MyFamilyClub - Money Saving Made Easy

Looking for quick ways to make money online? Look no further - here are 10 easy ways to earn some extra cash from your computer.

1. Make money with online surveys

Online surveys are a great way to make money online for relatively little effort. In fact some of our readers make hundreds of pounds a year by doing online surveys.

While they won’t make you rich, it’s perfectly possible to earn £40-£50 a month from them. If you often have 15-20 minutes to spare in front of your computer at lunchtime or in the evenings, give them a go!

Always remember three things with online surveys:

• NEVER pay to join an online survey site – the best ones are always free (see the recommended sites below)

• We recommend setting up a separate email address for surveys (like Hotmail or Gmail) so your main address doesn’t get clogged up with survey emails

• Join at least five survey sites to get regular paid surveys (if you just sign up to one you won’t get many paid surveys to complete).

The top five online survey sites:

1. MySurvey

2. Swagbucks

3. Inbox Pounds

4. Survey Head

5. Toluna (Toluna sometimes pay you up to £15 to test products at home - which you then get to keep!)

For more information, see our guide on how to make money with online surveys.

2. Get cashback online

If you buy things online, you’re missing a trick if you don’t use cashback sites like Topcashback. Again, these can net you literally hundreds of pounds a year if you use them regularly (last year I got £90 cashback just for buying a mobile I was going to get anyway).

You can make between £40-£50 a month with online surveys

These sites pay you to shop by giving you between 2%-12% of your spend back on hundreds of high street shops and online stores. Why do they pay you? It’s simple: stores give cashback sites money as a ‘thank you’ for sending customers their way. The cashback site then splits this ‘thank you’ money with you (to encourage people to keep using them).

The best two cashback sites are Topcashback and Quidco (but bear in mind Quidco keeps the first £5 of cashback you make to cover their costs, while Topcashback is free).

Important! In order for sites to ‘track’ your cashback, make sure you clear the ‘cookies’ of your internet browser before buying something through a cashback website.

3. Sell your trash for cash

You can de-clutter your home while boosting your bank balance by recycling all sorts of things online for cash. For instance, you can earn over £100 by recycling your old smartphone at Mobile Phone Xchange (though don’t expect more than a few quid for your old Nokia 3120!).

You can also make money online by selling stuff to others on Amazon - or you can sell your old books to Amazon itself and get paid immediately in Amazon vouchers.

If you’re a fashionista, you can sell your old clothes through ASOS Marketplace. Or if your house is packed full of old baby toys, clothes and equipment you still haven’t shifted, you’ll find a ready market for your cast-offs at the ‘Nearly New’ sale events that parenting charity NCT regularly hold all over the UK, so there's likely to be one near you soon.

For more ideas on things you can sell – everything from CDs to ink cartridges – see our article 7 things you can recycle for cash.

4. Rent out your space online

If you’ve had a clear out and sold a lot of your old stuff online (see above), you may find yourself with a bit of extra space – so why not rent out that space for money?

Make money online renting out your space

Storemates brings together people who have spare space with people who need it. It’s up to you how much you charge for storing their stuff, but if you charge less than commercial storage companies you should get a steady stream of money coming in for practically no effort (£10 a week seems to be the going rate).

Alternatively, if you have a spare room you could rent that out to a lodger and make some serious money. Thanks to the government’s Rent-A-Room scheme, you don’t pay any tax on the first £4,250 you earn through renting a room. You can advertise your room online at sites like Easyroomate.

Or if you live near a popular city, airport, train station or attraction, you can rent out your driveway or parking space to other motorists for as much as £500 a month through sites such as Parkatmyhouse.com.

You can even make money by renting out your garden to campers through the site Campinmygarden.com.

5. Rent out your stuff online

Most of us have items kicking around that we don’t use that often – whether it’s an old bike, lawnmower, TV or pushchair. So why not rent them out to people who need them for a reasonable fee?

Sites like Rentmyitems and Rentnotbuy allow you to do just that. (Rentnotbuy is free to use, while Rentmyitems charges listing fees starting at £1 for one item being listed for one month).

Get paid every time your train is delayed - see below for details

It’s up to you how much you charge to rent out your items. These websites don’t take responsibility if things go wrong (i.e. someone breaks the bike you’ve rented out) but you can charge a deposit to cover yourself should the worst happen.

6. Become an online Virtual Assistant

If you have good admin skills or office experience, you can make up to £25 an hour working from home as a Virtual Assistant. This is where you provide admin support to businesses that can’t afford a full-time secretary. You’ll need up-to-date office software and a broadband connection, but you get good rates and can pick your own hours.

For more information see the Society of Virtual Assistants and the International Association of Virtual Assistants.

7. Check you’re getting the money you’re entitled to online

Did you know that there is more than £15 billion sitting in forgotten bank accounts in the UK? Many of these accounts (often forgotten after being opened for children or following a change of address) have hundreds or even thousands of pounds in them. Fill in a quick form at mylostaccount and see if anything turns up – you could get a nice surprise!

If your household income is below £66,000, check to see whether you’re entitled to any benefits

Don’t forget to check you’re getting all the benefits you’re due either. Whether you’re in work or unemployed, billions of pounds worth of benefits go unclaimed each year. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau has a free online benefits calculator. It’s definitely worth checking – if your family household income is below £66,000, you may be entitled to some form of benefit.

8. Complain to gain

Find yourself constantly ticked off by train and tube disruptions? Get money back every time your train is delayed or cancelled with Traindelays.co.uk. The site is free to use – just register the details of your journey online, and they’ll do the leg work of completing the claim form for you. All you need to do is print it out and send it off to the train company and wait for your compensation money to arrive.

9. Switch your bank account

Want to make £100 (or more) online? Just switch your bank account. It’s not hard – the banks will automatically transfer over all your standing orders and direct debits. All you need to do is notify the people who pay money into your account, such as your employer.

Right now if you switch your current account to a First Direct 1^st Account – which consistently comes top for customer service – they’ll give you £125 for your trouble. (You need to pay in at least £1,000 a month to qualify for this account).

Alternatively, the Halifax will give you £50 if you switch to their Reward Account, as well as £5 for every month you pay in £1,000 or more.

Find out more about switching your bank account.

10. Make serious money from home

Forgive us for blowing our own trumpet, but if you want to pick up some serious extra cash, then pick up a copy of our popular guide 25 quick ways to make money from home.

It walks you through 25 tried and tested ways of earning extra money online and at home. None of these ways to make money will make you a millionaire – but all of them will give your bank balance a decent boost.

Make money online today with our eBook

Right now you can grab a copy for just £1.99 – which we reckon is pretty good value for a product that will put hundreds of pounds back into your pocket. Get your copy and start making money from home.

(If you’ve got a Kindle, our money-making eBook is also available on Amazon here.)