Five Ways to Earn Cash

Seeing that we’re all in the middle of a huge financial crisis, we are all a little more conscious of what we spend our money on. You might want to keep your savings and have a little extra money on you for lunch and other minor expenses. Read on to find out five ways you can earn that extra cash for when you need it.

Collect bottles and soda cans

In countries that have recycling plants, you can get paid for delivering empty bottles and soda cans to the recycling plants. The rates for each item may vary according to the content of the bottles and the size of the bottles or cans. You can deliver as many as you can reasonably carry to the plant itself or to one of its depots. For example, there are depots all over Vancouver where I get paid 5 cents for every glass or plastic bottle or aluminum can that holds one liter or less of a non-alcoholic beverage. I get paid 10 cents for every glass or plastic bottle or aluminum can that holds the same amount of an alcoholic beverage (however they do not accept all brands – alcoholic beverage brands need to be registered in the recycling program). I get paid 20 cents for every glass or plastic bottle or aluminum can that holds more than one liter of any sort of beverage. I’m able to earn 5 dollars a week this way – enough for snacks or a small lunch.

Volunteer to be a guinea pig

This one isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds like. All you do is find an ad that asks for people to participate in a survey or a study and offers “compensation” (ie: money) for your time. This is easier to do if you’re a student in college or if you’re in a college setting. The ads are posted in boards all over campus but most are located in the Student Union Building. The studies or research are usually involved with psychology, computer sciences, and sometimes physics. Some may list eligibility criteria as well. Most offer a payment but a few don’t, so do not assume you’re getting paid unless the ad explicity says you will – the payments will usually be around 5 to 30 dollars per hour (most last about an hour anyway). Ads are posted year-round so this is a good way to earn a semi-steady income in addition to a job. Though extremely rare, you might find the opportunity to participate in a study that pays about 100 dollars or more, but these studies usually last more than one hour, are not conducted on campus, and may involve critical thinking or independent research or both. These opportunities are not posted and will usually only come to your attention through professors whose friends are conducting the studies.