Disclosure: We’re letting you know that this post contains sponsored links which The Smart Wallet receives compensation for, which may impact their order of appearance. This site doesn’t include all available offers.If you already have a job doing something you love, props to you for winning life!
For most of us, we don’t get to be that lucky. Personally, I’d love to be surrounded by dogs all day (is Professional Dog Petter a thing?) but I also have a lot of bills to pay.
We’ll just have to be a bit more creative in terms of making money for stuff that we either love to do or already do. Let’s get started!
1. You Love Getting Free Gift Cards (Just by Taking a Pic)
When an app is fun and profitable, you can bet I’ll have it installed on my phone.
Especially if it’s already related to my everyday activities.
Enter Fetch Rewards, an app where you can scan ANY grocery receipt to get points for gift cards. It’s like a game: just shop, scan, save.
It’s really simple:
- Download Fetch Rewards
- Go normal grocery shopping
- Scan your receipt after
- Get points towards free gift cards
There’s no need to pre-select any offers before shopping. You don’t need to give your phone to the cashier to scan a barcode. And there are no restrictions on which grocery store you go to.
Since I shop at multiple stores, I’ll just collect the receipts and scan them all at once. Pro-tip: I even ask my family for their grocery receipts so I can scan them into my account.
You can grab a 2,000 points bonus ($2!) when you enter this referral code: REWARD before you scan your first receipt!
2. You Love Binging on Food, Entertainment, Health & Tech Stuff
If you’re looking for an easy way to snag a little extra cash by being online, look no further. Inbox Dollars has a wide array of ways to make some money on the side.
Founded in 2000, Inbox Dollars has been around and paying customers for their opinions for over 19 years and counting! They are one of the most trusted survey sites with fun, multiple ways to earn extra cash that sets them apart from the others.
You can stick to sharing your opinion and take surveys, but you can also watch videos, play games, and even read email for some extra cash. Who wouldn’t want to watch movie trailers for money?
They also offer cash back for online shopping and coupon cash rewards to use at the grocery store too!
So if you’re looking for some extra cash and enjoy a wide array of options to earn, Inbox Dollars is a great platform to make a little side money. It’s free to sign up, so give it a try today!
3. You Love Schooling Competitors
When you want to take a 5-minute break, check out Solitaire Cube, which is like regular Solitaire, except you get to play for real cash.
Is there a catch? Yes but not really. I tried playing for free when I first started but I realized it would take me forever to get the tickets I need to play for real cash. I gave up and deposited $25 last week and I’ve already won $120.
The game matches you with players of the same skill level, so you have a solid chance of winning. If you’re a good Solitaire player, you could win some serious cash, like Katie Nguyen who took home $380,984 last year as one of the Top 10 Solitaire Cube players!
So if you think you can handle playing some Solitaire Cube to win legit cash, definitely download this game for free.
Cash tournaments aren’t available in AZ, AR, CT, DE, FL, LA, ME, MD, MT, SC, SD, TN, IN.
4. You Love Getting Cash Back Automatically
Saving money and getting cash back on purchases always sounds like a great idea – until you completely forget to take the steps to get the savings. There are SO many ways to save money while shopping, who can remember if it’s not automatic?
Ebates can help you get cash back on everyday shopping as well as apparel, beauty, and more, automatically. With Ebates, you don’t even have to upload your receipts after your purchases. They’ll send you simple push notifications when your favorite stores increase their cash back deals or have a good sale.
Offering simple one-tap savings with no points or fees helps ensure that you get the most out of your purchases. So, before buying anything, hop into the app to see if you can get up to 40% cash back at over 2,500 stores.
They also have an amazing referral program where you can earn $25 for each eligible friend. New members get a $10 bonus too!
5. You Love Taking Small Breaks
3 minutes.
Make as many 21s as you can within that time or until you run out of moves.
That’s the basic gist of 21 Blitz, a modern take on a classic game where you’re no longer just playing against the dealer but with actual people around the world.
It’s fast-paced and it basically does all of the math for you. This game is great for killing time and earning cash all at once.
You can play for free against real people for prizes or switch over to cash games to win…well, cash! Cash game winners can win up to $7,000 or more in the mini-tournament.
Cash tournaments not available in AZ, AR, CT, DE, FL, LA, ME, MD, MT, SC, SD, TN, IN.
6. You Love Getting Rewarded with Minimal Effort
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. 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!
7. You Love Being Out of the House
Panel App is a loyalty incentive app that will give you points just by leaving the app running in the background. This is passive earnings 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!
8. You Love Eating (Who Doesn’t?)
Did you know that it’s 325% more expensive to eat out versus eating at home*? I love eating out too but 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
9. You Love Watching Entertaining Videos
How much time do you think you spend online? Most likely more than you think.
The average American spends 24 hours online a week*, but for me, I know I definitely surpass this since I have to be online for work. Along with post-office hours shopping, browsing, reading, it’s rare that I’m not online.
If it’s the same for you, capitalize on all that online time by earning points you can redeem towards gift cards, and even better, cash.
You can do it with Swagbucks, a free rewards program for the everyday things you do online.
Earn points by
- Watching entertaining videos
- Shopping at your favorite retailers
- Searching the web
- Participating in surveys
- Playing fun trivia games
Then you can redeem for a large variety of gift cards (Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks are popular) or my favorite, Paypal Cash and Visa Gift Cards. Cash out in as little as $3!
You’ll even get a $5 bonus when you earn 2,500 SB points within your first 30 days.
The best way to earn SB? Surveys. You can get up to 300 SB for each qualified one you participate in. While you obviously won’t get rich doing this, you can nab an extra $10-$20 a month on them.
Keeping your profile updated and doing the Daily To-Do List will also earn you extra SB. There are a lot of opportunities so you can cash out early and often!
10. You Love Keeping Every Single Email
If you never delete emails like me (unless it’s spam) and shop online, then you’ll always have a chance at getting some money back.
A free tool called Paribus gets you money back on select online purchases even after you’ve bought them.
Price changes happen all the time after checkout. And now you can get a refund of the price difference back at online stores that Paribus monitors! (For example, Target, Kohl’s, GAP, Best Buy, Walmart and more.)
They do this by checking your inbox for email receipts. (Don’t worry, they don’t open any other email and their tech logic only identifies emails that are receipts.) Once they’ve found a receipt that has at least a $3 price drop, they’ll alert you then contact the retailer on your behalf to get the money or tell you how to get the refund back.
Also? If your guaranteed shipment is late from Amazon Prime or Walmart, they’ll help you get compensated! Perfect for the upcoming holiday season when gifts in hand are important.
Your savings mileage will vary but Paribus is 100% free to use and all the savings are yours to keep. Your pair of shoes dropped $7? You get $7 back.
11. Get Paid for Playing Free Digital Scratch-Offs
Don’t bother going to the liquor store to buy physical scratchers (they get expensive too).
Instead, play digital scratchers for free on Lucktastic.
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. There are cash prizes up to $1M!
Regular giveaways are always happening. Starting August 5, three winners EACH week can win $150 Back to School gift card to Walmart, Staples or JCPenney! Those still dreaming about vacation could win a trip for four to Walt Disney World too starting August 12!
12. Don’t Buy Anything Else Online Until You Have This Set Up
I buy a lot of stuff online and I’m sure you do too.
I’ve also seen the same stuff I bought go on sale a few weeks later. Curse my impatience! Instead of going through that again, I downloaded an app that has my back anytime my online purchases go on sale afterward. It definitely gives me the confidence to shop at my fav retailers such as Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Costco…knowing I’ll never overpay.
Amazon alone changes their item prices up to 8 times a day and no one has time to keep track of that unless… you’re Earny.
Earny is an app that helps you get money back when prices change on your purchases.
Earny securely plugs into your email inbox and credit card so that it can be effective in getting the money back for you. It’ll scan your inbox for purchase receipts and when there’s a price change, it’ll notify you and help you get the money back to the credit card you used to purchase.
Obviously, Earny won’t be able to do anything for you if you pay in cash but if you regularly purchase online with a credit card, this app is amazing to get those price change refunds back with very little effort.
The app is free to download. Subscriptions start at $3.99/month. If you’re a frequent shopper it’s a no brainer since the average user gets $7.87 back per purchase. Why leave money on the table?
*325% more expensive eating out vs home source: Investment Zen
