Make some easy money online!

You see the ads. You wonder how it works. You hear of the extravagant amounts of money to be had. You click the link! And then you wake up and realize they want a credit card number, that you must buy something before you can make money, and that you are expected to start an at-home business doing telemarketing if you ever want to make your money back. Noooooo!

While most "work from home" websites are completely bogus, one that always comes through for me is Cash Crate. At Cash Crate, you complete offers and do daily surveys to make real money. That's it. Completing offers is simple and free, and you don't have to give a credit card number or purchase anything. Just complete free offers and surveys, and wait for your check to come!

Here are my tips on using Cash Crate:

1. Once at the site (here's a linky), sign up. After signing up and signing in, do the tutorial. It will explain how the site works.
2. I made a new email account solely for my Cash Crate and other cheap ass escapades, and would advise you to do the same. Use that email address to sign up at Cash Crate, or else you won't get your offers approved. Make sure you're using the same information you signed up with to complete offers, or they won't approve (so no fake names or you don't get paid).
3. When you're ready to complete some offers and make some money, you can narrow down your offers to those that are "100% free" (my favorite) or those that will require a credit card. Don't be scared; if you're planning on buying something over the internet anyway, use the credit card offer to do so and you will make money while you're shopping!
4. Sometimes offers will want a phone number to reach you at, but those are usually optional. If the phone number isn't optional, you might want to skip that offer; unless, of course, you enjoy telemarketers calling you at all hours and clogging up your voicemail!

While most "work from home" sites promise to make you hundreds of dollars a day, Cash Crate is more realistic. If you're completing free offers, they usually pay between $0.25 and a dollar each. It's not big money, but it can definately supplement your income.

Mmmm Mmmm Free Stuff

As a cheap ass, I love nothing more than free stuff. The question is how do I get free stuff? You might want to try a free stuff forum (yes, they are out there). These forums usually list free samples that are found all over the net and most only need a name and address to send the sample to. However, these forums aren't just packed with free stuff; they also list contests, coupons, deals, etc. I like the forums better than just googling "free stuff" because I can find out whether or not other people who signed up received their free samples. One forum that I find useful is at FatWallet.com. This site offers a cash-back program and some other mess, but the forums are what I'm lookin' for. This forum is especially awesome because each sample offer is rated, meaning that the very good samples can be separated from the very spammy and bad samples without having to open and read through each thread.
"Very spammy?" you might ask; indeed. Be prepared to sort through the spam; newsletters you don't remember signing up for, credit card offers, weight loss tea ads, "hey baby, whatchu doin' tonight?" messages, the works. Unless, of course, you do as I do and set up a separate email account for your free sample escapades. This way, you won't accidently delete something important from your business or personal email account. You'll also want to keep your phone numbers to yourself; it only takes one bad click of the "submit" button to fill your voicemail inbox. What I've found to be a good rule of thumb is to skip the sample offers that need a phone number. If the phone number box is optional, just don't put your digits in; if it's needed to complete the offer, it's not worth the headache it may cause later.
While that last paragraph may scare some of you, it's really not that terrible. The free stuff you'll get definately out-weighs the irritation of emptying that spare email account's inbox once a week. I can't even remember the last time I bought shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, or razors; I just use my free samples. If you're picky about your shampoo and whatnot, this might indeed just be a way to sample some new products. However, I'm too broke to be picky so the free stuff works for me. I also save the samples for if/when I travel by air; 3 ounces of shampoo is all I can carry on?! No problem! I'll just throw a few of my samples in a clear sandwich bag and keep rollin'.

Times are hard...

...and I'm broke. I'm a full time student, with a job that barely pays my bills. So what can I do to make some extra money with the few spare hours I do have? I can't get another job right now because my spare time is too sporadic. So instead of doing something constructive, I do random Google searches; and yes, I am a dork. I see an ad on google about making money at home. Do a Google search for "make money from home" and BAM...B.S. out the wahzoo. It's amazing how much crap is out there. But alas, this blog is not going to be about crap. It's going to be about how much of a cheap ass I am. And I'll teach you how to be a cheap ass too. If you're willing to learn, that is.