I thrive when I have actionable items that I can work on.

This directly translates to money and finance. Making money, saving money, and managing money are things that everyone has to deal with.

But dealing with money can be daunting if it’s not broken down into actionable tasks. That’s why I decided to write a post about 40+ ways to improve your finances this month.

There’s many things you can do over the next year, two years, or ten years to get in a better spot financially. But what about this month?

My goal with this post was to provide a list of things that you can take action on within the next few weeks to improve your finances. Some will take longer than others, but all can at least be started this month.

1) Start Tracking Your Income & Expenses

 
Tracking your income and expenses can have a huge impact on your finances. When my wife and I started to track our income and expenses years ago, we immediately felt freedom by having a record of exactly how much we were making and how much we were spending. The sooner you start, the sooner you can make adjustments to how you spend and manage your money.

After years of doing a manual budget spreadsheet, I finally created an automated approach. You can grab my free automated budget spreadsheet here. It uses Tiller which is an awesome new tool that automatically formats all your data into one uniform format. I highly recommend it.

2) Start Tracking Your Net Worth

 
It was long after I started tracking my spending that I started to track my net worth. To be honest it can be a bit deflating for millennials to track their net worth, especially if they are buried in student loans (and other debt).

Regardless of how you will feel about your net worth, it can beneficial to track it. An easy way to track your net worth (automatically) is Personal Capital. Personal Capital is a free service use myself. Once you link all your accounts it’s super easy to go in monthly, quarterly, or annually to check your progress.

3) Review Your Debt

 
So you know what your net worth is because you set up a free account on Personal Capital, but I would encourage you to not stop there. Instead, dig deeper into your debt. Not all debt is equal. There’s a big difference between credit card debt with a 20% interest rate and a mortgage with a 3% interest rate.

My wife and I keep tabs on our debt using a simple spreadsheet. We list out what company owns the debt, what it was for, what the interest rate is, and what the outstanding balance is. We pay off the higher-interest debt first and some debt we put nothing extra towards (like our mortgage with a 3.15% interest rate).

I put together a free debt payoff spreadsheet that will help you estimate how long it will take you to pay off your debt based on the size of your payment each month. If you have student loans, I created a free student loan spreadsheet with a ton of tools and resources within it, which goes hand-in-hand with my book Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of Your Student Loans and Financial Life.

4) Make a Debt Repayment Plan

 
A debt repayment plan essentially maps out exactly how you plan on paying off your debt. It can include details like which debt you will pay off first, changes you will make in spending to pay off debt faster, or how you will increase your income to pay off debt faster (which is the basis of my book Hustle Away Debt).

While making a plan, think of actionable things that you can do today to lower your overall debt load. For example, should you consider a different repayment plan for your student loans? If you are in credit card debt, have you looked into moving them onto a 0% transfer card?

Once you have a plan created read this post to increase your chances of sticking to your plan.

5) Start Using a Calendar

 
The saying “time is money” is true: your income is constrained by your time. The biggest issue people run into when starting side hustles is the lack of time and inability to fit it into their schedule.

I use a calendar religiously and it’s really helped me juggle my full-time job, my side hustles (blogging, speaking, creating products), and everything else in my life. I use Google Calendar, but I encourage people to use whatever works for them. You may find my time tracking spreadsheet useful.

Having your time under control – and spending your time on the things that matter to you – can only help your finances.

6) Start Contributing to an HSA

 
If you have a Health Savings Account, or HSA for short, and aren’t contributing to it, you should start ASAP. HSAs are like IRAs, but on steroids (no pun intended) because you can use them both as an IRA in retirement or you can use them to pay medical bills, tax free, until the day you die.

I’ve talked to countless millennials who have HSAs through their employer but who are not contributing. Some of them say they simply do not have many medical expenses so there is no reason to. To that I say – that’s the best time to build up your medical emergency fund! Plus you can invest your funds and withdraw them in retirement, similar to a standard IRA (but better). I have a stretch goal of eventually having a $100k+ HSA.

7) Start Tracking Your Donations

 
When it comes to taxes you really need to keep good documentation. Some of this is done automatically through an employer or company you have a student loan through, but some of it falls on your plate.

Take donations as an example. Many people donate both money and physical goods, but how many actually keep detailed records? If you don’t have a record of your donations, you won’t be able to write them off.

Next time you go to goodwill or donate to a cause, keep detailed records of your donation. For physical goods, having details of exactly what you donated will help you calculate your write-off come tax time (and help if you ever are audited). If you really want to track donations properly, take a picture of the physical goods you donate. Make sure you get a tax receipt, both when you donate physical goods or when you make monetary donations.

Changes to the tax code last year make this less important as a majority of people take the standard deduction, but if there is potentially you will itemize your deductions its important to have this documentation.

8) Review Retirement Options

 
If you don’t already contribute to a retirement account, it’s time to start. And even if you do already contribute to a retirement account, it never hurts to evaluate how much you are contributing and whether you can/should increase the amount.

If you have the option, a 401k is a good place to start saving for retirement. Make sure you check and see whether your employer matches your contributions up to a certain percentage. If they do, make sure that you contribute at least enough to max out the employer match – anything less is leaving money on the table.

For those who do not have retirement account options through work, consider opening an IRA. A regular IRA gives you tax protection today but taxes you when you withdraw funds. A Roth IRA is after-tax money and does not protect you from taxes today, but you will not be taxed when you withdraw funds in retirement. Both have their advantages; the important thing to do is get started!

Don’t just stop at contributing – make sure you are putting your money in the best funds. Here is a free spreadsheet that will help you analyze your retirement account options.

9) Review Your Fees

 
Do you know how much you are losing in fees in your retirement account? Taking it a step further, do you know if you are paying the lowest possible fees on your retirement account?

Most people don’t think about management fees when it comes to their investments. After all, the difference between 0.5% or 2% seems minimal. The difference can actually be huge: 33% difference in savings after 30 years!

Again, using the free spreadsheet to analyze your retirement account options can help you avoid putting (and keeping) money in funds that gouge you on the fee front.

10) Get Life Insurance

 
If you are married and/or have children, you need life insurance. This is especially true if you have debt or if your spouse relies on your income.

Life insurance is an easy thing to put off. I put it off for more than 2 years – it always seemed to fall at the bottom of my to-do list. Finally I went through Policy Genius to get quotes online and see what my options are.

11) Write down your goals and get motivated

 
What are you working towards this month? This year? Five years from now?

Taking 10-30 minutes and setting goals can have a huge impact on your finances long-term. Once you have them written down you are much more likely to follow through with them.

Need ideas? Here’s 100 goals to focus on for a successful year.

Some goals – like paying off $100k of debt – are daunting. Breaking your goals down into achievable, actionable sub-goals can be a good approach. For example I made a goal out of college to make $1,000+ each month in side hustle income to offset my wife and my student loans. From there I broke it down even further into things I could do (start a blog, Excel spreadsheet consulting, freelance write) to make extra money each month.

12) Review Salary Data & Consider a Job Change

 
In my book Hustle Away Debt one of the things on the “Pre-Hustle Checklist” is see if there is an opportunity to make more at your 9-5. After all, in many jobs you will be working (close) to the same hours regardless of what level you sit at. Making an extra $10,000 at your day job may be a whole lot easier than making an extra $10,000 at a side hustle.

Two things I recommend everyone consider doing on a regular basis is review salary data on sites like Glassdoor and PayScale, and look at job openings at the next level. Salary data may reveal that you are getting paid lower than you should be, or that other employers pay a lot more than your company for similar positions (here’s how you can find and compare salary data). Looking at job openings helps you recognize the skills and experience hiring managers are looking for at the next level. You can develop those skills now so you are prepared when you are applying for those jobs.

13) Create or Update your LinkedIn Profile

 
Love it or hate it, LinkedIn can help you get job opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t come your way. Many recruiters spend countless hours looking at LinkedIn profiles. Not having a presence on LinkedIn could be costing you.

Even if you aren’t looking for a job, you never know what the future holds. There may be a shakeup in management and you could get caught in the cross-hairs. Even if you retain your job, you may not be fond of who you are reporting to or what your new duties are. Building connections on LinkedIn, particularly recruiters, could benefit you down the road. To get you started, here’s 15 in-demand skills that improve your LinkedIn.

14) Update your Resume

 
We’ve all been there. There is a job opportunity that comes up, and you need to submit a resume. But you haven’t updated it in years. You may even struggle to find an old copy of it on your computer!

Regularly updating your resume – every six months to a year – can make your life a lot easier. Beyond that it will show you gaps or areas for improvement. Is your resume unimpressive in the management/leadership area? How can you improve that over the next year?

While updating your resume may not directly improve your finances this month, it’s hard to argue that it won’t improve your finances long-term.

15) Meet with a Recruiter

 
If you’ve been at the same company for 5+ years, you likely would benefit from talking to a recruiter. Whether it’s a recruiter at another company you are interested in or a recruiter from a recruiting company like Robert Half, they typically have a lot of insight into what hiring managers are looking for in new hires.

Even if you don’t have plans of leaving your employer it can be beneficial to have another contact and hear what other employers compensation and career track is for your area of expertise. At the very least it gets your resume in front of another person – and someone who works directly with hiring managers, at that.

16) Attend a Networking Event – or Network 1:1

 
Networking events aren’t for everyone, but they can lead to good connections. Another option is to find people who work for companies you are interested in and setting up 1:1s with them. It may take some extra effort, but most people are open to meeting with others who work in their same field.

Finally something we can all do is keep up our current network. Think about a handful of people you’d like to stay connected with long-term, and schedule some time to get coffee with them and catch up. You never know what opportunities they may be aware of, or how you can help each other out down the road.

17) Start a Side Hustle

 
For those who are unfamiliar, side hustles are essentially any way to make money in addition to your 9-5 income. It can be as simple as working a retail job on the weekend, or as complex as creating a product that you have manufactured in China and sold on Amazon. Ultimately, though, side hustles are meant to help you increase your income so you have more money to reach your financial goals faster.

As student loans become a bigger burden and the overall debt people hold becomes higher, a 9-5 sometimes just won’t cut it. A side hustle like starting a blog, freelance writing, or selling on Etsy has the potential to give you the income you need to make your goals a reality. The important thing to do is to get started!

Here is a huge post I put together that lists 50+ online and at-home side hustles. You may also be interested in checking out this list of 15 hobbies and interests that can be profitable side hustles, or this post on how to start a blog side hustle.

18) Use Cash Back Apps

 
If you don’t feel like you have time to start a full-blown side hustle, there are a number of simple, easy, and non-consuming ways to make a little bit of extra money online each month. If you stick with them long-term you should make a small amount of extra money for very little effort – all from the comfort of your home.

One of the ways to do this is through cash back apps. There are a number of them, but a few I keep going back to are Ebates, swagbucks, and BeFrugal.

Here’s a list of 10+ cash back apps to check out. If you use the links in that post to sign up you can get $40+ in sign-up bonuses for the first five on the list.

19) Rent part of your house

 
I get it: it’s nice to not have roommates or renters. But honestly if you are single this can be a really great way to improve your finances. If you have a big enough house with enough extra bedrooms your rental income may even be high enough to cover the entire mortgage!

Because my wife and I are always looking for ways to increase and diversify our income, my wife and I rent out part of our basement. It’s laid out as a studio apartment and the rental income has been great the past five-plus years.

Of course renting out part of your house or getting a roommate may not be an option for you, but if you do have the space it can be a great way to increase your income and cut your expenses at the same time.

20) Work on a skill

 
It’s no question that employers are looking for skilled workers. So what is one way to make yourself more in-demand and, potentially, paid more? Learn new skills and continue to improve the ones you already have.

One of my favorite benefits of side hustles are that they offer you the opportunity to improve your skills. For example I have done some Excel Spreadsheet freelancing, and it not only provided me with extra income but also improved skills that I use at my 9-5. A win-win!

If one of your goals is to focus on self-improvement this year, working on your skill set is a great way to help your finances. For example, many programmers are primarily self-taught. They took the initiative to learn how to code and that has allowed them to land jobs in a very lucrative career path. With all the courses and free content available online these days you can learn and improve virtually any skill you desire.

Here are 15 skills that will help you make more money and 10 skills that can help you make money online.

And a final note that this doesn’t need to have anything to do with your 9-5. It could be a way to make more money through a side income, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes learning a new skill won’t directly impact your finances, but it can make your life more enjoyable. I’m learning French but I don’t foresee it having any monetary return.

21) Sell your stuff

 
I am a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk, the entrepreneur and marketing guru. One thing he talked about recently was how some people will say “if I just an extra $500, $1,000, or $2,000 dollars I could do (fill in blank).” His suggestion was to go through everything you own and make a pile of things you can sell.

This is really great advice for someone who wants some extra money but doesn’t want to start a side hustle. You can sell your stuff on Craigslist, at a garage sale, or on eBay. You can even take it a step further and go to garage sales and flip things for a profit (one of my neighbors did this full-time with furniture).

So if you want to improve your finances this month, consider spending a weekend going through everything and selling it online or by hosting a garage sale. It can be a good way to practice minimalism as well as make some extra money.To help you start brainstorming, here’s 15 household items you could sell today for extra money.

22) Use Credit Card Rewards

 
When used appropriately, credit cards can provide you with cash back and travel rewards that will save you money. One credit card (actually the card I recommend as a first credit card) has provided my wife and I with cash back that we turned into Starbucks and Chipotle gift cards. I am not exaggerating when I say we’ve saved over $1,000 over the years.

Cash back rewards are good, but I’ve also saved a lot of money on travel as well. Here’s a post I wrote about saving money on flights and other expenses using an airline credit card and a general way to save money on travel using credit cards.

23) Set Up Automatic Savings

 
Building an emergency fund can be daunting, especially if you are in a lot of debt and want to make payments towards your debt as well. Nevertheless, having an emergency fund is essential, especially if you are in debt, because it helps you avoid having to go into debt if an emergency arises.

There’s a couple of ways to build up an emergency fund that take the pain and guesswork out of the equation. My personal recommendation is that anyone looking to build up their savings should set up automatic fund transfers from their checking to savings. This can be set up to align with when your paycheck hits your checking account. With money moving automatically you have less of a “choice” to save and are, in a way, forced to continue to save.

I am a huge fan of CIT Bank’s high yield savings account, and wish I had made the switch sooner. It’s a great place to put your emergency fund, or to build one. Here’s a post I wrote about building an emergency fund $100 at a time.

24) Review Your Spending

 
I suggested recording all your income and expenses, either in a spreadsheet, app, or whatever works for you. Once you have that data it’s time to analyze and adjust your spending.

Perhaps you didn’t realize you were spending so much money eating out each month. Or maybe it’s another spending area – like home improvement projects – that are costing you more than you’d like each month.

Once you recognize areas that you would like to change, the next step is to actually make those changes. Be conscious of where you are spending your money and consider rewarding yourself for successful adjusting your spending habits.

25) Cancel Subscriptions

 
With all the subscription options available today, it can be easy to forget about just how many subscriptions you have – and whether you are even actively using them.

Consider taking some time this month (put it on your calendar) to review all the things you are subscribed to. From magazines to subscription boxes, you may be surprised just how much you pay in subscription fees. (Here’s how I get magazine subscriptions for free).

Cable is always the big one, and for good reason: many people pay $100+ every single month for cable and internet. With more and more lower-cost entertainment options it may be time to evaluate whether you really need cable, or if you’d be better off cutting the cord and using a lower-cost option for your entertainment needs. I was happy to cut cable not only for the savings, but also to not waste my time playing the cable company’s games anymore!

26) Coupon

 
My wife and I have saved thousands the past few years using coupons on things we would have bought anyway. If you are struggling to save money I would encourage you to consider spending an hour or two a week couponing. The savings may be worth it.

Retailers and brands face fierce competition, and coupons are one way they can differentiate themselves from their rivals. Even when my wife and I go out to eat or get ice cream, we almost always have some sort of coupon to bring down the cost.

There are many sites like Target.com, Redplum.com, and Coupons.com that provide printable coupons. The fact they are online makes it easy to sort and filter only on the products you care about. There are also apps like Ibotta that offer additional savings (without having to physically print anything).

27) Plan Your Meals

 
Meal-planning is another way my wife and I save time and money. If you don’t already plan your meals, I would recommend you start for the benefits you’ll gain both in only buying food you will actually eat and not having to think “what should I have tonight?”

My wife and I plan two weeks at a time, but you can do just one week or take it further and plan a full month. Remember, this doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind later on. Being flexible is key, but the fact that you took the time to plan out your meals makes you more likely to stick to the plan. Your wallet will thank you.

28) Make a Grocery List

 
Along with meal-planning and couponing, making a grocery list is the third way you can cut down on the amount you spend on groceries and eating out at restaurants.

A good way to integrate all three is by first planning out what meals you want to have. Next, look for coupons that line up with those meals. Add anything else to your list (i.e. paper towels, toiletries, other household goods) and look for coupons for those as well. Finally make your grocery list.

Following this strategy will help you only buy the things you need and not purchase things because there are coupons for them. You will also cut down on the number of items you add to your cart simply because they caught your eye as you were going through the grocery store.

29) Brew Coffee at Home

 
I know a number of people who get Starbucks or Caribou every single day. While I’m not opposed to getting coffee from Starbucks every once in a while, I try to limit it as much as possible.

If you’re looking to save money and you find yourself going through the Starbucks drive-through frequently, brewing coffee at home can be a big win from a financial perspective. It also could save you time as it’s relatively quick and easy to brew coffee at home versus stopping by Starbucks in the morning.

30) Bring your Lunch to Work

 
When I was an intern I made a really dumb financial decision: I bought a salad at work every day. I’m not talking cheap salads. I’m talking $5-$8 salads. To put this in perspective I could get $2 or $3 bags of salad at the store and make 2 big salads per bag.

I certainly can understand the draw of purchasing your lunch at work. It’s so easy! Hauling tupperware to and from work each day isn’t fun. But the money you can save is real and can have an impact when we talk in terms of months or years.

Another reason my wife and I plan our meals is because we try to plan dinners that will have leftovers for lunch the next day. Lo mein, pasta, pizza, stir fry, salad…there’s a ton of options. Bringing our lunches to work has saved us thousands the past few years, and I’d recommend you give it a try if you are looking to improve your finances this month.

31) Put Off a Purchase (Big or Small!)

 
A piece of financial advice I like to use is “run your personal finances like a business.” With my six years of corporate finance and accounting experience I have seen many great parallels.

One of these parallels is this: delaying spend can be a big financial win. If a business is trying to hit financial targets for a quarter or a year one of the things that is almost always considered is delaying spend. And most times the result is better financial performance.

In the same way you can delay spend with your personal finances, with good results. It isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but putting off big purchases can typically result in better finances. Whether you are delaying the purchase of your next car, that bathroom/kitchen/basement renovation you’ve been wanting to do, or new shoes, delaying these purchases typically doesn’t greatly hurt your quality of life and can sometimes greatly improve your finances. Here is one strategy that immediately limits spending.

32) Go On a No-Spend Challenge

 
Have you considered going on a no-spend challenge? This may sound like an extreme measure, but it can work similar to the “delayed” spending tactic. If you force yourself to not spend money in a given week, month, etc., you by default must find a way to get by with what you have.

A lot of people do this with food. If you feel like your cupboards, fridge, and freezer are packed, but you constantly have food going bad before you can eat it, a no-spend challenge can force you to really look at what food you have on hand and eat that rather than purchase more food. Here’s why you should consider a no-spend challenge

33) Create a Student Loan Repayment Strategy

 
With over $1.4 trillion in outstanding student loan debt in the United States, student loans are a big problem. It doesn’t help that repayment plans and opportunities for loan forgiveness are complicated to navigate.

There are some authors and speakers in the personal finance space who don’t even mention income-driven repayment, or opportunities for loan forgiveness. This is a huge disservice to people who could greatly benefit from these. In certain situations, Public Service Loan Forgiveness can make a massive difference in someone’s finances.

If you don’t have a student loan repayment strategy, consider purchasing (or getting from your library) my book Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of Your Student Loans and Financial Life.

34) Go the DIY Route

 
I have a friend who has Summers off because he is a teacher. He tries to do one bigger home project each Summer. It’s the ideal time, as he has plenty of time to go through the project slowly and go the DIY route in virtually every aspect of the project.

A couple years ago he renovated their bathroom. He took everything down to the studs and even redid the wiring with the help of one of his relatives. The project ended up great and saved him anywhere from $5k – $25k.

While we may not all be able to go to the DIY route, it can be a good option for saving money. If you have extra time and aren’t pursuing other side hustles with your spare time, you can potentially save thousands or tens of thousands of dollars that otherwise would go to contractors. Consider the DIY route for your next project and see if you have the time and capacity to make it happen.

35) Read a Book about Personal Finance

 
I think of financial literacy as a lifetime learning program: there’s always more to learn. There are so many books out there about personal finance. Literally thousands upon thousands! So how do yo pick one? Here’s my list of personal finance books for millennials.

36) Take a Personal Finance Course

 
Courses are becoming more and more popular. There are courses on virtually every financial topic, like investing and budgeting, but there are also general personal finance courses. If I had to recommend just one it would be Tara Falcone’s MONEY course, which has over 75 modules and covers a wide variety of personal finance topics. You can learn more about her course here.

37) Learn about Tax Strategies

 
We’ve already mentioned HSA, retirement accounts, and recording all your donations, but typically most people don’t think about taxes as a way to save money. In reality if you are strategic about the opportunities given to you (i.e. 401k, HSA, etc.) that can save you money on taxes, you could greatly lower your tax bill at year-end.

A lot of tax savings has to be done over the course of a year. If you take some time this month to look into ways to lower your taxes, you may be surprised at how little you are actively doing to lower your tax bill. With our complicated tax code it’s natural to not want to deal with it or think about it except at year end.

I encourage you to take some time to analyze your tax strategy this month. And if you don’t have a “tax strategy”, consider creating one. Here’s a list of some tax-advantaged accounts.

38) Subscribe to Young Adult Money’s weekly newsletter

 
Can you blame for including a plug here :) I’ve started to put more time and energy towards our newsletter, and it can give you a quick recap of what posts were new the past week as well as other news and links to popular posts.

We are really committed at Young Adult Money to helping you make more, save more, and live better. Who doesn’t want those three things? Fill out the form below to join our community:

39) Work Out on a Regular Basis

 
The statistics don’t lie: Americans aren’t the healthiest. While there are two sides to the health equation, both eating healthier and getting more exercise, I wanted to specifically call out working out on a regular basis as a way to improve your finances.

I won’t bore you with countless stats on how exercising makes you healthier and at lower risk for various diseases. We’ve all heard this. But one thing I’ve noticed about exercise is that it really is about getting in the habit of making time for it. Once you are in the habit of going to the gym or exercising outside a few times a week, it does get easier.

There are some health conditions that simply can’t be prevented by exercise. I had two sinus surgeries and it had little to do with how many days I went to the gym. With that being said, if you can improve your health in general and in turn save money, it’s a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

40) Minimize Stress

 
My wife will probably read this tip and say “listen to your own advice!” I’m not the best when it comes to handling stress, but I do recognize that when I am calm and feel like I have control over a situation I generally handle situations better. This obviously has an impact on my job performance, side hustle performance, and ability to make wise financial decisions.

It’s incredible the amount of stress people are under from demands at work, packed schedules, lack of sleep, and anxiety in general. Some people have huge expectations put on them by others, while some put the expectations on themselves. It’s important to identify the source of stress and decide what you can do about it.

Most people, especially those in their 20s and 30s, have some sort of financial stress. For some it can become crushing. That’s why I am so passionate about financial literacy and proposing side hustles as a way to be proactive about taming debt and getting in a better spot financially.

Regardless of what your source of stress is, take some time this month to acknowledge the source or your stress. List out exactly what you can do to deal with it better and/or minimize the underlying issue.

 
 
What will you do this month to improve your finances?
 
 

This giveaway is exclusive to Young Adult Money and you won’t find it on other websites.

For those who don’t know what Ebates is, it’s primarily a cash back website. When you shop online at stores like Target, Walmart, and Hotels.com, you will receive a certain percentage of your purchase back in the form of cash back.

For example, let’s say I’m going to book a hotel on hotels.com. Either before I start shopping, or just prior to checkout, I will go to Ebates, search Hotels.com, and click the Hotels.com link.

As you can see below, at the time of this writing there was a cash back offer of up to 4.0%:

 
It’s that easy! I have gotten into the habit of always checking for cash back before finalizing a purchase. It truly is “free money” that you otherwise would not get. It’s also something that can be stacked with cash back credit cards (so you can get cash back on your credit card and cash back on Ebates).

They’ve also added a new feature on their app that allows you to get cash back while you are in the store. When you go to check out all you have to do is have the cashier scan the bar code.

I’ve been using Ebates for over five years now and have earned hundreds of dollars in cash back. Cash back really adds up over time.

To get started sign up for free using my signup code for a $10 Welcome Bonus.

Then get entered for the $100 Visa gift card giveaway below. Good luck!

 
 
Young Adult Money’s $100 Gift Card Giveaway

Allow me to present you with this idea: entering giveaways.

In the past my wife and I have both used entering giveaways as a side hustle. It was the perfect side hustle for our busy lives as it was something we could do while watching TV shows and required little energy on our part.

Despite no longer treating it as a side hustle, we both still enter giveaways from time-to-time. For example, a local card club gives away poker tournament entries on their social media accounts. It takes almost no effort to enter and in the past six months I’ve won entries into tournaments worth $250 and $125.

Once you realize how many giveaways are online – and how many new ones are started each day – you quickly realize the potential of giveaways as a way to make extra money.

Before I dive into any more stories (read on to hear about our free trip to Hawaii), I’ll talk about the logistics of entering giveaways as a side hustle, the ideal way to go about it, where you can find giveaways to enter, and what you can expect.

Entering Giveaways as a Side Hustle

 
Entering giveaways is a numbers game: the more you enter, the more likely you are to win one. On an individual scale, you aren’t likely to win any one giveaway. If you enter a giveaway and 99 others also enter, you have just a 1% chance of winning. This is why you will want to enter hundreds, if not thousands of giveaways if you want to make extra money on them.

Giveaways can be an unforgiving side hustle because you could go weeks or months without winning anything. There are other times where you may win multiple giveaways in back-to-back weeks.

If you want to make extra money on giveaways, you need to be willing to consistently enter a bunch of giveaways while also being patient if you go week after week without winning anything.

If that doesn’t scare you off from entering giveaways then this just might be the side hustle for you!

Let’s start by talking about ideal giveaway wins. The absolute ideal giveaway win is cash (typically given through PayPal). Cash requires no effort on the back-end. Take a baby seat as an example. If you win that you will need to sell it to someone if you want to convert it to cash. Cash giveaways are always ideal!

The second best giveaway win is a gift card. Many gift card giveaways will be for stores that most people use, such as Amazon or Target. These giveaway wins are almost as good as cash because they are for stores where you shop and can use the gift cards in lieu of cash. If you get a gift card you don’t want you can always sell it on a site like Raise.com which buys unwanted gift cards and turns around and sells them to buyers at a discount.

And then you have everything else. I’ve won everything from a kid’s bookshelf to a car seat to a Pfister kitchen sink faucet. These can all be converted to cash through Craigslist or eBay. Some items can be returned to stores for store credit, but check return and exchange policies before going this route.

Another thing to keep in mind is the possibility to give things as gifts. One time I won a box filled with a blogger’s favorite things. It was a lot of small, random things but some of the things worked out well as gifts for people who I know would actually use the stuff.

A final special category of giveaway wins is travel giveaways. As someone who travel hacks and likes to travel for free or as cheap as possible, travel giveaways are some of my favorite giveaways. There are two things you should keep in mind, though, if you enter travel giveaways:

• Non-transferable – While it can’t hurt to ask, you typically can’t get cash value of a travel prize. There are some exceptions, though, such as most giveaways on The Travel Channel where you could elect to take a cash prize instead of the trip.

• Taxes – Travel giveaways – and actually all giveaway wins – count as taxable income. For example if you win a trip valued at $5,000 you are going to have to pay taxes on it as though you made $5,000 of income. This can be off-puting for some people who are entering giveaways as a side hustle because you end up paying money at the end of the day. It’s still a “free” trip, but you will want to make sure it’s a trip you actually want to take.

Now let’s talk about where to find all these online giveaways.

Where to Find Giveaways

 
One big secret about the blogosphere that millions of people don’t realize is that there are tons of giveaways on blogs. On Young Adult Money alone we have easily either solely hosted or co-hosted over thirty giveaways, some for prizes worth thousands of dollars.

Giveaways are a great way for blogs to promote their sites and gain exposure, not to mention boost their social media and traffic stats. Blog giveaways typically have a lower number of entrants than giveaways or sweepstakes hosted by big brands. The less entries the better your chances of winning.

There are a number of places to find giveaways, though websites that list giveaways tend to change over time. For example we hosted a “Friday Giveaway Roundup” on our site for about two years where we listed between 100-300 giveaways that were ending every single week. We no longer do this, but there are still no shortage of sites that have lists of giveaways.

Here’s a few different places you can find giveaways:

• Blog Giveaway Linkys
   
  Blog giveaway linkys are great places to find a list of giveaways to enter. Simply googling “Blog Giveaway Linkys” will give you endless search result for sites that have giveaway linkys, which are essentially places where blogs can add their giveaway to a list of giveaways.

  For example the first result I see is Living Well Mom’s list of giveaway linkys. She has a long list of weekly giveaway linkys. All you have to do is click on each to see a list of giveaways you can enter.

  Now giveaway linkys come and go, so it does take some initial work to find ones that are still ongoing and haven’t discontinued.

• Giveaway Promote
   
  Giveaway Promote is a great site to find giveaways. There are constantly new giveaways added and usually there are bigger ones laced in as it does cost money for giveaway hosts to have their giveaways listed there. I’ve personally spent a considerable amount of money promoting Young Adult Money giveaways on the site.

  Some other websites that list giveaways are Just Sweep, Contest Girl, Online-Sweepstakes.

• Twitter Searches
   
  Searching for giveaways on Twitter is easy. Searching for hashtags like “#Cash #Giveaway” or “#Travel #Giveaway” can help you find giveaways. As you enter more giveaways, you will quickly find that many ask you to tweet giveaways for entries

  Even following certain people who enter an obscene number of giveaways can help you find giveaways. This account and this account have consistently been tweeting giveaways for years.

• Company Giveaways
   
  As I mentioned earlier the local card club near me regularly has social media giveaways for poker tournament entries that are valued between $100 and $1,000. These are big prizes and because they are appealing to a small geographic locale and even smaller demographic (poker players), there typically isn’t more than 250 entries.

  Keep small businesses in mind when looking for giveaways. Typically they will have a small number of entries relative to some of the bigger brands.

What you should take away from this list is that there are a lot of giveaways out there. If you are going to treat entering giveaways as a side hustle there can never be too many giveaways – you will want to enter as many as you can.
 

My Experience Entering Giveaways as a Side Hustle

 
Giveaways can be a great side hustle and my wife and I made thousands of dollars entering them and either winning cash or selling our winnings for cash. We’d enter around 100 giveaways a week, which can be done surprisingly quickly if you can find a good list of giveaways that you can go through.

We’ve won gift cards ranging from $25 all the way up to $250. We’ve also won a number of random things that were worth over $100, such as an electric lawn mower from Home Depot ($400), a car seat, and kid’s toys.

My two biggest wins were travel giveaways. One was through a Pepsi sweepstakes where I won two tickets to the MLB All Star Game, a two-night hotel stay and airfare. Since the All-Star game was located in the Twin Cities where I live I was able to negotiate $500 cash instead of airfare. I ended up selling the tickets on Stub Hub for around $250 each.

My second big win was a trip to Hawaii. This was actually more of a competition of who could refer the most users to IZEA’s influencer marketing platform. This was an awesome trip valued at $5,000, but after taxes and a rental car it was still a decent amount of money out of our pockets. I wasn’t complaining!

If you’re looking for a work-from home side hustle, entering giveaways might be a good fit for you.

 
 
What’s the biggest prize you’ve won in a giveaway? Have you ever or would you ever consider entering giveaways as a side hustle?
 
 

Every single day there are hundreds – no, thousands – of articles published about travel.

One topic related to travel that people like to read and write about is travel hacking. Travel hacking is using credit card rewards and other strategies to travel for cheap or even free.

Every once in a while we’ll have articles about travel hacking. For example I wrote this post explaining How to go to Vegas for Free. I also warned people not to throw out their junk mail in Mail Credit Card Offers > Online Credit Card Offers.

Those of you who are familiar with travel hacking know that it’s entirely possible to get free or reduced trips if you plan properly.

You also likely assume that I used credit card rewards to go to Hawaii for free.

That was not the case.

So how did I go to Hawaii for free? Allow me to explain.

How I went to Hawaii for Free

You’ve probably watched someone win a trip on Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right, but it almost seems fake because, seriously, how many people actually win trips?

I used to feel that way. Until I became one of those people. I won a free trip to Hawaii

Now, I didn’t go on a game show to win. I didn’t even have to leave my home. I did it through an online giveaway.

What I won was as week-long trip to Hawaii for two including airfare and hotel. The value was close to $5,000 and we stayed at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki beach.

It still seems surreal to know that I won the trip, but knowing what I know now it is far from an impossibility.

The Hawaii trip actually is the second trip I won. The other trip I won was a trip to the MLB All-Star Game.

The ironic thing was that the All-Star game was in Minneapolis that year so it was already in my home town. Instead of getting free flights I negotiated getting $500 cash. My wife and I did stay in a (nice) hotel for free, just for fun. We ended up selling the $300 face value All-Star game tickets on Stub Hub and pocketed the cash.

One thing people don’t realize is just how many online giveaways and sweepstakes are out there. I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that thousands of online giveaways end every single week.

The difficulty with giveaways is that you have to know where to look for them. Some are in obscure places. For example the band Incubus gave away a trip to Las Vegas recently but you wouldn’t really know about it unless you were on their email list.

My wife and I used to put together a weekly “giveaway roundup” post on Young Adult Money that went up every Friday. It had between 100-300 giveaways that were ending within the next week. It was a pretty popular post but took a lot of time and effort to put together. Unfortunately we had to discontinue it once my wife started grad school.

Where do you find these giveaways?

One valuable thing about Shop Your Way is that they typically have hundreds of giveaways going on at any one time, including travel giveaways. Right now they are giving away a trip to Las Vegas that includes tickets and backstage passes to Maroon 5’s New Year’s Eve show. The trip has an approximate retail value of $2,895.

I don’t know about you, but regardless of what “extras” are included in the trip, but I’m always up for a free trip to Vegas!

Like I said, there are typically hundreds of giveaways going on at Shop Your Way. You can view them by category, such as “Getaways,” or view them all at once.

As someone who has entered thousands of giveaways over the past few years (and won some big ones), believe me when I say there is huge value in being able to enter a bunch of giveaways all in one place. Most people who enter multiple giveaways end up jumping from site to site. With Shop Your Way you can enter a ton without having to jump around to different sites for different giveaways.

While there are tons of other giveaways, there is one particular one that I wanted to highlight today. It runs through November 17th, so you’ll have to head over there ASAP if you want to enter this one.

The giveaway is called WANT IT. WIN IT. NOW!. What you do is you create a wish list on ShopYourWay.com, enter the giveaway, and find out instantly if you’ve won what you want. It’s that simple!

If you want to enter the WANT IT. WIN IT. NOW! giveaway head on over to ShopYourWay.com/WinNow. Past the giveaway date? No worries – like I said, there are tons of giveaways on the site!

To get you excited about winning some awesome free stuff, here’s a few pics from our free trip to Hawaii:

Who knows? Maybe you’ll win a giveaway to go to Hawaii for free!

What giveaways have you won? Do you like the idea of being able to enter multiple giveaways all at one website?

All photos copyright David Carlson.

Today we are happy to announce our latest giveaway: $50 ShopYourWay.com Gift Card.

Unlike other retailers that have a single website, Shop Your Way is made up of a network of retail partners and service providers. That translates to thousands of brands and a ton of products to choose from.

Today I want to focus on a few of the benefits of Shop Your Way that I find particularly valuable.

Sweepstakes and Giveaways

Any long-time reader of this blog knows that my wife and I were pretty heavy into giveaways. While we don’t enter nearly as many as we used to, we do still enter some of the larger giveaways.

The biggest giveaway we won was a $5,000 Hawaii vacation. I’m not joking. We stayed on Waikiki beach at the Royal Hawaiian for a week – and it was won through a giveaway. Here’s a pic of us enjoying the sunset one evening:

This isn’t the only thing we won, though. We’ve also won things like a $400 lawn mower from Home Depot, a trip to the MLB All-Star game, and many smaller prizes that we either kept or sold for cash.

If you log into your Shop Your Way account you can see the countless sweepstakes they are running at any given time. I’m talking trips, electronics, appliances…the list goes on. Anyone who enters giveaways often knows how valuable it is to have one place where multiple giveaways are listed.

2-Day Shipping

We live in a world today where people want convenience. There is nothing more convenient than fast, affordable shipping. My personal dream is that one day everyone’s groceries will be delivered to their home within a couple days of ordering.

While grocery delivery isn’t one of the options available today, thankfully many retailers have moved to 2-day shipping. Shop Your Way is no different, and it’s one reason why I use them.

2-day shipping is not included in the free Shop Your Way account, but if you upgrade to a Shop Your Way MAX account you are eligible for free 2-day shipping on tons of Sears and Kmart items. Additionally you get $3 back in points (3,000 points) each month of your membership which translates to a $36 dollar value.

Reward Points

Do you get cash back on your credit card? The primary credit card I use is my Discover it card. I get at least 1% cash back on every single purchase, sometimes more during deals and promotions. Who doesn’t love cash-back rewards?

Shop Your Way has a similar system where you gain reward points for each purchase. You accumulate these rewards over time and can redeem them for products and services.

I don’t know about you, but I love getting “something back” when I choose to shop at one retailer over another.

There’s more…

Sweepstakes, 2-Day Shipping, and Reward Points are just three of the benefits that Shop Your Way Offers. There is also in-store deals with the Shop Your Way app, exclusive deals and coupons, personal shoppers, and more.

Shop Your Way provided me with my own $50 for this post, and here are three things that I bought.

The first thing I bought was these Craftsman Utility Gloves for $12.99 (worth 130 Rewards Points):

The second thing I bought was this Craftsman C3 19.2-Volt Pad Sander for $24.99 (worth 250 Rewards Points):

Finally I bought this Craftsman 10 in. and 12 in. Tool Bag Combo for $14.24 (worth 142 Rewards Points):

As a new(er) homeowner I’m always looking for new tools to add to my growing collection, so these three products were a good use of my $50 gift card.

Now it’s your turn to enter to win a $50 Shop Your Way gift card!

Enter the $50 Shop Your Way Gift Card giveaway through the RaffleCopter below. Note that this gift card can also be used at Sears and Kmart brick-and-mortar stores in addition to ordering through ShopYourWay.com.

The giveaway ends Saturday, October 10th at 11:59pm CT. Good luck!

Note: For the first entry sign up for a Shop Your Way Account. We will need your member ID to enter you in the giveaway. Click on your image and then Member ID and PIN to get your member ID.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today I am excited to announce our latest giveaway – a $100 Shop Your Way gift card!

The Shop Your Way program rewards members for buying the products and services they need and want every day.

Unlike other retailers that have a single website, Shop Your Way is made up of a network of retail partners and service providers. That translates to thousands of brands and a ton of products to choose from.

Shop Your Way also offers a rewards program where you get points for each purchase.

In today’s post I’ll talk about what I recently purchased from Shop Your Way, the benefits that come from Shop Your Way, and give you an opportunity to win a $100 Shop Your Way gift card as well.

As I mentioned I recently made a purchase on Shop Your Way. For full transparency, I was given a $100 gift card for this purchase (scroll down to the RaffleCopter widget for your opportunity to win a $100 gift card as well).

As a new(er) homeowner I have been doing a number of outdoor landscaping projects. One project required tearing down an old, rotting wood retaining wall and replacing it with a brick one. We also had a tree cut down.

Both of these projects left a lot of wood and lumber, most in excess of 4 feet in length. This is all sitting in a pile and I would like to cut the leftover wood from the tree into firewood and the old retaining wall into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be discarded.

So what did I purchase? A chainsaw!

Now there’s a few different things I found useful on the Shop Your Way web page. First of all, they have a ton of products. There really is no shortage of options, which is something I’ve run into at other retailers. Second, the reviews are extremely useful. I typically rely on reviews for most purchases, so it helped that most of the products already had a lot of reviews.

The chainsaw I ended up purchasing was the Craftsman 12″ 40-Volt Cordless Chainsaw. I choose this particular product due to the positive reviews as well as the fact I was looking for an electric chainsaw instead of a gas one.

I choose to pick this up in-store at my local Sears instead of having it shipped. I just picked it up recently and haven’t had time to put it to use, but here are some pics of the chainsaw:

While there are a ton of benefits that come with a (free) Shop Your Way membership, there are two that I really enjoy:

• Bonus Points – You get rewarded for your purchases in the form of points. These points can be redeemed in exchange for various products and services on Shop Your Way. I’m a big fan of rewards programs such as credit card rewards, pharmacy rewards, etc., so it shouldn’t be surprising that I found the Shop Your Way rewards program appealing.

• 2-day shipping – While free 2-day shipping is not included in the free Shop Your Way account, if you upgrade to a Shop Your Way MAX account you are eligible for free 2-day shipping on tons of Sears and Kmart items. Additionally you get $3 back in points (3,000 points) each month of your membership which translates to a $36 dollar value.

So that’s a little about my experience with ShopYourWay.com. Now you will have an opportunity to win your own $100 Shop Your Way gift card.

Enter the $100 Shop Your Way Gift Card giveaway through the RaffleCopter below. Note that this gift card can also be used at Sears and Kmart brick-and-mortar stores in addition to ordering through ShopYourWay.com.

The giveaway ends this Friday, July 31st at 11:59pm. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: For the first entry sign up for a Shop Your Way Account. We will need your member ID to enter you in the giveaway. Click on your image and then Member ID and PIN to get your member ID.

If you won $100 to Shop Your Way, what would you buy?

It’s true. There are people making money every day by posting tweets and Instagram photos that are sponsored by companies.

You don’t have to have a huge following, either. People with a relatively low number of followers are getting paid for their social media posts.

Today I’ll explain how you can join others who are already making money on their social media accounts.

How to Make Money on Social Media

In case you are having trouble wrapping your head around the idea of advertisers paying you to post things on social media, think of what the advertisers goals are. The ultimate goal is to influence consumer behavior. Your followers on social media give more weight to your opinion than a random ad; they are more likely to react to a tweet you post on behalf of a company than a random ad that was clearly placed in their feed.

IZEA is a company that was founded nearly a decade ago, and they match up advertisers with “influencers” (like you!). Social Media advertising is a growing industry, with expected spend to increase from $5.1 Billion in 2013 to $15 Billion in 2018. Needless to say, there will be plenty of money flowing to users of Twitter and other social networks who are looking to make money on their social media accounts.

To get started head over to IZEA and sign up for a free account.

Once you sign up for an account, you can link social media accounts from any of the following networks:

• Google+
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Blog
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Foursquare
• LinkedIn
• Tumblr
• WordPress
• YouTube

As you can see, it’s not just Twitter and Instagram that advertisers are interested in. They are interested in sponsoring all sorts of social media accounts, so no worries if you aren’t a fan of Twitter or deleted your Facebook account.

To start making money, you simply need to go to the ‘Sponsorship’ tab on the left-hand side of the home screen and view the opportunities that are currently open. The offers will be from a wide variety of companies (i.e. Nike, Burger King, Sprint, etc.) and you only have to choose companies and campaigns that interest you.

Each open opportunity has a description of what the company is trying to promote as well as what their “ideal” candidate is for the job. With those facts in mind you are then able to decline the opportunity or bid on it.

One note on bidding: you’ll want to bid low until you’ve worked with a few advertisers. If you have never worked with an advertiser they are less likely to take a relatively high bid. Instead, bid low and get a few campaigns under your belt. You can start bidding more after that.

If you’re still unsure of whether to sign up for IZEA check out this short 44 second video that explains the concept:

The video does a great job of summing up the key concept behind IZEA and how you – or anyone, really – can make money on their social media accounts.

Have you made money – or do you want to make money – on social media? What are your thoughts on advertisers paying individuals – as opposed to companies – to publish advertisements?