There’s no sugar-coating this: for a lot of people right now, times are really really tough. I am no exception. But having been financially strapped for the greater portion of my life, I do know a bit about tightening the belt and finding ways to bring in small revenue streams from multiple sources.

I thought I’d detail out 5 ways for you today that you may not have thought of to help you get through these difficult times.

1. Use Ibotta

   Ibotta is an app that you put on your phone. It's kind of like a collection of coupons that you can use in the stores in which you shop. You open the app and browse the current offers. You can browse by store so that wherever you plan to shop you can utilize those special offers to earn cash back. Yes, cash.

   In a matter of just a few months I made nearly $200 on this app. It does take a bit of work to pay attention to how you are shopping and what you are purchasing. You can use in-store coupons in addition to the Ibotta deals and save even more money. When you use an Ibotta deal by purchasing the required item, Ibotta pays you the cashback amount for that offer. When you have at least $20 in your account you can cash out. It's a great way to earn money with your shopping.

2. Offer Gigs on Fiverr

   Fiverr is a freelancing website that allows you to list what is called a gig, offering your services to other people who may need them. Perhaps you are good at creating graphics, or designing websites, or writing blog posts. Whatever your talents are you can likely find people there who are looking for those talents and are willing to pay for them.

   To get started you offer your gigs at five dollars and then you can raise your prices after you have some reviews on your account. In a matter of six months, I have made $1,344.80 on this website. It is one of those things where you get what you put into it. If you actively engage and seek out opportunities for work, you can find more orders and earn more money. If you are stuck at home and worried about how to make ends meet, this can be a great way to bring in a little extra money during this difficult time.

3. Write for Medium

   You don't have to be the best writer in the world to create good content that other people will want to read. If you have a bit of writing talent you can join medium.com and you can post there just like it is a blog. There are some standards to stick to when it comes to your blog posts that will make your posts more successful and it does require a bit of self-promotion to get reads. But if you list your stories under the Medium Partner Program, those stories will be eligible to earn money as other paying members read your stories.

   To be a paying member it is five dollars a month and that affords you unlimited reading on other articles posted to Medium. I have been a writer for medium for 17 months now and have made $2,260.05.

4. Sell your stuff!

   There's never been a better time to start cleaning out your garage, your closets, and your storage building. You can sell stuff on eBay, Let Go, or Facebook marketplace. If you have old furniture, get yourself some chalk paint which is very popular right now and repaint that old piece of crap to make it something new and beautiful that someone will want to buy. The chalk paint is very forgiving and can make any old piece of furniture look like new.

   Find things in your home and look them up to see if you can find things of value. I have some old stamps that I looked through and priced one day and had at least $40-$50 worth of old stamps that I could sell on eBay. You never know what you might find lying around the house that could earn you a little bit of money.

5. Join Prolific

   Prolific is a website that conducts marketing research and surveys which you can participate in to earn a little bit of money. Now, I have just joined this site so I do not have an earnings report for you but I do get emails on a daily basis to let me know which Prolific studies I qualify to participate in. I have recently begun applying for those studies.

   When you receive an email your able to go to the website and fill in a little bit of information and then certain people who are the most qualified for that study are chosen to complete the study. You can also check in daily for the current studies that are posted on the wall and you can apply for them.

   There are other case study websites and survey websites where you can earn money and though the earnings are small, you could likely do this while watching television. Why not make a little bit of money in your downtime?

These are just a few things that you can do to bring in some extra money. But while you are doing that you should also work to tighten your belt. What I mean by this is to curb your spending, look for ways to streamline your monetary output and save dollars and cents wherever you can. By your groceries in bulk as this tends to be a bit cheaper.

Cook real food in your kitchen rather than ordering out. One large bag of rice can service many, many meals for the same price as one fast-food order.

If you cook more vegetables and eat more fruit and cut back a bit on the amount of meat that you eat, you can also get healthier while stretching your budget. Cut out sodas, which are extremely expensive and replace it by making tea. There are many ways that you can save money around the house by just being more careful with the way you spend your money.

I hope some of these tips have been helpful. I know a lot of you are going through a very difficult time. I, for one, am in quite a big financial pickle. But this is not something new to me. I've been tightening my belt for years!

Best of luck to you and your family as we all try to stay as far away from Covid as we can. I wish for you and your family the best of health.

Thank you for reading~

Christina

And you can do one of these if you get really desperate!