List of Side Income Sources

In my last post at the beginning of April, I mentioned a few of the ways I’ve been making extra cash online. Since then, I’ve had more time to research, explore, and test out different options. I also understand that different people are looking for different things, so what I find to be the most beneficial may not apply to you. It really does seem that the options are limitless, and in this post I hope to provide a more varied and comprehensive list. Because these types of things are frequently changing and new opportunities popping up, I plan to use this post as sort of a “home base” for everything I’m utilizing.  I will also try and categorize the methods as best I can.

Leave a comment below, fill out the contact form in the upper right, or drop me a line on twitter if you have questions, comments, or would like an invite to one of the apps/programs that require a unique code.

This list was list updated on June 25, 2016.

Like Venmo, But Better

Circle App – Send money instantly to your friends and family, with no hidden fees. Plus, they are currently offering a $10 bonus to both parties after the new user sends $25+ from his/her debit card. So far I’ve earned an extra $40 just for transferring money back and forth with people.

Referral / Non-Referral

Square Cash App - This app is super sleek and I actually like it even better than Circle. But the bonus is not quite as great- $5 for both parties once the new user sends $50. Highly recommend it though- if you are currently relying on Venmo, paypal, cash, or checks to repay people, this should be your new go-to.

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General/Miscellaneous

Amazon Mechanical Turk is a popular task completion site. HITs (which stands for Human Intelligence Tasks) vary from receipt itemization, to surveys, to transcription. For those who don't mind putting in the time, this one might have the highest earning potential. There are certain plugins & scripts which even help with efficiency. I haven't gotten into them yet myself but the mturk subreddit would be a good resource. I also recommend checking out /r/HITsWorthTurkingFor to find the tasks, aka "HITs", with the best bang for the buck.

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Earnhoney is a rewards network which allows you to earn points (called HoneyDollar$) which can then be redeemed for paypal cash or gift cards. The best earning opportunity comes through streaming videos on your computer. They've been running a lot of promotions recently as well and I've been making over $5/week recently on very minimal effort.

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Qmee is a simple browser extension that offers up additional but relevant search results occasionally while you are using Google, Bing, Amazon & Ebay. Each time you click on an extra result you will be rewarded 5-15 cents.

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Swagbucks is one of the sites many already may have heard of. It’s a “get-paid-to” site with a wide variety of way to earn money, from taking surveys, to searching, to watching videos. They have a number of video streaming smartphone apps as well.

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1Q - Huh? I love the simplicity of this app, starting with the name. It stands for "1 Question", and they aren't lying. Install the app on your smartphone and from time to time they'll send you a survey consisting of, you guessed it, 1 question. Each one you answer gets you 25 cent transferred immediately to your Paypal. 
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The Placed Panel App is an easy option- you are agreeing to be part of a location-based panel, but you just install the app and let it run. Per their website, “location data is collected for the purpose of analytics, and is pooled with data collected from thousands of panelists to provide meaningful insights to third parties. Opt out at any time by uninstalling the app.”

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Shopping

Ebates is a “shopping portal” where you can accumulate extra cash back on your online purchases. Right now they are offering $10 to all new users who make purchases totalling $25 in the first year after signup. It was pretty easy- I bought a Groupon gift card a few weeks later I cashed out $13 from Ebates, although they only pay out quarterly so my timing was ideal. A trick I like is stacking the Groupon purchases- so buy the gift card via Ebates, and then when you actually use the Groupon, go via Ebates for that purchase as well.

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TopCashBack is another shopping portal. To my understanding it’s one of the better ones, often offering some of the highest percentages which you can also check from the shopping portal aggregator, Cash Back Monitor. Right now new signups get a $5 Amazon Gift Card once they earn $10 in cash back.

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Yaarlo is a receipt scanning app. Just take a picture with your smartphone and get up to 5% of your purchase. It takes awhile to accumulate but it’s also pretty easy. Use code DAVIDBAR494 when you sign up for a $1 bonus when you scan your first receipt.

iOS / Android

ReceiptPal is another receipt scanning app. It has a nicer interface than Yaarlo and receipts are approved more quickly, however there is no signup bonus and there are weekly caps on the amount of receipts you can submit.

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Checkout51 is a rebate app. Select one or more products from a list of offers and then once you’ve bought that item at any store, snap a picture of your receipt and get cash back. Right now through June 15 they are offering $5 to any user who signs up through a referral link and uploads their first receipt.

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Ibotta is very similar to Checkout51,although it is limited to certain stores. Right now if you sign up with a referral link you’ll get a $10 bonus, which isn’t too shabby.

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MobiSave is another rebate app like Checkout51 & Ibotta. It does not require a certain store, and certain offers are also for any brand, with the trade-off being that these rebates are smaller. The beauty with MobiSave, though, is that there is not a minimum cashout of $20 like with the other two. After every submitted receipt, the rebate goes directly into your Paypal account, which is pretty nice.

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I find these apps most useful when you can stack 2 or 3 of them together. If you’re getting multiple rebates on one item, the savings really start to add up.

Saving & Investing

Acorns Investing is an app that you can set up to “round-up” transactions in your bank account so that the remaining amount is invested in the stock market. For example, if you use spend $4.70 on your debit card, Acorns will transfer $0.30 to your portfolio. You can also make deposits of any amount manually. If you are under age 24 or have an .edu email, there is no cost, otherwise they charge a $1/month management fee. They are also currently offering a $5 to both parties when you invite a friend and he/she starts investing.  So even if you do not qualify for the free account, it may still make sense to invest if you think you can generate some referrals or are planning to invest near $100/month (making the fee 1%). I personally have already maxed out my referrals for the year at 20, but will share the general link with you here:

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WiseBanyan is another automated app/website. It’s similar to Acorns but isn’t focused on round-ups. They don’t charge a fee either. They plan to generate revenue based on add-on services such as tax-loss harvesting, but a few websites I’ve seen question the sustainability of this model. Regardless, right now they are offering a $15 bonus to new accounts that complete a $10/month auto-deposit for 6 months.

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Qapital is an app that is aimed at helping you save for different goals, Much like Acorns, it rounds up transactions from your bank account. The difference is the money is not invested and there is no management fee. I signed for this app to get the $5 referral bonus, but have since cashed out because the money it sets aside does not gain any interest. May be helpful for some people with starting to save- wasn’t for me, but I still feel it’s worth doing for the bonus.

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Seashells is another a round-up app. Once your round-ups total $20, you have the option to transfer the $20 plus a 15% bonus to your Seashells account, where the money can then be used to purchase gift cards. Right now you can get $2 added to your account if you enter promo code twFH_x in the settings once you download the app:

iOS / Android

Bitcoin Earning Sites (aka Bitcoin Faucets)

freebitcoin – In exchange for viewing a page with a bunch of ads on it, you are able to enter a captcha and claim a certain amount of bitcoins (a tiny fraction of one bitcoin). You can do this as often as every hour. You also have the option to wager your bitcoins in order to win more. Definitely can take a long time to accumulate even a few cents worth, but if you're curious about bitcoins like I was and want to acquire some in a low risk way, this is an option.
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moonbitcoin- Very similar to the site above, except that you can claim every 5 minutes. However, there is no option to wager your coins.

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