How to Get Free Money: 150 Legit (& Effortless) Ways

Do you want to know how to get free money?

Don’t we all?!

Well, I’m happy to tell you that getting free money is totally possible.

And, in many cases, it’s pretty easy too.

Below, I tell you exactly how you can earn money for free by doing things like selling stuff you already have lying around the house, and getting paid for activities that you already do, like shopping online.

So, give these methods a try, and you’ll make some extra cash for free!

Get Free Money from the Government

Let’s start with “get free money now no surveys” options for those of us who want “real” free money.

Did you know you can get free money from the government?

No, Uncle Sam isn’t exactly giving away free cash but it’s as close as you can get to getting money from the government without doing anything illegal.

Now, since we have a separate post on this, I’m not going to go into a ton of detail here.

I will cover a few ways to get cash from the government, but for more details and more ways to get money for free from the government, read this post.

1. Unclaimed tax refund checks

The IRS has millions of dollars in tax refunds that sit there unclaimed.

There are many reasons why tax refund checks go unclaimed.

One of the main reasons is that when people move, they don’t notify the IRS of their address change. This results in the IRS mailing the refund check to their last known address.

If you didn’t get a tax refund, even though you were supposed to get one, then make sure you visit the Where’s My Refund page of the IRS website.

There, you can enter some basic details, such as your SSN, and the amount of your refund.

You can also call the IRS to check the status of your refund. You can get the number for the IRS here.

2. Unclaimed back wages

You could get free money from the government by claiming unpaid wages. To claim unpaid wages, search the Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) database.

This database is part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

The WHD database offers details about workers who have money waiting to be claimed.

For more information and to find out whether you’re owed unclaimed back wages, visit this page.

3. Claim back damaged money

Did you accidentally put a $20 note through the washing machine?

We’ve all been there – notes often get shredded, or water damaged.

Fortunately, that money isn’t simply gone.

No, you can actually claim it back.

The Treasury Department will exchange damaged and mutilated currency, which is pretty awesome.

This means that you can turn unusable cash into new money that you can actually use!

To learn more about getting mutilated money replaced, visit this page.

Real Ways to Get Free Cash

Here are more legitimate and real ways you can score free cash.

Join reward websites

Okay, so the first method I’m going to start with is signing up for reward websites or Get Paid To websites as they’re also called.

Rewards websites give you points for doing activities online.

This includes things like:

Browsing the internet.
Shopping online.
Playing games.
Completing offers.
Watching videos.
Taking surveys.

So, these are pretty easy tasks that you can get points for.

You can then redeem the points you earn for various rewards, like

Money to your PayPal account.
Direct bank transfer.
Gift cards to retailers, like Amazon, Target, and Walmart.

Some sites might offer cash from the outset, rather than points that you redeem for rewards.

Where to get started

There are lots of Get Paid To websites out there, and they’re free to join!

Some of them even give you money just to sign up!

Here are some great reward websites:

How much money can I make?

If you join multiple reward websites, then you could easily earn a couple $100 each month.

That’s not bad, right?

Sure, GPT websites won’t make you rich, but you’ll make money for free with very little effort on your part.

The tasks on these sites are so easy and, in the case of playing games, super fun, making this one of the most enjoyable ways to make some extra money.

Here are some examples of income from a few different people:

These Redditors say that they earn from $30 to more than $125 a month with Swagbucks.
With Treasure Trooper, you could earn $50 a month, as you can see from these income reports.

Pro Tip: My biggest tip with reward websites would be to join a few of them. The more sites you’re signed up to, the more tasks you’ll have, and therefore, the more opportunities there are to make money.

Take surveys

Next up on our list is surveys.

With survey sites, you can make cash from home.

The best part about survey sites is that the legit ones are free to join!

Taking surveys is a good way to make money because they’re easy to do, and anyone can do them.

Now, surveys are a little time-consuming, and not quite as fun as doing the activities offered by reward websites.

But, taking surveys is still an interesting way to make money, especially if you enjoy giving your opinion on things.

Brands and companies need the opinions of people like you so that they can create better products and offer a better service to their customers.

This means that they’re willing to pay you for your opinion.

Where to get started

Like with reward websites, to get the most out of survey sites, I’d recommend joining a few of them.

You see, you won’t qualify for every survey a site offers, so you might only get a couple of surveys a week from each site.

If you join multiple survey sites though, you’ll increase the number of surveys that you qualify for, which means you’ll increase your income!

Now, there are lots of survey sites out there, but not all of them are legit.

Legit sites are free to join and won’t make you pay to take surveys.

Here are some great survey sites:

How much money can I make?

Each survey site pays differently, and the number of surveys that you complete also determines how much money you’ll make.

So, it’s tough to give you an exact figure for your income with survey sites.

That being said, you’ll generally earn between $1 and $50 per survey.

In my experience, most sites pay a couple of bucks per survey, but you do get those higher value surveys occasionally.

Join a few survey sites, and you could easily make a couple of $100 extra each month!

Sell your DVDs

Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video – there are tons of streaming platforms out there now, meaning that a lot of us have DVDs that have just been sitting in the closet for years!

Dust them off, and sell them!

Yes, you really can make cash from your old DVDs.

A while back, I did exactly that. I had a huge collection of DVDs, but thanks to platforms like Netflix, I didn’t really watch them anymore.

I was going to just recycle them until I realized I could make money from selling them.

Most of them were in good condition, so I sold them to a resale site. I got a quote, shipped them to the company for free, and they sent money to my PayPal account.

It was super easy, and I made money from something that I was otherwise just going to toss in the recycling bin.

Where to get started

If you have DVDs that you don’t watch, sell them!

Here are a few places to sell old DVDs for cash:

These sites make selling easy. Just visit one of these sites, and you can get a quote for your DVDs. If you like the quote, you can ship it to the company.

Some sites will pay for shipping too, which is awesome.

Once the company receives your DVDs and quality checks them, you’ll get paid.

How much money can I make?

I made about $100 from selling my DVDs. The amount of money you will make depends on how many DVDs you have to sell and whether you’ve got any high-value titles in your collection.

You could easily make a couple of $100 from this if you have some valuable titles and a large collection.

Try new apps

Since we all have apps installed on our phones anyway, we might as well get paid for it!

There are apps available that pay you to install and try out new apps. That’s pretty awesome, right?

The best part is that often, you don’t even have to keep these apps on your phone!

Once installed, you may only need to keep the app on your phone for a short period to make cash!

This is definitely one of the easiest ways to make money.

Where to get started

These apps and websites will pay you to download apps:

AppBounty: Desktop and Android
Appdown: Desktop, iOS and Android
Whaff Rewards: iOS and Android
AppKarma: Android
FeaturePoints: Android
AppTrailers: Android and iOS
AppMan: Desktop and Android
AppLike: Android
Cash for Apps: Desktop, Android and iOS
AppNana: Desktop and Android

How much money can I make?

For downloading apps, you can make a few extra bucks.

You’re not going to get rich from this, but since it’s so easy, it’s a good way to make a little extra spending money.

And, you can try out new apps on the go, which means you can easily make money while waiting at the doctor’s office or standing in line at the grocery store.

Upload your receipts for cash

We all have receipts – I know my purse is always full of them!

They don’t have to be an annoyance that clutters up your wallet though.

You can use them to make money.

Yes, really!

For getting free cash, this is so simple.

Just open up a receipt app, upload a photo of your receipt, and you’ll get paid.

Now, some apps will require you to buy specific items in order to get cashback.

Other apps, however, will give you a rebate for any itemized receipt.

Either way, making money with receipt apps is easy!

Where to get started

Here are some apps that’ll pay you for your receipts:

How much money can I make?

Receipt apps generally pay you with money to your PayPal account, or with gift cards, and some pay you by check or direct transfer to your bank account.

Now, in terms of how much money you’ll make, I can’t give you an exact figure.

This is because each app pays differently, and in the case of apps like Ibotta, which pay you when you purchase specific items, the pay rate for each offer can also differ.

Having said that, expect to make a couple of bucks for each receipt, on average.

Mostly, you’ll earn anywhere from $1 to $5 per receipt.

Now, in the past, I’ve seen some higher value rebates on Ibotta – for example, there was once an offer for $10 cashback!

So, pay really does vary.

What’s great about these apps is that they allow you to make money from something that you’d normally throw out – your receipts!

Pro tip: Use multiple receipt apps. You can upload the same receipt to Ibotta and ReceiptPal, for example, and get a rebate from both apps.

That’s pretty awesome, right?

Use cashback sites

I love to shop online, rather than in-store. If you’re like me and do most of your shopping online, or any shopping online for that matter, then you should definitely be using cashback sites.

These websites give you money back when you shop online.

That’s pretty awesome, right?

If you’re shopping online anyway, this is basically free cash!

So, don’t miss out.

Most cashback sites give you a percentage of what you spend back, but some will offer a dollar amount back instead.

Where to get started

There are lots of cashback sites out there. Here are some awesome ones:

How much money can I make?

The cashback percentage rate you get differs from site to site.

Also, even on one site, you’ll find that the cashback rate offered differs from store to store.

For example, on RetailMeNot, you might get 8% cashback at Macy’s and just 1% cashback at ASOS.

Generally, you’ll get anywhere from 1% to 70% cashback – but cashback rates are occasionally higher than that.

Now, the bigger the percentage you get back, the more money you’ll make.

While 40% cashback might seem awesome and better than 10% cashback, it all adds up.

If you’re shopping online anyway, then you really should use cashback sites.

It gives you free cash!

Pro tip: Check the rate offered for the store or brand you plan to shop with on lots of different cashback sites.

Let’s say that you want to shop on Amazon.

Check the cashback percentage offered for Amazon on Rakuten, TopCashBack, and Mr. Rebates.

You can then pick the site that gives you the highest cashback rate.

Doing this gives you the most money back from your shopping.

Sell unwanted clothes

Since we’re only supposed to wear like 20% of our wardrobe, it’s likely that you have clothes that you no longer wear just taking up space in your closet.

Declutter and make some cash in the process by selling your clothes.

Yes, there are websites and apps you can use to get rid of your unwanted apparel and make money!

Selling clothes online is really easy as well.

Where to get started

Back in the day, eBay and Craigslist were pretty much your only option for selling stuff.

Now though, there are tons of sites out there where you can sell your clothes.

And, what’s even better is that these sites are catered to selling clothes specifically.

Here are some awesome sites for selling your clothes:

Since these sites are focused on selling clothes, unlike eBay and Craigslist where people can sell stuff across multiple categories, from books to furniture, you have a targeted audience of people who’re specifically looking to buy apparel.

This means your stuff is more likely to sell.

How much money can I make?

How much you make depends on how much stuff you have to sell, and whether you have any items that are high value, such as clothes from well-known brands.

Some sites and apps charge you a commission, so you have to give a percentage of your profit.

So the commission rate can affect how much money you make. You could make a couple of $100 from this if you have a lot of stuff to sell or those high-value name-brand pieces.

Exercise and be healthy

Working out is good for you, as is eating healthily.

Why not get paid for your healthy choices?

Yes, you can actually get paid to do healthy things, like walking, losing weight, or going to the gym!

Where to get started

Here are some apps that pay you to exercise and be healthy:

Pact
HealthyWage: iOS and Android
Sweatcoin: iOS and Android

How much money can I make?

Since each app pays differently, I can’t give you the exact amount you’ll earn. Things like whether you meet your health and fitness goals and the app you use will factor into to how much money you make.

Start a high-yield savings account

Next up on our list, is something that’s great if you’re looking to save cash and get free money in the process.

And that’s opening a high-yield savings account.

Opening up a high-yield savings account isn’t only good for your finances, but it also makes you money.

So, open up an account, deposit funds, and you’ll earn money on it.

If you planned to start saving money anyway, this is a great way to make some free cash.

Where to get started

Here are some places where you can open up a high-yield savings account:

How much money can I make?

How much money you put into your savings account will determine how much you make, and the APY (interest rate) you will get has a big effect on how much money you make.

Now, each place offers a different interest rate:

Synchrony Bank: 1.3% APY
FNBO Direct: 1.15% APY
EverBank: 1.21% to 1.31% APY

Also, you can use this calculator to get examples of how much money you can make from a high-yield savings account.

Sell unwanted college textbooks

College textbooks are pricey, and once you graduate, they’re pretty useless.

They don’t have to be though, thanks to textbook buyback sites.

These sites will pay you for your old college textbooks, which is pretty awesome, right?

You visit one of these sites and get a quote for your books. If you like the quote, you can ship your books to the site, and you’ll get paid.

What’s great is that a lot of these sites will pay for shipping!

Where to get started

These sites are great for selling your old college textbooks:

How much money can I make?

How much money you’ll make really depends on which books you’re selling, how many books you’re selling, and the site that you sell to.

You could make $100s from selling your old textbooks!

Open a new checking account

Okay, so another thing you can do to get some free cash is open up a new checking account.

Yes, some banks offer promotions to new customers.

So you could get free money just for opening up a new bank account.

Now, it’s important to note that in most cases, you’ll need to make a deposit into the account as well in order to qualify for the cash bonus.

If you planned to open up a new account anyway, this is definitely a great way to make some extra cash.

Where to get started

Here are some banks that provide promotions to new customers who open a checking account:

How much money can I make?

Since the promotions on offer differ from bank to bank, we can’t give you an exact figure for what you’ll earn.

For example, you get a bonus of $300 with a new PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance select, a bonus of $150 when you open up a TD Convenience Checking Account, and a $100 bonus when you open up a Bank of America Checking Account.

It’s a pretty easy way to make $100 or even a few $100!

Sign up to free websites

You can get paid just for signing up to free websites.

It’s as simple as it sounds.

These websites are free to join, which is awesome.

When you sign up, you’ll get a bonus.

Where to get started

Here are some websites that’ll pay you to sign up, along with how much they pay you:

Extrabux – $20 bonus.
InboxDollars – $5 bonus.
Rakuten – $10 bonus.
Univox Community – $2 bonus.
TreasureTrooper – $1 bonus.
BeFrugal – $10 bonus
Swagbucks – $10 bonus.

Some sites might require you to complete simple tasks to unlock the bonus, but other than that, you don’t really have to put in much effort to make money.

How much money can I make?

You’ll get $58 if you sign up for all of the sites above.

That’s awesome considering that you make this cash for something as simple and as easy as signing up for free sites!

Use a cashback credit card to buy stuff

Cashback credit cards give you money back each time you use them to buy something.

If you already plan to shop, it means that you make money without having to do anything extra. You’re making money from something that you planned to do anyway.

Where to get started

Here are some credit cards that give you cashback:

How much money can I make?

The credit cards above give you cashback on everything from meals at restaurants to groceries.

It’s tough to give you an exact figure for how much money you’ll make.

This is because each credit card has its own cashback rate.

Generally, you’ll get between 1% to 6% cashback.

Also, how much money you spend will also affect your income.

Let’s say that you spend $500 a month on your card, and you get 5% cashback. You would make $25 a month and $300 in a year. If you spend half of that, you’d make 50% less, and if you spent $1,000 a month, you’d make $600 in a year.

So, the cashback rate you get and how much you spend will affect your income.

A higher cashback rate will get you more cash.

Just remember that cashback credit cards are only worth your while if you planned to spend the money anyway.

And, you need to make sure that you can afford to pay your balance before you incur interest charges.

While you might not make a lot of money from cashback credit cards, it requires no additional effort!

Sign up for store reward programs and loyalty cards

Okay, so another really easy thing you can do to get a little extra cash is to join store reward programs or sign up for loyalty cards.

Doing this requires little effort on your part, because if you already planned to shop at a store, then you can instantly get yourself some extra money with no extra effort.

With loyalty programs and store cards, you get points when you make purchases that you can redeem for store credit, cashback, coupons, and other deals that give you free cash.

Some programs and cards will even give you free stuff.

A lot of stores and restaurants have a rewards program or loyalty card. Check with your favorite retailers to see if they have a rewards program or loyalty card that you could sign up for.

Where to get started

Here are some great rewards programs and loyalty cards you should consider signing up for:

How much money can I make?

You won’t get rich from signing up for rewards programs and loyalty cards.

But you can earn cash easily for something that you already do.

And that’s what’s good about this method – it requires no extra effort.

For example, if you already shop at Target, then you may as well sign up for the Target REDcard, and if you often eat at Domino’s, then you may as well sign up for Domino’s Piece of the Pie Rewards.

By signing up for loyalty programs and cards, you get free cash or credit to spend. Then, when you factor in the coupons and free stuff that many of these programs offer, it’s definitely worth your while to sign up!

You’re basically getting free money to spend at the places you shop or dine at anyway.

Get money from credit card promotions

We mentioned above that cashback credit cards are good. But you could actually make money just by opening up a new credit card account.

Lots of banks provide bonuses to customers who open up a credit card account.

So, if you’re considering getting a credit card anyway, consider opening up one that gives you a bonus.

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that some credit cards charge an annual fee. So, do check that, as well as the interest rate that the bank charges, and any other important terms and conditions before you apply for a card.

Here are some credit cards that offer promotions to new customers:

Sell electronics

Do you have some electronics that you don’t use anymore?

Many of us do!

Whether it’s an old game console you no longer use or a smartphone you want to upgrade, it’s likely that you have an electronic device in your home that you no longer use.

You can make money selling your tech online!

Where to get started

There are lots of places where you can sell used tech online.

Here are some great places to sell used electronics:

How much money can I make?

How much money you make depends on what you have to sell. Certain items will net you more cash than others.

Obviously, the better the condition your item’s in, the more money you’ll make. Also, newer items are likely to make you more money.

On most of the sites above, you can enter details about your electronics, and you’ll get a quote.

This allows you to see how much money you’ll potentially make.

You could easily make $100s selling your used electronics online.

Sell books

Above, I mentioned that you can sell college textbooks.

But, you can also sell lots of other different types of books, from classic novels to cookbooks.

Where to get started

There are lots of places where you can sell books.

Here are some great sites for selling books of all types:

What’s great about these sites is that you can sell directly to them.

You can enter the ISBN of your books to get a quote. If you like the quote, then you can ship your books, and you’ll get paid.

Now, Book Scouter and BookFinder.com work differently from the other sites on the list.

You don’t sell your books directly to these sites.

Instead, you can use these sites to compare the price offered for your books across multiple buyback vendors.

This can save you time and ensures that you get the best deal for the books you’re selling.

How much money can I make?

How much money you’ll make depends on how large the collection of books you have to sell is, and whether you have any high value books in your collection.

You could easily make $100 doing this. You could make more or less than that though – it just depends on how many books you have to sell and which books you have to sell.

Sell your unwanted gift cards

You can get free money to spend by selling gift cards!

Yes, you can sell your unwanted gift cards.

Lots of us get gift cards over the holidays or for occasions like our birthday that we just don’t end up using.

That’s why gift card resale sites are so awesome. You can use them to sell your unwanted gift cards!

Where to get started

Here are some places where you can sell gift cards:

How much money can I make?

When selling your gift cards, you won’t get the full value of the card back. But, you’ll get a good percentage of the money.

The best part is that you’ll have free money that you can spend anywhere, rather than a gift card that you won’t use.

Use data collection apps

One of the easiest ways to get free money is to allow apps to collect your data.

All you need to do is install a data collection app, allow it to run in the background, and it will collect your data. In return for your data, you’ll be paid.

How simple is that?

Where to get started

Here are some apps that will pay you for your data:

Now, AppOptix is only available to members of the Strategy Analytics panel. To learn more about the panel, and how to apply to it, visit this page.

How much money can I make?

You could make $108 if you install SavvyConnect on multiple devices.

If you participate with AppOptix for 12 months, you can get up to $50 in Amazon gift cards each year.

Data collection apps won’t make you rich, but they give you such an easy way to make money.

Sell stuff locally

We’ve mentioned selling clothing and books online, but that’s not all you can sell. You can sell pretty much anything locally.

You can sell everything from an old bookcase to vintage records!

Where to get started

There are lots of apps and websites available where you can sell stuff. Take a look at these sites:

How much money can I make?

It really depends on what it is you’re selling, and how much stuff you have to sell. You can clear out your stuff and get cash in the process – it’s a win-win!

In Summary

Now, we’ve given you lots of ways that you can get free money – so get out there, and start making some cash!

What are your favorite ways to make money?

Let us know your tips on how to get free money in the comments section below!