NEW YORK (WABC) — How about making money while getting free stuff like food, booze, or earning fees for telling your friends to sign up for apps you are enjoying?
It’s like a side hustle, without the hustle part!
Trae Bodge is a savvy shopper Eyewitness News featured in our holiday shopping guide at American Dream Mall.
But now, those holiday shopping bills have slapped us into a nightmare. So now many could use some new ways to earn some free money.
Let’s start with these cashback sites.
There are several, including Fetch and RetailMeNot.
“I have hundreds of dollars sitting in my account, I use their browser extension, which you install,” Bodge said. “And then as you’re shopping online, it just alerts you to available cashback and coupons as you shop. It’s so easy. And then they also have an in store app as well. And that balance really, really adds up.”
“Do you also earn from referring people to Coupon Cabin?” Eyewitness News’ Nina Pineda asked.
“I do, so I can get about $8 per referral per person. And so periodically I write about it. I talked about it, share my referral link and I can earn money that way too. And any shopper can do this,” Bodge said.
Next is Mint Mobile. You can earn by telling people about your phone service, that you’re happy with it.
“Yeah, so Mint Mobile is my favorite mobile service. They have plans as low as $15 per month. So, it’s really affordable, and it runs on T-Mobile’s network. So it’s great service, you can refer your friends you can earn between $45 and $90, just for referring one customer when they sign up with a plan with Mint Mobile. So, it’s a great way to share your favorite service and earn money at the same time,” Bodge said.
And Acorns which is kind of a win-win because you’re making money on your investments and also getting a fee for turning people onto it.
“This just invest for you. If you spend like $5.50 and invest that 50 cents, it rounds up,” Pineda said.
“You shop a little bit, it takes the spare change and takes it and invest it for you. So, it’s very hands off. It’s a very easy way to save even if you have very little wiggle room in your budget, and then you can add additional ways to save as well. You can add auto withdrawals every month you can double or triple your roundups. And then you can also do referral bonuses with Acorns. If you share with a friend and they sign up for an account and they get going then you can get $5, $8. So, that’s another really cool way to get some free cash,” Bodge said.
Another one to try is Eye Spy.
“Eye Spy as the one that I’m personally trying, I just did my first project with them. And basically, you order food to. And in this case, they want to make sure that the person who’s receiving the food or the alcohol is getting ID because they get carded at the door,” Bodge said. “Obviously, if you have teenagers at home, you want to know that they can order something and they’re going to get carded at the door. So, that was our first project I got some free alcohol from it and some free soda, free booze.”
“It’s testing and gives a service exam, as you could maybe be hired to test other things or go eat in a restaurant,” Pineda said. “And then actually get some money for that. What did you get back for the alcohol tests?”
“They covered up to $45. So I got some free booze plus a cover for the tip, the delivery, and all of that, but I got free alcohol which I can use for my next party or whatnot. So, I thought that was really cool,” Bodge said.
What better way to get paid than for sharing your opinion. Most of us are oversharing on social media and not getting any money for it, but this will hopefully help some make some extra pocket cash.