon gift card
GameStop gift card
PlayStation Store gift card
Xbox Live gift card
And too much more to list

Nab a 4,444 coin welcome bonus too, which is basically around 50 cents in value. And if you don’t like to wait, you can choose to payout as low as $1.

If your friends want to get it on the money action, introduce them to AppStation, where you’ll get bonus coins and 25% of all their earnings. To make it a supportive group, your friends will also earn 25% of your earnings too!

6. Don’t Toss That Receipt! Do This First for Free Money

Before you crumple up that receipt in your pocket or forever lose it in the abyss of your purse, scan it into the Fetch Rewards app, and earn points towards free money. I repeat, free money.

It’s ridiculously simple and actually fun to use.

Shop at any grocery store, convenience store, club store, neighborhood store, or big box store, take a picture with the app, and that’s it. (Favorites include Target, Kroger, and Walmart!)

Unlike other apps, you don’t have to go to specific stores, there’s nothing to pre-select prior to shopping, and there’s no minimum spend. Just scan in any receipt from a store that sells groceries (even when you didn’t actually buy any groceries) and boom, points for money.

You can start cashing out as soon as $3 (3,000 points) and you can grab a $2 welcome bonus on us (2,000 points) when you use promo code REWARD before scanning your first receipt!

Welcome bonus: $2
Average savings a month (depends on purchases): $25
What it could add up to in a year: $302
Additional referral earnings: $2 per referral

7. Make 1.61% Interest On Your Money with This Fee-Free Banking App

Traditional banks seem to take every opportunity they can to squeeze more money out of you. With everything from a monthly service fee to various hidden fees nibbling away at your account balance.

Enter Varo which was founded to provide a fee-free banking service². Yep, Varo has no monthly service fees, no foreign transaction fees, and no ATM withdrawal fees.

On top of having no fees, Varo lets you make more money on your money. Varo provides a high yield savings account that starts at 1.61% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)¹ that can move up to 2.80% APY¹ based on qualifying activity. To put this into perspective, the average APY of the 5 biggest national banks is 0.09%.*

Varo has a few sweet extra features too:

Get your paycheck up to 2 days earlier⁴ (super helpful for rent!)
No minimum balance requirement
Over 55,000+ AllPoint® ATMs worldwide to use your Varo Visa® debit card
Offers personal loans to pre-qualified customers who want to consolidate debt
Varo will send any paper check to anyone in the U.S. on your behalf
Varo Personal Forecast tracks your spending to manage your cash flow
“Save the Change” rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and saves the difference to your Varo savings account

If you’re sick of being charged banking fees and want to make more out of your money, check out Varo. It takes less than 5 minutes to learn more and apply for free.

8. Save Up to $720 a Year for People Who Hate Negotiating their Bills

Your time’s important and spending even a half-hour waiting on the phone to talk to a rep is extremely low on your list. But, unfortunately, that’s the way to get better rates on your bills.

They’re not going to automatically give you a good rate unless you ask for it. And for people who hate playing the negotiation game, you’re losing money.

Or, you can let someone else do it for you, and consistently too. Truebill could save you hundreds a year by negotiating on your behalf to lower your monthly bills, like cellphone, internet, etc. The app also helps everyday people better manage and save their money, keep track of recurring subscriptions, and more!

In a few seconds, see how much you can save below… or you can listen to on-hold music to talk with a manager 😉

9. Free Gift Cards if You’re Chill with Lock Screen Ads

The average person unlocks their phone 110 times per day – that’s a lot of time spent looking at a screen for free.

With S’more you get paid every day you unlock your phone. It’s even easier than it sounds, and since you can cash out with as little as $1 there’s no waiting around for your rewards!

They partner up with brands looking for more impressions (aka your eyeballs) and you don’t need to click on anything to get paid either.

S’mores pays in gift cards so you can redeem for:

Amazon.com
AMC Theaters
Best Buy
CVS
Target
Domino’s Pizza
Starbucks and more!

Just use your phone normally, and your earnings will apply daily. Pretty much the easiest thing to do.

10. You Gotta Eat! Get Up to $240 Cash Back in Grocery Savings

Did you know that it’s 325% more expensive to eat out versus eating at home*? Maybe it’s time to make more trips to the grocery store instead.

You’ll be aware of all the ingredients in your meal, in addition, you’ll get paid just for shopping!

It’s simple. All you have to do is take a picture of your grocery receipt and Ibotta will pay you cash.

Here’s how it works:

Before you go to the store, search for your shopping list items in the Ibotta app. After your store visit, take a photo of your receipt to get cash back.

Ibotta is free to download and you’ll also get up to $20 in Welcome Bonuses when you sign up!

Some offers we found:

25 cents back on any item
$3 – $5 back on various wine
$2 back on KIND Protein Bars
25 cents – $4 back on ice cream
$2 back on Herbal Essence Haircare

Popular stores are Walmart and Target, but Ibotta also works at restaurants, online shopping sites, and at the bar! On average, active Ibotta users save up to $240 a year or more that can go back to your rent.

Welcome Bonus: Up to $20
Average savings a month: $20
What it could add up to in a year: $240
Additional Referral Earnings: $5 per referral

11. Instead of Fake Pennies, Get Real Gift Cards and Cash for Your Thoughts

You’ll freely give your opinion but it’s icing on the cake if you get paid for it. Here are some of our favorite and legitimate survey sites that pay you for your time, so you can put it to good use for your rent.

Inbox Dollars – Binge on their TV and Videos section that includes Trending News, Entertainment, Food, Health, Tech, and even the latest World News to earn some cash. ($5 Welcome Bonus)

Swagbucks – A free rewards program where you can get cash for the everyday things you do online. Watch videos, shop at your fav retailers, search the web, participate in surveys and even play fun trivia games. ($5 Welcome Bonus)

Survey Junkie – Members who participate in surveys about their shopping habits, cell phone usage, and more get cash. Basic but easy to participate. ($1 Welcome Bonus)

12. Pay Less on Student Loans. Get More Out of Life.

If you feel bogged down by student loans, you’re not alone. 44.7 million Americans have student loan debt, making the total student loan debt in the United States above $1.47 trillion dollars(*). However, there are options to ease that financial burden.

One way is to refinance your student loans (whether they’re federal, private, or ParentPLUS), consolidating that debt at a lower interest rate.

Credible’s made that part easy. Their loan marketplace helps you find prequalified rates from multiple lenders in just 2 minutes.

They can help you find options to lower your interest rate, reduce your monthly payment, or both! To see your options, just fill out a quick information sheet and compare your prequalified rates – without impacting your credit score. You can even get your finalized offer in as little as one business day.

There are no prepayment penalties, loan application fees, or origination fees through Credible’s lending partners, and the marketplace is free to use!

13. Buy Stuff Normally = Get Gift Cards You Actually Want

If you have room for 1 more app on your phone, then it needs to be this.

Actually, delete another app to make room for this one. It’s that good.

It’s called Drop, a free app that gives you gift cards on stuff you already buy from your favorite stores and brands.

Your everyday purchases from Amazon, Trader Joe’s, and Walmart? You’ll get points for that. Points translate to gift cards so the more you collect, the more you can redeem!

You’ll get access to many offers that you can activate ranging from Entertainment, Personal Care, Grocery, Apparel and more.

The only thing you need to do is link any credit or debit card you usually use for buying stuff and that’s it! Drop will automatically recognize when you buy from your activated offers to reward.

There’s literally no downside to using this free app to get more gift cards since you can use it to buy your everyday stuff. Use it on top of your loyalty points and credit card points for even more rewards!

LIMITED TIME OFFER: Use promo code SMARTWALLET to unlock 5,000 points ($5) automatically when you link your first card on Drop!

*325% more expensive eating out vs home source: Investment Zen

*Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. *Stash does not endorse the illegal use of Narcotics. This material has been distributed for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Investing involves risk.

*OppLoans APR ranges from 59%-199% depending on your state of residence (Rates and Terms here). Credit reporting not available for Texas residents.

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