Nowadays every extra dollar counts more than ever. Despite a paycheck from working a regular job, once taxes and other fixed expenses are accounted for, it is getting harder and harder to make ends meet.
Since there are only twenty four hours in day, physically working more (provided you can even get a second or third job) is not really possible.
That’s why you must become more adept at saving smarter, or even better make your cash work for you by finding ways to increase your passive and investment income.
Here then are ten ways that I have used effectively to make some extra cash every month. Hopefully one or more of these ideas will work for you, and best of all you can start implementing them today!
1. High interest savings accounts
This is a no brainier way to make your money work for you. The difference between a high yield savings account and a regular checking account is the “higher” interest (APY) you get, 4 to 5 times in many cases.
For example at current account rates, on $20,000 you can earn well over $500 of interest over the year, versus a miserly $10 to $40 for the entire year with a regular checking account. Further, with volatile stock markets, having your money in cash that you can quickly get to is a huge asset.
Whichever high yield savings account you choose, make sure you go for one that has no fees, above average rates and is FDIC insured.
2. No annual fee credit card
This is my pet peeve – paying an annual fee for a credit card. This is on top of any interest you pay for carrying a balance. Ideally you should pay off your credit card every month, but a number of families have to carry balances to make ends meet.
However one thing you can do right now is get a no fee credit card, saving between $50 to $400 every year depending on your card. There are a number of cards you can get that have no annual fee and also very competitive interest rates.
Many credit card sites can help you search across multiple offerings/vendors and provide you with cards that meet your criteria (like no annual fee or cash back rewards).
3. Refinance Your Mortgage
If you have a home loan and have been a “responsible” owner, yet find it hard to refinance to a lower rate because of falling housing values or less than perfect credit, government refinance programs may still be able to help.
If you have a conforming loan backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae (ask your lender if you are not sure) you can refinance to the lowest rates available in the market. Even shaving a percentage point or two off your rate on a $200,000 mortgage can meaningfully reduce your monthly payment.
4. Start a blog
Do you know how much I make from running this blog? To answer that, I started this blog from scratch and it cost me about $20 to purchase the domain name and some basic hosting.
I wouldn’t call this entirely passive income, because it takes a lot of work to develop an even moderately successful blog. However once you write an article and market it correctly, you can keep making money from the ads in and around it for as long as it is relevant and comes up in search engine results.
I have detailed the required characteristics for successful blogging, but the key attributes are – decent writing skills, basic technical skills and a lot of patience. There is no harm giving it a try, because at most it will cost you a little time and a small hosting fee, and you’ll learn a lot along the way.
5. Adjust your paycheck withholding
If you consistently get a large tax refund every spring, you’re effectively giving the IRS an interest-free loan all year. Adjusting your paycheck withholding so more of your money shows up in each paycheck — rather than as one lump sum the following year — can meaningfully improve your monthly cash flow.
This is especially worth revisiting after any major life change – kids, a new job, a big change in income, or new deductions and credits you now qualify for.
6. Sell on Craigslist or Facebook/Meta Marketplace
I was never a big believer of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace despite what people said. I thought most people would use it to sell junk, mainly because it was cheaper than eBay.
I also assumed that since it was local to the state or country you lived in, the number of buyers and sellers would be small. Boy was I wrong. I recently sold a crib (in good condition) for $150, which I had bought three years for about $180. So after three years and using the crib daily for my infant son, I only lost about $30.
Not bad I think. What’s more I had about 10 people interested in it, among over 100 ads for other cribs. I got a fair price for it – in cash, so I was happy.
I have since used it to sell over $1000 worth of “stuff” that I no longer needed. As the saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
So do a home inventory of “stuff” you are not using, and sell it for free on online marketplaces. The extra cash is definitely something you can use. Just make sure you post good pictures of the things you list!
7. Cut your trading costs to $0
Many new investors are entering the market thanks to $0-commission trading becoming standard across most major brokers. My post on how to buy stocks is one of my most popular, and many folks who have been sitting on the sidelines are now willing to put some money into the market.
Whatever your rationale, experience and investing focus, the one thing you can control is how much you pay for trading. Stick with a broker that charges $0 commissions on stock and ETF trades.
8. Never buy retail and instead portal shop
Two reasons for this. Firstly, it reduces impulse buying. Secondly you are almost guaranteed to find a cheaper price if you shop online. However, like me, most people don’t have time to spend hours trolling the internet looking for a good deal.
That’s where shopping portals or aggregation sites come in useful. They bring together the best prices from various small and well known merchants and you can see the lowest prices in one view.
When I see something I like, I buy it from one of the well known merchants that come up in searches or use it to get the nearest retail store to match price – they all will in the current environment.
9. Reduce 401k contributions (carefully)
I am not suggesting you stop 401K contributions permanently, but if cash flow is genuinely tight, dialing contributions back to just enough to get the full company match (rather than $0) and directing the rest toward higher-interest debt or an emergency fund can be the smarter short-term move.
Once your emergency fund is solid and high-interest debt is gone, ratchet those 401K contributions back up to enjoy the benefits of dollar cost averaging and compounding.
10. Cut down on your auto insurance
Don’t believe all those ads you see that any particular insurance company is the cheapest option. You must always shop around with financial and insurance companies because every policy is negotiable and subject to personal factors.
For example I switched my auto insurance recently and saved over $200 by just saying, “My current insurer gave me $X rate, so what can you do for me to keep me as a customer?“
Shopping for insurance is boring and it is easy to keep going with the automatic renewals, but you can easily save $100 to $500 on your insurance policies by making a few calls to get the best price.
Whew! What a list. All told if you implement even half of the above ideas I bet you could increase your available cash by 5-20% a month and even build a passive income source or two. Good luck saving and investing your money.
Related reading:
- Best High-Yield Savings Account Rates
- 2026–2027 401(k), 403(b) and TSP Contribution Limits
- Finding Cheaper Auto Insurance
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