The Branded Daily Digest

Tag: extra cash

  • 14 Ways to Spend Your Supplemental Income

    14 Ways to Spend Your Supplemental Income

    Earning some supplemental income is a great feeling. This money – which you don’t normally have – can make a huge difference in your life if you choose to spend it in the right way. But don’t go straight to the mall just yet. If you’re wondering how to spend extra income in a responsible way that can benefit your future, we’ve compiled the perfect list for you to consider.

    1. Accelerate Loan Payoff

    Whether you have an auto loan, home loan, personal loan or student loan, using your supplemental income to pay them off can help you save money down the line, especially if you have a high-interest rate. The faster you pay down your loans, the less you will pay in interest over time. If you contribute just a little extra money every month towards your loans, you can shave months or years off your loan repayment.

    2. Save for Retirement

    Use your supplemental income to contribute more to your retirement plan, especially if your employer matches your contribution. This is an immediate return on investment. If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement plan, it’s a smart idea to start an individual retirement account. Investing in your retirement is always a good idea. You don’t want to reach retirement age without having the funds to actually retire comfortably. 

    3. Create or Contribute to an Emergency Fund

    Do you have a fund set aside in case of an emergency? If you don’t, start one! You might become ill, lose your job or get into a car accident – it’s always a good idea to be prepared. Save your supplemental income until you have money to last you at least three to six months. If something happens and you can’t work, that money will keep you afloat while you figure out your next move.

    4. Contribute to a College Fund

    It’s no secret that a college education can cost a lot. If you have children, do them a huge favor by allocating your supplemental income towards a college fund or 529 plan. Imagine giving your child the ability to graduate college debt-free. When you invest the money in a 529 plan, the small amount can grow into thousands of dollars years later.

    5. Pay Off Credit Card Debt

    If you have a mountain of credit card debt looming over your head, do yourself and your credit score a favor by using your supplemental income to pay off your credit card debt. Start by paying off the credit card with the highest interest rate and then work towards cards with a lower interest rate. Once you pay off your credit card debt, keep one or two credit cards with a low-interest rate and good rewards program and make an effort to pay them off every month.

    6. Invest in Home Improvement Projects

    If you’re a homeowner, you might wonder how to spend extra income on your home. Investing your supplemental income on home improvement projects can help you build equity in your home and customize it to your liking. Consider remodeling your kitchen or master bathroom, or making your home more energy-efficient. It’s also smart to enhance your home’s exterior to increase its curb appeal should you find the need to sell down the line.

    7. Maintain Your Car

    If you dread visiting the mechanic because they remind you of scheduled maintenance for your vehicle, consider setting aside your supplemental income for scheduled car maintenance. This will help you take care of your car without the high stress of coming up with the cash you need for the different maintenance services.

    8. Save for a Down Payment on a House

    Buying a home is a great investment in your future, so start putting your supplemental income towards a down payment on a house. If you’re a first-time buyer, you need to save a minimum of 3.5% as a down payment on a house, although this will require you to purchase mortgage insurance. The more money you save towards a down payment for a home, the less your monthly mortgage payment will be. Consider visiting a lender to find out how much money you should save and what you can afford on your income.

    9. Invest 

    If you’re wondering how to spend extra income and actually make money, consider investing. Whether you want to become the silent owner of a business or get involved in the stock market, investing your supplemental income is the perfect way to get your feet wet. Since your extra income is cash you normally don’t have, you won’t be risking as much if you lose it. Before you start buying random stocks, though, it’s wise to speak with a professional and determine which investments will provide the biggest returns for you.

    10. Buy a Freezer

    If you use your supplemental income to purchase a freezer, you can store months of food at a time. Start buying perishables in bulk and then using your large freezer to keep produce and meat fresh for months to come, especially if you purchase items during the months when they’re cheaply available. This will save you money in the long run, making your purchase a complete return on investment.

    11. Purchase a Fuel-Efficient Car

    If you’ve wanted to upgrade your car to something that’s a bit more fuel-efficient or perhaps electric to save money on gas, save your supplemental income to use as a down payment for a new car – or buy the car outright. Investing in a more fuel-efficient or an electric car can save you thousands of dollars in gas. 

    12. Buy Solar Panels

    If you own a home and live in a sunny area, save yourself thousands in electricity bills by using your supplemental income to pay for solar panels. Not only do solar panels increase the value of your home, but they help you save money on utilities – if you own an electric car, you’re basically driving around for free. There are also other solar products out there that can benefit your home, like solar outdoor lights, swimming pool water heaters and much more. 

    13. Invest in Your Health

    If you don’t have the best health insurance because you can’t afford the higher premiums, or you’ve been putting off a certain procedure for a while, use your supplemental income to invest in your health. You can use your extra income to upgrade your health insurance plan or use it for co-pays and prescriptions. Having the funds to pay for healthcare when you need it can help you visit the doctor stress-free.

    By the way, investing in your health isn’t just limited to healthcare. Use your supplemental income to join a gym, hire a personal trainer, work with a nutritionist, go to therapy or even see a massage therapist or acupuncturist. 

    14. Invest in Your Pet’s Health

    Owning a pet isn’t cheap, especially if they run into health problems down the line. If you’re a pet owner, save your supplemental income for your dog’s next teeth cleaning or your cat’s next exam. Even if your pet doesn’t have health issues right now, the last thing you want to worry about is how you’re going to pay for treatment.

    If the thought of using supplemental income to benefit your life financially sounds appealing to you, sign up for a Branded Surveys account to start getting paid to do online surveys!

  • 15 Unusual Ways to Earn Cash Fast

    15 Unusual Ways to Earn Cash Fast

    Like conventional ways of making money? A 40 hour a week, 9 – 5 job? If so, apologies, but this isn’t for you. In this blog post, we’ll be diving into unique ways to earn cash fast that aren’t in a standard office. Here are 15 unusual ways to earn cash fast. 

     

    Rent Out Your Car

    We’re not talking about you taxi driving people around town; sites like GetAround.com and RelayRides.com are car-sharing websites that let you rent your car out to users in need. That could be a week or month, or just an hour or two. If you’ve already paid (or are mid-paying) off your car, you may as well make easy money off it. 

     

    Take Paid Surveys

    Do you find yourself scrolling mindlessly through newsfeed online? Instead of doing that, you can be more productive and take surveys for cash. You can take them anywhere, anytime using your phone or computer. Once you complete paid surveys, you can cash out your points for cash or earn Amazon gift cards. It’s your choice!

     

    Teach the Language You Already Speak (Online)

    Praised by companies like Mashable and Techcrunch, Italki.com is a site devoted to getting users from around the world fluent in a language. In Asia, for example, there’s a very high demand for English teachers.

    Go on the site, scan the requirements and set up your account to become a tutor. You set your own rates but expect to earn about $14 to $19 per hour to start. 

     

    For a Fiverr

    Fiverr.com has been dubbed the market place for getting what you need done. Whatever niche skills or services you have to offer? People can pay you $5 for them.

    Design a logo. Record a couple of lines in a sweet Southern accent. Draw a picture of the buyer caricature style. Even if you just did a couple of gigs a day for five days, you’d earn $75 extra bucks for doing something you probably enjoy.

     

    Sell What Your Body Won’t Miss

    This may sound odd, but there are parts of your body that you can legally (emphasis on legally) sell for money. This includes plasma ($300 per month), hair ($100 – $4,000) and breast milk ($1 – $2 an oz.).

    Selling such items through proper organizations is totally legit and often goes to really important causes. Check out this article at The Guardian to get the full scoop on how to participate and how much you can make at: How Much Can You Get For Selling Your Body (Parts)?

     

    Turn Your Home into an Air BnB

    Have a home? Space for an extra person(s)? Rent your home out to people seeking a place to stay on AirBnB.com to make extra money fast. Your home is sitting there anyhow, so post it online and see how much you can make. (Plus, it’s a fun way to meet new people.)

     

    Sell Stuff on Craigslist

    Move in with your boyfriend and now have 2 of everything? Have kids who outgrew that Lincoln Log set? Put it up on Craigslist; you can make fast money for selling items you don’t use anymore.

     

    Become a Lyft or Uber Driver

    Earlier I suggested renting out your car to make quick cash. If you don’t feel comfortable handing over your keys to a stranger (totally understandable), here’s another option: become a Lyft or Uber driver.

    You get to pick your own hours and, depending upon the diversity of your neighborhood, meet people from all around the world by picking them up and taking them to their desired location via the mobile app. (Plus, let’s be real, you’ll have really entertaining stories to liven up any dinner party.)

     

    Sell Clothes You Don’t Wear

    Have clothes you no longer wear? Check out our blog: How Your Old, Unwanted Items Can Earn You Money.

     

    Fill Out Your Rebate Forms

    Pull out those rebate forms and receipts offering special deals; you know the ones. Most people don’t, but doing so is one of the easiest ways to make money fast.

     

    Do Tasks for Amazon

    Ever wanted to work for Amazon? You can. Just sign up for Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program.

    It takes less than a minute to sign up; from there, you can do easy tasks to make money fast.

    A few tips to make more money:

    1. Avoid tasks that only pay in single-digit cents; it’ll take you far too long to make good money that way. (For example, anything that pays $0.09? Leave it.)
    2. If you can write quickly and in an easy-to-understand manner, focus on writing-based tasks like reviews and email write-ups; they tend to let you make more money faster.
    3. Make sure to take any “tests” that you’re prompted with. When you take these tests, you’re unlocking opportunities and tasks that’ll make you more money faster.

     

    Make Money for Your Homemade Creations

    Have an artsy side? Make crafts and sell them on Etsy.com; you’d be surprised how much money you can make on Etsy.

    If you’re skeptical, here are some Etsy statistics that may help convince you.

    There are 19.8 million active buyers on the site, purchasing products people just like you make. In 2014 alone, 4.3 billion Etsy search pages were viewed, and Etsy garnered an annual revenue of $195.6 million.

    Wow. Wouldn’t you like in on some of that?

     

    Download Easy Money Making Apps

    In this age of smartphones and apps, there are many ways to make easy money fast on the fly. To learn about such apps and the tasks they require, head to: Apps that Make Money for Things You Already Do.

  • 6 Apps That Can Make You Money

    6 Apps That Can Make You Money

    Think about the hundreds of decisions you make daily, plus the dozens of activities you are involved with every single day; running errands, buying food, paying bills, walking and taking care of pets, filling up your car with gas, answering emails, and so much more. They say if you’re good at something, then don’t do it for free, right? Below are a series of “easy” money-making apps that you can download and use for free on your smartphone, which can make you extra money doing all of the ‘normal’ or day-to-day things in life.

    Foap App – Cash for Your Custom Photography

    I love capturing images around my neighborhood, whether that’s a summer sunset or a cup of coffee from my favorite cafe. Why not earn money for these images? You can, with the app Foap. Foap is a site that enables anyone with a smartphone to upload photos and potentially make money from them. Large companies like MasterCard, Volvo, Malibu, and Garnier are the types of companies that will work with you and purchase one of your photos online, through this app. The Foap app works by empowering the user to sell their photography for another company to buy, then use.

    Here’s how Foap works:

      1. Download the app for free.
      2. Upload photos.
    1. Make $5 for every photo sold.
    2. Sell that photo as many times as you want; there’s no limit.

    Receipt Hog – Earn Cash for Your Receipts

    Imagine this: You’re at the grocery store getting ingredients for your favorite meal, and you’ve just paid at the register and, upon getting your receipt, the cashier hands you more money. Receipt Hog essentially does just that –  research companies want to see what items customers are purchasing and willing to pay for such information. So, through this app, you can earn cash, gift cards, or Amazon cards by shopping and taking a photo of your receipt.

    All you have to do for Receipt Hog is:

    1. Take a photograph of your receipt.
    2. The app processes the image.
    3. You receive coins for each transaction.
    4. With enough coins, you get to cash out with real money (or gift cards)

    Fieldagent – Make Money through Photos and Surveys

    Take on money-making missions with the Fieldagent app, where you’re paid money for doing simple tasks (such as taking photos of products, doing price-checks of products, secret shopping, and/or doing customer surveys), that actually add up to a good amount of money over time. An average job pays between $3 and $12 according to the website.

    One user, Marc Baskin, told me he made $180 in just a few months using this app. His tasks? Being a secret shopper at places he already shopped at. He “just took a few pictures of product placement in stores and answered a few questions. Really cool and easy app to use.”

    Marc mostly took tasks at national chains in his suburban neighborhood but saw even bigger opportunities with metropolitan areas like NYC. “There was once an audit of bars in NYC that paid something like $7 – $10 each bar and there were over 800 bars…” That’s potential for literally $1,000s of dollars for places that a person would normally visit while out socializing with friends.

    Here’s how the Fieldagent app works:

    1. Download the app.
    2. Find a task, aka a job listing, near you.
    3. Once accepted, you have 2 hours to complete it.
    4. Get paid upon finishing assignments.

    These responses offer real-time insights to companies and, in exchange, extra cash for you.

    GigWalk – Earn Extra Cash Through Secret Shopping

    Similar to Fieldagent, GigWalk pays users for completing tasks, such as secret shopping to review product placement, verifying product costs, and retail branding. Core GigWalk jobs include mystery shopping, retail and merchandising verification, taking pictures of products within their display cases, reviewing delivery services, and even testing out mobile apps.

    GigWalk offers really easy local tasks, such as:

    • Writing a review (like Yelp, only getting paid)
    • Taking a picture of a menu at a nearby restaurant
    • Verifying hours a business is open

    This isn’t exactly chump change, tasks can pay anywhere from $2 to $90.

    One Catch: It’s only in larger cities right now, such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but it’s steadily growing.

    Findyr – Task-Based Work in the US

    Unlike GigWalk, which is only in a few metropolitan areas, Findyr is a task-based app that’s all over the country. On average, an assignment on Findyr pays $7.50 per assignment. However, some companies will give bonuses as big as $50 for tasks – that’s a nice steak dinner right there.

    Findyr app users are paid to:

    • Take a photo of a supermarket product
    • Capture a video of a newsworthy event
    • Answer fast opinion surveys
    • Take part in contests and more

    VP of Marketing, Vik Panda, tells me he sees people on Findyr gain more than just money. Users discover new experiences and develop new skills, such as “regular people (who) hone journalistic skills when covering newsworthy events around them.”

    It also heightens city pride and knowledge. Panda says that “so many of us take for granted what is right near us, but with a little cash incentive, people now want to tell the world about everything cool their city has to offer.”

    App Trailers

    Do you enjoy previews? I know most people go to the movies for the feature film, but I secretly get a thrill watching the previews beforehand. There’s something kind of exciting about getting an exclusive sneak peek.

    With App Trailers, you actually get paid to watch trailers of new hot apps. Simply sign up, watch videos and start earning points that translate to PayPal money.

    Incorporate these daily tasks and apps into your everyday life, and you may be surprised at how much extra money you have within just a few months.

     

     

     

     

    If you prefer to make money on your computer, consider taking surveys for money. This an easy way to make money online, it’s also one of the most popular ways to make money. The best thing is you can take paid surveys anytime and anywhere you want. Then, one you have enough points you can cash out for cash or gift cards.