How to Make Money Online Without Paying Anything

There’s no need to be paying anything upfront

Table of Contents

Play video games or create content, there are loads of ways to make money online without paying anything. These really are easy ways to earn money. Making money online is a great way to earn free money. We have included everything from market research roles to surveys and online businesses.

Making money online is a great way to either top-up your current income or work from home. If it’s always been your dream to make money online then this is the post for you. We walk you through all the dos and don’t of what you need to remember and expect when it comes from earning money online. And experts from GetFinanceEssay will help us to figure it out.

Remember that before you start earning money you need to register with HMRC if you earn over £1000 during a tax year.

You don’t need a separate account or anything to have your money deposited in. Just remember to try and keep track of what you are earning in case you do need to fill out a self-assessment form.

Even if you just want to make money in your spare time, these money-making tips really will help you to make a difference.

If you are looking for more ways to make money online then have a look at:

101 Genuine Work From Home Jobs in the UK – This is our guide to jobs you can do at home. This includes market research companies, how to own your own blog, and how to start your own business.

How to Make Money Online for Beginners – If you are new to making money online then have a look at our post here. It explains everything you need to start making money online.

The Ultimate Guide to Easy Ways to Make Money in the UK – This is our huge post on how to make money online. We’ve included every single thing we do to make money.

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Money making online for beginners

If you’ve never made money online before then it can seem rather daunting. You may not know where to start or how to get your foot in the door, so to speak.

We started making money online over six-years ago and have learned all the pitfalls of making money online.
As a beginner, start by deciding how you want to make money.

Do you just want to increase your current income? Do you want to go fully self-employed? Research both aspects tax-wise as any income you earn over £1000 has to be declared to HMRC.

Our best tip is to watch out for the tricksters. If a job sounds too good to be true then it normally is. You shouldn’t have to pay for work. They pay you!

Also, trust your instincts. They are normally right!

Easy ways to make money from home

These are the best ways to start earning money online. They won’t cost you a penny and you can do them around your other jobs.

Read our full guide here to making money online.

Matched Betting

Matched betting is a completely legal, tried and tested way to make money online while you’re at home. It basically turns the tables on the bookmakers, to give you their free bet offers, so you can’t lose.

Matched betting allows you to profit from the hundreds of free bets and promotions offered by bookmakers. This isn’t illegal or under the table. All the bookies advertise these offers to entice new customers in.

Read here how to make a free £45 with Outplayed.

Join Outplayed here and earn your first £45 for free.*

Pick My Postcode

Pick My Postcode is all about helping you to win big cash prizes with your postcode. It is 100% free to enter and by visiting Pick My Postcode daily you could win money.

What we love is that there really is no catch at all with Pick My Postcode. You sign up for free, tell them your postcode then check back every day to see if your postcode has been chosen. It really is that simple!

Join Pick My Postcode here for big cash prizes daily. It’s 100% free*.

Mystery shopping

Mystery shopping is a great way to make money but also get some free items, which will help reduce your family food bill as well.

Being a mystery shopper involves you evaluating the quality of service.

Companies agencies recruit mystery shoppers to carry out assignments so they get a real view of what is going on. Once the mystery shop is complete, the shopper will fill out a report and you will receive a payment for doing so.

Business ideas that nothing upfront

Making money online through flexible working can be achieved by just about anyone. It’s all about finding a home-based job or self-employed business that suits your needs. Some of these are even passive income earners too.

These are online businesses that you can start up with no cost and use skills that you may already have, from social media management to writer to admin and bookkeeping.

Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is someone who works from home, who can perform all the nitty-gritty admin jobs that a client needs remotely.

This could be any admin task and is normally a high-paying job with no experience needed. You could be doing anything from scheduling social media to creating marketing images to just answering emails or amending spreadsheets.

A Virtual Assistant is useful for any size business, and as someone who’s worked both sides, as an employer and employee, most Virtual Assistants are very flexible and work on an hour-by-hour payment basis.

You don’t have to have any secretarial experience, as many Virtual Assistants specialize in something. Have you got marketing experience? Social media knowledge? Are you organized? Most Virtual Assistants can earn up to £25 an hour.

It can be hard to find your first client but you can start by using the content mills like Fiverr and People Per Hour and then slowly branch out when you have a portfolio or word of mouth hits.

This is a tool kit for virtual assistants who want to plan their time better.

Virtual Assistant Essential Tool Kit

This is the only Virtual Assistant Essential Tool Kit you will ever need.

It includes:

A list of essential tools you’ll need to get your first client and get paid
This 7 value-packed templates includes:
A list of VA essential tools
Invoice template (Word)
Time Card spreadsheet (Excel with pre-made formulas)
Invoice spreadsheet (Excel with pre-made formulas)
Blog post promotion spreadsheet (Excel)
Engagement questions for most niches (Excel)
Facebook schedule (Excel)

The Virtual Assistant Essential Tool Kit can help you land your first client, and keep you on track for when it’s time to invoice.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you sell something on behalf of someone else and get a commission. You advertise someone else’s products and services and when someone buys, you receive a small percentage.

There’s a lot of affiliate programs out there, so whatever you’re interested in, you’ll be able to find a scheme for it. It does take a while to build but affiliate marketing is a great passive income earner meaning you only have to set it up once and you’ll keep receiving income.

Remember to research the rules on declaring the links.

Blogging

Blogging can be a great hobby, but also a very good way to earn money and go places with your family that you’ve never even dreamed of before.

You need to find a topic that you are passionate about. Don’t worry if you don’t enjoy writing, you can vlog on YouTube or even just start with a Facebook page.

The good thing about blogging is that you can start for free and earn money in a load of different ways like advertising, through sponsored posts (this is where a brand asks a blogger to write about their branded products), affiliates (where someone buys something after a blogger has written about them), products and courses.

You can start a blog really quickly and easily but will need a domain name, host and website which you can sort yourself quickly. We use WordPress to build Savings 4 Savvy Mums and TSO Host for our domain name. They also offer hosting too and with our code S4SM10%OFF you can get 10% off.*

Don’t forget to sign up to a email marketing provider. Many offer you a free service till you hit a certain amount of subscribers. This is a great way to keep all your readers involved in what you’re working on. We use Mailerlite as they offer a great customer service and are very easy to use!

For a walkthrough on how to start a blog and make money, read our full guide to how to start blogging here.

Blogging Toolkit

This is the only Blogging Toolkit you will ever need.

It includes:

Everything you need to start your blogging journey in the right way!

This has 15 value-packed templates which includes:
SEO Checklist
SEO Cheatsheet
100 Blog Post Ideas
Blog Post Title Ideas
Blog Post Creation Checklist
Weekly Content Planner (Excel)
Income Tracker (Excel)
Accounts Spreadsheet (Excel)
Invoice Template (Word)
Affiliates Spreadsheet (Excel)
Blog Stats Spreadsheet (Excel)
Blog Post Analysis (Excel)
Lead Magnet Ideas
17 Must Have Post Ideas
How to Jump Start Your Mailing List Booklet

The Blogging Toolkit can help you start blogging by suggesting what to write and get you ahead on your SEO journey which can help you gain more free views quickly. We have also included an Accounts Spreadsheet and Affiliate Sheet which helps you keep track of your earnings.

Find out more here about the Blogging Toolkit.

Freelance writing

The internet needs writers and you could be paid to be one of them. Anything goes from game scriptwriters to e-book writers to academic writing.

Many companies pay per word or per article, and pay will depend on your experience and writing abilities.
There’s companies out there that will help you find work as well, but do take a commission on what you earn.

Start by having a look at these freelance writing jobs here:
People Per Hour*
Upwork
Fiverr*

Drop shipping

Drop shipping is a great way of earning money on eBay or Amazon without having your own products. You sell other peoples products but for a mark-up so you make a profit.

A great example of this on the high street are stores like Argos and John Lewis who sell other brands.
To get started in dropshipping and to be successful, you’ll need:

A tracking program that tells eBay when the product is in stock or out of stock. We use Hustle Got Real that pulls our listings if they suddenly go out of stock. They track major UK brands so you don’t have to. Hustle Got Real takes away all the pain of dropshipping and pretty much manages the listings themselves.

An eBay or Amazon Store. We started on eBay just as a private seller. It currently costs 36p to insert a listing so make sure you work out when it’s cheaper to switch to a store.

Time. Again this isn’t a get rich quick scheme but is a great way to make money as a passive income. You need to be on your eBay or Amazon store every day even if you only list one product. They reward you for being active!

Social media influencer

There is no need to pay anything upfront if you want to get into social media marketing. Start by setting up your social media channels then do what you love most.

That could be playing video games or creating recipes or having a YouTube channel that entertains. As long as you enjoy it, then the likes and PR companies will start to come in.

Online paid surveys

Paid online surveys are a great way to make money online. They can help you to make extra money to pay off any bills you have or help you to increase your savings.

You will never get rich by just completing surveys. They just don’t pay enough out, but what you can do is make enough money for extra treats for the whole family.

OnePoll Survey

Onepoll is a great way to make a bit of extra money. The great thing about Onepoll is that you can answer all their questions at home, with the kids around and you don’t need any special qualifications.

Onepoll is a market research website that asks you for your views on the most subjects of our time. They might want to know about the TV shows you watch, the food you buy or what you think about culture. Nothing is off-limits but it’s normally pretty easy questions about your opinion.

Join Onepoll here for free and start making money.*

Oh My Dosh

OhMyDosh is a survey site and cashback site combined. You can make money by answering their surveys which then goes into your account as credit. When you have reached the limit you can cash out!

Surveys can range from anything from watching videos to answering questions about what you last brought online.

We use OhMyDosh a lot as it’s really easy to use while out and about.

The per survey threshold is low but the payout is £10 and that shouldn’t take too long to get too. Payout can be made through PayPal.

Join OhMyDosh* here and get a free £1 added to your account.

YouGov

YouGov is a great place to answer questions on today’s problems. The surveys normally involve your view on large companies, the government or your local council. You only need 50 points to cash out which is £50.

They are really interesting surveys to complete and they do email you every time they have one to complete.

Use our link here to sign up free to YouGov*

Prolific Academic

Prolific Academic is an easy to use survey site that we’ve never had screen us out, which happens more than you’d think. You can reach the payment limit quite quickly while finding loads of different surveys that interest you.

The payment threshold is just £5 so you get paid really quickly too.

Join Prolific Academic here for free.*

InstaGC

InstaGC is a great place to earn gift vouchers. You can complete surveys, watch videos and search the web to earn points. You can withdraw from as little as £1 and they pay out in a load of different gift vouchers from B&Q to Starbucks.

Make sure you spend the gift cards right away though as like storing up the points, they can’t be given back if something happens to the company.

20Cogs

20Cogs is an easy way to earn money online. From answering survey questions to joining free trials, 20Cogs is a legitimate way to earn money for home.

This 20Cogs review will talk you through how to set up your account for the first time, complete your first survey and receive a £10 within 2 minutes.

Join 20Cogs here for free and receive £10 once you’ve completed your first cog.*

Cashback Sites

Cashback websites can be a great way to save money for the whole family. Whatever you are buying it’s always worth checking a cashback website first.

Using cashback sites can seriously save you money off your day-to-day spending.

If you’ve never used a cash back site then it’s very simple. You sign up to one of our favourites below, confirm your email address and start shopping.

OhMyDosh

OhMyDosh* is an easy-to-use cashback site that’s free to use. It’s not like a normal cashback site though.

OhMyDosh gives you loads of ways you can make money including:

The refer a friend scheme. Refer your friends to OhMyDosh and earn yourself £5 for every signup and your friend £1.

Competitions: Enter them for free and receive money.

Shop through them to earn the bigger rewards.

The best thing about OhMyDosh is that you only need to make £10 to “dosh out” and they payout through your bank or through PayPal.

If you are new to OhMyDosh* then use our link here to get your first free £1.

Quidco

Quidco is a great way to save money. We’ve saved over £200 in the last few months and their site is really easy to use.

Use our link here and get a £10 cashback bonus when you make your first purchase on Quidco. It’s free to join Quidco and they have access to over 4,000 retailers, and a lot of these are big household names.

You can also use Quidco* to even save money on your weekly food shop with their Click Snap app.

If you want to save even more then they do offer a premium membership which costs £5 a year. This gets you around £50 a year worth of promotions. It’s not paid upfront. It’s taken from the cashback you earn. It’s all about getting better bonuses. We upgraded three months ago and have earned over 30% more than on the basic membership.

It’s really easy to get your money out. It can go straight into your bank account or via PayPal.
There’s loads of Quidco member offers!

Dominos Pizza – If you’re looking for a treat for the whole family then try Dominos. You can get cashback by joining Quidco* here.

Fashion – Quidco has so many high street retailers including Geroge at Asda, GAP and New Look. Check out
Quidco’s Fashion category for the full list.

Utilities – If you’re looking to switch provider then make money while you’re doing it. By joining Quidco you can switch and make money at the same time.

Toys – Whatever you’re looking for make sure you look at the Quidco toys category. They have some of the top retailers that can offer money back on your must-have purchases.

While it’s true that sometimes the best offers are for new customers, Quidco do offer some great deals for existing members too.
If you are an existing customer then try:

looking at Quidco’s hottest cashback offers. It shows all the best offers in one place.
Use Clip Slip to get money back on your food
Contact Quidco directly and see if they can offer more discount then they are offering everyone else.

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Swagbucks

Swagbucks* is free to join and like Quidco you can save money while shopping online. The good thing about Swagbucks is that you can also earn money by watching videos, playing games and taking part in surveys.

There’s an option to download their SwagButton* for free which pops-up and reminds you about the cashback you could earn.

You can collect points which then can be used as cash and transferred via PayPal or gift cards.

Laura x

If you enjoyed this post and would like some more money making ideas from home, including ways to freelance, start a blog or even earn from your phone, then head over to my making money section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 30 money making posts dedicated to helping you earn more from home and become more financially stable as a family. There’s also tips in my Money Saving Mums Facebook group. You could also pop over and follow my money making Pinterest boards for lots more ways you can earn money from home; Money Making Mums and Working from Home Jobs for Mums.

This is how to make money online without paying anything upfront. We have loads of ways that you can earn money money online by Laura at Savings 4 Savvy Mums

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