Get money for free

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

Every year businesses give away thousands of dollars in free money and gift cards as a way of promoting their websites or products.

We’ve put together a list of of our favorites that will give you more than $1,700 in free cash right now.

Some of them only require filling out a form. Some of them take a bit more effort, but you can easily knock out all of these in a couple of hours.

How to Get Free Money

Without further ado, here are the companies giving out free money right now:

1. 1. Automate Your Savings With Acorns — $5

   Acorns is a simple savings and investment app that rounds your credit or debit card purchases up to the nearest dollar and invests the digital change.
   You can connect the app to your credit or debit card and let it automatically round up all your transactions, or manually round up only the ones you choose.
   Contributor CJ Reid does the latter, accepting roundups of less than $0.50, such as his $3.60 cup of coffee.
   “Rounding up 40 cents here and 25 cents there moves me swiftly enough to $5 so that I can begin investing without putting myself into the red,” she says.
   Once your round ups reach $5, that amount will be transferred from your bank to your Acorns account, and invested into your chosen portfolio.
   “Acorns makes it easy to invest by removing the responsibility of choosing individual investments or worrying about trades,” Reid explains. “You don’t need any previous investment knowledge or history.”
   And once you get the process automated, Acorns investments make your digital change work for you.
   “With a conservative portfolio,” Reid says, “I turned $15 into $19 within a few weeks.”
   You can sign up and download the app here.

2. 2. Snap a Picture of Your Receipt With Ibotta — $10 

   Ibotta is an easy-to-use cash-back app that’s partnered with more than 50 retailers, just about anywhere you’d do any kind of shopping.
   Before heading to the store, search for items on your shopping list within the app. Strawberries? Check. An ear of corn? Check. Add each cash-back opportunity to your list in the app.
   Then shop.
   When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes.
   Bam. Cash back.
   Some cash-back opportunities we’ve seen include:
   • 25 cents back for any item
   • 25 cents back on strawberries
   • 50 cents back on frozen fruit snacks
   • $1 back on a box of tea
   • $5 back on a case of Shiner Bock beer
   Notice a lot of those aren’t tied to a brand — just shop for the staples on your list, and earn cash back!
   Ibotta is free to download. Plus, you’ll get a $10 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt.

3. 3. Complete a Few Surveys — $5

   A number of sites will pay you to read advertiser’s emails, sign up for offers and take surveys.
   We’ve tried about a million of them (OK… we’ve lost count), but there are only a few we’d recommend.
   MyPoints: This platform lets you earn gift cards for taking polls, answering surveys and other things you do online — a great way to cash in on long lines or an endless commute.
   You’ll earn a $5 bonus when you complete your first five surveys.

4. 4. Start Investing With Stash — $5

   It’s no brilliant secret that investing can be a smart way to make money.
   Sometimes, though, it feels restricted to a few wealthy elite.
   But Stash is different. This app lets you start investing with as little as $5 and for just a $1 monthly fee for balances under $5,000.
   Stash curates investments from professional fund managers and investors and lets you choose where to put your money — but it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it.
   You just choose from a set of simple portfolios reflecting your beliefs, interests and goals.
   Bonus: Right now, The Penny Hoarder is teaming up with Stash to fund your first investment — so you’ll get a $5 bonus to get started!