Frugal Living

How to Make Money Online – 10 LEGIT Ways to Make Money Online

Learning how to make money online can allow you to make a little extra cash for something special you want or it can allow you to make a regular income depending on how much time you want to spend on it.

When it comes to figuring out how to make money online, one issue is that there are A LOT of scams out there. There are also a lot of “opportunities” toted as ways to make money online that take SO much effort for VERY little reward. And, I would not even consider some of them to be legit ways to make money online.

Despite the possible scams or massive time sinks, you will be happy to know that there are MULTIPLE, LEGIT ways to make money online.

REAL MONEY!

Of course, how much you make is going to be directly related to how much time you want to spend working. But the awesome thing about these realistic ways to make money online is that they are not the same as committing to a “regular” job with full-time, set hours. These legit ways to earn money online can be done on your own time and at the level of commitment you want to put in.

Here are 10 LEGIT ways to make money online:

1) Blogging

Blogging is one of the fantastic and realistic ways to make money online. Making money blogging does not happen overnight, so if you are looking to just make a few extra dollars for one month, this probably isn’t the best way to make money for you.

However, if you trying to figure out how to make money online regularly, then blogging is one of the top things you should consider.

It does take some time and effort to get started. But as long as you put in the work, you will make some money.

I HIGHLY recommend checking out Make Money Blogging at ANY Level if you want to get serious about making money blogging. Once I implemented all of the tips in this eBook, my blogging income increased ten-fold!

Blogging is one of the main ways to make money online that I personally use.

2) Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the pretty cool ways to make money online. You aren’t going to pay all of your bills with Swagbucks, but you can realistically earn a little extra money each month without too much extra effort.

With Swagbucks you can earn SB’s for your normal online searches. You can also earn SB’s for tasks like taking surveys or watching videos.

Once you have enough SB’s earned, you can redeem them for gift cards to all kinds of different stores.

When I was a full-time student, I use to earn enough SB gift cards each month to pay for all of our regularly purchased Amazon items. It was a really nice way to cut a little out of the budget.

So, if you are looking for realistic ways to make money online for a little extra spending cash, Swagbucks is a good place to start.

3) Amazon

So, you have probably been to Amazon and seen all the items available for sale. Some are big name brands, but others are not. Many of those small brands are run by people just like YOU!

This is called selling on Amazon FBA and it is one of the legit ways to earn money online. Essentially, Amazon is like Google, a huge search site. So, if you get your products listed for sale there, you don’t have to do much marketing/advertising.

And, using Fulfillment by Amazon means that you aren’t having to manage your inventory and mail each package out yourself either!

So, essentially, selling on Amazon is a way to make money online in an almost entirely passive way!

To source your products, you can either resell – buy products at local stores etc at a cheaper price than they go for on Amazon. Or, you can dive in and do private-label products.

Which essentially means you source to a manufacturer and they make products with your private label/brand name on it! For more on Amazon FBA, check out this guide.

4) Surveys

If you’re trying to figure out how to make money online and just want a little extra cash coming in, you should check out the option of paid surveys.

This is another avenue that I used to use when I was a full-time student looking for a little break on the budget each month.

Two of the most popular paid survey sites to earn money online with are Opinion Outpost & Inbox Dollars. You definitely aren’t going to get rich quick filling out paid surveys. However, it is one of the realistic ways to make money online if you are looking for a little padding in your budget.

5) eBay

If you want to find out how to make money online that could range from extra cash to replacing your regular job, then think about selling on eBay.

Selling on eBay is similar to selling on Amazon, but it is not quite as automated as you will be managing your listing, inventory and shipping products. However, it is still one of the legit ways to make money online.

6) Online Store

Running your online store is one of the realistic ways to make money online. There are a lot of ways to set-up an online store.

You can run it on sites like Etsy or Shopify. You can set it up on your own hosted website and add a store through plug-ins like WooCommerce. Or you can simply use payment processing like PayPal buttons on your website pages.

I run an online store to sell the day old chicks that we hatch on our farm and we make about $500 profit per month selling the chicks! Not too shabby, right?

having adorable “products” is just a bonus

If you are going to have your online store on your own site, you need to make sure that you have reliable hosting. Because, if your site goes down you can’t make any sales! I love our host, Siteground as it is the MOST reliable host I have used!

If you are going to run your own store, all you need is a product really. This can be most anything you can think of: homemade items, reselling or repurposing items you buy/find. Really the sky (and your imagination are the limit!

Get your store set up and and start making money online!

7) T-shirts

I have to admit, I have tried figuring out how to make money online buy selling T-shirts and I am not a t-shirt selling master. However, I know some people who make WAY more than a decent monthly income just selling t-shirts.

There are many ways to sell t-shirts online. My favorite two sites are: Sunfrog & Merch by Amazon. I love Sunfrog because I don’t HAVE to design my own shirts.

You can make collections of already designed shirts and just use referral links to sell them. I’ve had some success with this, but have not mastered the sales funnel system yet.

I think that the people who do BEST selling t-shirts are those that actually do the designing. You can design your own shirts on both Sunfrog and Merch by Amazon.

With Merch by Amazon, if you get a good design and the right keywords, your shirts will pop up on Amazon when people search for products. This means YOU don’t have to market the shirts on your own which is gold!

So, if you are artistic, or even just good at marketing this is one of the realistic ways to make money online that you might want to try!

8) Fiverr

Fiverr is of of the great ways to make money online especially if you are a creative person. Basically, Fiverr is a site people go to “hire” people to perform tasks for them for $5. Although not everything is $5 there.

These things can range from making a drawing or logo/design, writing a song to performing some type of work – like researching contact information or performing social media tasks.

So, if you have any particular skill, you might want to make a listing on Fiverr as a way to drum up some business and cash!

9) Sell Textbooks/books/DVDs etc

If you are looking to figure out how to make money online and you have old or unwanted books, textbooks or DVDs around, you can sell them as a way to make money online. There are lots of sites like Decluttr where you can list your items for sale.

Obviously, this is one of the ways to make money online that is just a one-time deal. But is great for getting your house cleaned up AND making a little cash on the side!

10) Upwork

Upwork, formerly called oDesk is a really awesome site! On upwork you make a profile which will serve essentially as your resume. You can even take skills tests to show perspective employers that you have the right skills for them!

Fill out your profile and you can start looking at jobs. Jobs on upwork range from one time tasks with a set budget (ie: $20 to fill out a spreadsheet) to part time weekly hours to full time regular positions.

Upwork is one of the realistic ways to make money online that can provide you with a full time income if that is what you are looking for.

There are a TON of different jobs available from bookkeeping to project managers to creative writing to voiceover work.

One thing to be aware of on Upwork is that it is an international site. Therefore, some of the jobs may not pay enough to make it worth your time.

However, there are A LOT that do. I used upwork to find jobs that fit my schedule while I was in school. And of course, it is all making money ONLINE, so you don’t have to commute to work or anything.

Now that you know HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE, which ways will you try?

For More Frugal Finance, Check These Out!

How to Create Your Own Emergency Stockpile

By MrAnimal Farm Leave a Comment

No matter if you are just learning Couponing for beginners or if you don’t coupon at all, everyone should know how to create their own emergency stockpile.

Creating a coupon stockpile is a basic skill all couponers learn. The way you save the most money couponing is by stocking up when prices are the lowest.

But what about when emergency situations occur? Whether it be natural disasters like hurricanes and snow storms, health issues like seasonal flu or the coronavirus or even times like loss of income it is important to know how and when to stockup for emergencies.

When to Create an Emergency Stockpile?

Creating an emergency stockpile isn’t just for “preppers”. And it doesn’t have to be done with hysteria either.

It would be best if you always have an emergency stockpile on hand. This is, of course, because we don’t ALWAYS know when an emergency will happen. Also, being prepared beforehand let’s you create your stockpile cheaper because you can do so while shopping sales and couponing.

If you aren’t sure, here’s how to start couponing.

Also, if you wait until an emergency is upon you, sometimes shelves are already cleared out!

However, if you aren’t able to have one on hand at all times, you should be ready to create one when necessary. This means any time you are likely to be without power, have limited travel options, limitations on the general supply of items or if you may be ill for an extended period of time.

How to Create an Emergency Stockpile

Creating an emergency stockpile is like creating your normal couponing stockpile in general. You will want to assess what items you will most need.

In addition to identifying what items you most need, you will also want to know how quickly you use items. As well as identifying how long you may be needing to live on your stockpile. For example, if a tube of toothpaste lasts you 6 weeks you probably don’t need 10 of them in your emergency stockpile.

From this information, you can then work out how many of each of your necessary items you will need to get you through your time of emergency. It is important to make a list of spreadsheet to track this information so that you can be as accurate as possible. You don’t want to leave out important necessities!

Important Items to Include

Everyone will have their own individual necessities, but there are some general items that everyone should think about.

Health Supplies

Medications, both prescription and over the counter. So, things like daily prescription meds – try to get a 3 month refill instead of a month. Over the counter meds like pain relievers and cold and flu relief.

Any vitamins and supplements you normally use.

Also make sure you have a stocked and non-expired first aid kit.

If you are stocking up for health related emergencies you may also want to have things like Gatorade or other electrolyte sources on hand.

Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies

Toothpaste

Hand soap

Body Wash

Shampoo and Conditioner

Feminine hygiene items

Laundry detergent

Dish Soap

General purpose cleaners like bleach, hand sanitizer, lysol wipes.

Food and Water

Depending on the type of emergency, this will dictate what types of food items you need to stock up on.

If you are looking at a natural disaster situation, you should focus on non-perishables and water. So things like:

Canned goods

Flour, wheat, and other shelf stable cooking supplies

Rice and Pasta

Gallons of Water

Peanut Butter or regular nuts

If you are looking at situations where you may be isolated due to health issues or loss of income (so you will still have power), you can look at non-perishables as well as perishables.

So, all the same things as for natural disasters, but also include:

Frozen items – protein sources like meat, veggies, fruits.

You likely don’t need bottled water for these situations if you still have power.

Additional Items

If you are likely to lose power, make sure to have backup power sources:

Candles

Batteries

Solar Chargers

Manual Can Opener

If you have young kids, make sure to have supplies for them:

Diapers

Wipes

Formula

Food and Supplies for your animals such as:

Dog and Cat food

Hay for goats, cows, horses

Chicken Feed

Medical supplies like dewormers and antibiotics

How Being Self-Sufficient Can Help

Being self-sufficient can really help for emergency situations. If you have backyard chickens then you get your own eggs without having to go to the store. If you raise dual purpose chickens then you have egg and meat potential without relying on the store or supply chain.

If you are raising dairy goat breeds then you will have your own milk as long as you know how to milk a goat.

If you are a gardener, then you should have a surplus of fruits and vegetables. Assuming a disaster such as a hurricane doesn’t wreck your garden. Just make sure you know how to preserve your food.

You can freeze most anything and stock it up for later such as:

Freezing Eggs

Freezing Milk

Freezing Peppers

Freezing Sweet Potatoes

Freezing Spaghetti Squash

For More Homesteading and Frugal Living Tips

40+ Football Party Foods Your Friends (And Wallet) Will Love

By MrAnimal Farm Leave a Comment

If there are two things that go together it’s football friends and football party foods. Just because you have a house full of football fanatics doesn’t mean you have to go broke feeding them. Remember when planning what football party foods to stick within your monthly food budget.

Here is a list of some of the best (and most frugal) football party food recipes to keep you, your friends, and your wallet happy from kickoff to the final whistle.

When you are planning for a big game day party, certainly one like the Super Bowl. You know you need a large amount of food to keep you and your friends going for the whole event. However, it is really important to not break the bank doing so. These super bowl snacks will hit the spot, keep everyone satisfied and also let you stick to your budget!

If you aren’t sure how to track what you are spending and stick to your budget, check out these budget tracking spreadsheets!

P.S. These are all great party snacks really, for any kind of party. They’re not just good for game day.

Pre-Game Party Snacks:

Chips & Dips & Something To Wash Them Down

Football isn’t football without the pre-game show. And what says pre-game and football party foods better than a couple of snack classics?

Homemade Pita Chips

Easy Homemade Hummus

Honey Mustard

chipotle spiced nuts — *picture credit: betterhensandgardens.com*

Chipotle Roasted Nuts

Homemade Salsa

Baked Tortilla Chips

Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels

Easy Restaurant Style White Queso

Quick and Easy Guacamole

homemade ranch dressing — *picture credit: flipflopbarnyard.com*

Homemade Farmhouse Ranch Dressing

Lamb’s Quarters (or Spinach) Chip Dip w/ bonus cracker recipe

Crunchables – Almond Flour Crackers

Perfect Bite Nachos

Zucchini Nachos

DIY Starbucks Frappuccino

Kick-Off:

Football Party Finger Foods & Appetizers

Chips & dip are nice, but on game day you need some easy party snack ideas with substance too. Here are some great football party finger foods.

Amber Ale & Rosemary Candied Bacon

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Sliders

Mini Italian Club Sandwiches

Pigs in a Blanket From Scratch (Only 4 Ingredients)

4 Ingredients Cheese Sticks

restaurant style buffalo wings — *picture credit: notsomodern.com*

Buffalo Wild Wings Style Buffalo Wings

Bacon Cheddar Potato Skins

Egg Salad

Simple Pasta Salad

Deviled Eggs

Gluten Free Mac n’ Cheese

Budget Macaroni and Cheese

Asian Pork Dumplings (Gyoza)

Half Time:

Superbowl Food For The Main Dishes

Take a bathroom break, refill your drink and get ready for the main course. These superbowl or regular football game food ideas will fill you right up!

Inexpensive and Delicious Homemade Pizza

Cheap, Healthy, & Easy Burritos

Best-Ever Grilled Cheese Sandwich

3 Ways to Make Really Great Fried Chicken

Healthy Chicken Strips (Almond Flour Chicken)

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Potato Alternative (Mashed Cauliflower)

Crockpot Chili – with Chicken or Beef and no Tomatoes

Overtime:

Easy Party Snack Ideas For Desserts & Sweets

Nothing is more exciting than a football game that goes into overtime. And with all these fantastic football food ideas, you will want all the time you can to get a taste of everything.

Fantastic Peanut Butter Fudge

Touchdown Brownies

Simple Coffee Cake

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Double Chocolate Football Cupcakes

Reese’s Peanut Butter Football Cups

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Footballs

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Apple Pie

Bonus: Football Theme decoration ideas, Football shaped cookie/brownie/sandwich cutter

For other great recipe ideas…

Coupon Stockpile – What is it, Why & When You Should do it?

By MrAnimal Farm Leave a Comment

A coupon stockpile is, perhaps, one of the BEST things I have in my home. (With exception of my animals and husband, of course 😉 )

First, before we talk about all the goodness of a coupon stockpile, let’s talk about what a coupon stockpile actually is! Essentially, a coupon stockpile is when you buy a LOT of each item when they are on sale so that you have enough of each item to last a long time.

Need to REALLY learn how to coupon? The Couponing for Beginners Planner can take you from couponing newbie to experienced couponer with easy to follow steps, checklists and worksheets!

Why You Should Create A Coupon Stockpile

Creating a coupon stockpile allows you to buy items when they are at rock bottom prices. The goal is to buy enough of each item to last you until they go on another banging sale.

Of course, you want to be SURE you are getting the best price possible. If you stock-up on an item at just an OK price, while you still may be saving money, are you not maximizing your savings – which is the main purpose of having a couponing stockpile.

Another benefit to creating a couponing stockpile is that you aren’t likely to run out of things you need and use regularly. This is particularly awesome because it ends up not only saving money, but also saving time.

Not having to run to the store to buy toothpaste when you realize you are out, it really cuts down on the additional “quick trips” that can really add up.

Figuring out how to stockpile with coupons is relatively easy.

You will want to know what YOUR rock bottom price on an item is. Here are some general guidelines on stock-up prices. But keep in mind that if you have a favorite brand or if you like or need certain things that are pricier, you may have a different “stock-up” price.

Once you know what your rock bottom price for stocking-up is, then you will want to be on the lookout for a sale that meets that price.

There are some items that you can almost always have in your coupon stockpile such as: Toiletries (toothpaste, toilet paper etc), pasta, canned goods. These goods either do not expire or have a long shelf life – so you can buy A LOT when they are at your rock bottom price.

So, while we are calling this a coupon stockpile, if you garden you can also stockpile food for super cheap. Growing your own food is most times much cheaper than buying it in the store. Grow enough for a whole year and then you won’t have to buy that item at the store!

We like to freeze most things to preserve them and have worked on freezing peppers, freezing spaghetti squash, freezing sweet potatoes and much more!

Another thing to know when figuring out how to stockpile with coupons is how quickly you use an item.

For example, if you go through one tube of toothpaste every 3 months then you only want to buy enough toothpaste to last until the expiration date on the tubes. If you buy more than you will use before the item expires, you ultimately end up wasting money – this is NOT what we want to do!

cabinet with lots of pasta and peanut butter

We arrange our stockpile left to right, front to back, oldest to newest. That way we never end up with anything being forgotten.

If you know you will fly through an item and it has either no expiration date or one that is very far out, the best way to decide how much of the item to stock-up on is by seeing how much room you have in your monthly budget. Don’t go over your budget and get into a financial hole just to stock-up.

(If you don’t have control over your budget yet, check out these budget tracking spreadsheets for all the help you need to set a stable, manageable budget!)

Managing Your Coupon Stockpile

So, once you have 20 tubes of toothpaste in your closet, you want to make sure they don’t go to waste! We have a few systems in place to help us manage our coupon stockpile. And if you are making a stockpile you should think about using these (or making your own).

First, we have a master spreadsheet that shows everything in our stockpile. It includes how many of each item, how long it takes us to use them and then auto-calculates how long we have stocked up for. This way we know when we are starting to get low on an item, we can start shopping for sales on that item to get stocked back up.

Or, if we have plenty of an item, we know we don’t need to purchase anymore or it may go unused – which ultimately is like wasting money instead of saving it!

Our second system for managing our coupon stockpile is to store everything in an organized manner. Like items all go together and they go in order of expiration date. This does sometimes mean a little time and work when re-stocking the stockpile. You may have to pull items out and check expiration dates etc.

However, it also means that the toothpaste that you bought 6 months ago doesn’t end up at the back of the pile and always get new toothpaste piled in front of it. It is a real bummer when you end up with expired products in your coupon stockpile!

What will you be putting in your coupon stockpile?!

For more Frugal Finance, Check These Out:

Couponing Tips for Beginners – How to Get Started Couponing

By MrAnimal Farm 6 Comments

My first couponing excursion was a true mess. I was so excited to start couponing. I had done DAYS worth of research on all the “hot deals”. I thought I was all ready to jump right in and well, I DID jump right in – head first, without looking. I think we ALL know how those situations end up, right? In all my research I hadn’t looked at any couponing tips for beginners.

…

Can You Freeze Spaghetti Squash? A Food Preservation Guide

By MrAnimal Farm Leave a Comment

Can you freeze spaghetti squash? If you can freeze mashed potatoes, and can freeze sweet potatoes then surely you can freeze spaghetti squash too!

Like so many times before, you may notice a theme here, we found a fantastic sale on organic spaghetti squash at our local market. So, as per usual, we loaded our cart with enough spaghetti squash to garner the standard “What are you going to do with ALL of that spaghetti squash?” from curious onlookers.

Afterall, creating a stockpile is a FANTASTIC way to save money and time.

“I’m going to freeze it and eat it for a year.” I let them know.

“Can you freeze spaghetti squash?” they ask.

“Well…”

…

Frugal Living

Here are 10 LEGIT ways to make money online:

1) Blogging

2) Swagbucks

3) Amazon

4) Surveys

5) eBay

6) Online Store

7) T-shirts

8) Fiverr

9) Sell Textbooks/books/DVDs etc

10) Upwork

For More Frugal Finance, Check These Out!

When to Create an Emergency Stockpile?

How to Create an Emergency Stockpile

Important Items to Include

Health Supplies

Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies

Food and Water

Additional Items

How Being Self-Sufficient Can Help

For More Homesteading and Frugal Living Tips

Pre-Game Party Snacks:

Chips & Dips & Something To Wash Them Down

Kick-Off:

Football Party Finger Foods & Appetizers

Half Time:

Superbowl Food For The Main Dishes

Overtime:

Easy Party Snack Ideas For Desserts & Sweets

For other great recipe ideas…

Why You Should Create A Coupon Stockpile

Figuring out how to stockpile with coupons is relatively easy.

Another thing to know when figuring out how to stockpile with coupons is how quickly you use an item.

Managing Your Coupon Stockpile

For more Frugal Finance, Check These Out:

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