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Original poster

How do you make extra money?

74 replies

crazydineraddict · 03/02/2022 10:24

With the cost of living etc going up and the terrible news about energy coming in 35 mins...I thought a thread to share insight would be good.

I know these have been done to death but I always find that they are 'sign up to 20cogs' or 'survey website blah' and I think they are the worst use of your time with such poor returns.

Here are some of the things I do and I'd love to know more:

  • enter competitions: there is a comping community out there and it is so nice and easy with Google Chrome to get into it. I started in COVID and I have won something every month. I only enter comps with prizes I'd want and have won tens of thousands, including cash. I recommend setting up a separate gmail account for entries as there's a lot of trash to sift through.
  • Honey chrome extension - we give our data away every bloody day so may as well get money for it. I got it originally for coupons. It has found me so many coupons that work, I always get £20 off my Waitrose shop with a mysterious coupon and never had issues. When you spend it collects 'honey gold' which is exchangeable for vouchers. I have a good £50 in vouchers I've accumulated somehow and never even realised. I've redeemed a few Amazon vouchers and used them successfully.
  • The old Vinted and eBay. I find Vinted to be good for clothes selling and a couple of quid with no fees has been useful. I will list things for 2 weeks and if no offers/purchase I take to charity.
  • I bought a cricut for my wedding and made vinyl and learned calligraphy. I'm pretty good at it so sell things online. I do it through Bride groups and for friends. I don't go out of my way to buy things for it, I am just trying to earn the cost of the machine back and it's a fun little hobby.

Does any one have anything? If you have a side business or something, i'd love to know what it actually is too!

OP posts:
AnneLovesGilbert · 03/02/2022 10:27

Etsy

emmathedilemma · 03/02/2022 10:43

not technically making money but Clubcard / Nectar card points - save them over the year and they pay for the big Christmas food shop (or towards it) or you tend to get more value from trading them for things like hotels or theme park tickets.

Chocomelon · 03/02/2022 10:43

Vinted

StrawberrySanta · 03/02/2022 10:46

@crazydineraddict

With the cost of living etc going up and the terrible news about energy coming in 35 mins...I thought a thread to share insight would be good.

I know these have been done to death but I always find that they are 'sign up to 20cogs' or 'survey website blah' and I think they are the worst use of your time with such poor returns.

Here are some of the things I do and I'd love to know more:

  • enter competitions: there is a comping community out there and it is so nice and easy with Google Chrome to get into it. I started in COVID and I have won something every month. I only enter comps with prizes I'd want and have won tens of thousands, including cash. I recommend setting up a separate gmail account for entries as there's a lot of trash to sift through.
  • Honey chrome extension - we give our data away every bloody day so may as well get money for it. I got it originally for coupons. It has found me so many coupons that work, I always get £20 off my Waitrose shop with a mysterious coupon and never had issues. When you spend it collects 'honey gold' which is exchangeable for vouchers. I have a good £50 in vouchers I've accumulated somehow and never even realised. I've redeemed a few Amazon vouchers and used them successfully.
  • The old Vinted and eBay. I find Vinted to be good for clothes selling and a couple of quid with no fees has been useful. I will list things for 2 weeks and if no offers/purchase I take to charity.
  • I bought a cricut for my wedding and made vinyl and learned calligraphy. I'm pretty good at it so sell things online. I do it through Bride groups and for friends. I don't go out of my way to buy things for it, I am just trying to earn the cost of the machine back and it's a fun little hobby.

Does any one have anything? If you have a side business or something, i'd love to know what it actually is too!

I'd love to know about the comping, how do you find them? Are there special websites you go on or forums etc? You mention Google Chrome makes this easy 🤔
Peanut82 · 03/02/2022 10:48

I've done competitions for around 7 years now. I've won things like home appliances, trips away and vouchers.

StrawberrySanta · 03/02/2022 10:50

@Peanut82

I've done competitions for around 7 years now. I've won things like home appliances, trips away and vouchers.
How do you get started? Are there dedicated websites? Really interested in giving this a go!
Trinacham · 03/02/2022 10:58

I know you said about survey websites not being a great return for your time but there is one that I really rate. It is the only one I use, as I agree with you - most just aren't worth the time! This one actually has interesting studies too - it is called Prolific Academic app.prolific.co/studies when using Chrome you can also add an extension which alerts you when studies become available. I earned £35+ in January (I had a baby on 21st Jan so wasn't exactly a quiet month where I could sit at my computer and do loads either, so you can easily earn more!)

CampervanQueen · 03/02/2022 11:00

@Trinacham

I know you said about survey websites not being a great return for your time but there is one that I really rate. It is the only one I use, as I agree with you - most just aren't worth the time! This one actually has interesting studies too - it is called Prolific Academic app.prolific.co/studies when using Chrome you can also add an extension which alerts you when studies become available. I earned £35+ in January (I had a baby on 21st Jan so wasn't exactly a quiet month where I could sit at my computer and do loads either, so you can easily earn more!)
I use prolific as well, and it's the only one that pays out reasonable amounts.
tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 03/02/2022 11:00

Great thread OP.

And I especially agree with you about some of the "cash for surveys" websites. V poor returns for time.

A few of my reccs -

  • Try Prolific for surveys. They are a bit different as they are often surveys posted by students through a uni, many overseas, and as such can be quite interesting. What may appeal OP for you especially is they use your initial demographic info to screen you so you qualify for ever6 one you click on. This is what pisses me off royally with other sites ... it says initially it'll take 10 minutes for say £2 payment. It then takes 10+ minutes to be screened, rejected, offered another and then screened and rejected again.
With Prolific I find I can easily make £10 a month easily and that's considering I don't have a laptop or desktop which would mean I could do more. All money is paid by PayPal within a few days of cashing out. Highly, highly recommended.
  • Not £ as such but free stuff, try Clicks Research to trial free products. Make sure you complete their post trial questionnaires. A good way to get free stuff and there's no posting rubbish on SM as part of the process which I like. In the last few months between DD and I we've had a serum, eye cream and she had a branded (most items come unbranded but this one had a sticker over it which I peeled off to see when it was from) T Zone stick to try ... I googled the company and their moisturisers retail at £40+ Confused so she was chuffed with that. And of course you get to keep stuff after.
tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 03/02/2022 11:01

Really need to get my finger out and start Vinted and sell some stuff. I need to buy a small, wireless printer to do so however and I've not got a clue which one to get .... any suggestions greatly appreciated Grin

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 03/02/2022 11:02

@Trinacham

I know you said about survey websites not being a great return for your time but there is one that I really rate. It is the only one I use, as I agree with you - most just aren't worth the time! This one actually has interesting studies too - it is called Prolific Academic app.prolific.co/studies when using Chrome you can also add an extension which alerts you when studies become available. I earned £35+ in January (I had a baby on 21st Jan so wasn't exactly a quiet month where I could sit at my computer and do loads either, so you can easily earn more!)
X post Trinacham Grin** Great minds and all that!
Peanut82 · 03/02/2022 11:02

@StrawberrySanta yes there's various websites such as Prizefinder, Loquax and Competition Database. There's lots of competition groups o Facebook too full of other compers.
You do have to do a lot though, I average around 100 a day but be patient and the wins will come. Happy to answer any more questions you have

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 03/02/2022 11:04

Re Prolific again...even on my puddly efforts that's £100+ banked in PayPal ready for Christmas spending.

StrawberrySanta · 03/02/2022 11:10

[quote Peanut82]@StrawberrySanta yes there's various websites such as Prizefinder, Loquax and Competition Database. There's lots of competition groups o Facebook too full of other compers.
You do have to do a lot though, I average around 100 a day but be patient and the wins will come. Happy to answer any more questions you have [/quote]
Awesome! I will give it a go, thank you!

xyzandabc · 03/02/2022 11:14

Matched betting and casino offers.
Team profit, team casino have loads of guides and info for new comers and explain it all.
I started with £100 on matched betting only, I've never put another single penny in. I was skeptical and £100 was what I could afford to lose if it was a load of rubbish.

Once I had a decent bank roll, I added casino offers. Now I mostly do casino offers with only a little bit of matched betting as I'm gubbed (banned from doing offers) with most bookmakers.

Over 3 years I've averaged about £450 a month. Some months less, some months more. I spend about 10 hours a week on it but it's not a commitment, just do it when you can, if you need time off, not a problem, it works around your life.

It is purely a numbers game though, if there is any chance you may have an addictive personality and be drawn in to gambling then it's not for you.

Trinacham · 03/02/2022 11:14

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz

Re Prolific again...even on my puddly efforts that's £100+ banked in PayPal ready for Christmas spending.
3 days into February and I've already earned £5! Did 2 studies paying £2.50👍
tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 03/02/2022 11:17

That's good going!

camperqueen54 · 03/02/2022 11:18

I did match betting and made £8k in a year.

Original poster
crazydineraddict · 03/02/2022 11:23

@StrawberrySanta Google Chrome makes it easy as you can store your data, so when you click a site, it takes around 10 seconds to answer.

I prefer Money Saving Expert Comping forum, people post competition links all day and the answers to any qs if there is one, so I open each comp I want in a new tab and then apply. I spend 15-20 mins a day doing it but only if i have nothing else to do!

OP posts:
Original poster
crazydineraddict · 03/02/2022 11:26

OK I am signing up to Prolific...will let you know how I get on.

RE matched betting. Stupid DH used my account when his was blocked from winning too much on MB so now my accounts are kind of done with. I also have no interest in it and would get bored. So I'll let DH do that and get him to buy me a nice present haha

OP posts:
Original poster
crazydineraddict · 03/02/2022 11:31

@emmathedilemma

not technically making money but Clubcard / Nectar card points - save them over the year and they pay for the big Christmas food shop (or towards it) or you tend to get more value from trading them for things like hotels or theme park tickets.
Yes agree with this. We had a nice Pizza Express lunch out for our Clubcard vouchers. It's easy to use. DH actually got hundreds in vouchers from buying an XBox from there in 2016 when they had an extra points thing on. We are still getting round to using them 6 years later...
OP posts:
emmathedilemma · 03/02/2022 11:31

Top Cashback website for things like car and household insurance, car breakdown cover and other big purchases.

ballerinaqueen · 03/02/2022 11:33

Roughly how long does it take you to do a study?

ballerinaqueen · 03/02/2022 11:34

3 days into February and I've already earned £5! Did 2 studies paying £2.50👍

ballerinaqueen · 03/02/2022 11:34

Sorry I didn't quote that very well 🤦‍♀️

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