Easy Ways to Make Extra Money on the Side - Part 3

I hope you’ve been able to make extra money on the side with this series! It’s been fun for me to look in-depth at all the methods I use and see how much they are truly making for me!

Here are two more easy ways to make extra money on the side. One I’ve been using successfully for YEARS and the other is fairly new to me!

Missed the other two posts? Go check out Part 1 and Part 2!

Earn Gift Cards for Travel, Restaurants, and More

MyPoints is a program I’ve used for years. And I’ve cashed in my points several times for $100 gift cards. I typically save them up and then use them for restaurant gift cards for places I know we will visit when we travel.

For instance, we used to visit T-Rex (a Landry’s restaurant) every year at Disney. It was a must-do when the kids were little. So, I’d use my points to purchase that gift card, and voila, one meal paid for. There are dozens of other options, as well as retailers, travel, etc.

Insider tip: Watch for gift card sales on MyPoints. Often you can get a gift card for fewer points – then your points go even further!

Earn points for gift cards with MyPoints

There are so many ways to earn points via MyPoints, but as you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m pretty lazy and don’t want to spend a ton of time on my computer earning points. Therefore, I tend to focus on just a few simple methods, and yet my points add up really quickly!

Here are the top four ways I earn points:

1. Click through the daily emails

I tend to get 5 to 10 emails from MyPoints a day, and several of them offer 5 points when you click through. I simply click the link as I’m working throughout the day and earn an easy 5 points for each one.

2. Vote in the daily poll

When I think about it, I vote in the daily poll for 1 point per day.

3. Complete a survey or watch a video

Sometimes if I have extra time, I’ll complete a survey or watch videos for points, but that’s pretty rare.

4. Make a purchase

I always check Rakuten first for actual cashback, but if the retailer I plan on purchasing from isn’t on there, I’ll go to MyPoints and see if I can earn points for my online purchase.

With these few simple daily actions, I earned 148 points in September and 301 in August. Since a $10 gift card is about 1500 points, you can see how quickly this adds up. I typically earn $50 – $100 in gift cards a year for just a few simple daily clicks. Easy money for sure!

👉 Use THIS LINK to get a bonus as you earn points through My Points!

Sell Your Old Clothing Online to Make Extra Money

Although Mercari is great for selling household items and some clothing, I’ve found that when I am pressed for time, ThredUp is my best option.

ThredUp is an upscale used clothing shop. What I love about selling on ThredUp is that it is super easy. All you do is request a bag, they send it to you, and you fill it up with your items to sell, and send it back. No taking photos, no waiting for auctions, none of that.

ThredUp is very particular about what they accept. Name brands do best, and the items need to be in excellent condition. Clean, no spots or tears, etc. It can take time to have your order processed, so it’s not a quick moneymaker, but you can’t beat it for simplicity.

If you planned on taking items to Goodwill anyway, you might as well try to make a little extra money with ThredUp instead. If they don’t accept your items, you can choose to have them donated, so it saves you a trip to the donation center!

Insider Tip: ThredUp is also a great resource for brand-name clothing at a deep discount – if there is a particular brand you love, look to see what they have available in your size. Since they are so particular about what they accept, you know the items will be in excellent condition!

Once you’ve sold items you can either request the money be sent to you via Paypal or Stripe OR you can use it as a credit to purchase through their store. If there is an item of clothing you are looking for, you can search by brand name, size, etc. And you’ll often get a bit of a bonus for using your sales as credit versus cashing it out.

ThredUp is currently behind on processing due to COVID (I have one kit in the works myself), but go ahead and sign up to be notified when they are offering Clean Out kits again and start setting your items to sell aside.

👉 If you think you might like to purchase something, use THIS LINK to get $10 off your first purchase!

So, how are you earning extra money for your vacations? If you missed the first two articles in this series, be sure to check them out here:

Easy Ways to Make Extra Money on the Side – Part 3