We could all do with some extra cash in our pockets each month, whether that’s to save an emergency safety net or add to your investment portfolio.
MoneyMagpie is all about finding new ways to make money with ease, so we’ve come up with several steps to save cash and make extra money so you have an extra £100 or more in your pocket in the next 30 days.
Sign Up to Deals Newsletters
Create a separate email address – it’s going to come in handy for several of our tips and stop you from being overwhelmed with emails. The first thing you need to do is sign up to newsletters that send you daily or weekly deals.
While many of these deals might not be for you, there will always be something that you were planning to buy soon. From insurance to bank switches, cashback offers to Amazon gift cards, deals newsletters are useful for finding lots of ways to save money each month.
If you save even a few quid each month, that’s a fiver towards your £100 target!
Earnings: £5
Sign Up to Cashback Sites
Use that new email address again to sign up to TopCashBack, Quidco, and Swagbucks. Whenever you want to shop for something online, check the cashback deals with those sites first and go through the best one to earn a small percentage back on your spend.
But that’s not free money, is it? Don’t panic! The good news is these sites often run referral schemes. If you recommend a friend, you could bag £10 or more when they sign up too.
Keep an eye out for special offers – for example, TopCashBack is currently offering a £35 bonus for their referral scheme.
Earnings: £35 for a referral
Take Online Surveys
While you’re on a cashback site, take a look at their surveys and online games section. For a few minutes each day, you can earn some free cash for playing games or answering questions.
It’s easy money and while rewards are small, if you earn £1 a day from surveys and games on your lunch break, that’s an extra £30 in your pocket in a month.
Earnings: £30 or more
Clear Your Clutter
Spend an evening or two spring cleaning. Find those clothes that still have the label on because you’ve never worn them, kitchen gadgets used once and now gathering dust, and even vintage collector’s items.
Your home is a surprising source of last-minute cash! Use websites like Vinted to sell your clothes, making sure to take accurate pictures and describing items in detail on the listing.
If it turns out you have more clutter to clear than you expected, take a look at your local car boot sales. It’s surprising what you can make money from at these sales, just remember to get there early, take a friend to help, and be ready to barter on price!
Earnings: £50 or more
Become a Life Model
If you have no qualms about getting nude or almost nude in front of strangers, look for local art classes in need of a life model! The average rate is £20 an hour and classes are usually two hours.
You need to be able to sit still for the duration, so if you’re a fidget this isn’t for you. And you don’t need to be a perfect ten either – artists are interested in all kinds of bodies!
Classes are led with respect for the model and you don’t need to feel shy – they’re looking at you with artistic interest, not judgement.
Earnings: £40
Flip Vintage Furniture
This is one of those ‘takes money to make money’ things – but you could easily net more than £100 profit in one go when you upcycle furniture.
First, look around your home for old furniture that you never use anymore. Do you have a bedside cabinet in the shed? Perhaps there’s a shelving unit in the garage that’s seen better days. If you’re out of luck at home, head to a house clearance warehouse to pick up some cheap finds. Check your NextDoor app and Freecycle for free furniture, too.
You can transform furniture with some elbow grease, an eye for design, and some basic tools such as paint stripper, furniture polish, and an elliptical sander (trust us, it’s worth finding one if you want to save your arms from hours of sanding).
You can then sell the upcycled furniture on eBay, other auction sites or local community websites. Your earnings could quickly rocket from this side hustle if you’ve got a knack for it!
Earnings: £100 or more
Get Paid to Walk
This is our favourite way to make some side cash because it’s so easy to fit into our daily routine. It’s particularly good for people who are on their feet all day for work, or those who want to walk more to boost their health.
Walking apps can track your steps and distance, and in return give you rewards in the form of gift cards or cash earnings. You can earn more by referring friends with many of them, and compete against them to see who can walk further and earn more. We like Charity Miles, SweatCoin, BetterPoints, and WinWalk to get started.
Earnings: £5
Round Up Your Spending
If you follow all of these tips, you’ll net yourself at least £265 or more within a month. Some cashback sites or surveys may take a little longer than a month to pay out – but there are plenty of ways to make instant cash, such as clearing your clutter.
Our final tip is to secretly save with the round-up feature most banking apps offer. If you set to round up to the nearest pound, those spare pennies will be shifted to a savings pot. So, if you spend £4.50, then £5 comes out of your account with 50p going to your savings. It quickly adds up!
