Back to Phase One: 15 Ways to Make Extra Cash At Home

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Dining in restaurants closed. They opened. Now they’re closed again.

Other retailers and basically all of life are flip-flopping back and forth.

But it feels like we’re back to where we started. After 3 months, this is how “far” we’ve gone and yup, back to Phase 1. We should probably expect this to stay the same path too until there’s a unifying plan that all states can stick to.

Until then, we’re still at home. We still need to make some money. And it’s time to bring in some out of the box ways to do so to mix it up. Below are some fun and productive ways to make extra cash from home! And if you’re looking for a full-time gig, it’s there too.

1. Get Free Money Back on All Your Shopping Hauls

Check your pockets; check your purse. And keep receipts for your iPhone.

Just grab all your recent receipts from your coffee runs, grocery trips, restaurants, and gas station fill-ups, scan them into Fetch Rewards on iOS, and earn points for free money! Connect your email account, as well, to count DIGITAL receipts from Amazon, Instacart, and more.

Basically, snap a pic of your receipt from anywhere, and that’s it; you’ve got points for money. There’s no minimum spend, no need to select items manually, scan in any receipt from any store or gas station, and it’ll automatically reward you.

It’s free and easy to use and is a must-have iOS app for anyone who buys stuff!

2. Please Spot Me Up to $2001, So I Don’t Get an Overdraft Fee!

We got you. Or, more specifically, Chime ® has your back; the award-winning mobile financial app and debit card will have you saying goodbye to overdraft fees!

That’s because their SpotMe®️ tool can literally spot you up to $2001 without charging a fee as long as you receive qualifying direct deposits.

You need qualifying direct deposits of at least $200 a month into your Chime Checking Account to qualify, and one of the easiest methods is to route your paycheck there so you don’t have to think about it.

Other perks:

  • Get paid up to 2 days early3 with direct deposit
  • Get 2.00% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)4 with the high-yield Chime Savings Account5
  • Access to a new way to build credit history with the Secured Chime® Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card6
  • FDIC-insured up to $250,000 through The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.7 (it’s safe!)
  • No minimum balance, no monthly fees, and no foreign transaction/transfer fees

Sign up for Chime and say goodbye to overdraft fees and other benefits!

3. Find Curated Remote and Flexible Jobs With This Site

With a record 40 million people that filed for unemployment,* it’s crucial to be able to hold a remote or flexible full-time or part-time position in these still uncertain times.

Instead of searching through irrelevant job boards, use FlexJobs, a 13+ year old company that specializes in finding only remote and flexible schedule jobs. For a limited time, their membership plans are 30% off (with promo code SAVE30) making the plans only:

  • $4.95 /week
  • $9.95 /month
  • $23.95 /three months (most popular!)
  • $44.95 /year (best value)

Memberships include access to jobs as well as resources like Career Coaching, Resume Review, 170 expert skills tests to better assess and promote your skills, and more.

Lori S. from Colorado Springs, CO said, “I would have spent hours trying to find these jobs on my own. I LOVE this website!! These are jobs that are not easy to find—I found the membership fee very reasonable and worth every penny considering I have found two wonderful jobs through FlexJobs.”

Non-essential workers are being asked to stay home during these times but making money is essential to everyone so take advantage of the 30% off membership plans to look at what could be your next new job! Remember to use promo code SAVE30.

4. Merge Matching Blocks to Win Cash Prizes

Alice Ly | The Smart Wallet

When you want simple gameplay but with strategy baked in, check out  Tap n Merge Tournament, where you literally tap and merge number blocks to earn points.

Merge at least 3 of the same numbers to create a higher number block, and see how high of a number you can get within the 2 minute time frame. Our highest (so far) is 7! Combos and speed will also boost your overall score.

Play for free, and when you’re ready, switch over to cash games to earn faster. Cash game winners can win up to hundreds of dollars!

The relaxing background music, the gameplay, and the strategy involved will keep you entertained for a while.

Cash tournaments not available in AZ, AR, CT, DE, LA, MT, SC, SD, and TN.

5. Save Time (And Money) By Unsubbing From Marketing Emails

Alice Ly | The Smart Wallet

When the “unread” number in your email inbox is growing by the day, it’s time to wrangle it in.

There’s no doubt that our inboxes get slammed with a lot of marketing emails. And now, every corporation that we’ve ever given our emails to is expressing how they’re handling COVID-19.

Instead of wasting time unsubscribing one by one, just use Unroll.me, a free service designed to help clean your inbox by displaying all the email subscriptions you have in less than a minute.

You then have the following options to: Keep in Inbox, Unsubscribe, or Add to Rollup.

“Add to Rollup” is like a summary of the emails you might want to look at but don’t immediately have time for. Think of it as a daily, weekly, or monthly digest (you choose) of all the subscriptions you picked to be contained in one convenient, scrollable email (like a newsfeed).

It ignores all your personal emails and only looks at the commercial emails so save time and money (don’t be tempted by sales!) by getting rid of marketing emails.


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