Since I published my very first income report last week, a ton of people have emailed me asking for tips and tricks on just about anything and everything that generate income. It’s feels good that a lot of people are starting to find value in what I do with blogging. As much as I like earning money through blogging, I like the idea that my posts bring value to the readers.
Because of these emails, I have decided to publish posts on topics like “How To Make Money”, “How To Save Money”, among others. I will publish these kinds of posts in the next few weeks or months.
One of my email subscribers asked me if there are other things I do to save and make more money. Just an FYI, I respond to all the emails I receive. My response to him was particularly long because I detailed almost all the things my wife and I are doing to save some more money.
Money Saving Strategies
So, I decided to post today what I shared with him. In the past four months, my wife and I earned and saved $3,241.15 in rewards and cash backs. Yes, that is $3,241.15 in just four months.
1. Surveys – $550.87 (Earned)
This amount is a combination of my survey earnings and those of my wife. We started doing surveys because we wanted to cut down on using my salary to pay our bills. It was difficult, at first, to find survey companies that would really pay in cash but we found a couple and we stuck with them.
Yes, there are surveys that are just too good to be true. I call them scams. But there are some diamonds in the rough out there that will give you money for completing the surveys.
For those who have seen my income report, please be aware that the amount I have there is for those who signed-up through my link. It’s not the money that my wife and I earned by taking surveys.
Here are some surveys that you can try. Some of these surveys really help you make a ton of money every month.
- Ipsos I-Say ($620/mo. The survey site people are raving about and that keeps on giving)
- MySurvey (Earn 2,000 points as a sign-up bonus; It has paid $32M+ since 2014)
- MyPoinMyPoints (Desktop l Mobile) (Earn up to $50/survey; $5 Bonus after first 5 surveys)
- Vindale Research (Earn $2 bonus for signing up; I’ve earned more than $1,100 so far)
- Swagbucks (Earn $10 sign up bonus instantly)
- Survey Club (Potentially earn at least $50 per survey)
Read:
- Earn Thousands A Year: The Most Comprehensive Survey Sites Lists You May Ever See
- Income Reports: How I Made Over $30,000 In A Year From Blogging
- How I Increased My Page Views From 0 to 170K In 9 Months
2. Credit card rewards and cash backs – $670.76 (Earned)
Credit cards are a blessing to us. Why? Because we get to use them and, in return, get rewards and cash backs. In the past four months, we accumulated over $650.00 just in rewards and cash backs.
We don’t spend a lot. We are always on a budget and follow it faithfully. Some of you will ask how in the world we got this amount when we’re not putting a lot of charges in our credit cards.
The answer is authorized users. I authorized a couple of my brothers and sisters to use my card. They know the drill, that is, charge the amount and, then, pay in full when the bill comes out. They also know that I am getting all the rewards and they are fine with it.
If you want other people to use your card, make sure that they are responsible when it comes to paying the debt off. You don’t want to end up paying their own charges in your credit cards.
3. Blogging – $657.17 (Earned)
If you haven’t read my first ever income report, I detailed my earnings for the month of April and how I managed to earn such money. I never thought that I would be able to make $657.17 much less $50 from blogging. I heard, seen, and read that a many bloggers may only see earnings after a couple of months or years of blogging.
I decided early on that I will only look at my earnings a day or two after the previous month has passed just to make sure everything is accounted for. I was really shocked when I calculated all my earnings from the previous month.
Read more at 11+ Extra Income Ideas For Introverts
Side Note: Be one of the few who can start a blog for a special price of $2.95/month instead of the regular price of $7.99/month. This is a special price I negotiated with Bluehost just for my readers. You will get a FREE domain and a great customer service. Really, you are saving money when you use my link even before you publish your first post. That's a best a way to start your blogging journey.
4. Grocery – $800.00 (Saved)
My wife and I decided to cut down our grocery expenses even further. Last year, our average grocery bill per month was around $400. By January 2016, we cut down our bill to $200 per month. So, in four months we saved $800 in total.
Aside from extreme couponing, which I am known for by my friends, I developed strategies on effectively cutting down our monthly grocery bills. Some of the strategies were buying in-season products, buying in bulk, just to name a few. If you want to see all our strategies, please click through the link listed below.
Read more at 12 Ways To Save On Groceries
5. Ebates – $223.44 (Earned)
I first signed up through Ebates early this year. I, then, asked my wife and my sister to sign up and they did. As a result, I got referral money to the tune of $20.
Around January 2016, my sister was looking into switching phone carrier and she decided she wanted to go with Verizon Wireless. I helped her find the deals and we opened the phone line and picked data plan online. Of course, I used my Ebates account to get cashback. I got $75.00 in cash.
The rest of the amounts basically came from all purchases that my wife, sisters, brothers, and I did online via Ebates.
Ebates is really useful and can save you a ton of money. I know it saved my family hundreds of dollars to start with. If you decide to go for it, click the link below.
6. Yard Sale Finds – $225.00 (Earned)
Of course, not all of things I earned these past four months were from online-based opportunities. In the past month alone, I was able to re-sell products I bought from yard sales.
There are things I won’t buy from the yard sales like baby products and shoes. The only products I buy from the yard sales are wood products like furniture. This past month I was fortunate to buy cheaply-priced, high-quality furniture. I refinished the products and sold them for a profit. I even bought a set of wooden dining set for $50 and sold for $125. Cha ching!
Read:
- Get Free Cash: Make $30 Or More In 30 Minutes
- 10+ Best Survey Sites To Make Thousands A Year
- 10+ Cash Back Sites To Earn You Money While You Shop
- Best International Survey Sites
- 5 Sites To Make Money Through Shopping
7. Bing – $72.00 (Earned)
If you don’t have cable and are paying at least $7.99 for Hulu, you might want to use Bing Rewards. Why? Because if you earn enough, you can use the reward points toward purchasing Hulu dollars. My wife and I have been using our Bing Rewards Points turned Hulu dollars to pay our, of course, Hulu subscription.
There’s more to Bing Rewards than just Hulu reward. You can redeem your points for gift cards on select merchants such as Amazon, Starbucks, and GameStop.
What you need to do is use your Bing search engine instead of Google or some other engines for doing internet searches.
8. Apps – $41.91 (Earned)
Every time we do our grocery shopping, we always use our coupons and look through the following apps for rebates. In the past four months, we managed to receive $41.91 in rebates. I know a couple of friends who received twice or triple than this amount in much shorter time period.
Just in case you have not downloaded these apps, I suggest that you do it as soon as possible because these apps will save you a few dollars here and there. You might even be able to pay for your gas with the money you’ll get from these apps.
Conclusion:
There you have it, my money saving strategies to earn and save additional money. I am not certain if my wife and I can beat what we earned these past four months. Whether we surpass it or not, we will be happy because we know we will continue to money.
How about you? What other money saving strategies have you adopted to save more money? I would love to see what you guys are doing to save additional dollars.
