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My Favorite Dollar-Making Apps

My Favorite Apps For A Little Lunch Money

By Candace NealPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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It's no question that in today's tech-savvy, candy-coated, Insta-prettied, multi-tweeted, Black-Mirrored world, all. of. the. things. are. at. our. fingertips. We are droned out, swiped up, Netflixed-in, and Face(book) down in politics, pop culture, grocery deliveries, crowdsourced rides and two-day shipping. It's as majestic as it is detrimental to our human psyche, I'm sure.

But, on the plus side, we have more options than we once did as far as "lemonade stand" profit is concerned. I, for one, am obsessed with the ability to score a gift card here or there with the things I already purchase and the places I already go. I'm not promising you a mountain. But, a molehill sounds nice when you want a free ice cream cone or a movie on a rainy day.

Here are my favorite apps for scoring a little pocket change on the side:

ReceiptHog & ReceiptPalReceipts are pesky little things. Sometimes, you need them for your taxes. Sometimes, you need to return an item. Most of the time, they end up in a crumpled conglomeration of gum wrappers, tampons, and stolen Splenda packets at the bottom of your purse (or satchel, as it were). I now scan in all of my receipts to these apps and have scored about fifty bucks between the two in the last year. Bonus: they retain the original image of your receipt should you ever need to go back and revisit them. Snap and toss. Voila!

iBotta, Checkout 51, & SavingStarI lied! Don't toss those receipts just yet! The rebate apps are here. You've heard of them, and while they may require a few moments of your time with which you'd rather be playing TwoDots, they are a supreme replacement for coupon clipping. Most of these pay out via PayPal, Venmo, and/or other various gift cards of your choice. ibotta has recently launched the ability to act more like an Ebates counterpart with online shopping cashback. And Savingstar will link to a number of store cards, which eliminates the thought process altogether (just make sure you activate the offers ahead of time)! ibotta is also great with "any brand" products. "Oh snap, 25 cents back on these random apples? Yes, please!"

How 'bout THEM apples?

ShopkickI am, admittedly, not much of a shopper outside the grocery store and major pharmacies. Malls give me anxiety and Amazon is my friend. Anti-socialites unite, right? But if you're wanting to get in those extra steps, Shopkick can be a glorious thing. I landed a $100 Wal-mart card after only a few months. Essentially, you get "kicks" for simply walking into certain stores. Earn more kicks by scanning specific items, and even more kicks for purchasing those items and/ or using linked cards. I like to aim for 100-200 kicks a day to expedite the gift card earning status. Promo Code: GIFT902531 to get started!

UserTestingThis one requires a little more effort, but is well worth it. If you don't mind using your voice, you can actually get paid to talk about websites. This site gives you TEN dollars per 10-15 minute sessions of navigating a site and recording your opinions. You can be compensated more for longer site sessions. Bonus: there are additional tests that can be performed on your smartphone or tablet. Downside: Like survey sites, you have to qualify for the tests. So, there may be some times that tests that need you to be a seven-foot tall Mandarin-speaking goat living in a block of cheese in the south of Miami on a snow day in order to take the test. They can't all be winners. Note: That test, to the best of my knowledge, does not exist. ... Yet. Two weeks ago, I made $50 in three days simply testing new sites and apps aloud.

These are just a FEW of the many, many ways you can plump up the old wallet. Don't overlook store specific apps. I have received lots of free coffees at 7-Eleven and burritos with the Moe's & Qdoba apps. There are also, of course, a multitude of other money-making and money-saving apps and sites out there (Fiverr, Etsy, MobiSave, CheckPoints, to name a few). Do your research, have fun, don't go overboard, make some cash. :)

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About the Creator

Candace Neal

Actor. Singer. Songwriter. Playwright. Writer-Writer. Chai Drinker. Cat Lover. Penny Pincher. Official Website: www.candaceneal.com || Blog: www.hopscotchy.com

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