10 Quick Ways to Earn an Extra $100
When you’ve got money to spare, $100 might not seem like a lot.
A crispy Benjamin might get you a nice dinner at your favorite restaurant (go ahead, order dessert), or cover your phone bill for a month.
But $100 only goes so far, right?
We disagree.
We’ll definitely hustle a little harder to earn an extra $100. Here’s how.
1. Let This App Spot You a Few Bucks When You Need It
It’s happened to all of us at some point — the dreaded overdraft. It’s not only embarrassing if your card gets declined at the grocery store over a few bucks, but the fees that come with it only put you further into a hole. Double yikes.
But a banking app called Chime wants to protect you from both of those problems with its SpotMe® feature.1 It’s a fee-free overdraft protection that lets you overdraft up to $200 (for eligible members) without penalty.
Yep. Just sign up for a free Chime checking account and set up a qualifying $200 monthly direct deposit to take advantage of this face-saving tool. You’ll also get access to other sweet features, like getting paid up to two days2 earlier with direct deposit, help automatically growing your savings and access to more than 60,000 fee-free3 ATMs.
Signing up takes just a few minutes. You’ll need your Social Security number handy — but don’t worry, your information is protected by bank-level security, FDIC insurance and two-factor authentication.
2. Get $100 in Cash Back
Rakuten is an online shopping portal that offers cash-back opportunities at more than 2,000 stores.
You’ll need to sign up (and score a $10 sign-up bonus!) and then click on their store links the next time you need to buy something online
You can score up to 40% cash back on your purchases. Here are some examples of our favorite deals (at the time of writing this):
- Get up to 5% cash back at Amazon.
- et up to 19% cash back at Target.
- Take up to 25% off your next car rental from Thirfty.
The deals are always changing.
Just a few weeks ago, Rakuten was offering 10% cash back at Walmart. There are thousands of offers, so I’ll spare you. But you can see if Rakuten has something for your favorite online retailer (probably) by downloading the free browser extension and creating a free account.
And don’t forget that free $10 bonus!
3. Get $100 By Taking Surveys
Most of you know, surveys aren’t our favorite way to make extra money, but we make an exception when we’re just vegging out on the couch.
We figure as long as we’re just watching TV, there’s no reason we can’t click a few buttons at the same time.
One option we like is MyPoints. This platform lets you earn gift cards for taking polls, answering surveys and other things you do online — a great way to cash in on long lines or an endless commute. You’ll earn a $5 bonus when you complete your first five surveys.
If you take all of the the surveys they send you every day, you’ll be up to $100 in no time.
4. Sell $100 in Board Game Pieces
Ever seen a board game in the thrift store but noticed with great sadness that it was missing half the pieces?
You might want to put the game in your shopping cart anyway. One Penny Hoarder made $250 in six months selling spare board game pieces online. You can even sell “mystery bags” of pieces for $12 a pop!
It may take some time for your listings to sell, but if you follow Laura’s guide, you can probably make $100 in about three months.
5. Make $100 by Renting Your Spare Bedroom (or Couch) This Weekend
Have a spare room? Might as well use Airbnb to make some money by renting it out.
If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.
And there’s no reason you can’t be creative. We even found a guy that earns $1,380 a month renting out a backyard tent on Airbnb.
Taking a few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one.
Here are a few tips:
– Make your space available during high-demand times in your area. Think: concerts, conventions and sporting events in your area.
– Be a good host, and make sure your place is stocked with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels.
– Be personable. A lot of travelers turn to Airbnb for the personal touch they won’t find at commercial properties.
Here’s the link to sign up as an Airbnb host.
(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)
6. Drive With Lyft and Earn at Least $100
Need a fun, flexible way to earn money while also meeting lots of new people?
Try driving with Lyft!
Demand for ride-sharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.
We talked to Paul Pruce, who’s been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year. He earns $750 a week as a driver.
Best of all, he does it on his own time. You can drive days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you!
Not sure which ride-sharing app is right for you? Here’s our guide to Lyft versus Uber.
7. Earn $100 by Stopping By Your Local Bar
Sign up for the Bar Integrity Mystery Shop through the Mystery Shopping Providers Association to get paid to go to bars.
As a mystery shopper, you’ll pose as a regular customer — while secretly rating each bar on speed of service, friendliness, accuracy, cleanliness and other factors.
MSP offers other types of mystery shops, as well. Choose what fits your schedule, so you can pick up retail shopping and restaurants, too, if you want to round out your day.
8. Save $100 in Digital Change
If you want an insanely simple way to save and invest your money, try Acorns. You’ll be amazed by how much money you can set aside without even thinking about it.
Acorns is a smartphone app that connects to your bank account, credit and debit cards to save your digital change. It automatically rounds up purchases with your connected accounts and invests the difference in your Acorns account.
This Penny Hoarder saved $116 — about $35 a month — by connecting one debit card to the app and forgetting about it.
At that rate, you put away $420 a year. And if you use your credit cards more frequently, your round-ups could amount to much more.
9. Earn Over $100 by Selling Your Unlimited Data Plan
Grandfathered into an amazing unlimited data plan for your phone or tablet?
You can sell that.
If you’re not making use of all those GBs, put it up on eBay — unlimited data plans are selling for between $300 and $2,000 each.
It’s a little more complicated than it sounds — after all, these plans weren’t meant to be resold. But if you’re down with a little loophole dance, this could net you big.
10. Earn $100 by Decluttering Your House
Have a bunch of movies or CDs collecting dust on a shelf? Decluttr will pay you for them!
Decluttr buys your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, plus hardware like cell phones, tablets, game consoles and iPods.
One user, Gil Flores, sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275 — an average of $1.57 each.
Just download the app and start scanning the barcodes on your media to get immediate quotes. It’s completely free to use, there are no listing or seller fees, payment is super fast and there is even free shipping.
Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by The Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC.
1Chime SpotMe is an optional service that requires a single deposit of $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits to the Chime Checking Account each month. All qualifying members will be allowed to overdraw their account up to $20 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals initially, but may be later eligible for a higher limit of up to $200 or more based on member’s Chime Account history, direct deposit frequency and amount, spending activity and other risk-based factors. Your limit will be displayed to you within the Chime mobile app. You will receive notice of any changes to your limit. Your limit may change at any time, at Chime’s discretion. Although there are no overdraft fees, there may be out-of-network or third party fees associated with ATM transactions. SpotMe won’t cover non-debit card transactions, including ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, or Chime Checkbook transactions. See Terms and Conditions.
2Early access to direct deposit funds depends on the timing of the submission of the payment file from the payer. We generally make these funds available on the day the payment file is received, which may be up to 2 days earlier than the scheduled payment date.
3 Out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees may apply except at MoneyPass ATMs in a 7-Eleven, or any Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATM.
