This post is inspired by dividend diplomats monthly side hustle report. Starting January 2018, I have started including side hustle income to my monthly review. This post deals with my side hustle strategies.

Warning: This article contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and sign up for something that I recommended.

Credit cards are an awesome way to get cash backs and other rewards. These rewards are based on spending patterns. However that’s not the only way to maximize credit card benefits. I typically rotate credit cards. I sign up for a credit meet the spending limit get my rewards and close the account. I do this every 6 months so that it does not impact my credit score. I can rotate the same credit card after 24 months.

However, after the breach at Equifax I have frozen all my credit scores. I am no longer able to rotate credit cards. I still get good cash back from my cards. My cards give me 6.0% on groceries, 3.0% on gas and 2.0% on everything else. Try to make a conscious effort to use the right credit card at the right place.

Swagbucks provides umpteen ways to make swag bucks. Swag bugs are converted to dollars at 1:100 rate i.e. 1 Swag buck is 0.01$. Earn Free Gift Cards when you Shop online, Watch Videos, Take Surveys, and Discover deals and promo codes.

I found watching videos to be worst. The cash received is very low. I felt the power consumed while watching these videos would probably cost me more than the rewards. It is not something that can be automated in the background. There is a captcha after every video completes.

With searches I have had slightly better luck. Just switch your default search engine to Swagbucks. Swagbucks are awarded after searches. The awards are random and I generally get one per day. However, I have found their search engine to be bad.

My biggest draw is “swag code”. Swag code are available daily and when entered provide a few swag bucks. If you install their browser plugin, you will get a notification when new codes are available.

Swagbucks tends to have deals where you get payed to sign up for an offer. In my opinion they provide the best value. I always use a Visa gift card for the recurring deals. Some deals offer more Swagbucks than the cost associated with the deal. Some of my recent rewards,

I earned 2,825 Swagbucks ($28.25). My total expenses were around $15.00. In addition, I ended up with a year’s worth of supplies. Put cash back in your wallet!

Raise is all about gift cards. How many times have you ended up with a gift card which you are unable to use? Raise provides a platform for buying and selling gift cards (Walmart, Amazon and Southwest to name a few).

I use raise exclusively for buying discounted gift cards. If I am at a Walmart shopping, just before checkout I get out my app and buy gift card for an amount close enough to what I am going to spend. Typically, I get discounts around 2-3%. Similarly, before booking airline tickets or filling gas I buy the gift card for the specific airline or gas station.

The discounts vary based on categories. Restaurants/Home categories tend to be the most heavily discounted. Very useful if you plan on performing home upgrades. The Raise app (android and iOS) makes it easy to buy and spend gift cards directly from your phone! Furthermore raise has periodic sales where it is possible to get an additional 5%-10% off selected gift cards. I saved $10.46 using Raise. It is also possible to stack Raise with TopCashBack (see below). Simply sign up to get $5 off your first purchase!

Sometimes the gift card you are looking for might not be available on Raise. Another site I frequent is Cardpool. Similar to Raise, Cardpool offers a large selection of discounted gift cards. On occasions Cardpool has offered better discount rates than Raise. Just like Raise, tt is also possible to stack Cardpool with TopCashBack (see below). I use Cardpool exclusively for buying airline tickets. As of today, I have saved $48.00 in air travel. You can get $5 off your first purchase with this special offer!

A TopCashBack website is a reward website that pays its members a percentage of money earned when they purchase goods and services via its affiliate links. TopCashBack was voted Cashback Site of the Year in 2016 and 2017 at the Moneyfacts Consumer Awards. Topcashback can be used with online purchases only. But, by using TopCashBack to buy gift cards (using raise or cardpool) you can extend its rewards to brick and mortar stores. As of today TopCashBack is offering 2.0% cash back with Raise and 1.0% cash back with Cardpool. Sign up to get $5 free cash back!