Unless you’re vying for a guest spot on a reality show about dirty houses, you probably spend at least some of your day wiping down counters and wondering why nothing ever stays sparkling.
Wouldn’t you rather do your cleaning in less time and save money to boot?
We thought so. Here are a whole slew of cleaning hacks to make your life easier.
1. Use a Caddy for Your Supplies
It may not necessarily be a hack, but having a cleaning caddy is a smart move. When all your bottles, rags and other supplies are in one place, getting the work done is quick and easy.
This isn’t just one cleaning hack. It’s six cleaning hacks, most of them very hands-off.
Here are all the miraculous things a little vinegar can do.
Microwave a bowl of equal parts water and vinegar for five minutes. The steam will loosen any food bits, and the vinegar will act as a disinfectant. Be very careful opening your microwave when the five minutes are up. Everything will be hot! Crack the door, and let it cool for two minutes. Then use a rag to easily wipe down the inside.
Soak the exhaust filters from above your stove in a mixture of vinegar and water to remove the cooked-on gunk. After soaking, rinse and return the filters to their rightful place.
Use a paper towel to rub some vinegar on cloudy glasses to make them shine.
Put vinegar in a baggie, and put it on your shower head. Use a rubber band to secure the bag and let it soak to remove buildup.
Boil vinegar and water in a pan that’s been burnt. You only need enough liquid to cover the burnt part. Once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and let it cool so you don’t burn yourself. Then add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and scrub to make the pot shine again.
Pull an old sock over your hand, spritz with vinegar and use it to wipe down dirty blinds.
Rather than using a wire bristle brush, use a long fork to spear half an onion. Rub the cut side on your grill grates for an alternate way to clean them.
4. Use a Potato on Your Cheese Grater
If you still use a hand cheese grater, you know what a pain they are to clean.Depending on the cheese you’ve used, there’s a good chance it’s been mushed down in between the grates and is mocking your attempts to remove it.
Rather than losing your sanity trying to clean all the crevices, pull out a potato and grate that. It’s hard enough that it should slough away the cheese, and then you can easily rinse off the grater.
5. Use Stale Bread or Rice to Clean Your Coffee Grinder
Coffee smells fabulous in the morning, but when you shift gears and decide to grind spices or nuts, you don’t want them to remind you of your morning cup of joe.
For a blade grinder, use some stale bread or dry, uncooked rice to absorb the coffee smell and clean out your grinder. If you have a burr grinder (also called a burr mill), bread won’t work, but dried rice may.
Be aware that uncooked rice can be harder than coffee beans and may tax your grinder’s motor. Some companies say using rice as a cleaner will void the warranty.
6. Make Stainless Steel Appliances Shine With Furniture Polish
Let furniture polish do double duty on your stainless steel appliances. Clean off any grime first and then spray on the polish and wipe dry.
7. Make Grease Stains Disappear With Rubbing Alcohol
To get a grease stain out of carpets or other surfaces, mix four parts rubbing alcohol with one part salt. Rub into the stain to lift the grease.
Then let the surface dry and wipe or vacuum up any leftover salt.
8. Bleach Your Cutting Boards
If only you could see the bacteria making itself at home on your supposedly clean cutting board.
Luckily, you can easily sanitize cutting boards by soaking them in a bleach solution.
Use 2 teaspoons of bleach per gallon of water for plastic boards and 2 tablespoons of bleach per gallon for wooden boards. You don’t need to soak them long — just a couple of minutes will do — and then rinse.
9. Try Lemons and Salt for a More Natural Clean
Of course, not everyone loves the idea of using bleach. For a more natural way to disinfect your cutting board, liberally sprinkle kosher salt on the board. Then cut a lemon in half and rub the lemon (cut side down) on the board.
The lemon juice should kill the bacteria, while the salt should scrub away any small particles of food that may be present.
Then you can use the other half of the lemon to scrub your faucets to make them shiny and clean as well.
10. Roll a Lint Brush Over Lampshades
Lampshades come in all sorts of shapes and materials, which can make it difficult to figure out how best to clean them.
A lint roller can be used on almost any shade to pick up dust and light dirt.
11. Blow Canned Air into Exhaust Fans
The exhaust fan in your bathroom could probably use a little TLC, but how on earth do you clean that?
Easy. Use some canned air (like the kind you would buy to clean a computer keyboard) and blow it into the fan to dislodge lint. Place a towel on the floor to collect the dust bunnies as they fall.
Even if you can’t see the dust in your fan, it’s a good idea to clean it on a regular basis. If too much lint builds up, your fan could burst into flames.
12. Remove Dust from Vents With a Knife and Rag
Another way to remove dust from vents such as those on window air conditioning units is to cover a butter knife with a rag and run it along the inside of each vent.
Despite what the commercials tell you, no special sham or wonder cleaning cloth is required.
13. Pull Out Dryer Sheets to Clean Baseboards
Finally, give your dryer sheets another purpose in life by whipping them out when it’s time to clean your baseboards.
Running a sheet along the baseboards will remove dirt and help repel dust.What’s more, they might just make the room smell temporarily fresher too.
These are all ideas that we’ve done before, so we know that they’re real and that you’ll get paid. Plus, I guarantee there are some in here that you’ve never heard of…
1. Give Your Opinion to Make $100+/Month
Most of you know surveys aren’t our favorite way to make extra money, but we make an exception when we’re just vegging out on the couch. We figure as long as we’re just watching TV, there’s no reason we can’t click a few buttons at the same time.
Vip Voice and Ipsos Panel are some of the only legitimate paid survey companies out there (they’re rated an A+ with the Better Business Bureau).
I’ve heard some of the top-end surveys can pay up to $95, but those are rare and can take awhile to complete. Most surveys pay a buck or two and only take 10-15 minutes, making it pretty easy to earn $100 or more per month.
2. Watch Movie Previews
Most of you already know about InboxDollars, but did you know that they will pay you to watch movie previews, celebrity videos, the latest news, along with dozens of other videos? Plus, they give you $5 just for signing up.
You need to watch all of the shows in a specific playlist to earn your bucks, so be prepared. InboxDollars lets you know how long the playlist runs before you start watching, and playlists range from a few minutes to about a half hour.
I love this one, because you just set it and forget it.
Did you know that Swagbucks will pay you for making searches on your computer or phone? Swagbucks is powered by Yahoo search so it’s the same results you normally see, plus they give you a free $5 just to sign up!
It’s not a lot of money, but I usually earn about $100-$200/ year in passive income doing this. Easy work, though — can’t complain.
4. Become an Uber Partner Driver
If you find solace on the road and enjoy finding the best route across town, this is a great way to make money doing it!
As an Uber contractor, you’re responsible for setting your schedule and motivating yourself to work — no one is keeping tabs on you. You get 80% of everything you earn as a driver (Uber keeps 20%).
If you want to give it a try, there’s a few things to keep in mind. You must be at least 21 years old, have three years of driving experience, have an in-state driver’s license, a clean driving record and be able to pass a criminal background check.
Finally, your car must be a four-door, seat at least four passengers (excluding the driver), be registered in-state, and be covered by in-state insurance.
There are a number of companies, including Google, that will pay you to install their app on your cell phone. And they’ll pay you for every month you keep them installed.
The apps collect data from your cell phone and help companies better understand web and mobile usage better — such as what times of day people browse, how long they stay on websites and use apps, and what types of sites and apps are popular (or not).
Here are my favorites (install all of them and earn $400/year or more):
– MobileExpressions for Android – After you’ve installed this app for one week, you get to play an instant rewards game for a prize (everyone wins something). I won a $25 Amazon gift card, but some of the other prizes include iPads & Samsung TVs.
– MobileExpressions for iPhones: After one week, you can play games for instant rewards. Everyone wins something, from a $25 Amazon gift card, to big prizes like iPads and Samsung TVs.
– SavvyConnect – You can earn $5 per device (Phone, Tablet, Computer) for each month SavvyConnect is installed. That is a total of up to a total of $180 per year to help rank the most popular sites and apps. Make sure you keep installed at least a month to get your 1st $5 per device.
– Smart Panel – This panel is open to everyone and once you’ve downloaded the app, they will give you $5. If you keep it installed for at least two weeks, you’ll earn another $10. And then for every month that you keep the Smart App installed, you’ll get another $5. All total, you can earn up to $75 for the 1st year!
– Nielsen Mobile Panel for Ages 45+ – if you have a smartphone and you are 45 years of age or older, this Nielsen panel will pay you $50/year to keep this app on your cell phone.
– Nielsen Mobile for iPhone Users – if you have an iPhone, this Nielsen panel will pay you $50/year to keep this app on your cell phone.
6. Get a Free $10 Amazon Gift Card
Have you heard of MyPoints? They are a cash-back site that lets you earn rewards by shopping online and printing coupons. We use them all the time at our house, because it’s instant way to save on everything you buy (for example, it gives you up to 5% cash-back on purchases in some categories on Amazon).
But, enough about that, here’s how to get a free $10 Amazon gift card that you can use to buy groceries (or anything for that matter):
Use the Mypoints portal the next time you need to shop online (it’s connected to thousands of stores including Walmart, Amazon, and Target).
As long as you spend $10 at any of those stores, Mypoints will reward you with 1,750 bonus bonus which you can redeem for a free $10 Amazon gift card.
7. Earn $250 By Opening a Second Bank Account
hidesy/Shutterstock
We’ve put together a huge list of banks that will pay you just to open a bank account! Some of them will pay you up to $250 just for opening a savings account!
There’s no harm in having multiple bank accounts. In fact, I often find it’s helpful to have multiple places to save (I’m less likely to touch the money), so I have savings accounts for my Christmas fund and my vacation fund.
The top bank bonus is $250 right now — head over to this list to see all of the banks in your area that are offering free cash.
8. Get a Free $5 From Clink to Start Saving
Macro of Five American Dollar Bill.
I’m kind of obsessed with Clink (and not just because they give you $5).
Clink helps you save for a rainy day or retirement by taking small amounts of money out of your checking account each day (around $1).
To get the $5 bonus, download the Clink smartphone app and setup your account with the same email address. Be sure to use the promo code: PH2016
I already got my bonus and now I’m investing $5/week. I’m already up to $40! That might sound small, but for someone who resists saving money like the plague, it’s a pretty remarkable start!
9. Help Doctors Find a Cure
Could medical testing be a fun way to make money?
Jillian Shea thinks it is: She made $12,000 from participating in sleep studies. She answered a few questions online from her home in Florida before heading to Boston for the lucrative study.
And she’s not alone.
NASA’s sleep study at the Johnson Space Center in Houston paid participants $5,000 per month to stay in bed.
Want to give it a try? If you have one of these ailments, you might be able to earn a little extra cash…
– Psoriasis (M3 Global Research) – Psoriasis psucks! But, if you’ve got it you can earn $5-$100 taking online surveys and contribute to advancements in medical treatment — without even leaving your couch!
– Arthritis – If you’re suffering from osteoarthritis andqualify, you may earn up to $1,000 for participating in this study.
Does earning $60 an hour sound appealing? How about the freedom to work remotely while helping others succeed?
Those are the perks of working as a bookkeeper, says Ben Robinson, a certified public accountant and business owner who teaches others to become virtual bookkeepers.
And no, you don’t have to have a CPA to be successful in this business. In fact, all you really need are decent computer skills and a passion for helping business owners tackle real-world problems.
It’s a great opportunity for moms who want to work part time, millennials who are just out of college and anyone who wants to bring in real money while working from home.
We talked to Robinson about what it takes to become a virtual bookkeeper, as well as tips and advice for making this career track work for you. You can read the full interview here, or check out his website for more information.
11. Get Paid to Go on Top-Secret Missions
Remember scavenger hunts when you were a kid? Ever pretend you were a private investigator on an important mission? Don’t let a few years get in the way of your fun.
QuickThoughts for Android turns your cell phone into private-eye technology, taking you on top-secret missions in your area.
Was that CVS you visited last month clean? How do the lines look at that McDonald’s you’ve stopped by for lunch? QuickThoughts Missions relies on your input — and sneakily-taken cellphone photography — to give businesses important feedback.
And like any respectable PI, you get paid for your investigative footwork. Pretending as an adult is looking better and better! Using your phone’s GPS technology, the app will prompt you for information from places you’ve visited in the past few weeks, as well as places it detects you’re visiting right now.
It even has missions you can accept and complete in the future. For instance, it might prompt you to go to your local Walgreens and snap a photo of the seasonal display.
Super fun, right? And you’ll earn valuable gift cards for Amazon and iTunes while you’re at it. Unfortunately for iOS users, this opportunity is just for Android right now.
Which is kind of fitting, when you think about it. What would make a better private eye than an actual android?
12. Rate Your Local Pizza Place
Awww…yeah! Who wouldn’t want $5 and a free large pizza?
One of the most popular types of mystery shops is for pizza companies — both Papa Johns and Pizza Hut regularly conduct mystery shops at all of their locations. As part of the assignment you’re required to time their delivery service, quality of pizza, etc.
Alright, just hear me out on this one. It’s definitely possible to get paid to watch TV. There’s a new company called “RewardTV” that pays you to answer trivia questions about last night’s TV shows.
Do you know who they killed off on Game of Thrones last week? Tell them about it and they’ll pay you.
Did you know which contestant got kicked off “The Voice” this week? They’ll pay you.
You’re not going to get rich doing this, but it’s a fun way to make an extra $15-$20/month. Pretty cool, right?
And the best part? Most of it is done while sitting at home in my pajamas. What am I doing? Let me explain…
Search engines use complicated algorithms to determine the results you see. For example, if you type the name of one of our writers, Steve Gillman, into a Google search box, a half-million possibly-relevant web pages will be narrowed down using various criteria until a second later you see his smiling face. You’ll also see links to his personal website, his blog on the Huffington Post, and LinkedIn profiles for a bunch of guys who share his name.
But the search engines don’t always get it right.
They are full of errors, so they need real humans to look at the results and judge them for quality, relevancy, and usefulness. If you’re interested in this type of work, head over to this article to get more info on how to apply.
15. Turn Your Grocery Receipts in For Rebate
You don’t have to cut back at the grocery store if you know the right tricks. Have you heard of rebate apps?
My favorite is the Ibotta app which works by giving you a cash rebate on your grocery store purchases if you take a picture of your receipt with your smartphone.
Many of the rebates are for things like steak, ground beef, bread and eggs. Plus, you can shop at your normal grocery store. There’s no need to run clear across town to save money. And right now, Ibotta is giving new users a $10 sign-up bonus, just for redeeming their first receipt.
Some other good ones are SavingStar and Checkout51. Download them all and sometimes you can get three rebates on the same item.
16. Sell Your Old Books
We’ve all got way too much extra junk just sitting around. Get rid of some of it and use the extra money for your Christmas shopping.
Have any old college textbooks? You could, of course, have a garage sale or sell them on Craigslist, but one of my favorite ways to get rid of them is using Bookscouter.
You just type your book’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number — it’s near the book’s barcode and copyright info) into the search bar and let Bookscouter connect you with over 25 of the best-paying and most reputable buyback companies online. Cool, right?
Once you’ve found the buyback company offering the most cash, you just fill out a little information about where you want your payment sent (usually PayPal) and prepare the books to be shipped. Most of the buyback companies offer prepaid shipping labels too, so there aren’t any costs associated with this.
17. Make an Extra $50/Week Working for Amazon
Have you heard of Amazon Mechanical Turk? Unlike other online sites that look for contract help, the Amazon Mechanical Turk service offers easy to accomplish tasks that can be completed by almost anyone with a computer.
From the articles and advice I’ve read from others completing tasks, the key seems to be just to jump in and quickly accept the next task you are qualified for. Don’t spend time hunting for the perfect task, just do them next, next, next, etc.
While basic tasks may only pay $0.10, they are easy and quick to complete. It does not take long to complete a task in less than a minute, so in an hour, with little experience, you can make $6 to $10, depending on how fast you are.
18. Sell Your CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, Video Games and Electronics
Have a bunch of movies or CDs collecting dust on a shelf? Decluttr will pay you for them!
Decluttr buys your old CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and video games, plus hardware like cell phones, tablets, game consoles and iPods.
One user, Gil Flores, sold about 100 DVDs and 75 CDs and made $275 — an average of $1.57 each.
Just download the app and start scanning the barcodes on your media to get immediate quotes.
19. Sell Your Crafts on Etsy
Just because you don’t have a dedicated crafts room like Martha Stewart or Rosie O’Donnell doesn’t mean you can’t become a successful entrepreneur by selling your crafts online.
In the past crafters have had to slug it out at craft fairs and farmer’s markets, often meaning long hours and little profit. All of that has changed in the last few years as a number of online marketplaces like Etsy have opened that allow amateur crafters a forum to sell their goods.
20. Get Paid $50+ to Write an Article for These Sites
If you like to write, we found a few blogs that will pay you to share your thoughts. And there’s no limit to the number of articles you can submit, so this really is a nice side gig.
TheKrazyCouponLady.com – $50 This site accepts articles on a broad range of topics including style/fashion, couponing, family/parenting, and personal finance. The ladies guarantee that you’ll hear back from them within 7 days and will receive $50 via Paypal if they choose to publish your article. You can read all the details here. Editor’s Note: We recently found out TheKrazyCouponLady is no longer paying for submissions. Please be advised.
Listverse.com – $100 Listverse publishes nothing but lists. Their posts are all long lists (usually beyond 1,500 words long) containing at least 10 items, with an explanation of why each item deserves its place on the list. Read more details here.
ThePennyHoarder.com – $75Got a crazy way to make/save extra money? We also pay our readers to submit articles and would love to have you contribute. Read all of our guidelines here.
21. Sell Your Smartphone Photos
If you have a smartphone and a photographic eye, making money may have just gotten a lot easier. Oh yeah – you’ll also need access to marketable scenery.
There’s a new app called Foap that allows you to turn your smartphone photos into cash.
Here’s how it works. You download the free app. You sign up for an account. You take a quality photo. You upload photo to Foap’s marketplace. Someone buys the license to your photo for $10. You make $5.
If your photo sells 20 times, you make $5 each time and end up with $100 in your pocket — all for about five minutes of work. Pretty cool, right?
22. Sign Up for Free Gift Card Promotions
Believe it or not, there are sites that will give you free gift cards just for signing up with them.
One of my favorites is Ebates, the cash-back shopping site. They’re giving away $10 gift cards if you sign up as a new member and earn your first cashback rebate. You can choose a $10 gift card from Target, Walmart, Macy’s or Kohl’s.
You do have to wait 30 days, but it’s free money so can you really complain?
23. Earn $3/Month Sharing Your Amazon Purchases With This App
peopleimages.com/Getty Images
If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you can earn money each month contributing to research to help companies understand what people are buying online. Companies use this information to improve the online shopping experience.
To earn your first gift card today:
Sign up and download the ShopTracker app on your Windows computer and Apple or Android phone. It takes about two minutes. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your Amazon use to qualify.
Open the app and log in to your Amazon account to automatically share your purchase history.
You’ll receive your Visa e-gift card code for $3 via email within 48 hours.
Take a couple of minutes to share your purchase history to earn another $3 each month.
Your information is collected securely by The Harris Poll, a trusted market research company for more than 20 years. ShopTracker removes your name, shipping address and any personal payment information before reporting your purchase history.
24. Sell Your Trash
Americans throw away approximately 266 million tons of trash every year, and it turns out we might as well be throwing away cash! There’s a reasondumpster diving has become so popular in recent years and that’s because things that you think are worth nothing often have value.
Earning $5 at a time may not sound like much, but those little sales can add up to thousands of dollars.
That’s the idea behind Fiverr.com, an online platform where users sell their products and services for $5 each. Fiverr says users create 4,000 new listings, or “gigs,” every day.
Gigs range from the standard data entry and research tasks to the truly out-there. For example, as I write this, sellers in the “Fun and Bizarre” section are offering:
A piece of rare metal that will melt in your hand
A prank phone call to anyone you choose
Three balloons released into the sky with your message in them
Your name written on two grains of rice
A photo of you on the cover of “Rolling Stone”
A video of a woman pretending to be “crazy in love with you” — which has 253 buyers and a 98% positive rating so far
You can seriously sell almost anything on Fiverr. Here are some more ideas.
26. Earn $100 By Helping a Company Name Itself
Professional branders aren’t going anywhere, but for small businesses that can’t afford the million dollar price tag, crowdsourcing allows businesses to outsource the creative process to people like you and me through “naming contests.”
There are hundreds of naming contests on websites like NamingForce.com and SquadHelp.com. The way it works is that nameless businesses list a little information about their company and a prize amount for the person who can come up with the best name. The rewards are anywhere from $50-$500, with the average amount around $100.
For example, one company on SquadHelp says they are a company that buys used video games and they will pay $80 to the person who can come up with the best name. A few of the submissions so far are “Cash 2 Gamers” and “Game Epix.” Think you can do better? Give it a try here.
27. Let Someone Borrow Your House/Apartment for the Night
I’ve used Airbnb to both rent out my apartment and stay in many others while traveling, and it’s a fantastic way to put your home to work for you. However, taking a few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one.
Whether you’re renting out a single room or your entire home, make the most of your Airbnb rental by following these tips. If you do it well, you could add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to your savings account.
28. Become an Online Tutor
Education is one of the world’s leading industries, and the private tutoring market alone is expected to top $102 billion by 2018.
Have you ever considered becoming an online tutor to make extra money? Well, if you haven’t, you most certainly should. You can make some serious coin by answering student’s questions, explaining your notes and uploading tutorials.
That’s right, by sharing your knowledge, you can be rewarded handsomely.
Try marketing your services on a site like Tutor.com, where instructors earn $9-$13/hour, plus $5.50/hour just for being logged in waiting for students.
That’s right — some people earn money for massaging animals. It might sound a little strange, but apparently many cats and dogs enjoy a good massage as much as humans do.
Can you sum up a product in a sentence? Think of something funny — and not another joke about too many candles — to put on a birthday card? Make a point in few concise words?
Companies sometimes need new corporate taglines, advertising slogans and jingles. Bumper sticker and greeting card makers want cute, endearing or funny thoughts to put on their products.
When these businesses need help, they sometimes collect submissions from freelance writers or run contests that anyone can enter — including you!
Try one or more of these platforms to get started:
Slogan Slingers helps companies create slogan contests in which their registered writers compete. It’s free to sign up as a writer, and the company claims you can “make up to $999 per contest (minus our small admin fee).”
Get a Slogan is a “crowd-sourcing platform that brings in custom, creative and catchy slogans from a variety of sloganeers.” Companies come to them for help, and writers submit their ideas. It’s free to sign up, but you initially have only “qualifying” status. Once you obtain “qualified” status, you’ll receive $50 for each of your winning slogans.
Freelancer.com has a section devoted to slogan-writing projects, which are sometimes run as contests. For example, at the moment a personal injury law firm is offering $150 for the best “unique and memorable tagline/slogan.”
31. Join an Online Focus Group
Ever wonder how the products you see on grocery-store shelves wound up there? Or who thought those TV commercials were a good idea? Somewhere between the concept and the final edits, it’s likely that a focus group was involved.
Focus groups vary in size and type, but most of them provide some sort of compensation — a check in the mail, a PayPal deposit or even a gift card.
“The more formal the focus group, the more I expect to be paid,” says Sarah K., who’s participated in focus groups about bridal registries and sports nutrition products in the Los Angeles area.
For a longer session, she expects to make $100 to $200. “I’ll happily participate in a longer focus group if it pays well, is nearby and doesn’t conflict with any of my appointments,” she says.
One of my favorites is ProOpinion which is a focus group for professionals. Click here to visit their site and fill out the short sign-up form to get started.
Like most of us, you’ve probably commented on how some websites are confusing and others excellent. Rather than complaining to your spouse or friend, how would you like to make those comments to the owners of the sites and get paid for playing critic?
I do just that, and you can, too. In fact, you can make $30 per hour as a website tester.
The company is called User Testing. Here’s what the process looks like: you’ll download some software and then when tasks are available, look over a website while your mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and spoken comments are all recorded as a video. Afterward there might be a few questions to answer, but the whole process often takes 15 minutes or less. Cool, right?
