Home / Money / Six Legitimate Places to Find Free Money
Ah, free money. There’s nothing quite like the sound of those two words ringing together… side by side. And nothing quite as puzzling.
In a world where money is the measure of value, how can it possibly ever come for free?
Of course, “free money” feels a little bit contradictory. In fact, it might conjure up images of a bunch of adults running around in an frenzied Easter-egg scavenger hunt, searching from tree to tree for an extra dollar.
Sounds ridiculous!
And definitely not something we’re recommending.
But there are definite ways to make cash without having to slave away at a 9 to 5. Now we’re not recommending that you quit your day job, as most of these won’t be satisfactory replacements for a full-time income.
But here’s six places you can find money that’s practically free.
Survey Junkie is an online survey panel that will pay you to share your opinion. Today’s biggest brands need to know what their customers want. So they put the power back in your hands to tell them. When you sign up for the site, you’ll get to share your opinion about products and services, and you’ll earn points for each step you take on the site.
Once you’ve gotten to 1,000 points ($10), you can redeem your points for PayPal cash or e-Gift cards to popular retailers including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Groupon, and Sephora.
And you’re not just limited to taking paid surveys here. You can also participate in online focus groups, in person focus groups, at-home product testing, and phone surveys.
There’s several of panels out there. But as the highest rated survey site on Trust Pilot, Survey Junkie remains one of the most trustworthy and reliable. If you’re looking for a legitimate paid survey site that offers a rewarding experience as well as extra cash, you’ll enjoy this paid survey site.
You can sign up here.
Did you forget about an old savings bond? It’s okay… Tons of people do. In fact, there’s billions of dollars of saving bonds that have mature over time, accumulating worth and never cash out. If you think you may have a bond that you lost track of over time, you can fill out the Fiscal Service Form 1048 and submit it to the Treasury Department.
Yes! We know. It sounds crazy. Who associates the IRS with free money?
But the truth is that the Internal Revenue Service is a mecca of lost cash. Just last year, the IRS reported that more than $1 billion worth of refunds had not yet been claimed by people who didn’t file their 2013 returns. And those average checks were a whopping $763. Fortunately, you have three years to file past returns – so if you haven’t yet done so, do it!
Have you heard of Acorns? It’s an app that rounds up your credit card and debit card purchases to the nearest dollar, and then invests the digital change. Connect the app to your card, and let it do the work for you.
Once your digital change reaches $5, the money will be transferred from your bank to Acorns. Then it will be invested into your portfolio of choice. It’s a super easy way to earn some extra cash with minimal effort.
If you were born before 2000, you likely have at least some old CDs sitting around collecting dust. And yes, it’s a sign of the times that these shiny discs are pretty much extinct now. But that doesn’t mean that they’re worthless. You can download the Decluttr app and actually get free money for your old CDs, DVDS, video games, cell phones, iPods, and more.
You may have worked for a company where you qualified for a pension but haven’t yet received any payments. This can actually be a great source of money that you totally forgot what rightfully yours to claim. head to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to see whether your name is listed.
There you have it! Remember – if you want to get free money, one of the easiest ways to do so is to take paid surveys. You can sign up for Survey Junkie and start earning PayPal cash by sharing your opinion.
Data Source: kiplinger.com, wellkeptwallet.com, pennyhoarder.com
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