Now I know most of you guys are thinking the title sounds too good to be true. You might want to read this when you’re alone because nobody wants to share a “money making secret” with their coworkers. This is not a get rich quick scheme or a job replacement, but it can put some extra dollars into your pockets.
Let me start out by saying that I have a large family that loves to travel, so I take advantage, oops, I mean I assist them with their bookings. Now you are probably wondering how does this make me money. One of my credit cards offers 5% cash back on travel purchases and since my family thinks credit cards are a tool from the devil and don’t like using them I save the day. I have booked numerous tickets for them. I collect the cash up front when booking and pay the credit card in full immediately. In 2 weeks I made $50 from booking tickets.
By using this example I can make between $100 – $200 each summer just from booking trips for family members. Now I don’t want everyone running out to buy airline tickets for every man, woman and child you know without getting the cash upfront. Another one of my cards offers cash back on gas purchases. Since we have 4 cars (Editor’s Note: that’s one car each for my brother, mother, step-dad and me) and buy gas every week this was a no-brainer. The trick is to only use this “gas card” at stations that do not charge extra for using credit cards.
Some of you may have reward cards and that’s a good thing as well. I use another card to pay everyday bills such as utilities, phones, groceries and whatever else needs to be paid. After a couple of months I was able to get a huge family sized toaster oven that can bake an entire freaking chicken or small turkey. I was also able to get a stainless steel family sized microwave that was a popular name brand as well.
I did not forget about those of us that get frequent flyer miles for purchases. Those come in handy when you are use to making large purchases and love to travel. You can earn enough miles to fly for free. Make sure you check for black out dates and certain restrictions. You want the points you earn to carry-over if they are not used in a calendar year.
Remember these simple steps and you too can “make money” by using your credit cards:
- Gather all your credit cards and research what promotions and incentives they offer. Be sure to know the start and end dates of each promotion and that you are signed up for them at no extra charge.
- Only charge items for other people when they give you 100% of the cash upfront.
- Be sure to only use your cards for everyday purchases that you would normally make using cash. Put that cash to the side and do not spend it. Use it to pay the card.
- Always pay off the entire balance in full before the end of the billing cycle with the cash you collected or did not spend.
- Do not forget to collect your cash back and your rewards.
Follow these 5 simple steps and you too could cash out and earn enough money for a nice dinner or two, a large microwave or maybe get that trip to the Bahamas you’ve always wanted.
Unfortunately this will take some discipline and some of us rather not charge that daily latte and just pay cash!
Editor’s Note: This was a guest post from my brother. Since he stalks my blog, he though that he had something to offer. Considering that he has not worked for someone else since his work place was destroyed on September 11, 2001, I gave him a little space to share some of his money making tips.
