Making Money

Posts about making money from a 60-plus perspective. This includes sideline earning opportunities of all types.

January 14, 2020

How to Make Money From Your Old Tech

Many of us have old gadgets that we no longer use and are just gathering dust. These include mobile phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, games consoles, and even desktop computers. They may still work, but we have replaced them with new and (hopefully) better products.

There is a natural tendency to hang on to the old products for a while, just in case we need a backup if our shiny new replacements fail. Modern brands are generally very reliable, however. And once you have established that a new product isn’t faulty, there isn’t really much reason to hang on to the old one – certainly not for months or years on end.

You might think the only thing to do with an old gadget is take it to the tip – sorry, household recycling centre. Before doing that, though, it’s worth noting that there are various ways you can make money from your old tech, even if (in some cases) it’s no longer working.

The High Street

There are various shops that will pay for old technology of all kinds. For example, CeX (who also have a website) will pay for smartphones, satnavs, cameras, speakers, headphones, laptops, games consoles, and even TVs in some cases. The device needs to be working but doesn’t have to be in its original packaging. Buy-and-sell stores like Cash Converter and Cash Generator will buy your old tech too.

eBay

Whatever the product you want to sell, the online auction house eBay is worth considering. It has a huge audience, and there will always be potential buyers looking for any item you want to dispose of.

Of course, you will have to spend a little time preparing your auction listing, taking photos, writing a description, and so on. However, eBay make this as easy as possible for sellers by showing you similar items that have sold on the site recently. This will help you prepare your own listing and assess the likely amount you may be able to get. Bear in mind that eBay does impose charges for sellers, which will reduce the amount you receive.

Facebook and Other Community Sites

Facebook local pages can be a great way of selling larger items in particular that may not be easy to post. You will need to include a photo and write a description stating the price you want. With a bit of luck someone living nearby will want the item and collect it from you for the price asked.

There are also other local community websites that may be worth trying. One I belong to myself is NextDoor. This is primarily a forum for the discussion of local news, seeking/sharing recommendations, publicizing local events, and so on. However, you can also advertise items for sale on the site. Here’s a typical example…

Specialist Sites

There are also specialist websites that want your old tech and will pay you for it. This can be a quick and hassle-free solution, with the advantage that you know exactly what price you will be getting (the sites quote a price online and it is up to you whether or not to accept this). Most will also accept products that are no longer working, though of course they will pay a lower price for them.

One such site I used recently and recommend is Cash in Your Gadgets. I sold them my seven-year-old Samsung Chromebook. The item in question was still working but by modern standards it was slow and the display wasn’t great. I went to the Cash in Your Gadgets website and spent a minute or so entering some details. I received an instant offer of £18 for the Chromebook, which I accepted.

Okay, I know £18 isn’t a fortune, but I was pleased to have the money and get the device off my hands. Cash in Your Gadgets arranged collection by courier, who arrived the next day, put the item in a box, sealed it, and gave me a receipt. A few days later I got the promised £18 in my bank account.

Cash in Your Gadgets pay for laptops, Chromebooks, Macbooks, iMacs and desktop PCs, though not smartphones or tablets. If you have one of those to dispose of, there are various other options.

One well-known site that buys phones and tablets is MusicMagpie. They also buy consoles, tablets, smartwatches, Kindle e-book readers, and more. If you use my referral link you can get an extra £5 when you sell your first product to them (and so will I) 🙂

Other options include Mazuma and Sell My Mobile. My best advice is to try these and similar sites and see who offers the best price. When I wanted to dispose of my old Samsung J5 (2016) smartphone, I was surprised by how much the offers I received varied. I was offered between £25 and £40, and naturally opted for the £40 (which happened to come from MusicMagpie).

.When using these services you will need to send the item to them in a padded envelope or a box. You will have to provide this yourself, but the postage is normally free.

Data Security

Before disposing of any item that may contain sensitive information it’s important to erase any personal data, ideally by performing a factory reset. All the specialist companies perform a data wipe on receipt anyway, but it’s clearly advisable to do this yourself as well. If you are selling privately – perhaps via eBay or Facebook – it is essential to ensure that any personal data on the device is permanently erased and can’t be restored.

I hope this article has inspired you to gather together any old tech you no longer need and turn it into useful cash. As always, if you have any comments or questions, please do leave them below.

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January 8, 2020

Get the Best Cashback Deal Every Time With CashbackAngel

Nick Making Money reviews 0 Comments

Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of cashback websites (see my post on How to Save Money With Cashback Sites, for example).

Cashback sites give you money back when you shop with a wide range of online retailers. In the UK the two best known are Quidco and Top Cashback, but there are others as well.

All cashback sites offer different deals which change frequently, so it can be hard to assess which has the best offer at any time. However, a new comparison website called CashbackAngel promises to make this task much easier.

CashbackAngel

CashbackAngel allows you to quickly check and compare deals on offer from cashback sites for any online retailer you may be planning to purchase from. It is therefore much more than just a website that lists and compares cashback sites.

I have posted a screen capture of the CashbackAngel front page below.

The main search box is at the top of the screen and lets you search for any merchant. Below this are example merchants showing the best deal currently available for each one, both in terms of percentage cashback and travel points (should this interest you).

Let’s say you want to find which cashback site offers the best deal for purchasing from Marks & Spencer. Enter the retailer’s name in the search box and click on the search icon. When I did this, the results below were displayed.

As you will see, in this instance CashbackAngel displays results from four different cashback websites: Top Cashback, Quidco, Kidstart and Virgin Money Back (If you’re not familiar with Kidstart – I wasn’t – it’s a site that pays cashback into a dedicated children’s savings account).

In this example, Top Cashback (along with Kidstart) looks as though it might offer the best deal, with cashback of up to 2%. Obviously you would need to check on the Top Cashback site to find out their exact terms. You can do this by clicking through the link on the CashbackAngel results page (shown above). When I did this myself, I found that new M&S customers arriving via Top Cashback get 2%, returning customers 1%.

As you can also see from the screenshot above, cashback is by no means the end of it. If you are collecting Air Miles, CashbackAngel lists a number of providers who are offering these in exchange for shopping with the retailer in question. And you can also earn Hotel Points for various hotel chains if that is your preference.

My Verdict

Overall, I was impressed with CashbackAngel. In particular, I like the way it compares offers in real time, so you can always see which cashback site has the best deal at the time of asking.

It is also good to see a wide range of cashback and rewards sites included – though slightly disappointing that the new My Money Pocket website (which I reviewed here) doesn’t appear to be included currently. Hopefully this will be added soon. [UPDATE: I just heard from CashbackAngel that they intend to add My Money Pocket by the end of January 2020.]

If you use cashback sites – and in my view everyone should! – CashbackAngel is well worth checking out and adding to your online bookmarks.

As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this post, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: Some links in this article include my affiliate code. If you click through and make a transaction, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect any rewards you receive or terms you are offered.

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December 3, 2019

Make Money Testing Apps and Websites with Crowdville

Nick Making Money 9 Comments

Today I am sharing another great sideline-earning opportunity.

Crowdville started in 2014 in Italy, where they built up a thriving online community of over 30,000 members. In the last year or two they have launched in the UK and other countries as well.

Crowdville pay members to test digital products (both existing and upcoming) and report back on what they find. Members are paid for their feedback, their opinions about the user experience, and their bug-finding skills. The YouTube video below provides a quick introduction to the platform.

Joining Crowdville

Joining Crowdville is free of charge. All you need is a smartphone and an email account. Click through any link in this post to Crowdville and you will be presented with a registration form. This should only take a minute or so to fill in. Accept the terms and conditions and click on Register. And that’s it – you’re in!

Once you have joined Crowdville, you can sign up for ‘Missions’. These range from simple surveys to more complex bug-finding challenges. Payment for successfully completing a Mission is guaranteed.

You can also access Crowdville using a laptop, PC or tablet, and provide feedback via the website – but as most Missions involve testing mobile phone apps, you will need a smartphone in order to do this.

Crowders – as the company calls its members – are paid by bank transfer or Amazon vouchers. As long as you successfully complete a Mission – either by submitting a survey, sending screenshots or finding bugs – you are guaranteed to be paid.

Anyone is welcome to join Crowdville. However, it’s an ideal platform for technology enthusiasts, as you are able to test out a range of digital products and services before anyone else. You get an exclusive preview of upcoming app releases, put them through their paces, and then get paid for giving your feedback about them.

The work you are offered will depend on your location and other personal info, but you can always turn down Missions if for some reason they don’t appeal to you.

Community

One big attraction of Crowdville is that – as the name implies – it is community-based.

Through a private social media platform called Otium, you can meet and interact with other Crowders and Crowdville managers. This provides you with an opportunity to learn from others, and as you gain experience to offer support and advice to new Crowders yourself. This social aspect makes working as a Crowder more enjoyable and less stressful, especially when you are first starting out.

Additionally, once you’ve been accepted to a Mission, you are automatically placed in that Mission’s group. You can discuss the Mission here with others who are also doing it, and ask about any problems you may be having. As well as making the process easier and less stressful, this allows the community as a whole to learn from one another and improve.

Finally, there is even a reward for being a helpful Crowder. If you complete Missions and help other members, you can become a SuperCrowder. This allows you to earn more money and access other, higher-paying opportunities.

Summing Up

If you’re looking for a new sideline-earning opportunity – and especially if you enjoy testing and evaluating apps and websites – Crowdville is well worth a try. It’s free to join, and you can earn a steady stream of cash and vouchers. You can also make more money by introducing friends and colleagues and giving them the opportunity to earn from the platform as well. In any event, there really is nothing to lose by signing up for free and trying out Crowdville for yourself.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, or Crowdville in general, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: I am a Crowdville member myself and the links in this post are referral links. If you click through and sign up, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the benefits you will enjoy as a Crowdville member.

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November 25, 2019

Make Money From Your Shopping With ShopandScan

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For about three years now I have been a panelist with ShopandScan. This is an ongoing market research programme run by a company called Kantar Worldpanel.

I got an invitation to join ShopandScan in the post, but you can also apply directly if you wish (see below). I now receive £10 reward vouchers every few weeks just for scanning my shopping and my till receipts.

How it Works

After accepting the invitation to join ShopandScan, you receive a membership pack in the mail. This includes a User Guide and a barcode scanning device or ‘clicker’ (see picture above).

As a panelist, you use this to scan all shopping with barcodes coming into your home. You also scan barcodes in the User Guide to indicate who in your household did the shopping, the store concerned, and how much was spent.

There are also barcodes to scan for items that don’t have codes themselves, e.g. loose fruit and vegetables. Finally, there are barcodes to scan when an item is on special offer or part of a multi-buy offer. You can see a sample page of the User Guide below…

You have to upload the scanned data via the ShopandScan website once a week (at least). Full instructions are provided, but it isn’t rocket science. Basically you plug the clicker into a USB port on your computer and follow the instructions in the User Guide.

For doing this, you receive points. You get 1100 points a week for uploading the data from the clicker. In addition, you get 500 points a week for uploading scans of all your till receipts (unfortunately you don’t get points for each individual receipt). So each week that you do these things, you earn a total of 1600 points. Occasionally (e.g. at Christmas) they award extra points, to allow for the fact that it’s easy to forget at busy times of year.

The points accumulate in your account and once you get to 10,000 you can redeem them for a £10 electronic gift voucher. These are available for a variety of online retailers. I normally choose Amazon, as I buy stuff there all the time. However, you can also get vouchers for Waterstone’s, Halfords, W.H. Smith, and many more.

As well as getting points for uploading your data and submitting till receipts, you can get them in various other ways. One is by completing questionnaires about some aspect of your shopping.

Recently, I was offered a questionnaire regarding my purchase of own-brand almond milk from Morrison’s. They wanted to know why I bought it and when and how I intended to consume it. It only took a few minutes to complete and I got 300 points for this (equivalent to 30p).

There are other point-earning opportunities as well. Right now I am signed up to another project which involves allowing access to the browsing history on my smartphone. I know not everyone would feel comfortable about this but I don’t object personally (all data is anonymised) and it means I get an extra 500 points every week for no effort (it’s all done via an app).

You may also be offered the opportunity to take part in other studies. I did one a few months ago that involved completing a food diary listing everything I ate and drank for a week. Although I got points for this I found the task rather tedious, and declined when they offered me the opportunity to do it again. There is never any problem if you decide to turn down an invitation in this way.

How to Apply

As I said earlier, I got my invitation to join ShopandScan in the mail. I don’t know how they chose me or got my name and address.

However, you don’t have to wait for an invitation. If you wish to join ShopandScan, you can register for free at https://www.volunteer4panels.com. There is no guarantee that your application will be accepted immediately, as they aim to keep the panel balanced across age groups, locations, domestic circumstances, and so on. From what I have heard, though, once you have applied there is a good chance you will receive an invitation within a few weeks, or months at most..

Closing Thoughts

Clearly nobody is going to make a fortune from ShopandScan but it can be a great addition to your portfolio of sideline-earning opportunities. Once you get used to scanning your shopping before putting it away, it really isn’t much of a hassle. If you do some questionnaires and so forth as well, you can easily make over £100 a year.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post (or ShopandScan in general), please do leave them below.

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October 9, 2019

Review: My Money Pocket – A New UK Cashback Website

Nick Making Money, Saving Money reviews 0 Comments

I recently received an email telling me about a new (free) cashback site called My Money Pocket. As a fan of cashback sites I was very happy to check it out.

My Money Pocket is a UK site. It is therefore entering an arena currently dominated by what might be called the Big Two here, Quidco and Top Cashback.

As with those two sites, My Money Pocket offers members the chance to earn cashback by following links to a variety of online retailers. These are affiliate/referral links, and My Money Pocket receives commission for any purchases made by people clicking through them. My Money Pocket then shares this commission with the member concerned.

Getting Started

Before you can use My Money Pocket to get cashback, you do (of course) need to register on the site. All they require for this is your email address and a password. On the plus side, that makes signing up very quick and easy. On the minus side, I find it slightly odd that they don’t ask for your name, which means you can’t see this when you are signed in. That could be problematic if you share your computer with other family members, as you may not know which of you is actually logged in!

I did ask My Money Pocket why they don’t ask for a name when registering, and they said it was to avoid privacy issues. Personally, though, I would much sooner see “Welcome, Nick” (or whatever) at the top of the screen to reassure me that I am actually signed in to my own account.

Once you are logged in you can start earning cashback by clicking through the links provided to a wide range of online stores. Most of these are also available with Top Cashback and Quidco, but the cashback rates (and terms) are different – better in some cases, worse in others. As with all things shopping related, it really does pay to shop around!

The website looks bright and welcoming, but a large area at the top is taken up by an offers carousel, which personally I find a bit obtrusive. I thought the site navigation was okay, but not quite as intuitive as the Big Two. I would prefer a traditional tabbed navigation menu of the sort that is used on Top Cashback and Quidco (and many other websites), but maybe I am just being a bit old-fashioned.

There is a drop-down Categories menu at the top left of the screen. This takes you to cashback offers in the following categories:

Fashion
Food and Drink
Health and Beauty
Electricals
Travel
Broadband
Entertainment and Leisure
Utilities
Gifts
Mobile
Home and Garden
Free Cashback
Gaming
Shopping
Office and Business
Sport
Gambling

Within most of these categories there are sub-categories as well. Incidentally, ‘Free Cashback’ lists offers where you don’t have to spend money to get cashback – for example, you might just have to request a quotation for your car insurance.

As with Top Cashback and Quidco, once you have made a purchase with one of the merchants on My Money Pocket, you will then have to wait for your cashback to be tracked, approved, paid and credited to your My Money Pocket account. You will then be able to withdraw this money, either to your bank account (through BACS) or via PayPal.

One other feature is that you can refer other people to My Money Pocket and receive £5 cashback yourself when they have earned a minimum of £10 in cashback. Note that all links in this blog post include my referral code 🙂

Final Thoughts

It’s early days for My Money Pocket and the site is still to some extent a work in progress. Nonetheless, there is nothing to lose by signing up for free now and checking out the deals on offer. As I said earlier, I would recommend checking and comparing My Money Pocket, Top Cashback and Quidco to see which site is currently offering the best terms for any retailer you intend to buy from.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this post, please do leave them below.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:

October 3, 2019

Review: The Best 10 Low Cost Home Business Plans

Nick Making Money reviews 0 Comments

Today I am reviewing an e-book (and bonuses) titled The Best 10 Low Cost Home Business Plans by my UK blogging colleague Gerri Spiers. Gerri was kind enough to send me a free review copy.

As the name suggests, this is a guide for anyone hoping to set up their own business, whether to escape a job they dislike or simply to provide a route out of unemployment. Many of these businesses could also be run part-time to provide a sideline income and/or to fit in with childcare or other caring responsibilities. They could also work for older people or people with disabilities who may not want (or be able to cope with) a full-time job.

The Best 10 Low Cost Home Business Plans is a downloadable 112-page ebook in the standard PDF format. It is professionally written and presented, with illustrations where appropriate. There are also clickable hyperlinks to relevant websites and resources (this is a particular benefit of the ebook format, of course).

It wouldn’t be fair to Gerri to reveal exactly what all the businesses are. However, what I can say is that they are generally the type of business I see many ordinary people in my area running today, and they address a large target audience that clearly needs such services. These are not, for the most part, online businesses, but real-world local services for which there is a proven demand. They are definitely not get-rich-quick schemes. You will need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and put in some hard yards – but if you do this, the rewards should definitely come.

Although (as per the title) these can be run as home-based businesses, many will also involve going out and about to meet clients, provide services, negotiate with suppliers, and so forth. As the title indicates, none of these businesses would be expensive to set up.

For each plan, Gerri sets out what the business involves, whom it is best suited for, the skills and/or qualifications required, and how much you may be able to earn. She also sets out a range of useful resources, organisations to join, and so on. The resources are predominantly UK based – not surprisingly, as Gerri lives here – but many of the plans would work just as well in other parts of the world too.

Gerri also goes into some detail about how to market the business in question. The book is particularly strong on this, with sensible, practical suggestions that will raise awareness of your business and help attract more clients to it.

In the opening chapter the book sets out some general advice about setting up a business. This is concise but sensible, and links are provided to additional resources for further information. Finally, the book closes with a chapter of useful websites, and some inspirational final thoughts that will have you champing at the bit to get started 🙂

One small criticism is that, while there is a table of contents at the front of the ebook, it is not hyperlinked to the chapters in question. For ease of reference and navigation this would have been helpful.

Bonuses

In addition to the main ebook, buyers get two bonus items.

The first of these is a 92-page PDF ebook titled 50 Tried and Tested Hacks to Help Grow Your Online Business (see picture below).

I was slightly surprised that the title of this ebook refers to online business, whereas the main guide is more about running a ‘real world’ business. It is, however an in-depth guide to promotional techniques that can be used to promote any type of business.

Each of the 50 ‘Hacks’ takes up one to three pages. In them Gerri sets out a particular marketing strategy or tactic followed by a single paragraph ‘takeaway’ which sums it up. For example, one suggested strategy is to offer a number of differently priced upsells. The takeaway for this is: ‘Offer a range of differently priced upsells to customers to increase the total of each sale. Upsells are complimentary or additional options on an offer a customer is already purchasing. Include at least one.’

I thought there were some great tips in this bonus guide, and some – such as using the word ‘only’ when quoting prices – that seemed to me rather stating the obvious. But then again, I am a 63-year-old semi-retired copywriter, so maybe what is obvious to me isn’t as obvious to someone who is just starting out!

One thing I did like about the bonus guide is that (unlike the main ebook) the table of contents at the front has active links.

The third and final bonus is a downloadable cashflow forecast spreadsheet, in Microsoft Excel format. Anyone who is planning on starting a new business should have one of these, as it will indicate the predicted flow of money in and out of the business, and highlight when and how any possible cashflow problems may occur. In addition, if you are applying for a loan from your bank or a grant (if you can find anyone offering these now!) you will need to provide one of these as part of your business plan.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was very impressed with The Best 10 Low Cost Home Business Plans. If you are considering setting up a business from home and looking for some realistic ideas that won’t cost a fortune, there is no doubt you will find much to inspire you here. The plans are varied and don’t generally require any special skills or training. Whatever your background, whether you are male or female, old or young, you are bound to find one idea – and probably more – that could form the basis of a successful, money-making business for you.

The guide (and bonuses) should also represent a valuable resource once you have started your business, with lots of practical tips and techniques you can use to attract more clients for your business and grow your income.

For more information, click on any of the links in this review or click here to go to Gerri’s website.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

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September 24, 2019

Review: SuperLucky Secrets by Di Coke

Nick Making Money, Everything Else reviews, competitions 2 Comments

Today I am reviewing a book (and Kindle e-book) called SuperLucky Secrets. It’s by my fellow UK blogger Di Coke, also known as SuperLucky Di.

SuperLucky Secrets is a guide to ‘comping’ – in other words, entering consumer competitions in the hope of winning cash and prizes.

Di is a highly successful comper, having won over £300,000 worth of prizes, including a Volkswagen Beetle, £7,500 cash and an all-expenses-paid trip to Brazil. She also regularly talks about comping on TV and radio, including BBC Breakfast, ITV Weekend and The Morning Show.

I am grateful to Di for offering me a review copy of the brand new (2019) edition of SuperLucky Secrets.

The book’s sub-title is 100 Tips for Winning Competitions, Contests and Sweepstakes. I must admit I was slightly concerned that it would be a book of 100 comping tips in more or less random order. Thankfully that isn’t the case, though. This is a well-organized and comprehensive guide to the art (or science) of comping.

The printed copy of SuperLucky Secrets that I received has 195 pages, plus some pages (e.g. the index at the back) that aren’t numbered. The book is organized in nine main chapters, as follows:.

The Basics
Get Organized
Tips for Finding Competitions
Tips for Entering Competitions
Tips for Winning Competitions
Tools of the Trade
Finding Your Wins
Tips for Staying Motivated
Don’t Even Think About It! [Mistakes to avoid, in other words]

There is also a glossary, a list of useful resources, and an alphabetical index.

I thought SuperLucky Secrets was very well written and edited (or self-edited). As a semi-retired professional writer and editor myself, things like typos and spelling or grammatical mistakes tend to leap out at me. I didn’t notice any in this book, so much respect to Di for that. In my experience it’s rare to read a self-published book that is written and produced to such a high standard. As my eyes aren’t what they once were, I was pleased to see a clear, sensible-sized typeface used as well!

Within each chapter there are a number of sections, each corresponding to one of the 100 tips referred to in the sub-title. In the chapter titled The Basics, for example, there are sections headed Get Online, Write a Wish List, Put in the Effort, Be Super Social, Always Read the Rules, and Believe You’ll Win.

The book takes you through everything you need to know to get started in a hobby that is enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, and that can generate a steady stream of cash and prizes as well.

Di doesn’t, however, pretend that all of this will just fall into your hands. You will need to be well organized and patient (especially at first), as you will be facing plenty of competition from other compers, and it also takes time for contests to be judged and winners notified.

As Di says in her Introduction, ‘Be patient. Some people think they can start comping on Monday and have prizes arriving by Friday!’ And she adds, ‘A brand new comper will take a while to get into the swing of things, but don’t give up if you’re not winning.’

As someone who used to enter competitions years ago, I thought there might be more emphasis on slogan contests, but Di says these have largely gone out of fashion among promoters now. There are still a few and Di highly recommends entering them, as this is one type of competition where you really can use skill to improve your chances of success. She shares some good tips on creating slogans, including some clever (and amusing) winning slogans of her own.

Di also recommends seeking out less well publicized competitions and ones where you have to buy some sort of qualifier, as this will greatly reduce the number of entries yours will have to compete against. And she sets out a range of online tools and resources (mostly free) that can help you find and enter more competitions and boost your chances of winning them.

Overall, if comping is a pastime that appeals to you and you would like to learn more, I highly recommend SuperLucky Secrets, especially in this brand new 2019 edition.

You might also like to check out Di’s blog at https://superlucky.me. You can sign up for her free email newsletter for compers via her blog.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about SuperLucky Secrets, please do post them below.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:

September 9, 2019

Review: How to Make Money Using Your Mobile by Kathy Cakebread

Nick Making Money reviews 2 Comments

Today I am reviewing a Kindle e-book by my fellow UK money blogger Kathy Cakebread titled How to Make Money Using Your Mobile. Kathy was kind enough to offer me a free review copy.

As you may gather from the name, this e-book is aimed at anyone who would like to boost their income using their mobile phone, generally by installing and using certain apps.

According to Amazon How to Make Money Using Your Mobile has 96 pages, though in practice of course that will depend on the device you are reading on and the font size selected.

My first impression was that it was well written and attractively presented. That being said, I was a little disappointed that there is no table of contents at the front. That makes it harder to navigate than it ought to be.

The book lists money-making apps in six categories as follows:

Survey Apps
Make Money Through Receipts
Get Paid to Shop
Make Money Doing What You’re Good At
Earn Money Through Cashback
Ways That Influencers Can Make Money

46 apps are described in total: 24 in survey apps, 4 in receipts apps, 9 in get paid to shop, 4 in make money doing what you’re good at, 3 in cashback apps, and 2 in influencers.

Within each category a number of apps/opportunities are presented. Kathy uses a standard format throughout for this, which is sensible. She starts with a phone screen capture of the app in question followed by a one- to three-paragraph description. Here’s a typical example…

The description is followed by a list of pros and cons for the app in question, and (in most cases) a download link. Again, here is an example:

In some cases the download link takes you to the website for the app, but in others it takes you to to the Apple (iOS) App Store. It is a pity there aren’t also links to the Google Play Store for Android users (like myself). This means the book is probably best suited for iPhone users. Android users can benefit from it as well, but they may have to search for the relevant app themselves in the Google Play Store.

On the plus side, I was amazed by the number of sideline-earning apps Kathy has identified. Some, of course, I knew about already, but many I didn’t. I can see I will be busy for some time checking out all these money-making resources!

I like the concise, well-written descriptions, which tell you everything you need to decide whether an app may be of interest. The list of pros and cons is also invaluable. Kathy appears to have tried all these apps herself (which would be a full-time job, I’d have thought) and she shares her advice and experiences using every app, good and not so good!

As the book’s subtitle, Get a side income for extra treats for you and your family, indicates, you won’t make a fortune from these apps or even (probably) enough for a full-time living. But you can definitely earn a valuable sideline income. Some pay in cash – usually via PayPal – while others pay you in Amazon (or other store) gift vouchers. (Personally, I’m a big fan of MobileXpression, which I wrote about in this blog post. It keeps on churning out £20 Amazon vouchers for me every few weeks, for doing no more than keeping the app installed on my phone.)

As indicated earlier, I did think the book could be better organised. In particular, I would like to have seen a table of contents at the front, with the content organised under proper chapter headings and hyperlinked. That would make it much easier to use as a reference resource. It would also be good if the apps described in each chapter were arranged in alphabetical order rather than (I assume) randomly.

Overall, though, How to Make Money Using Your Mobile is a great little e-book, and anyone hoping to boost their income is bound to find something of interest – and value – in it. At the current modest asking price of £2.99 (or free on Kindle Unlimited) it would make a good value addition to your sideline-earning library.

Even if you don’t have a Kindle e-reader, you can read Kindle e-books using Amazon’s free Kindle app or a range of other free apps and programs. This article on the Huffpost website provides a useful guide.

As well as How to Make Money Using Your Mobile, you might like to check out Kathy Cakebread’s Glitz and Glamour Makeup blog, which also has a section devoted to money-making tips.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

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August 29, 2019

How to Cash in on Free Lottery Websites

Nick Making Money 4 Comments

If you’re looking for a fun and free way to boost your income, free lottery websites are definitely worth a look.

These sites offer the opportunity to enter free daily or (less often) weekly draws, with the prizes financed by advertising revenue. You simply register for each site and enter the details required, whether it’s your postcode, your birthdate, a set of emojis, or whatever. Then all you have to do is check them every day to see if you have won.

At one time there seemed to be dozens of these sites. Some have closed over the last year or two, but there are still a number around. The following will get you started…:

Pick My Postcode

Freemoji Lottery

Date of Birth Lotto

The Emoji Lottery (currently paused prior to a relaunch)

Free Birthdate Lottery

Some of these lotteries offer incentives for introducing new players. These vary, but typically include extra bonuses if you win. Disclosure: some of the links above include my personal referral code.

The first in the list, Pick My Postcode, is my clear favourite. They offer multiple chances to win each day – and in the days when they were called Free Postcode Lottery I was lucky enough to win it!

Pick My Postcode also have the largest prizes. The main daily prize – which I won – can be over £1,000. When I had my win, the prize was £1,200, though as one other person in my postcode area also claimed, the prize was split between us. So I got £600 plus a small bonus – not a life-changing amount, but certainly a day-changing one 😀

There are plenty of smaller prizes on Pick My Postcode as well, from £10 upwards. If you don’t do any of the other free online lotteries, at least do this one 🙂

With most free lottery sites you have to go back to them daily to see whether you have won. Personally I use a Firefox add-on called Morning Coffee which lets you save a list of sites and open them all with a single action. I can then quickly check them all. This takes five minutes at most, so it isn’t a big chunk out of my day.

Good luck with your free online lottery entries. If you have any comments or questions, please post them below (likewise if you know of any other free online lotteries). And if you have any big wins yourself, I’d love to hear about them!

This is a fully updated repost of my original article on this subject published in January 2017.

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August 4, 2019

Matched Betting: Get Ready for the New UK Football Season!

Nick Making Money matched betting 0 Comments

I’ve talked about matched betting a few times on this blog. To recap, it’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it is such a great money-making sideline for older people here. I have personally made over £2,500 of tax-free profit from matched betting, which is why I have no hesitation about recommending it here..

While matched betting doesn’t present a source of passive income – you do have to put a bit of time and effort in, especially at first – it really is risk-free as long as you apply the method correctly. Even if you do make the odd mistake – and many people do when starting out – it may not cost you any money. Even if it does, the overall profits should quickly cancel out any losses incurred.

Since the last UK domestic football season ended it has been a quiet time for matched bettors, but with the start of the new 2019/20 season all that is about to change. The first match in the Premiership is on Friday 9th August, with the other leagues in England and Scotland starting this weekend.

To be clear, you don’t have to be a big football fan to look forward to this (I’m certainly not). No, the reason to anticipate the new season so keenly is the host of money-making opportunities it will present for matched bettors.

For one thing, the bookies will be pulling out all the stops to attract new clients and get current and former clients back onside. I expect to see a flood of offers on the football in the coming weeks, giving the potential to generate some tasty risk-free profits by applying matched betting principles.

For those who have yet to try this sideline-earning method, matched betting initially involves taking advantage of bookmakers’ welcome offers to generate risk-free profits. These offers typically entail getting a free bet when you place your first paid bet. As a matched bettor you can take advantage of this by backing one outcome of an event with an online bookmaker and at the same time laying it (betting it won’t happen) on a betting exchange.

You will therefore break even (or make a very small qualifying loss, depending on the odds) on your initial bet. But this will qualify you for a free bet from the bookmaker. And by backing and laying this to the appropriate stakes you can guarantee yourself a net profit no matter how the event in question pans out.

Matched betting really is that simple, with the welcome offers at least. However, you do need an understanding of how to apply the method and (in particular) how betting exchanges work. You also need access to calculators and oddsmatching tools to ensure you are staking correctly at the best possible odds to maximize your profits. Unless you are very confident, therefore, I highly recommend signing up to a matched betting advisory service.

I cut my teeth with Profit Accumulator and still recommend this as a great service for people who are new to matched betting.

More About Profit Accumulator

Profit Accumulator is a marched betting advisory service suitable both for those brand new to matched betting and for experienced matched bettors.

You can join PA free initially and they will provide details of two bookmaker offers you can take advantage of straight away, with in-depth tutorials (including videos) on how to do them. These offers should make you around £45 in net profit.

If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay to become a Platinum member and get access to the full range of offers and services. The latter include an oddsmatching tool and calculator for finding profitable bets to use with bookmaker welcome offers and maximizing your returns from them. And, of course, you will get access to hundreds more offers, again with step-by-step tutorials for doing them.

You also gain access to more advanced tools, including Acca Matcher, Each Way Matcher, and more. These allow you to boost your profits and continue to make money even when you have exhausted all the bookmaker welcome offers (which will take a long time!).

A further advantage of joining Profit Accumulator is that you get access to the busy members’ forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the team behind PA.

If you think matched betting may be for you, therefore, I highly recommend that you click through to the Profit Accumulator website to see what they offer and sign up for the free trial. By joining today you will be perfectly placed to take advantage of the flood of bookmaker offers in the coming weeks.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting or Profit Accumulator, please do post them below.

Disclosure: As well as being a member of Profit Accumulator I am also an affiliate for them. If you join and become a paying member after following any of the links in this post, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you receive.

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