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20 ways to earn money online in 2017

Looking to earn some extra money this year? Finding the time to pick up a part-time job doesn't alway work for the busy schedules of millennials and university students. But do not fear, that doesn't have to mean you hopes of increasing your income have to be put on the sideline. There are increasing number of legitimate ways to earn money online (often more easily than traditional earning methods). 




  • Enter sweepstakes / competitions. In the past couple of years we have won close to £6,000 in prizes so it really can be a great way to earn online. We normally just enter competitions whist we are watching T.V in the evening. Our favourites search site to use is competition database because there are no spammy competitions on there allowing you to make better use of your time. Best of all the prizes are tax free. 
  • Share your university experience with prospective students with UniBuddy and earn approximately £35 per applicant you help, plus be entered into their regular prizes for writing posts and articles. 
  • Teaching English to Chinese children is a super flexible way to utilities your language skills. Got a bachelors?  try this company instead for better pay.
  • Write mock essays, exam notes or mark papers.  [requires a bachelors degree] Academic knowledge hire graduates to work as freelance writers. The pay depends on the length of the project and the time to be completed in and you are paid either by BACS or Paypal. 
  • Start a blog and earn through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts and advertisements. Whilst blogging is not a get rich quick scheme there are plenty of bloggers our there who earn impressive salaries online. 
  • Use Swagbucks to earn £100s in gift cards by doing simple surveys, browsing the internet and shopping online. The easiest way to earn is to install their search engine browser and earn Swagbucks simply by searching the internet like normal. 
  • Play the bookies at their own game and take advantage of betting offers with matched betting (and not its not gambling) to earn up to £1000 a month !!! Check out of post on how you can make your first matched betting earning of £45 in 60 minutes. Plus matched betting is entirely tax free !! 
  • Get paid to read your emails with Inbox Pounds. They send you emails. you click that you've read the email at the bottom of the email text and earn money. It really is that simple. You can cash out every time your earnings total £20. 
  • Create an Etsy store.  Selling digital downloads is probably the most passive way of earning an income through Etsy, but it can also be used to sell physical items too. We sell a single item on our etsy store (cash envelope printables) and we get a nice little side-income that is almost entirely passive. 
  • Get cashback on your shopping with Quidco (use this link to get £10 free with Quidco), TopCashback or Swagbucks. Over the year you'll see the savings add up for next to no effort. 
  • Sell your photos to photo stock companies. Blogs and websites are in high demand of stock photos. If you have high quality photos you can sell them through companies such as Crewstock Don't have a fancy camera? You can sell photos taken on your smart phone through Clashot
  • Publish an e-book on amazon and keep 70% of the profits from the book. If your not sure where to start Disease called Debt have an brilliant guide to publishing an E-Book  perfect for the first time e-book publisher. 
  • Become an Audio Typist. If you've got access to good speed internet, can type at 65 wpm accurately and have at least a C grade in GCSE English (though its probably helpful to be a bit more proficient) then working as a transcriptionist for TakeNote could be a great option. 
  • 20 Cogs is an tasks and offers rewards site. Whilst you won't get rich from completing 20 Cogs offers you could also easily earn a couple of hundred pounds as you can see from their earnings leaderboard. 
  • Write online reviews with Dooyoo. They are probably the best known review site in the U.K. The site is easy to use, you can write reviews on tons of products and you can be paid in cash or amazon vouchers. 
  • Fiverr is somewhat similar to Etsy. It is an online marketplace where you offer freelance services such as graphic design or translations work for $5. If you have a creative freelance skill this can be a great platform to find work online. 
  • Sell your used toilet roll holders as craft supplies on online auction sites such as eBay. Whilst you won't earn thousands this way, its a simple way to earn a little extra cash for something you are going to buy and use up. For more information check out SkintDad's post on selling used toilet roll holders.
  • Reselling on gumtree or eBay. Picking up bargains and reselling them for a higher price. Often the safest option when starting is to pick up free items (or super low price) from gumtree or charity shops, this means your unlikely to make a loss. You might also find using sites such as LatestDeals or Extreme Coupling and Deals UK useful to pick up bargains and then sell them on for a profit online. 
  • Create a course. Have you got a skill or knowledge you could share with others? Then why not create a course to teach that skill. Maybe your awesome at coding or an ace at exams. Through Udemy you can create and sell your very own course. 
  • Earn money losing weight with DietBet. DietBet is a social dieting site which runs challenges where you receive rewards for losing weight. There is a 30 day challenge to lose 4% of your body weight or  a 6 month challenge to lose 10% of your body weight. Those in your group who achieve the goal, the pot of money is divided up and equally distributed to the winners. 

With so many ways to earn extra money online your sure to be able to find something to meet your talents, needs and schedule.  
*This post contains affiliate links, all opinions are our own*

I’m taking part in the Money Making Madness Linky hosted by Charlotte Burns from Lotty Earns, Emma Bradley from Mum’s Savvy Savings, Emma Drew from EmmaDrew.Info and Lynn from Mrs Mummy Penny.

Valentines Day on a Budget

Valentines day can be expensive... too expensive for a student. It can really feel like its a corporate gimmick to suck your wallet dry. It can be easy to lose sight of the day's real objective to show your unyielding love to another when you are inundated with financial expectations associated with the day. 
But valentine's day does not have to cost the earth, today we will share some great ideas we have found to enjoy valentines's day on a student budget. 




Have a treat dinner at home. 
Not going out for dinner doesn't have to make the evening any less special. Get dressed up like you would for going out, set your dining space up for the meal, light a few candles. It can be a fun opportunity to cook together. We like to use Great British Chef's recipes for treat dinners, they have high quality restaurant recipes that almost anyone could cook and even have a section on valentine's day recipes

If your not feeling overly ambitious about cooking then the big supermarkets are back with their at-home valentines dinner sets that usually fall around the £15-£20 mark. Waitrose offer a dinner for 2 for £20 which includes three courses, sides and drink (and the food looks delicious). While Marks and Spencer offer a "2 dine in for £10" including drinks. 

You can get a free takeaway (up to the value of £15) with lots of big brand takeaway companies including Just Eat and Pizza Hut through Quidco. Or order through Deliveroo and get £10 off your first spend. 

Dine out for Less
Whilst lots of chains are offering discount vouchers at the moment many of them are not valid on valentines day. These will only work to your advantage if you plan on celebrating on a different day. 
We've found a hack to get you 48% off pizza express (without any discount vouchers).  
Other ideas for eating out on a budget include using Lastminute.com who have a great feature called 'cheap eats' where you can set your price point i.e. eat of for £20. Or why not consider going out for brunch for the better deals earlier in the day or just for dessert in the evening. 

Entertainment 
Going to the Cinema for a couple could cost £20+ in tickets plus any snacks you buy. This year valentine's day falls on a Tuesday so if you are thinking about going out to the cinema its the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the trick we have found to save 65% off Cineworld. To learn more click here

Perhaps you want to have a movie night from the comfort of your own home. Local libraries and often university libraries allow you to rent DVDs for free. Plus Amazon Prime have tons of movies available free for 6 months for students. 

Gifts
Flowers are crazy expensive (and die so quickly) you can easily be looking close at £40-£50 for roses. Luckily a number of florists at the moment are running special offers. Prestige flowers are offering 30% off 12 red roses. Bunches have 10% off with the promo code BUN10  and a free box of chocolates if you order online. Bouqs have 20% off with the code VDAY20.

O2 priority are currently giving away a free valentines day card with Choosy. Which you can order online. While new customers with TopCashback can get a free moonpig card after cashback or a free box of Thontons chocolates




More ideas? 
It is often the small more sentimental touches that make the big difference. The Dating Divas is a great site for help organising date nights that are big on sentimentality and not on budget. They have over 100 ideas for valentines dates (many you can do from your own home). Most of their ideas are inexpensive or entirely free making them perfect for any budget. 



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If you are new to our blog, we are all about finding new ways for students and millennials to make and save money. Here are some of our favourite sites and products to help you out:

  • Start a blog. Blogging is our side-hustle just over a year ago we didn't think I would bring us any income . You can create your own blog here with my easy-to-use tutorial. You can start your blog for as low as $3.49 per month plus you get a free domain if you sign-up through my tutorial.
  • Save money with gift cards Whether its for buying clothes, your weekly shop or dining out use Zeek to buy discounted gift cards to get more bang for your buck and get £5 free when you make your first purchase through our link. 
  • Use Swagbucks for your online searches. Swagbucks is a passive way to earn gift cards. Over the course of a year you could earn $500.  Swagbucks is just like using Google to do your online searches, except you get rewarded “points called SB” for the things you do through their website. Then, when you have enough Swagbucks, you can redeem them for cash, gift cards, and more. Receive $5 for signing up today.
  • Try matched betting. Matched betting is a great way to may easy money online. Despite the name it is not gambling and could see you earn £500-£1000 a month for only a couple of hours work a day see here and here. For your free trial head to profit accumulator or join the Facebook 'getting started' group.  
  • Sign up for a cashback site like Quidco. where you can earn CASH BACK for just spending like how you normally would online. The service is free too! Plus, when you sign up through my link, you also receive a free £10 bonus!


*This post contains affiliate links, all opinions are our own*