With Christmas officially over and New Year’s rapidly approaching, you may find yourself in need of some extra cash this holiday season. In between presents, food, and transportation, your wallet probably feels a little empty.
While it may not be feasible to go out and get an extra job, there are some pretty creative ways to score some additional cash this season to help keep away those holiday overspending blues.
1. Use Paid Search Engines
We all go online to use search engines every day, so you may as well get paid for it! Certain search engines will actually pay you for surfing the web and performing other tasks online. Depending on the search engine you’re using, you can earn points for things like playing games, answering surveys, shopping, and searching. Shopping through these platforms is a great way to earn points for something you’re already going to buy.
These points convert to cash when you are ready to redeem them. Payout options will vary depending on which search engine you sign up with. Most platforms will pay you in gift cards, or transfer funds to your PayPal account.
2. Use an EcoATM
In 2015 the ecoATM company acquired Gazelle and started using kiosks to provide their customer base with a convenient way to recycle old phones. These kiosks are located all over the country and will give you instant cash for your used phones. Keep in mind, they do have to be in good condition. Newer phones will obviously give you a better payout than older phones. In addition, eco ATMs will help you trade in your old tablets and MP3 players as well.
3. Answer Surveys Online
Believe it or not, companies want your opinion and they will pay you to give it to them! Why? This is how large companies test markets before they launch products. If there’s little or no interest in a product, it wouldn’t do any good for the company to develop and launch it. By paying consumers to give their opinion about products and services before they are developed, these companies are actually saving money in the long run. It costs a lot of money to develop and launch products, so it’s worth it for them to get opinions beforehand.
4. Sell Your Unwanted Stuff
The ecoATM isn’t the only way to get cash for things you no longer want or need. There are a plethora of places that will trade you cash for your unwanted stuff. Try local thrift shops or consignment shops if you have clothes you’d like to get rid of. There are also plenty of places online that will pay for everything from CDs, textbooks, and even makeup. Plus, if you search for these places online through a paid search engine that gives you points, that’s a double-whammy!
5. Play Games on Your Phone
AppKarma is an app for your phone that allows you to play games and earn points. As with the paid search engines, you can turn those points into gift cards or cash. All you really have to do is open the app and search the games that are in the app. When you spend about four minutes playing a game, you’ll get points awarded to your account. AppKarma is just one example, however. There are tons of apps out there that will pay you to play games or watch videos on your phone.
With the advances in technology, there are so many additional ways to pull some extra cash in. Most of these can be done while you’re doing things you would have done anyway, which makes them a perfect opportunity to recover from an expensive holiday.
