Let’s face it — everyone wants to know how to get free money.

But is free money really free?

Well, money is an exchange of value, so it’s uncommon to get money without providing value. In other words, unless you find a dollar bill on the ground, there’s always some degree of work involved in earning cash.

But fortunately, there are a ton of ways to get an easy few bucks with so little effort that the money’s basically free. Here are 31 different methods of getting free money that you can try today!

1. Survey Site Signup Bonuses

Survey sites allow you to make money simply by offering your opinions. In fact, you can score a few bucks just by signing up on most of these sites. Here are two of the best.

Survey Junkie

SurveyJunkie offers a $5 signup bonus once you create an account. From there, the app will match you to surveys that best meet your interests and demographic.

This site is also unique in that they’ll often pay you something even after you don’t qualify for a survey. Once you’ve earned 1,000 points (a $10 value), you’ll be able to redeem your points for e-cards to places like Amazon, eBay, and more; or simply cash out via PayPal!

Check out our Survey Junkie review to learn more!

Pinecone Research

Pinecone Research gives you a $5 bonus when you sign up for an account.

Then, rather than having to log in and hunt around for surveys, Pinecone Research will send them right to you — just make sure your email notifications are on!

Get Ready to cash out? Trade in your points for electronic or physical gift cards to some of your favorite stores!

2. Watch Movies Online

Did you know that some companies will actually pay you to kick back, relax, and watch movies online for free? Here are a couple of the best options.

Swagbucks

Join Swagbucks and this company will give you a $10 bonus just for creating an account!

Then, head over to the Swag TV feature on the app to watch all sorts of videos — from entertainment and current events to pets, food, and much more. The company hands out roughly 7,000 every day. Claim your own after kicking back and watching some fun videos!

Check out our Swagbucks review for more.

InboxDollars

Sign up for InboxDollars and the company will pay you a $5 signup bonus.

After that, you can watch videos in a variety of categories to earn cash — from trending videos to clips in entertainment, food, news, and more.

InboxDollars has something for everyone. In fact, once you’ve had enough videos for the day, you can also get paid to fill out surveys, play games, read emails, and more!

3. Sign Up For a Rewards Card

Whenever you get a discount on a purchase, it’s like you’re putting a little extra money back into your pocket. What if you could do that every time you swipe your credit card?

You can if you get a rewards credit card that pays you cashback. Many of these credit cards earn you up to 5% cashback in various categories, which can add up to a lot of free money over time.

4. Save on All Your Purchases With Coupons

Most people think you can only get free money by making money. But if you spend less than you usually would by using coupons, it’s a lot like earning a few bucks.

Sure, you could clip coupons you find in the mail if you wanted to save on every purchase. But it’s so much easier today to just open a coupon app at checkout, scan, and save.

5. Rent Your Home

Nowadays, renting rooms for spare cash has become a popular way to earn some free money off your home. You, too, can join in on this lucrative trend by hopping on VRBO and listing a spare bedroom or guest room you have.

Renting out your room (or your entire home when you’re away on vacation) could pay a nice amount. It’s possible to cover your whole rent or mortgage payment — essentially letting you live rent-free — by merely keeping your spare room full several days a month.

6. Rent Your Unused Storage Space or Driveway

Some don’t have a spare room to rent to someone, but nearly everyone has a little bit of unused space somewhere in their home. It might be storage space, a garage, or even your driveway!

You can monetize that space by renting it out on Neighbor. Whether you have a small closet or an entire shed available, there are people on Neighbor looking to pay people like you to store their things.

7. Refinance High-Interest Debt

Paying interest on your debt is like throwing money away — especially if you have high-interest debt, like credit card debt.

If you want to start putting more money back into your pocket today, one of your best options is refinancing your high-interest debt by taking out a personal loan at a lower interest rate.

No need to browse all over the web, though — Credible will bring you up to 11 top lender options in 2 minutes. With the Credible Best Rate Guarantee, the site will give you $200 if you find a better rate elsewhere (*terms apply, see terms on the Credible website for details) .

8. Refinance Your Student Loans

Many student loans come with high interest rates. By refinancing your student loans — that is, replacing your current loan with a brand new loan that, ideally, has a lower interest rate — you could potentially save thousands of dollars. How’s that for free money?

Credible is a loan comparison site that makes it easy to refinance your student loans. In 2 minutes, they’ll show you prequalified rates from up to 10 lenders. What’s more, Credible has no application fees, origination fees, or prepayment penalties.

And get this — when you complete your refinancing through Credible, you’ll even get a free bonus of up to $300 if you qualify (*terms apply, see terms on the Credible website for details)!

9. Monitor Your Credit for Free So You Can Improve It

A strong credit score allows people to pay less interest on debt, access better credit cards with more cashback, and even land some jobs. Monitor your credit score and take steps to improve it and you could enjoy these benefits, too.

Now, you could wait every year to get your annual free credit report from the bureaus, or you could check it for free as often as you want to on Credit Sesame. Checking doesn’t cost you a penny, nor does it hurt your score!

What’s more, the site will give you tips and tools to help you get your credit score moving in the right direction as quickly as possible!

10. Find a Better Auto Insurance Rate

Car insurance — you need it, but it’s not exactly cheap. Fortunately, you could find a new policy at a much better rate in only a few seconds by getting quotes through Gabi.

Just plug your information in, and Gabi will find industry-leading offers based on the level of coverage you’re seeking. Compare all of your options in one place and switch companies in minutes.

Gabi charges zero fees and auto insurance customers save an average of $961 each year!

11. Cut Your Homeowners or Renters Insurance Bill

Housing is almost everyone’s most significant expense, and it doesn’t stop at your mortgage or rent. Homeowners or renters insurance is another housing cost you have to think about.

Fortunately, Everquote may be able to help you lower your homeowners or renters insurance with little effort.

Simply plug in your zip code, provide details about your house or apartment, and this site will find you multiple home or renters insurance rates for you to compare in one place. The service is free to use and it could help you put money back in your pocket each month!

12. Trim Your Bills With No Effort

Negotiating bills stresses a lot of people out, as does paying an excessive amount for those bills.

If you sign up for Truebill, that’ll no longer be a worry. This app will analyze your current bills — such as your phone bill or your cable bill — and then negotiate with those companies on your behalf. This allows you to sit back and take a deep breath while Truebill tries to help you put more money back in your pocket.

What’s more, 84% of people have unwanted subscriptions that they have simply forgotten about. Truebill shows you all of your subscriptions in one place, and with your permission, automatically cancels them for you — ultimately saving you a ton of money!

13. Refinance Your Mortgage

If you’re a homeowner, your mortgage is probably your single largest expense every month — in which case, refinancing your current mortgage is a simple move that might save you thousands.

Refinancing your mortgage is the process of replacing your current mortgage loan with a new loan that ideally has a better interest rate and/or terms.

There are a handful of top mortgage refinance companies that could potentially help you save thousands of dollars on your mortgage!

14. Earn More Interest and Ditch Bank Fees

Interest is one of the easiest ways to get free money (when you’re earning it and not paying it, that is), and avoiding bank fees is another. Finding a top online bank account that offers both can help you hang on to a few extra dollars.

Aspiration offers an account that pays up to 1.00% APY in interest and checking accounts that earn cashback. Plus, they let you set your fee. You can set it to $0 if you want. They will only charge you for services such as wire transfers — and even then, only to cover the cost of the service.

15. Earn Cashback on Your Shopping

In today’s world of cashback rewards apps, you should seldom pay full price for anything. Shop through these apps and earn cashback on every purchase.

Drop

Drop makes earning cashback at your favorite stores effortless. All you do is link a card, pick your five favorite brands, and shop using that card. Drop automatically rewards you points as you spend.

Pro tip: sign up with a good cashback credit card for even more points!

Ibotta

Ibotta is another app that will give you cashback when you shop. All you have to do is select offers in the app before you go shopping, and then snap a photo of your receipt in the Ibotta app after your visit.

The company will then give you cashback in your account for every valid offer that appears on your receipt!

16. Browse the Web for Cash

Think about how much time you spend poking around online every day. What if you got paid to do that?

Sign up for Nielsen, and you will. With your new account, simply download their app and engage in your regular browsing habits to earn money.

This app works as a simple plugin that doesn’t even slow down your browser or devices, so be sure to install it on every device you use!

17. Get Paid to Cut Your Energy Use

Cutting the amount of energy you use will save you money as it is, but then there are some companies that will pay you on top of that.

For example, OhmConnect alerts you when energy demand is at its highest and urges you to reduce your usage during these times. If you use less energy during these high-demand intervals, they will actually pay you cash.

What’s more, the company has a bi-weekly drawing during which they give away all sorts of prizes — including energy-efficient appliances, home makeover packages, and cash — to select energy savers.

18. Get in Shape and Earn Cash

Need a little extra motivation to burn off those pounds? If free money isn’t a good motivator, what is?

On HealthyWage, you can participate in fitness challenges and bet on your own weight loss with friends and family to earn real cash prizes.

Fatten your wallet and slim your waistline!

19. Turn Your Junk Mail Into Cash

Like most people, you probably get a pile of junk in the mail every day. But don’t throw it out — the Small Business Knowledge Center wants to pay you for it!

Every usable piece of mail you send them earns you points towards prepaid Visa gift cards. And if you’re a business owner or someone who’s self-employed, you’re even eligible to earn bonus points.

Turn all that trash into cash!

20. Sell Old Junk

It’s good to declutter your home every so often. But don’t throw those unwanted items away — sell them and pocket a few bucks.

You could have a garage sale, but selling online is much easier! There are plenty of sites that will help you sell popular “junk” items like old electronics, clothes, used books, and more. You can also try classifieds sites such as Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

21. Buy Discounted Gift Cards

People often sell gift cards they don’t want or need at discounted prices online. Before you embark on your next shopping spree, why not see if you can find useful gift cards online?

MyGiftCardsPlus is a great place to start. See if there are any gift cards to your favorite stores. The site offers gift cards that give you cash back. Buying them will save you a few bucks immediately since you’ll be shopping at these stores anyway!

22. Make Your Phone an Ad Billboard

Today, you can monetize just about anything — even your phone’s lock screen, thanks to S’more. The app puts ads and content on your screen every day that you can either dismiss or click on, and then awards you points — regardless of how many ads you see.

Earn enough points, and you can cash out for gift cards to various retailers. Currently, S’more is only available for Android devices.

23. Grab Your 401(k) Employer Matching Bonus

Contributing to a 401(k) account is a great way to stash free money away for the future, as most employers will match your 401(k) contributions up to a certain percentage of your salary — either $0.50/dollar or dollar-for-dollar.

This is entirely free, and the government doesn’t tax these contributions. If your employer has a 401(k) plan, you should at least hit the maximum matching contribution to get as much free money as possible!

24. Negotiate a Raise at Work

One of the best long-term sources of free money is, of course, a bigger paycheck. To put yourself in the best position to negotiate for a raise, you can do a few things:

• Research salary information about positions similar to yours nationwide and in your area
• Interview at other companies and land an offer
• Consider how well your company is doing at the moment
• Practice negotiating with friends and family
• Schedule your meeting right after completing a successful project (to get your boss in a positive frame of mind)

25. Score Free Gift Cards

Gift cards can be as good as cold, hard cash, and there are all sorts of companies that give away free gift cards.

Most of these sites hand them out with very little effort needed on your part. See if you can’t pick up a few gift cards to your favorite retailers!

26. Claim Unfound Money

Did you know that state and federal governments (as well as other organizations) currently hold tens of billions of dollars in unclaimed money and property? Some of that could be yours.

And it only takes a few minutes to check. Visit a site like the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators and run a search. You can also check out your state’s government site and the federal government’s site to search for unclaimed property or money.

27. Donate Plasma

Blood plasma is in high demand for treating various rare diseases as well as severe burns — so much so that there are plasma donation centers all over the country that will pay you a nice sum (potentially up to $100 per week) to give plasma.

Visit a donation center on your day off or in your free time. Donating plasma might take an hour at most, allowing you to kick back, watch Netflix, help those in need, and get paid!

28. Grab Free Stuff Online

Free stuff can be just as good as free money, and the Internet is a seemingly bottomless source of it. There are tons of ways to get free stuff online, and most don’t take a whole lot of time or energy.

And if you win something, you can usually sell it just as easily, effectively earning you free money — unless you find something you actually want, of course!

29. Recycle Aluminum Cans

You probably have a pile of free money sitting in your pantry or garage — it’s all of those empty cans. You can recycle your aluminum cans for cash by taking them to a scrapyard. If you live in a “Bottle Bill” state, you can even return them to the store for their deposits.

30. Double-Check Your Old Tax Returns

It’s no secret the US has a complicated tax code. You might have made a mistake on your last return, which means you could also be missing out on extra cash through unclaimed deductions and credits.

Software from places like H&R Block will help you catch anything you missed. If you find a deduction or credit, the software will even help you file an amended return so that you get your extra refund!

31. Boost Your Credit Score

The higher your credit score, the less you’re likely to pay in interest on credit cards and loans. Over the journey, this could result in thousands of dollars back in your wallet.

To improve your score quickly, try Experian Boost. This free service helps you get credit for paying your everyday bills — your phone, utilities, Netflix® subscription, Disney+™ subscription, you name it!

Simply link your bank account, choose the items you want credit for, and watch Experian Boost work its magic!

32. Get a Free $300 Advertising Credit for Your Business

Any time you can get free advertising for your business, it’s as good as free money.

Yelp is one of the largest online directories, and the company helps businesses reach more customers through powerful advertising campaigns. Sign up today and Yelp will give you a free $300 advertising credit for your business!

33. Grab Free Furniture

Furniture is expensive, particularly when you’re talking about high-ticket items such as sofas and dining tables. Fortunately, there are many different ways to get free furniture.

Get your hands on a few free pieces of furniture and you’ll feel as though you just saved a whole bunch of money — because you did. Even if you don’t like the furniture or don’t plan to add it to your home, you could sell it for real cash!

34. Score Free Food

Who doesn’t love free food? It’s not money, per se — but if you’re not paying for it, it might as well be.

There are dozens upon dozens of restaurants that give away free food — typically, all you need to do is download the company’s app or sign up with your email. See if your favorite restaurants are giving away any items!

Snag Your Free Money Today

Free money isn’t going to help you quit your day job, but it can certainly help you cover some small costs in a pinch and even help you chip away at some of your monthly bills.

Combine several sources of free money, like the ones mentioned above, and you could make some noticeable room in your budget!