Set Your Ringtone to “Cha-Ching”
If you’re like most college students, you can always use a few extra bucks. Whether it’s for pizza, beer, a date, cover charges on frat row or any other “extracurricular activity,” most college kids could probably earn a minor in being strapped for cash.
But actually, you have more money in your pocket than you think. I’m not talking about that credit card your mom gave you “for emergencies only.” I’m talking about your cell phone.
Here are five apps that can be used to make a few bucks on the side without having to mop soda off the floor at the local movie theater. And the best part is, you can do some of these while sitting through that awful 9 a.m. lecture about microeconomics in 17th century Eastern Europe.
1.) Take photos
You already use your phone to take pictures so why not get paid for it? Foap is a stock photo company that acts as a middleman between you and companies who want to pay you for your photos. Upload your cell phone photos to Foap and if a company purchases your picture you will get 50% of the profit. Most of the photos sell for around 10 bucks, or an 18-pack of Natty Light.
2.) Mystery shopping
A number of websites and apps, such as Gigwalk or Field Agent, will pay you for simple tasks that can be completed in stores. You may have to take and upload a photo of a particular display case or price tag and then answer a few questions about it. Payments range from a couple bucks up to $20 for more labor-intensive tasks and are typically paid into PayPal accounts. So when you’re doing your weekly grocery shopping for Ramen Noodles, you could knock off a few of these and maybe pay for a box of mac n’ cheese.
3.) Roll the dice
There are websites and apps out there where you can play poker, blackjack, slot machines, bingo, roulette or a number of other games for real money—depending on where you live, of course. PartyPoker offers daily tournaments with weekly payouts of $70,000. Of course you’ll need a few bucks to get yourself started but the sky’s the limit on how much profit you could turn. And you’ll probably learn more about statistics and probabilities doing this than you will in your calculus class anyway.
4.) Brand yourself
No, this is not a reference to branding your biceps with your Greek letters. I’m talking about your social media account. Set up an account with mylikes and link them to your Twitter, Youtube or Tumblr account. Then choose any of mylikes’ sponsored campaigns, link to them in your posts and get paid shameless money via PayPal per view or click.
5.) Fantasy sports
Many college students toss in 20 bucks to play fantasy football with their buddies but there’s much more to be won in the online world. Websites like Fantasy Golf Tour are free to play and mail out weekly checks to its winners. ESPN’s Streak for the Cash is a free game where each day you select the winner of one matchup. It could be simply one team versus another or it could be something random like “Philadelphia 76ers point total versus Cole Hamels pitch count.” It’s fun and each month there’s a $10,000 prize and a $20,000 prize. That’s a lot of pizza.
