But a debit card called Aspiration lets you earn up to 5% cash back and up to 16 times the average interest on the money in your account.
It takes about one minute to sign up, and start getting paid to watch the news.
Under your mattress or in a safe will get you nothing. And a typical savings account wonât do you much better. (Ahem, 0.06% is nothing these days.)
If you owe your credit card companies ,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
Letâs say youâre shopping for a new TV. Youâre ready to check out, and you assume youâre getting the best price. Hereâs when Capital One Shopping will pop up and let you know if youâre about to overpay. It will even automatically apply any known coupon codes to your order.
Even if youâre gainfully employed and not in imminent danger of being evicted, youâre probably struggling with bills like most of us are. Groceries are a huge part of everyoneâs budget these days, so theyâre a big target for savings.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Heâs got his game face on and is ready for 2021, come hell or high water.
1. Save Up An Emergency Fund
First, figure out how many meals youâre responsible for making every week. If itâs just you, your answer might be 21: seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners. If you have a family, count meals per person â a dinner for three people counts as three dinners, even if you all eat the same thing.
Enter your email address here to get a free Aspiration Spend and Save account. After you confirm your email, securely link your bank account so they can start helping you get extra cash. Your money is FDIC insured and they use a military-grade encryption which is nerd talk for âthis is totally safe.â
Using Insure.com, people have saved an average of 0 a year.
Maybe COVIDâs sequel shows up. Maybe the economy crashes again. Maybe our weird politics get even weirder. Maybe aliens land in Times Square.
Welllllllll⦠we hate to sound like pessimists, but if thereâs one thing life has taught us, itâs that things can always get worse.
2. Stop Overpaying for Stuff
The benefit? Youâll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 3.49% APR), youâll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
You should shop your options every six months or so â it could save you some serious money. Letâs be real, though. Itâs probably not the first thing you think about when you wake up. But it doesnât have to be.
You just have to answer honestly, and InboxDollars will continue to pay you every month. This might sound too good to be true, but itâs already paid its users more than million.
Try preparing for the week ahead with some meal planning. This goes beyond just making a shopping list. Real meal planning helps you save money because it helps you use what you buy, preventing food and money waste. It also prevents you from spending extra cash on emergency lunches or late-night takeout.
And research companies want to pay you to keep watching. You could add up to 5 a month to your pocket by signing up for a free account with InboxDollars. Theyâll present you with short news clips to choose from every day, then ask you a few questions about them.
3. Get Paid Every Time You Buy Toilet Paper
Not too shabby!
So far, Capital One Shopping has saved users more than million.
A website called Insure.com makes it super easy to compare car insurance prices. All you have to do is enter your ZIP code and your age, and itâll show you your options.
It takes two minutes to see if you qualify for up to ,000 online. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but donât worry â they wonât spam you with phone calls.
4. Knock $540/Year From Your Car Insurance in Minutes
You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto somethingâ¦
This past year has taught us the hard way that everyone should have an emergency fund. You need a place where you can safely stash your savings away â but still earn money on it.
Itâs been a historic time for news, and weâre all constantly refreshing for the latest updates. You probably know more than one news-junkie who fancies themselves an expert in respiratory illness or a political mastermind.
Now figure out how much food youâll need to buy to make it until your next grocery trip. If you buy the same items repeatedly, you know which ones to stock up on when they go on sale. Stocking up on sale items also helps you freeze meals for the future. If thereâs a way to buy in bulk and prep the foods you eat the most often, do it!
Hereâs how it works: After youâve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, youâll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart.
5. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company
You can get started with Capital One Shopping in just a few minutes to see if youâre overpaying online.
Grocery shopping was never exactly pleasant. But these days, itâs a downright struggle. Fighting crowds; keeping six feet of space â just buying toilet paper is a feat. Shouldnât you have something to show for it?
Car insurance is another thing you shouldnât overpay for in 2021. Whenâs the last time you checked car insurance prices?
Thatâs exactly what a free service called Capital One Shopping does. (No need to be a Capital One customer to use it!)
OK, weâre kidding. Obviously, 2021 should turn out way better than 2020 did, right?
6. Cut Your Food Budget by Planning Ahead
A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.
Thereâs no way it could be worse, right?
Just in case, weâve got some proactive moves you should make to protect your bank account in case things go south. Before the next crisis gets going, letâs get started with the protective measures:
Source: thepennyhoarder.com
7. Add $225 to Your Wallet Just for Watching the News
Capital One Shoppingâs free alerts can be added to your browser. Before you check out, itâll check other websites, including Amazon, Target, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. It will also show you coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even let you see the itemâs price history.
Right?
If things go south financially, the last thing you want to be saddled with is credit card debt. And the truth is, your credit card company doesnât really care. Itâs just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Your bank account will be in better shape in 2021 if you stop overpaying for things. For instance, wouldnât it be nice if you got an alert any time youâre shopping on Walmart and are about to get ripped off?
Yup. That could be 0 back in your pocket just for taking a few minutes to look at your options.
So, you thought 2020 was bad? Just wait!