Let’s be honest. There’s no such thing as free money.  

Most of us work in corporate America. 

Those of us who are freelancers, social media influencers or entrepreneurs might be putting in more hours than your standard 9-to-5. How much work do we really need to do to survive? 

Surviving and saving fall into similar categories for me. There’s a reason it’s called drowning in debt – because you’ll have it until the end. (Don’t worry, you can’t take it with you.)

So, naturally, saving has become a part of my survival. But when there’s an opportunity for easy money that is legit, safe and requires NO effort, I’m game. 

Things I always do:

• Brandclub App:
  • Have some niche products that never go on sale? Brandclub is your new best friend. It’s helped me save $108 in less than a year on our normal products. I f*cking love it.
  • Pros: Daily deals put products at half off! Sync it with your Amazon, grocery store and other shopping locations to get cash back on basic purchases. Take 3 surveys daily about products you love (about 2-4 minutes each) and get FREE MONEY just for answering questions. Plus, get $3 when you sign up with my link.
  • Cons: Only 4 daily deals are registered at a time. Because these deals are so popular, they go pretty quick. The app refreshes at 9am MT every day, so I just check it then and have scored everything. 
• Rakuten Web:
  • Cash back. Like, legit cash back. As of 2024, I’ve had it for 2 years and save about $100 a year. 
  • Pros: Rakuten supports a variety of vendors, travel, restaurants, beauty and wellness and so much more. Get $30 credit on your first purchase if you use my referral.
  • Cons: Make sure to read the fine print. Sometimes it needs to be a new account if you’re shopping at places like Temu and trying to get Rakuten rewards. Does not work on groceries.

“Ok C/C I got the apps, now what?”

Admittedly, there’s nothing slower than waiting for money. While it may seem like just another thing to download, it really adds up (you should see all the apps I have).

The best thing I’ve found so far is sending all saved payments to my SoFi Savings account (use this referral link for up to $300 sign-up bonus). They get a 4.6% APY on whatever I saved, plus I don’t touch it. 

Use it as a savings for your emergency fund. Or, put it towards travel and Christmas gifts! (That’s what we do.) 

Bottom Line

Whatever you do with it, just enjoy it. Everything is too expensive and we’re all scraping by. If we can save a little here and there it adds up. I’ve had many an instance where I was worried about rent or the water bill or groceries and these small pockets of funds saved my ass. 

Make your money work for you!