Make Money on a Rainy Day

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It's raining! For the first time in months, it's raining! It's been raining all day today, and it's supposed to continue raining through the night into tomorrow. So far we've gotten over an inch of rain at our house! I love being able to keep track using my rain gauge, which seems so much more accurate than what you see on the news. When you live in the woods, what do you do on a rainy day? You can't cut firewood, or stain the floors, or work on cars (unless you have a garage, you lucky duck). 

You can, however, make a little extra cash without ever leaving home. Keep in mind, you aren't going to get rich doing any of these things, but if you're going to be on the couch all day, why not get paid for it? Here are some of my favorite easy ways to earn money from home:

Are you crafty? Set up a shop on Etsy. If you like to make things (and are reasonably good at it), chances are there is someone out there who will want to buy it. Plus, if you set up a shop by using this link, Etsy will give you 40 free listings; they're usually $0.20 each, so that's like saving $8.00 while also helping you make more money by selling stuff.

Take surveys online. There are several survey sites I've used successfully. I use SurveySavvy on my laptop and Surveys on the Go on my iPhone. Each of these sites offers a few surveys a week, typically paying $1-$3 each. It's not much, but it might be enough to cover a Starbucks habit.  

Swagbucks. I know you've probably heard this one before, but just in case: Swagbucks will pay you $3 just for signing up, and then continue paying you for farting around online through their site, doing things like searching the web, watching videos, and taking more surveys. And here's a trick to getting more bang for your (Swag) buck: 1 swagbuck equals 1 cent. Except that they offer a "deal" on your first $25 gift card every month, which you can get for 2200 swagbucks. So in the 3 months since I've started using Swagbucks, I've earned 6600 swagbucks and gotten $75 in Home Depot gift cards. Not too bad for someone who has traded their Starbucks habit for a Home Depot/home

improvement habit. If that's not your thing, they have a bunch of other gift cards, too. 

Scan your receipts. The key to rebate apps like Ibotta is the same as using coupons while you're shopping: it only works if you don't buy extra stuff just because you have a coupon for it. I started using Ibotta around the beginning of the year and have earned over $60 in rebates. If you sign up using this link, Ibotta will give you a $10 bonus when you redeem your first rebate. For some rebates, you need to buy a specific item (sometimes I'll use Ibotta to decide which beer to buy for hubby), but they also have "any brand" rebates for things like fresh fruits and veggies.

Sell your old books. There are so many websites that buy used books, it can be hard to know which one will give you the best price. Which is why I use Bookscouter. They show you which sites will give you the best prices for your books--and they don't just do textbooks. You can also sell stuff on eBay, of course, although I've had mixed results with them. If you've discovered the secret to successfully selling on eBay, I'd love to hear it.

Now, here's my favorite way to earn money with very little effort. It's called OhmConnect, and it's currently only available in California. You connect your  Ohm account with your electricity bill and they literally pay you for not using electricity. During what they determine are peak usage times, they send out a text or email and, if you use less electricity than they think you will, they give you money. If you don't want to save electricity at that time, you can decline to participate. You also save on your electricity bill if you use less electricity (of course). Through this month, if you're a SoCal Edison account holder, they will give you $40 just for signing up and participating in your first "Ohm Hour." How awesome is that? If you have another electricity company in California, you get $20, which is still pretty nice. You can sign up for OhmConnect here. I earned $3 because there was an Ohm Hour while I was on vacation. It's quite possibly the easiest way out there to pay for that Starbucks/Home Depot habit.