With COVID-19 still raging on, you barely even have to leave your house for these list items. Supplement your income and save some extra cash at the end of the month to save for your next vacation. I’m hoping it’ll be safe for that to be sooner rather than later.
For the uninitiated, Mechanical Turk is a site full of microtasks to complete. These often take the form of short 5-10 minute studies done by universities. There are also a bunch of transcription and receipt identification tasks, which are usually on the lower paying side and I recommend avoiding them.
Since there are so many tasks that are not worth the time/effort, you’ll have to be prudent about which tasks you choose. Luckily, there are resources to help you find tasks with high pay rates. r/hitsworthturkingfor is good for a few tasks a day. Only tasks which pay at a rate of 10 cents a minute or higher are posted there. You’ll also want to download a script like MTurkSuite to find higher paying jobs. I’ve made thousands of dollars on Mechanical Turk in the past. $50-100 per month extra is more than possible.
2. Prolific.co
Prolific is essentially a more user-friendly Mechanical Turk. Only university studies are posted on the site. The pay rate per hour for each task is clearly posted and is generally better than what you’ll find on Mechanical Turk. However, there are a limited number of tasks, as qualification for studies can be somewhat strict. But, if you check often, it’s good for a few dollars a day.
3. BookScouter
Have a bunch of old textbooks lying around that you should’ve gotten rid of years ago? BookScouter aggregates a bunch of reselling websites to find you the best price for your old book.
When I was in college, other students would often leave valuable books laying around during move out day. This was always a great opportunity to make some effortless cash.
These are all selling apps which help you get rid of stuff you no longer need while making some cash in the process. Poshmark is specifically for clothing items, while Mercari and LetGo are more general. Declutter and make some money while you’re at it.
5. UserTesting
Long past is the heyday of focus groups. Now, companies can just receive feedback for their products and websites online. This is where you come in. As long as you have a working microphone/camera on your phone and/or computer, you can participate in studies. These are often hard to come by but when you qualify, they pay at quite a high ($20-25/hr) rate.
