MoneyMagpie Editor and financial expert Vicky Parry shares how to make money in your spare time
We’re all in need of boosting our bank accounts, whether that’s to simply get by each month or start building a rainy-day fund in an ISA.
But how many of us have tons of time to boost our income outside of our day jobs, families and other commitments? The good news is that it is easy to make money online with a few hours a week.
It won’t make you rich overnight, but if you’re savvy you can earn a nice chunk of extra change without much effort every year.
Switch your current account
If you haven’t changed current accounts in over a year, it’s time to switch. The Current Account Switch Guarantee means you’re protected during a changeover, so that payments aren’t interrupted, and it can bag you a big chunk of free cash.
Most current account switching deals offer between £125 – £200 as a switching bonus. You might be able to stack some, such as Barclays’ current whopping £900 offer, for extra bonus cash.
Shop around for current account switching deals and work out which one suits you best. Check the fine print as some will require a minimum of direct debits or minimum income each month, and you might not be able to switch to another current account within the same banking group.
Get paid to watch TV
Audience feedback is vital to broadcasters and production companies to make sure they’re creating TV that keeps viewers coming back. Participate in market research and you could earn up to £150 a task.
Agencies like The Viewers pay you for your time, whether it is one-to-one market research feedback or a more involved social communities project to discuss a TV show in more detail. Register for free and choose a project when they come up. It’s not regular work but it can add a couple of hundred quid to your annual income.
Use cashback websites
Jasmine Birtles, Founder of MoneyMagpie, says: “I always bang on about cashback websites for one really important reason: you’re always going to pay more if you don’t use them! They give a percentage of your purchase back, and often include stackable discounts to include too – so you’re saving even more. Just remember to move your earnings out of your account into a savings account regularly.”
Cashback websites like TopCashback and Quidco are easy to use and have been running for a very long time (decades!) so they’re trustworthy, too. More than earning a small percentage back on your purchases, you can also get free money from them by participating in research, playing games, and signing up to receive marketing emails.
Simply set up a specific marketing email address to avoid getting your inbox inundated, and spend five minutes a day going through them to click anything that needs an action before you can claim the cash.
Enter competitions every day
With that ‘spam’ email address, you can also enter competitions, too. The law of averages mean you are bound to win if you enter everything you can get your hands on.
Some people also have a spare pay-as-you-go SIM to provide a separate phone number and avoid lots of text messages or giving out their personal details. Remember to regularly check this number as you might get a call saying you’ve won!
Competitions are ideal because prize winnings are not taxable in the UK. As well as entering big prize draws, make sure you enter smaller competitions because you can either sell your prizes or live a luxury life with all the freebies!
Refer a friend
Check any website you’re a member of to find out if you can benefit by referring a friend. This might be a cashback website – for example, Topcashback regularly tops up its usual offer of £5 each to a huge £30 every few months – or your insurance, or even a retailer with a welcome discount code.
You can earn small amount such as a few pounds here and there, or big chunks around £200 for investment referrals to investing platforms. Always check with providers if your friends are looking for recommendations, but also make sure you reach out proactively when you notice there’s a great referral deal that you both benefit from.
Earn money on social media
You don’t have to only refer people you know to earn money, either. Use your social media platform to boost your referral fees. This works best when there is something in it for the person using your referral link, too, such as a like-for-like credit or extra free service.
You can also make money on social media by monetising your channels. This takes time or one lucky viral video, but all it takes is one or two ‘big’ videos to make perpetual long-term passive income.
Create a digital product
You can use your social media presence and existing knowledge in something niche to make an online course, too. It takes time to create the materials and set it all up, but once you’re up and running, the course sells itself and there is very little hands-on work that needs to be done.
There are lots of platforms that can do this for you, or you can choose to offer something exclusively through your own website if you want more control over pricing and content. This costs more up front, because of website design and hosting costs, but can help you build a loyal audience that comes back for more.
Sell your clutter
Take time over the next few weekends to tackle those cluttered spaces in your home that you’ve been avoiding. Empty the shed, the space under the stairs, the attic, that wardrobe in your spare room, or even the boxes under the bed. Go through your clothes, too – anything that still has the tag on should be an instant resell, as a start.
Find things that are nearly-new or still in their box, and take plenty of photos of all angles in good lighting. Spend an afternoon listing them all on eBay, Vinted, or Facebook Marketplace and wait for them to sell and earn you a nice chunk of cash.
Crowdfund your business idea
If you want to get out of the rat race or need funds to move your new business forward, consider a crowdfunder. This can take time to set up and requires a solid idea and business plan, but you could earn significant amounts of cash with a successful crowdfunder.
It can mean the difference between continuing something as a hobby and being able to quit your job to focus full-time on your niche business idea or creative project, if you have enough backers to provide suitable funding.
Sign up to the Free Postcode Lottery
Gambling is never guaranteed free money and is a dangerous way to try and boost your bank account. However, the Free Postcode Lottery quite literally doesn’t cost you a penny ever, and could nab you a prize around £800 every day.
Register based on your postcode (use that competitions email address you set up earlier), and check the site regularly. This postcode lottery is free because it’s funded by adverts on the website – and it’s been running a long time with a great reputation.
Apply for Help to Save
Help to Save is a Government scheme designed to encourage people to build a savings habit even when they’re on a low income. It used to be that you had to receive means-tested benefits like Universal Credit, and earn a minimum amount in an assessment period to qualify to open the account.
However, you can now open a Help to Save account if you earn as little as £1 in an assessment period. If you’re on a joint claim in a couple, that’s £1 between you and you can each get your own Help to Save account.
These accounts let you save up to £50 a month for four years. In years two and four, you’re paid a bonus of 50% the highest balance held in that two-year period. If you’ve paid in £50 every month, that means a big bonus of £600 at the end of the second year and again at the end of the fourth year, when the account closes. It’s a better return than any savings account ever, and it’s easy to use.
What to do with your free money boost
When you’ve followed all of the above steps, you could see yourself at least £500 better off each year. While many of us need that cash immediately, try to avoid using it. Instead, set up a stocks and shares ISA and drip-feed your small cash bonuses into it as time goes by.
Investing is risky and you can lose what you put in, but by using free cash earned through small activities that haven’t taken loads of your time, you can mitigate the risk on your time and finances.
Drip-feeding around £500 across the course of the year, left to mature and reinvest over the next ten years, could net you a handy little nest egg that you’d never have had if you’d spent time doomscrolling instead of following these tips to make money online!
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