How to Pay Off Debt: 31 Ways to Ditch Your Debt

In this article, we give you 31 ways to pay off your debt.

Sometimes life sneaks up on you, and need to make cash fast.

Or maybe you just want some extra money to pay down debt or invest.

Well, thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to make quick cash.

1. Take online surveys for cash via Paypal.

You won’t make a fortune, but surveys can be a good way to use otherwise spare time.

The trick is that there are only a few legit survey sites. We recommend Survey Junkie.

It’s 100% legit, and they do not send you spammy junk emails.

Their payouts are excellent, and they pay you in cash via PayPal.

Top Survey Site — Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie has an 8.9/10 rating on TrustPilot — the highest of any online survey company.

And they also have some really fun surveys.

For example, in the screenshot below you’ll see a pretty awesome music review survey that I recently did. I made $50 reviewing music! ?

Now, I must tell you that not all surveys are this fun, and not all pay this well, but every once in a while you get a great one like this!

Also, it’s satisfying knowing that companies will use my opinions and inputs to make decisions about not only music, but also food, restaurants, consumer products, movies, and a lot more.

2. Get paid for walking into stores.

We’re a big fan of cash back apps, but the issue with most of them is that in order to make money with them, you have to buy something first.

And if you’re having a hard time with your debt, you may not be in a position to go on a shopping spree right now.

Good news: there’s an app called Shopkick that will pay you simply for downloading it and walking into stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, TJ Maxx, and more.

3. Get a $10 sign-up bonus from Swagbucks.

Swagbucks is a great way to make a little bit of money fast.

Similar to surveys, you won’t make a fortune, but Swagbucks’ offers can still be a good way to pass the time.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out our article Top 7 Ways to Make Money with Swagbucks.

4. Get cash back on stuff you buy anyway.

There’s a little-known app called Ibotta that literally gives you cash back on things you buy anyway, just for taking pictures of your shopping receipts!

To date, I have made $1,357.09 from this little app.

And yes, they pay you cash through Paypal!

And oh yeah, if you sign up with Ibotta through our special $10 bonus link you’ll get a $10 bonus when you submit your first receipt!

5. Play this free slots up and win up to $1,000,000.

Long Game is a free app that basically gamifies and rewards you for your savings.

Here’s how Long Game works:

(1) You deposit money into your Long Game account and earn interest on it. Note that this money belongs to you, just like it does in your bank account. Long Game does not collect any fees out of the money you put in, and you can withdraw it at any time.

(2) Long Game gives you coins depending on how much you have saved in your Long Game account.

(3) You use these coins to play slot games with prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000,000!

So while you do have to put money into the app to play, this money belongs to you, not the house!

How does Long Game make money to pay their employees as well as your winnings?

Easy. Long Game earns interest on the money you deposit, and it’s out of this interest that it pays out the winnings.

6. Teach English online for $14-25/hr.

If you have fluency in English, a Bachelors’ degree, and at least some experience working with children, then you can make $14-$25 per hour teaching English with Gogokid.

By the way, don’t let the “experience working with children” requirement scare you away. This could be simply be babysitting or caring for your own children!

7. Start a blog.

Blogging is my #1 side hustle. Not only do I find it extremely enjoyable to share what I know about my passion (personal finance) with others, but I am making thousands of dollars a month from it — and I just launched my blog this year!

And as an accountant by trade, I had absolutely no formal training in either writing or computers!

Don’t get me wrong; just like in any business, you have to put in the work if you want to make money with a blog.

If you would like additional information about setting up your blog as well as making money from it (and more!), I recommend that you sign up for my free blogging e-course below.

8. Use a free money-saving bot.

Sometimes the best way to make money is to save money.

Subscriptions, especially those that go unused, can add up over time.

Thankfully, there’s a free money-saving bot called Cushion that will go through all your subscriptions, let you know how much you are paying for each of them every month, and cancel them with a simple text message if you’d like.

And Cushion not only keeps track of your subscriptions, but it also negotiates your monthly bills such as cable and Internet so you keep more money in your pocket.

Cushion users have saved over $8,000,000! To learn other benefits that Cushion can offer you, check out our full-scale Cushion review.

9. Get a $300 bonus as a new Lyft driver.

Ever since I got into a last year, we’ve been a 1-car household.

Therefore, I take Lyft all the time.

And I’m not alone!

The fact of the matter is that there are more riders on the road than ever. What this means for you, side hustler, is that driving is a great opportunity — and you can earn money on your schedule.

Oh, and if you sign up to drive through our Lyft $300 Bonus Link, you’ll get a $300 bonus after completing your 100th ride!

10. Rent out your spare room.

Renting out lodging can be an incredible way to earn extra money.

I know some people making thousands of dollars a month, all by renting out an extra room to short-term guests.

Now, if you wanted to do this 10 years ago, you would’ve had to post an ad in the classifieds or on shady old Craigslist.

Gladly, those days are over.

You can now list your spare room on Airbnb and screen out prospective guests. (Guests are rated by their hosts for things like cleanliness and communication.)

If you’d like to sign up to become an Airbnb host, check out my article How to Become an Airbnb Host.

11. Get paid to have an app on your phone.

There’s an app that will pay you just for having it on your phone.

You heard me right. They will pay you $50 per year per device just for having your app on there!

Talk about the ultimate passive income opportunity!

12. Rent out your car.

If you don’t need your car today, then renting it out while you’re not using it could help you make money fast.

There is a website called Turo that acts as a private rental car listing-service.

When you rent your car through Turo, your car is protected against physical damage, up to its actual cash value, for collision and most “comprehensive” causes, including theft. You are also covered by $1 million in liability insurance.

13. Get paid every time you search the Internet.

Swagbucks will pay you to simply use its search engine.

They will also give you $5 if you sign up through our Swagbucks $5 bonus link.

So yup. This is probably the easiest way to make money online.

14. Get $10 by opening an account with Qapital.

Qapital is a free mobile savings app that helps you save money!

And actually, out of all the banking apps I’ve seen, it seems to be one of the easiest to use.

The fun thing about Qapital is that you can create endless Savings Goals and Rules to help you reach your financial dreams faster.

And if you open a Qapital account using our $10 sign-up bonus link and fund it by May 31, 2019, Qapital will give you a $10 sign-up bonus!

15. Proofread documents.

Are you a grammar Nazi or a spelling bee champ?

Do you actually know the difference between “they’re”, “their”, and “there”?

Do you find yourself shaking your head at grammatical errors you come across in everyday life?

If so, then you’re a rare and in-demand breed.

You can take your grammatical gifts and apply them to becoming a proofreader.

All you need are your grammar skills, a computer, and an Internet connection.

16. Invest in Private Real Estate Deals With Only $500

Real estate is one of the classic forms of passive income: you own property, and others pay you for using it.

The downside to traditional real estate, of course, is that you typically need a lot of cash to get started.

Not so anymore with the rise of private real estate investing platforms.

We personally invest in one of these platforms called Fundrise.

Fundrise lets everyday people invest in top deals across the nation — way better deals than most people could find on their own.

It also lets you diversify your real estate holdings. For example, I am invested in deals in 10 different states!

And for the first 90 days of your investment, Fundrise will buy your investment back at the original investment amount if for any reason you are not satisfied.

17. Lend money in $25 increments earning 4-6%.

Lending out money is one of the oldest ways to earn passive income. It’s essentially renting out your money for either people to use, and the rent you charge is known as the interest rate.

Now, in the old days, if you wanted to lend money to somebody in particular, you were taking on a pretty risky business, unless he or she put up some form of collateral. But now, thanks to technology, you can spread out the risk by only lending your money in $25 increments.

How does this work? Well, let’s say Borrower A needs a $25,000 loan. Instead of going to one entity, like a bank or rich person, to borrow the full $25,000 — which would be very risky to that one entity — he or she borrows $25 from 1,000 people. This scenario presents much less risk because the most any single investor could lose is only $25.

Such an arrangement would have been administratively impossible just 15 years ago. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it is now very possible, and the peer-to-peer lending industry, as it’s known, is thriving for borrowers and investors alike.

18. Invest in dividend-paying stocks.

We love dividends here at Money Done Right.

When you invest in a dividend-paying stock, you are acquiring a portion of a company that somebody else built and that thousands of other people work for, and they are giving you a portion of their profits. Blows my mind!

There are plenty of great places to open up a stock-investing account, but the one that’s getting us hot and bothered at the moment is Ally Invest.

Ally Invest is great because you can trade dividend stocks for as little as $3.95 per trade compared to $6.95 at E*TRADE and Charles Schwab.

Ally Invest has developed a pretty amazing platform, and no matter if the stock market goes up or done, we still get dividends deposited into our Ally Invest account every quarter!

19. Invest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Many people have become unlikely millionaires by investing in cryptocurrencies, and the concept of cryptocurrencies is not without merit.

If you would like to receive a $10 bonus to start investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

20. Write an e-book.

E-books can be an incredible source of recurring residual income, month after month and year after year. You put in a lot of work now, and you profit for the rest of your life. And thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to become a published author. You can do it all yourself on platforms like Amazon Kindle!

21. Create an online course.

This is basically tutoring on steroids. Also, an online course has the potential to become an incredible passive income stream since you only have to put in the work once to profit forever. If you’re interested in creating an online course.

22. Design T-shirts.

Did you know that over 2 billion T-shirts are sold every year? It’s true! Think about how many T-shirts you own. Probably at least a dozen or two, right? And consider the fact that every one of those T-shirts had a designer who was paid handsomely for his or her creativity.

And just one or two T-shirts that you design today could provide you with passive income for years to come!

That’s right. Somebody else can handle for you all the production, inventory, and shipping.

23. Sell your photos.

Are you good behind the camera? Then you can make a somewhat passive side income licensing your photos online for others to download.

For example, I get all my pictures for this blog from various stock photo sites on the Internet. And every time I download a photo, the photographer who uploaded it gets a royalty!

Licensing one picture that you take and upload now can give you cash flow forever as it’s downloaded again and again!

24. Invent something.

Invent something once, and either sell it or license it for passive income forever! Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a Thomas Edison to make money inventing things.

In the modern day, it’s actually easier to make money inventing things than it was in Edison’s day. In the 21st century, we have the advantages of 3D printing, outsourced manufacturing, and automated fulfillment.

25. Write a song.

If you have musical inclinations, then writing a song for passive income can be perfect for you. Thinks about it. You spend a few weeks, days, or even hours writing a song, and you can collect royalties on it for years to come!

Just like with becoming a passive income-earning inventor you don’t need to be an Edison, you don’t need to be a Mozart to make a decent stream of passive income from making music online. In fact, many musicians are making a passive income just through easy-to-write selling beats online!

26. Get a $5 sign-up bonus on DOSH.

DOSH is one of the newest cash back apps to hit the market, and we really like it.

You don’t really have to do anything once you have your DOSH account set up.

You just link your credit cards to your DOSH account, and DOSH automatically gives you cash back at various stores and websites.

If you have a lot of friends, you can make good money with DOSH since they pay you $5 per referral.

27. Rent out your bike.

You have a bicycle in your garage. Do you ride it every day? No? Then why not let someone else pay you to use it?

If you’d like to sign up to list your bike, follow my link here where you can sign up for Spinlister (and get $5 ride credit), and then once you are signed up, click on the “List a Ride” button to rent out your wheels.

28. Walk dogs through Rover.

If you love animals and are good at taking care of them, this can be an extremely enjoyable way for you to make extra cash.

Rover is the nation’s largest network of dog walkers, and you can become one of them!

29. Get paid to walk (combine with #28).

I just made $10 for walking, paid in cash via PayPal. It’s true!

There’s a new app, Sweatcoin, that will pay you for every step you take. It motivates me to go for more runs, take the stairs more often, and be an all-around more active person.

And this isn’t even the only way I’m making money by exercising. I’m also getting paid $480 to lose weight!

Learn more in my article I’m Going to Get Paid to Lose Weight with HealthyWage!

30. Get paid to lose weight (combine with #29).

If you can commit to shedding some pounds, it may pay off handsomely for you to cut that habit because you can literally get paid to lose weight through a new company called HealthyWage.

Check out this Good Morning America special on HealthyWage that explains how it works:

You can bet as little or as much as you want, but obviously the more you bet, the more you stand to win! Also, you can bet on your weight loss of any period between 6 and 18 months.

31. Get paid to go to stores.

Did you know that you can earn gift cards simply by walking into stores? It’s true! So whether you’re a mall rat or just somebody who gets out every now and then, click here to learn more about Shopkick, the app that gives you gift cards for just going into stores.