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Best PTC Sites, Complete Offers and simple tasks, complete survey, credit and debit card, earn money from home, Easy Money In Bangladesh, extra income,home based opportunities, Instant Money, mechanical turk, moneybooker ,Site Reviews, online home business, Online Income, Online job and payment, paycheck, paypal, alertpay, payza, Refer and earn, Write and earn, earn money with android apps and Financial Advice for all
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Best PTC Sites, Complete Offers and simple tasks, complete survey, credit and debit card, earn money from home, Easy Money In Bangladesh, extra income,home based opportunities, Instant Money, mechanical turk, moneybooker ,Site Reviews, online home business, Online Income, Online job and payment, paycheck, paypal, alertpay, payza, Refer and earn, Write and earn, earn money with android apps and Financial Advice for all
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Best PTC Sites, Complete Offers and simple tasks, complete survey, credit and debit card, earn money from home, Easy Money In Bangladesh, extra income,home based opportunities, Instant Money, mechanical turk, moneybooker ,Site Reviews, online home business, Online Income, Online job and payment, paycheck, paypal, alertpay, payza, Refer and earn, Write and earn, earn money with android apps and Financial Advice for all
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Best PTC Sites, Complete Offers and simple tasks, complete survey, credit and debit card, earn money from home, Easy Money In Bangladesh, extra income,home based opportunities, Instant Money, mechanical turk, moneybooker ,Site Reviews, online home business, Online Income, Online job and payment, paycheck, paypal, alertpay, payza, Refer and earn, Write and earn, earn money with android apps and Financial Advice for all
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Best PTC Sites, Complete Offers and simple tasks, complete survey, credit and debit card, earn money from home, Easy Money In Bangladesh, extra income,home based opportunities, Instant Money, mechanical turk, moneybooker ,Site Reviews, online home business, Online Income, Online job and payment, paycheck, paypal, alertpay, payza, Refer and earn, Write and earn, earn money with android apps and Financial Advice for all
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
30 Best Websites and Apps that will save Money On Almost Everything
Monday, January 5, 2015
21 ways to earn extra cash
To get a grip on your finances, ask yourself if youre spending more than you get in? Can you cancel any direct debits? advises money psychologist Christine Thompson-Wells, author of Making Cash Flow (Planet Press).
Having sorted that, try to create a second stream of income which will help you to keep out of debt.
Here is our pick of the easiest ways to do it...
(1) Home alone
Be a housesitter, definitely not one for snoopers!
DO IT: call 01296 630730 or go to www.homesitters.co.uk .
EARN: Free accommodation, plus a daily food allowance of s7.
(2) Free parking
If you have a garage or driveway you dont use, rent it out.
DO IT: At www.parkatmyhouse.com .
EARN: Anything from s40 a month.
(3) Sign up as an exam invigilator
Most schools hire extra invigilators during exam time. All you need is a beady eye to catch the cheats!
DO IT: Contact local schools.
EARN: About s24 per exam.
(4) Recycle your phone
Its estimated that there are around 80 million old phones in the UK. Recycle it and earn some cash.
DO IT: Go to www.mobile2cash.co.uk or call 020 8274 4044.
EARN: s1 to s100+.
(5) Cook the books
Prepare meals for people in their homes. Not the one for you if youre a novice Nigella.
DO IT: Visit www.thedinnerservice.co.uk for inspiration.
EARN: s120 for a meeting, shopping and five hours cooking time.
(6) Be an Avon lady
Perfect if you like make-up and chatting to people.
DO IT: Visit www.avon.uk.com .
EARN: 25% on products.
(7) Turn your home into a film set Many films, ads and TV series use normal homes so you dont need to be the owner of a grade I listed building.
DO IT: Visit www.lavishlocations.com .
EARN: s500 a day.
(8) Take to the screen
As Ricky Gervais showed in Extras, working in film and TV can be frustrating but it can also be fun and good money.
DO IT: Visit www.filmextras.co.uk .
EARN: s80 to s100 a day.
(9) Listen to music
Review tracks as a music scout. One for the musos with lots of time on their hands.
DO IT: Log on to www.slicethepie.com .
EARN: Around 5p to 25p per song.
(10) Dog walker
If you feel comfortable around dogs, then taking one for a stroll is a great way to earn money.
DO IT: Visit www.ukdogwalkers.co.uk .
EARN: s9 an hour.
(11) Sell unwanted items on eBay
They say one persons rubbish is another mans treasure, so clear out your wardrobes and put it all on eBay.
DO IT: Register at www.eBay.co.uk .
EARN: Could be s50+ a month.
(12) Rent out a room
Take in a lodger and earn s4,250 a year before tax.
DO IT: Register your room free at uk.easyroommate.com.
EARN: Depending on location up to s500+ a month.
(13) The mystery shopper
Enjoy meals out and get paid to shop, then report back on your experience.
DO IT: Call 01409 255025 or visit www.mystery-shoppers.co.uk
EARN: Around s300 a month of free goodies, plus expenses.
(14) Freelance interviewer (door-todoor interviews)
The National Centre for Social Research is recruiting.
DO IT: Visit www.natcen.ac.uk or call 01277 690100.
EARN: s185 for an average of 17 successful interviews.
(15) Music to the ears
If you can play music have a go at busking. Check with the council to find out where you are allowed to play.
DO IT: Visit www.buskerworld.com .
EARN: s40 an hour if youre good.
(16) Clear out
your CDs
Sell your unwanted CDs online.
DO IT: Visit www.musicmagpie.co.uk
EARN: 60p to s1 per CD.
(17) Let your home
If you live somewhere with a big event, like the TT Race or Wimbledon, you could let your home.
DO IT: Contact the local tourist board.
EARN: From s150 per week.
(18) Street surveys
Get paid to talk by interviewing people for market research companies.
DO IT: www.rmltd.net/vacancies.htm
EARN: s8.75 per interview
(19) Sell snaps online
If you can take a decent photo, sell your images to agencies.
DO IT: Visit www.picturenation.co.uk .
EARN: s2-s30 from each sale.
(20) Online market researcher
Youre sent products or services to test and fill in a survey with your findings.
DO IT: www.valuedopinions.co.uk or call 0845 257 3299.
EARN: Up to s2 per survey.
(21) Turn into Supernanny
If you like kids register as a childminder and look after more than one child in your own home.
DO IT: Contact the National
Childminding Association, www.ncma.org.uk or call 0800 169 4486.
EARN: From s2.50 per hour.
5 ways to make money on the internet
1. Become an eBay trader
The Godfather site of the e-commerce world has been going since 1995 and boasts more than a million users across the globe. It can be used to buy and sell virtually anything – and from a business perspective your "shop" can be viewed 24-hours-a-day.
The key to success is focusing on certain products, according to Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation. "Don't try and sell everything – be as niche as possible," she says. "The businesses that I'm seeing perform best at the moment are those that have a very clear product that they market to a well-defined audience."
2. Sell goods you've made online
Stepping on from eBay trading is manufacturing the goods that you sell. This can include anything and everything from model cars and plates to jewellery and clothing. Services such as create.net enable you to set up and run your own online shop.
Lesley-Anne Pace set up The Cotton Bee (thecottonbee.co.uk) after being given her aunt's 40-year-old sewing machine just after her daughter, Phoebe, was born in November 2009. She used it to make a patchwork play mat and hasn't stopped sewing since!
"I create handmade patchwork quilts and sell a selection of fabrics," she says. "I am currently developing a range of hand-embroidered items which I'm looking forward to offering in the next couple of months."
The 39-year-old, from Gateshead, likes the fact she can run the website around her life and studies, although admits it can be tough keeping organised. "I have an artistic personality and am easily distracted with new projects," she says. "My advice is to make use of social media to advertise and connect to potential customers as it's free!"
3. Start up a blog
There are a staggering number of blogs around the world but setting one up and building a loyal readership cannot only provide a source of income but a potential springboard to full and part-time work opportunities.
Journalist Susie Boniface is a prime example. Under the alias Fleet Street Fox (fleetstreetfox.com) she wrote an opinionated blog as a way to move from being a national newspaper reporter to columnist – and it resulted in a book deal with The Diaries of a Fleet Street Fox being published earlier this year.
"I don't make very much money out of my blog but for me it's a shop window," she says. "I get asked to write about things that my followers have seen me talking about on the blog or to appear on television shows."
The 36-year-old says the keys to her success were having a memorable nickname, keeping on the pulse by tweeting during popular shows such as Britain's Got Talent, and falling back on established tabloid newspaper techniques to get readers. "I stuck to very simple colours – black, white and red – and a simple serif font," she says. "I also made sure there was plenty of spacing and regular use of photographs and links to substantiate the points I was making."
Susie's advice to would-be bloggers is to think up a catchy name and include lots of links to raise your profile as people will link back to you.
"You need to know what people are talking about and be interesting and witty," she adds. "You need to engage readers and this takes a long time as there's no brand loyalty on the internet. It's not like they go to the shops to buy the same paper every day."
Alex Campbell, deputy managing director at The Search Agency, says the most popular and simple way to monetise your blog is through services such as Google's AdSense which enables site owners to incorporate cost-per-click advertising.
"You can also use affiliate schemes to generate revenue, with hundreds of brands willing to offer commissions if your site helps directs traffic to them and generates revenue," he says. "Affiliate Window and Commission Junction are two of the most popular schemes."
AdSense effectively allows a site owner to include spaces within the design of their pages that Google will populate with either text or banner adverts targeted to the site's visitors. When a visitor clicks on one Google makes a little money (typically between £0.05 and a £2) and you get a share.
Affiliate schemes work with hundreds of individual brands who are willing to offer commission to sites that can help them generate revenue.
"You can then choose the affiliate schemes that you believe are most suitable to you," explains Mr Campbell. "Factors to consider are the percentage commission paid and the relevance of the product/service offered to the content of your site," he adds.
For example, if you blog about travel you might want to sign up with the affiliate programmes of an online travel agent.
When a visitor to your site clicks through one of these links and goes on to make a purchase or booking, you'll get a percentage of the revenue generated, typically 1-5 per cent.
4. Take online surveys
The deal is that you answer questions or review products and get rewarded for your efforts. While it won't make you thousands of pounds it's still a smart way to boost your income, according to Guy Anker, news editor of MoneySavingExpert.com.
"Dedicated survey-stashers can make £200 a year in cash and vouchers, while some of our users have even pushed it to the max and made £800 a year," he says. "It's best to focus on survey sites with decent payouts, low payment thresholds and a reliable volume of surveys."
Avoid sites that charge you to register and keep a record of all surveys that you've filled out, making a note of the title and the promised payment. Taking a screenshot and noting down any reference numbers can also help you with any subsequent disputes.
Of all the sites, MoneySavingExpert.com suggests Ipsos (iap-interactive.com), Swagbucks (swagbucks.com), Global Test Market (globaltestmarket.com), Crowdology (crowdology.co.uk), and MySurvey (mysurvey.com).
5. Set up a photo library
If you are a budding photographer then why not sell your images? You can, of course, set up your own website but it will be up to you to generate "traffic" to your site in order to make sales.
An alternative is to sign up to sites such as istockphoto.com and earn upwards of 15 per cent commission every time one of your images is downloaded.
Case study: Becoming a web entrepreneur
For anyone wanting to earn a decent income from the internet the dream ticket is to come up with a unique web-based idea and turn it into a proper business. That's just what entrepreneur James Uffindell is planning to do with his recruitment website Bounty Network.
The site, which went live a few months ago, encourages people to put forward friends and acquaintances for vacancies – and offers them bounties ranging from £300 to more than £5,000 if the individuals they recommend end up getting the job.
"We want to get to the stage where people spend even half-an-hour on a Sunday afternoon looking through the job listings," he says. "It's all about getting to know what jobs their friends do and identifying their skills to see which ones will be a good fit."
The idea for the site came when Mr Uffindell, 34, was looking to recruit an office manager for a separate business but was reluctant to pay a recruitment company a fee that equated to a 25 per cent cut of the person's first-year salary.
"Someone contacted me and said they had a recommendation," he recalls. "I said I wasn't prepared to pay a £5,000 fee (the job was £20,000 per annum) but if it worked out I would pay £2,000. They agreed. The person was perfect for the job so I got my employee and they got their money."
Although it's early days and the site currently focuses on London-based jobs paying salaries between £20,000 and £100,000, there are plans to extend it to all trades, as well as launching an app enabling people to match their friends with jobs.
His advice for those wanting to become web entrepreneurs is simple: Dream big but start small.
"Don't bet your house on an initial plan," he says. "Start to acquire information and find things out before going full on into it. You also need to have the mind-set that it's unlikely to be successful straight away, which means you'll constantly revisit ideas to see if they will work."
17 ways to make money online
1. Make money with online surveys
- NEVER pay to join an online survey site (see the recommended sites below).
- Set up a separate email address for surveys (like Hotmail or Gmail) so your main address doesn’t get clogged up with survey emails.
- Join at least five survey sites to get regular paid surveys.
You can make between £40-£50 a month with online surveys
2. Get cashback online
If you buy things online, you’re missing a trick if you don’t use cashback sites like Quidco.Again, these can net you literally hundreds of pounds a year if you use them regularly (last year I got £90 cashback just for buying a mobile I was going to get anyway).
These sites pay you to shop by giving you between 2%-15% of your spend back at hundreds of high street shops and online stores (including Boots, Amazon, Tesco and loads more).
One of the best cashback sites is Quidco, which is absolutely free to join. Sign up now (it only takes two seconds), browse, shop, get paid. Simple!
You can then start earning money on every purchase you make. (It's money for old rope - our office secretary earned over £700 cashback with Quidco in 2013, which paid for a nice holiday!)
Click here to start earning with Quidco.
For more information on making money through cashback sites, see our guide on how to get paid to shop.
3. Sell your trash for cash
You can de-clutter your home while boosting your bank balance by recycling all sorts of things online for cash. For instance, you can earn up to £200 by recycling your old smartphone with O2 Recycle (open to phones from all networks).- Earn up to £200+ for recycling your phone (from any network)
- Get cash for recycling other gadgets too (such as MP3 players, cameras, tablets and more)
- Same day payment
- FREE postage and packaging
- See how much you can get for your old phone and gadgets here
4. Turn your rags into riches
(Preloved is best if you want to avoid paying a listing fee, while ASOS is best if you've got any nice designer, label or vintage stuff.)
Or if your house is packed full of old baby toys, clothes and equipment you still haven’t shifted, you’ll find a ready market for your cast-offs at the ‘Nearly New’ sale events that parenting charity NCT regularly hold all over the UK, so there's likely to be one near you soon.
5. Make money online buying and selling domain names
Of course, you're unlikely to be quite that lucky - but a lot of buying and selling does go on (particularly from businesses who want to buy up every domain name that's similar to their brand name).
It's incredibly easy to register and buy your own domain names through sites like 1&1 and GoDaddy.
You just type in the domain name you want, and both 1&1 and GoDaddy will tell you if it's available or not. If it's available, you can buy it (many can be bought for just a few quid).
The best approach is to buy domain names that have obvious commercial value - domain names like quickpizza.com, or mortgagehelp.com.
Remember, a business buys a '.co.uk' address every 20 seconds - so there are constant opportunities to make money buying and selling domain names online.
Have a go now - see what domain names are available at GoDaddy or 1&1. If you discover a good one, nab it!
6. Make money blogging
Most (though not all) blogging jobs ask for previous writing or blogging experience. But if you can provide some examples of good quality work that you've done - even if it's just on your own personal blog - you should be able to land some paid freelance opportunities. Have a look at writing jobs on Elance, Problogger and Indeed.co.uk to get a feel for what's out there.
Writers and bloggers get paid to write about all sorts of things: travel, food, furniture, beauty, parenting... you name it, people blog about it. Remember that if you've got specialist knowledge of a particular subject (fashion, for example) then you may well find work writing about your passion or hobby.
Alternatively, you can start your own blog - and write about anything you like. You don't have to be the least bit technical to set up a blog these days - if you can use a word processor, you can start a blog. With free blogging software like Blogger or Wordpress you can be up and running in under five minutes.
Bloggers get paid to write about all sorts of things: travel, food, furniture, fashion, beauty, parenting... you name it, people blog about it!
Have a look at Bloggers Required, a website which connects businesses with bloggers. Here you'll find businesses looking to connect with bloggers - for example, a beauty company might send you free face cream if you review it on your blog. Or a theme park might have a new ride they want to promote, and will give you free tickets to the park so you go and review it.
There are lots of opportunities out there for savvy bloggers!
7. Rent out your space online
Got a spare room you could rent out to a lodger? Then you can make some serious money.Related articles
If you don't fancy taking in a lodger, there are other ways you can make money.
For instance, if you’ve had a clear out and sold a lot of your old stuff online (see point 3 above), you may well find yourself with a bit of extra space – so why not rent out that space for money?
Storemates brings together people who have spare space with people who need it. It’s up to you how much you charge for storing their stuff, but if you charge less than commercial storage companies you should get a steady stream of money coming in for practically no effort (£10 a week seems to be the going rate).
Or if you live near a popular city, airport, train station or attraction, you can rent out your driveway or parking space to other motorists for as much as £500 a month through sites such as Parkatmyhouse.com.
You can even make money by renting out your garden to campers through the site Campinmygarden.com.
8. Rent out your stuff online
Most of us have items kicking around that we don’t use that often – whether it’s an old bike, lawnmower, TV or pushchair. So why not rent them out to people who need them for a reasonable fee?Sites like Rentmyitems and Rentnotbuy allow you to do just that. (Rentnotbuy is free to use, while Rentmyitems charges listing fees starting at £1 for one item being listed for one month).
Get paid every time your train is delayed - see below for details
9. Become an online Virtual Assistant
If you have good admin skills or office experience, you can make up to £25 an hour working from home as a Virtual Assistant. This is where you provide admin support to businesses that can’t afford a full-time secretary. You’ll need up-to-date office software and a broadband connection, but you get good rates and can pick your own hours.For more information see the Society of Virtual Assistants and the International Association of Virtual Assistants.
10. Start your own online business
Remember too that you can start an online business in your spare time, especially if you're selling products through eBay or Amazon.
For more information (and inspiration), see our article 10 reasons why you should start your own business with BBC Apprentice star Saira Khan.
11. Earn extra cash by entering competitions
What might surprise you is how few people enter many competitions - it's just a case of knowing where to look.
We picked the brains of our most successful compers to put together the How to Win Competitions eBook. It's packed full of insider tips on where to find the best competitions (including those competitions that few people enter), and shows you the handy tools that let you enter twice as many competitions in half the time.
Get your copy of How to Win Competitions here - and don't forget that MyFamilyClub has plenty of competitions for you to try your luck!
12. Get crafty - sell arts and crafts online
You don't need any technical knowledge to set up shop online. There are plenty of online craft marketplaces that set up your online shop for you and will handle all the technical issues and processing sales for you (in return for taking a small cut of any sale you make).
We've produced a guide to help you get started selling arts and crafts online, as well as the best websites for selling your crafts online.
13. Check you’re getting the money you’re entitled to online
Did you know that there is more than £15 billion sitting in forgotten bank accounts in the UK? Many of these accounts (often forgotten after being opened for children or following a change of address) have hundreds or even thousands of pounds in them. Fill in a quick form at mylostaccount and see if anything turns up – you could get a nice surprise!If your household income is below £66,000, check to see whether you’re entitled to any benefits
14. Complain to gain
Find yourself constantly ticked off by train and tube disruptions? Get money back every time your train is delayed or cancelled with Traindelays.co.uk. The site is free to use – just register the details of your journey online, and they’ll do the leg work of completing the claim form for you. All you need to do is print it out and send it off to the train company and wait for your compensation money to arrive. (You may also be interested in these 10 ways to get cheaper train tickets).15. Switch your bank account
Alternatively, the Halifax will give you £100 if you switch to their Reward Account, as well as £5 for every month you pay in £1,000 or more.
16. Get paid to surf the web
So if you search for 'Cheap TVs' on Google for example, alongside your normal Google search results you'll also get search results from Qmee as well. The difference is, each time you click on a Qmee link, you get paid (usually between 5p-15p a click).
Our readers who have installed Qmee tell us they tend to make between £3-£5 a month from Qmee (so around £50-£60 a year). So it's not buckets of cash, but they say it's a nice little extra for doing no extra work!
17. Make serious money from home
Forgive us for blowing our own trumpet, but if you want to pick up some serious extra cash, then pick up a copy of our popular guide 25 quick ways to make money from home.
It walks you through 25 tried and tested ways of earning extra money online and at home. None of these ways to make money will make you a millionaire – but all of them will give your bank balance a decent boost.
40 Very easy ways to make money online
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No-risk matched betting
Hands down the quickest way to make a lot of money (well, without breaking the law). Lots of students have genuinely made £100s from this technique. It’s completely legal, risk free, tax free, and anyone can do it.
It works by taking advantage of free bets regularly offered by betting sites (such as PaddyPower.com) through ‘matching’ them at a betting exchange. Matched betting eliminates the risk (you are betting both for and against a certain outcome).
This leaves you being able to squeeze out the free bet, which can be as much as £200! Multiply this by how many betting sites there are and you can quite easily come away with a profit of a few hundred pounds.
Owen walks you through how to make your first £15 profit (using a real life example) in this gem of a guide to matched betting. If you know of any better way to make £30/hr sitting at home, please let us know! -
Online surveys
An increasingly popular way for students to make money is to fill out online surveys in their spare time. Research companies are always recruiting new members to answer surveys and test new products.
For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a couple of quid which is paid as cash or in rewards. You can make up to £3 for some surveys!
A few good ones to try are: Toluna, Pinecone, Vivatic, The OpinionPanel, MySurvey, Valued Opinions, iPoll, SurveyBods, YourWord, Global Test Market, Hiving, PanelBase, Harris Poll, YouGov, New Vista.
Also sign up for Swagbucks.com which rewards you for surveys as well as simply surfing the web, watching videos and playing games.
Update: See our new full guide to the best paid online surveys! -
Paid for searching the web
Interested in earning cash for doing what you already do online? This has to be one of the easiest methods of making money online without really any effort or change in your behavior.
This innovative idea by Qmee.com rewards you for searching in Google, Bing or Yahoo. You just install a simple add-on to your browser and when you conduct a search there may be a few sponsored results alongside your normal search.
Each Qmee result has a cash reward attached – if you are interested in it simply click on it and collect your reward.
The best thing is there is no minimum to cashout – our first one was just 72p wired to our Paypal account. You also have the option to donate it to charity.
Sign up now for free and start earning from your own searches! Click here to start. -
Social Investment Networks
The historically hard-to-break world of investing in stock markets and currencies has been cracked wide open. Today there is no need to be a fat cat or fund the yachts of Wolf of Wall Street style stock brokers. You can do it all yourself with the help of free online market trading platforms.
Having spent many hours researching this new opportunity, I’ve been experimenting with eToro.com which has over 4 million users worldwide. It was recently featured in the BBC 2 documentary “Traders: Millions by the Minute” and the Financial Times.
One of the best things on eToro is the CopyTrader feature. This lets you literally see, follow and copy the investments of other top performing traders. There’s also lots of training material and videos to help you out, and it’s free to create an account and use.
Start trading with a reasonable deposit and learn the ropes slowly. I think $200 is a good amount to get the most out of the learning curve by trying out a few different markets. If nothing else you’ll learn a great deal about various investments and industries.
Warning: trading can be volatile and you can lose money, so don’t throw your life savings into it! -
Mobile phone recycling
See how much you can get for your old mobile phone using our in-house mobile phone price comparison tool! Maybe ask your parents if they have any lying around too.
You can get some good money and help the environment by recycling mobile phones with certain companies listed on the comparison tool. Most phones are shipped off to Asia to be dismantled and we know of at least one student who received a £120 cheque in return. -
‘Get Paid To’ sites
Similar to making money from online surveys, GPT sites reward you in cash and vouchers for completing various offers or activities online.
The most popular sites today are Toluna, Swagbucks.com, InboxPounds and PaidOffers.
Exciting update! We’ll soon be launching our own GPT service for our readers. Invites will be limited and UK only, please join our mailing list if you’re interested in hearing once it’s live:
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The ‘Disney Vault’ secret
To keep demand high across generations, Disney Studios carefully restrict the supply of some home release classics. They are locked away in the ‘vault’ for 8-10 years before being released for a short unspecified time.
Buy them in this window at normal retail price and you can turn a nice profit when they go off sale for another decade or so.
For example, in 2011 you could buy Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray 3D for just £24.99. In just a couple of years it’s now on Amazon for a staggering £74.99!
Importantly, not all Disney releases are subject to the vault and only the true most popular classics will maintain such demand.
Right now there are just 2 titles out of the vault which I would recommend snapping up. They are Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray for just £13.50 and Cinderella Diamond Edition Blu-ray for £14. -
Start your own website
If you’ve ever seen the film “The Social Network” then you’ve most likely had your brain spinning as to what website you can start-up to make you billions.
And of course there are lots of stories out there about successful students who have started a site while at university, or even bought a domain name and later sold it for 1000s.
In fact, Save the Student is one such example of a website started at university by Owen Burek in his first year, which has since grown into a full-time and successful enterprise.
Read Owen’s 4-step guide to setting up a website if you’re interested in finding out more. It’s really not that difficult to get started and there are plenty of opportunities to make money online. -
Write and publish a Kindle eBook
If students are good at anything, it’s researching and writing. With the Amazon Kindle store, anyone can publish an eBook and make money.
And the Kindle app is now available on almost any device (laptops, iPads, smartphones and yes, Kindles) so your global market is huge!
List your book for £1.49 – £6.99 and you earn 70% of the sale. Considering Amazon is the ultimate selling machine (and remember people are looking to spend), that is a fantastic deal.
The key to success with eBooks is to create value, and write non-fiction. Simply bundling information you have researched and complied on a common problem (eg. ‘secrets’ to finding a job) and then presenting it in an easy to digest format (an eBook) justifies someone spending a few quid on it.
Another big tip is to have a great cover designed so it stands out, and once your book is live on the Kindle store (approval takes less than 48 hours) it’s really important to get some reviews so it shows up higher in results. Encourage readers to leave an honest review at the end of your book.
The best thing about this lucrative idea is that once you’ve invested the time (say 20 hours), you’ll earn a passive income for years to come! For a step-by-step guide to publishing and earning with eBooks, -
Affiliate marketing
If you’ve got a good presence on social media or perhaps you even have a blog or website, you can start bringing in money immediately by promoting all sorts of companies, products, services and offers online.
Sign up to an affiliate network such as Affiliate Window, check their offers blog or browse the merchant listings to find something you think your friends would be interested in, grab your affiliate link and share it. If someone buys (can be within up to 90 days) using your link you’ll make a nice commission.
To take it a step further, set up a website or a topical Facebook page and invite all your friends to join it and post your affiliate offers on there. -
Review music for money
If you love music, make it your business by reviewing unsigned bands and artists for cash. I know… we couldn’t believe it either.
It can take a while to build up your reputation but some users of the site have said that they have earned £40 a month. This may not sound like much but if it’s something you enjoy then it shouldn’t be hard work and is another thing for your CV. Money you earn will be in $US but anyone can sign up and review.
To get started, head over to Slicethepie now or read our quick guide for more info. -
Competitions
Entering competitions of course comes with no guarantees, but there is a growing community of so-called ‘compers’ in the UK consistently making up to £50,000 a year through all sorts of competitions.
Types of competitions available to enter range from simple registration forms and Facebook page liking to answering questions correctly over the phone to being a TV game show contestant. Imagine you made it onto Deal or No Deal instead of just watching it!
Start by entering our very own monthly student competition (Like our Facebook page to see when our next one is)!
Then head to our active competitions page to enter other free competitions that we have found. Just note that some of these sites may send you spam so use an alias email address and opt-out of as many of the offers as possible.
For loads more tips on achieving success and making money from competitions, read our guide to entering competitions. -
Claim tax back
Many students work part-time or during the summer months, and others will be on placements or paid internships. More often than not, if you are a student working during the year, you will be overpaying income tax.
Why? Simply because few students reach the personal tax-free income allowance each year but are put on an emergency basic tax-code by their employers meaning tax is being paid when it shouldn’t be.
Use our student tax-back service to help you reclaim any tax you should not have paid. Just enter your details in the calculator here to work out what you may be owed. Otherwise for more information read our guide -
Get cashback when shopping
This is not only a way to make money but also to save money as a student. If you look at it in a different way then you are making money with every purchase you would have made anyway, whether it be 10% or 0.5% cashback.
There are a number of cashback sites out there which pay you the commission they otherwise would have earned.
We recommend signing up with both Top Cashback and Quidco.com which are free and offer the best selection of retailers and exclusives. -
A part-time job
A part-time job is the obvious first choice, opted for by most students looking to supplement their student loan. It provides a pretty steady flow of income and can enable you to gain valuable work experience.
However, depending on where you live, jobs are not always easy to find. Check local classifieds, our student job search, student job websites and your university careers service for vacancies.
It’s also worth signing up with the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, a free service which will match you with both part-time jobs or graduate opportunities.
Read our guide to finding a part-time job whilst studying for more tips. -
Gigs on Fiverr
Fiverr is now the world’s largest marketplace for people to make money selling small services (known as ‘gigs’).
What you offer could be absolutely anything, from writing and translating, social media posting, playing pranks and teaching to creating music, voiceovers and short video clips for people all around the world!
The default price is $5 (hence Fiverr..), but you can attach extra services to gigs for more money. Whilst it might not seem like much, it can quickly add up and there are plenty of examples of people making a really good living from the site. The key is to get a system in place which minimises the time spent on each gig.
But there is another way to profit even more from Fiverr for potentially far less work. How? By simply reselling gigs elsewhere. For example, find a decent logo designer then reply to jobs on Elance or even local classifieds. A $5 spend can easily become $50+, and it’s repeatable!
If you’re not interested in selling at all there’s SO much good stuff you can get done for yourself. Have a browse and get inspired! -
Sell second-hand course books
One great way to make money is to buy other students’ text books at the end of the year, and then sell them just after freshers’ week – when the new intake of students know that they need them!
You can either advertise on campus or list them online very easily on Amazon.co.uk Books Trade-In (just bear in mind they take a commission on books sold).
For more tips on selling items online -
Become an Amazon ‘Mechanical Turk’
Don’t ask us what this means, all we know is that it’s an easy way to make fast cash from your sofa. The concept is based on ‘internet crowd-sourcing’ where businesses advertise specific, scalable tasks they need completing quickly.
There are a variety of tasks (known as HITS), but most commonly they involve mindless data entry or form filling. You are rewarded in cash (though $USD) for the work you do, and you can choose for what and when you work. Give it a go [Update: Currently US signups only, try ClickWorker]. -
Buy and sell domain names
A domain name is just a website address (eg. ‘savethestudent.org’ or ‘mysite.co.uk’) and there are lots of extensions (.com, .net, .co.uk etc).
They cost as little as £1.99 to register with 123-reg.co.uk or GoDaddy.com yet premium domain names can fetch £1,000s if not millions when sold on. In 2007 VacationRentals.com went for a cool $35m!
Now you’re probably not going to come across anything like that, but you can still turn a quick profit with a bit of searching. The trick is to find available domain names which have some commercial value, snap them up and then list them for sale on a site like DomainLore. -
Be an extra
Do you fancy yourself as a budding young actor or just that person that walks past in the background shot of an episode of Eastenders? It could be you if you apply to be an extra.
The pay isn’t bad either – £60-80 a day on average, and you hardly have to do anything!
You can apply at Be On Screen for a number of opportunities or 2020 casting is another agency (just know they take a cut from your earnings). -
Sell all your old CDs, games and movies
If you are looking to make a very quick buck, then selling your old bits and bobs that are cluttering up your room is a good idea.
The best thing about it is that you can rip all the songs and films onto your laptop or external hard drive before selling them. This means that you are only really selling the plastic and artwork!
You can earn anything from 10p to £20 per item, and the earnings can really add up if you have a large collection. Whilst you’re at it, see if your parents have any ‘clutter’ they’d be happy to see the back of.
You can also sell almost anything for free on Amazon Trade-In or Preloved and sites like MusicMagpie will pay you instantly for sending in unwanted items.
For more tips and places to sell check out our guide on selling DVDs, CDs and games. -
Sell on your education!
Become a tutor to local GCSE or A-level students (find out more about tutoring here). There are now a few online tutor sites too, so you can go also global without too much hassle.
You may feel as if you aren’t qualified to be a tutor, but seeing as you are at university you will most likely have the qualifications to tutor for GCSE or even A-Level. Some parents may feel that their child will react better to a younger tutor, and it can be great experience, so why not give it a go?
You can advertise on SchoolsTrader or sign up with Bright Young Things & UK Tutors. You can expect to earn around £10 an hour. However, make sure you don’t have to do too much tutoring around your exams! -
Sell your photos
If you think you’ve got a good shot and a little creativity, try uploading your photographs for free to stock websites. A good starting point is Fotolia or istockphoto.
Make more money selling photo subjects that people are demanding, and there’s a great resource to find this out here. It might be a good idea to test them out in print first yourself -
Rent out your car parking space
Some student accommodation comes with a drive or garage. If you aren’t using your parking space and you live in a busy area then you might be in luck. There are plenty of people that may work in the city centre and are fed up of paying through the roof for daily parking.
Advertise your space on Gumtree, Parklet or Just Park.
Or, check out our full guide to renting out your parking space. -
Work as a charity collector
Ok so this job takes a certain kind of person, as you’ll have to take a lot of rejection and be persistent.
But if you are bubbly, personable and reckon you could sell ice to an Eskimo then this could actually be a great student money making idea. You get paid commission on new sign ups (typically around £20).
Have a look at Wesser as well as charity websites like Oxfam. -
Babysitting
Advertise your services locally. It’s a classic money-maker, and for good reason. You get paid (well) to watch TV and not very much else!
Be warned that you will need a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check to look after small children, even though some parents may not ask for one. If you are wondering what to charge, then look at local ads but you can expect to be paid over £6 hour even if you aren’t trained in child care. It really is easy money (unless you get stuck with the child from hell!). -
Become a freelance interviewer
Do you have ambitions to take on a career in HR? Do you love asking questions? Believe it or not, there are companies that will ask you to carry out interviews for them and pay you for your time. It couldn’t be simpler.
You could make £185 a week plus have your travelling costs covered. The downside is that you will have to commit to at least 20 hours a week, so make sure that you have the time! Apply at NatCen. -
Mystery shopping
Becoming a mystery shopper is easier than you think. You can get paid to spend money in shops, usually in the form of a voucher for the shop in question.
For more info on where to apply check out our guide to becoming a mystery shopper. -
Dog walking
Dog walking may sound trivial but it’s big business. Just think that as a student you’re likely to have free time during the day when others are out at work and worried about their pets at home.
You could make around £7 a dog for a 1 hour walk, and it’s also a great way to keep fit. Advertise your services locally with fliers or on classified websites such as Gumtree. -
Rent out your house for filming
Directors for TV and film are always on the hunt for houses to film in. For instance, a scene for Coronation Street was recently filmed in the student house one of the Save the Student editors used to live in!
Not only can you make good money but it’s crazy seeing your own place on TV. Start out by looking at film-locations.co.uk. -
Rent out your body
Ok, ok – this isn’t what you think. “Renting out your body” can go as far as you want it to go. For example we reported on a story a while back about students who are turning to lap dancing to make a quick buck.
If you are comfortable taking off your kit for a more acceptable cause then why not try life modelling. Sit there in the buff while budding artists capture your every curve (or pokey bits) in frightening detail! Try RAM, a website especially designed for these kind of jobs.
You could also get involved in clinical drug trials. If this scares you a little then you can find more information here about what’s involved.
Warning: Do not do anything you are not comfortable with, no matter how desperate you are for money! There has been an unhealthy rise in student prostitution in recent years – do not fall victim to it! -
Freelance work
Perhaps you enjoy writing, managing Facebook pages or doing a little bit of graphic design in your spare time. There are so many freelance jobs out there that require simple skills or just time that someone else might not have.
And the best things about freelancing is that you can work for clients in the UK and around the world with just an internet connection from home, to your own hours whilst developing valuable skills.
A great place to start is with the leading freelance site Elance.com. Or try using our student job search to find freelance jobs. -
Busking
If you can sing or dance then this is your time to shine baby! Did you know that Justin Bieber started off busking? That’s right, with a little work you can be as annoying as him.
There are really no tips for this except choose a good spot with high footfall, make sure you are good and play your heart out. Some buskers in the past have been known to make upwards of £20 hour. -
Sell clothes on eBay
Everyone’s best friend when it comes to getting rid of junk is eBay. Online auctions are a sure-fire way to turn that sleeveless jacket (which came in and out of fashion in a week) into hard cash.
Some eBay sellers look at trends and try to predict what will be big ahead of the market. If you are good and don’t mind taking a risk then you can buy early in bulk and sell on when the craze hits.
For lots more tips on selling on eBay -
Sell your stories and videos
If you have an interesting story then you could try selling it to the papers. It could be anything from sleeping with a professional footballer to getting caught in a clothes horse!
One of the Save the Student team was unfortunate enough to have a pigeon fly through and smash their window at university and sold the story to The Sun for a tidy £50.
You could also film your mates at all times and send it into You’ve Been Framed to net yourself £250 and a few seconds of fame. -
Sign up for psychology experiments
These are the things you may get to your student e-mail inbox from your university or careers service every now and then. They aren’t dangerous and usually don’t require too much effort or time. They tend to compensate you quite well (around £10/hour), and they may even interest you!
It’s worth bearing in mind that these are different from the medical or body experiments/horror stories that you hear about. There will (hopefully) be no strange probes involved! -
YouTube videos
According to recent stats we now watch more videos on YouTube than searches on Google. And with the recently introduced YouTube Partner Program you can now profit from making and uploading videos. You will receive a percentage of the advertising revenue collected per 1,000 views.
Depending on how successful you are (virality, subscriber base and topic) you can make a lot of money, and there are plenty of stories every week of more and more YouTubers making it their career.
For more tips read our guide to making money from YouTube. -
Network marketing
Also known as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), this is a business model that allows you to generate ongoing income in two ways: by making a commission selling products and by recruiting other members who go on to sell. The later allows you to make money from the sales made by those you have recruited.
Importantly, this is not a pyramid scheme (they are illegal) because there is an end goal which involves a customer buying a product or service of value.
It’s also not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. You will have to work I’m afraid! However with the growth of social media, network marketing is becoming easier and lots of people are now making a decent living from it.
This is a serious way of making good money on your own terms and it’s well worth reading up on it. I recommend getting “The Business of the 21st Century” by Robert Kiyosaki. -
Source property for wealthy investors
We all know how much money there is in property, but on the surface (with house prices as high as they are) you might be thinking this market is off-limits.
Truth is, lots of people make a great deal of cash simply sourcing suitable properties for wealthy investors who simply have no time.
The trick is to find properties below market value (BMV) by avoiding estate agents and instead flyering your area with your contact details offering to buy houses. Then approach investors with a no-brainer offer to pass on the details of cut-price property in exchange for a % of the sale value.
Most cities will have monthly networking events for landlords and property investors. Track these down, sign up, put on your best suit and go along with lots of business cards. Or you could start on LinkedIn or even Twitter to build some initial contacts.
As you might imagine, this isn’t necessarily a quick way to make money but once you’ve got a few investors in your phone book it can prove to be very lucrative in the long run. If you’re interested, I recommend reading this book. -
Advertise your other skills
What can you do well where others struggle? Fix bikes, computers, write articles, create websites, make cupcakes or fresh lemonade?!
The key is to be creative and think outside the box. A writer at Save the Student actually made small models out of beer cans and wire and sold them to other students. Great idea with big profits!