Making money using Cash Crate - a step by step guide
Cash Crate - an easy way to make some extra money
In a recent post I talked about how I was able to make some extra money using cashcrate.com, and how you can do the same thing. This past month, my first month using the service, I made $27.63 just by filling out surveys, and by referring new users to the service. Not bad for something that doesn’t take much time!
In my review of the service I didn’t get very detailed on how to setup your account and get started earning money, so I thought today I would take moment to walk through the process in a little more detail for those of you who would like to give it a shot. Don’t worry, it isn’t very hard and you can be earning your first dollar within minutes!
Getting started with Cash Crate
Here is a quick step by step guide to getting started earning your first dollar using Cash Crate.
- Get a new email: First, sign up for a new free email address at a website like hotmail.com or gmail.com. You will be getting a ton of email after signing up and filling out surveys, because a lot of what you’re doing is getting paid to get on someone’s mailing list. An example email you might set up could be “cashcratesurvey@gmail.com”. Make note of what your new email address is.
- Sign up for Cash Crate: Sign up for Cash Crate by clicking on this link. It will take you to a page where you’ll be asked for your basic information including full name, email address (use your new one) and a password. Once you click on the “Join!” button as shown in the screenshot, it will ask you for your mailing address as well so that they can send you your payment. Currently payment is made only by check - sorry - no paypal!
- Start making money by filling out surveys and accepting offers!: Once you’ve signed up for the service you can start making money right on the first day in a couple of different ways. First, you can fill out surveys. Just click on the link on your dashboard that says “complete offers” and it will bring you to a page where you can start filling out surveys for cash or for points (points can be redeemed for rewards like Itunes gift cards, Starbucks cards, etc).
On my first day using the service I chose to just complete the “cash offers”, that were 100% free. Those offers will pay out a certain cash amount (which it will show under the “payout” heading) and don’t require you to pay anything up front. Other offers may have higher payouts, but they may require you to use a credit card to sign up for a trial offer, or to pay for a month of service (like one available netflix offer). Offers can be as simple as filling in your email address (once again, use your newly created email), and as complicated as filling in several pages of survey questions.
One thing that I’ve found extremely helpful in completing offers quickly is using an autocomplete form filler like Sxipper or Roboform. Basically what these programs do is automatically fill out the forms for you so that you don’t have to manually enter all of your information every time you fill out a survey or trial offer. Just make sure the information it is entering is the correct information because sometimes it will fill in the wrong information.
Once you’ve filled out the survey or or completed an offer, just click on the “submit” link in the Cash Crate window next to the offer you completed. Your submission will then be added to “pending” payouts, and will be verified. If you didn’t complete enough of an offer, it will be rejected, so be sure to fill it out completely.
Some of the other offers include offers that allow you to get payouts for clicking on a referral link when shopping. For example, I took advantage of a deal through Vista Print that allowed me to get 250 free business cards (with my blog name/url on them). All I had to do was pay shipping. The shipping cost about $5.75, and my payout from Cash Crate was about $5. So for 75 cents I was able to get a big box of business cards that I can hand out to people I know, and leave at store bulletin boards etc. Not bad for a little bit of blog publicity!
- Earn money through referrals: You can also earn money at Cash Crate using referrals. For every new user that you refer to the service, you’ll get paid a small amount for surveys that they fill out, as well as getting a $3 bonus when they complete enough surveys to reach their first $10 payout. If you have a blog you can promote the Cash Crate site and link to it using your personal referral link. You can write a post (like this one) explaining the site, and referring people to the service. Once you get enough people referred to the service the payouts can be quite nice!
Let’s review
So there you go, a quick and easy way to earn a few bucks.
- Sign up for a new email address for spam emails (technically not spam since you’re signing up for them).
- Sign up through my referral link.
- Complete offers.
- Refer other users.
- Watch the money roll in!
If you have questions, or problems, feel free to contact me through the “contact” link at the top of the page.
Leave a comment and let me know what your experience has been with Cash Crate, I’m interested to know!
A quick review of Cashcrate.com: A little extra spending cash?
Cash Crate - cash cow or just a spam signup service?
I recently signed up for Cashcrate.com through an affiliate link on a friend’s website. They had done a review of the service, talked about how they were making quite a bit of extra spending money every month filling out surveys, taking questionnaires, and how it wasn’t hard to get a check every month once you signed up.
Naturally I was a bit skeptical of the whole idea, and while I decided to sign up, I went in with my eyes wide open. Instead of signing up with my normal email address, I signed up with an email address that I use only for email offers, spammy sites and signing up for things where I’ll be getting a bunch of emails I didn’t really want or need.
Signing up
Signing up for CashCrate.com was easy. I just clicked on someone’s affiliate link to get to the site. Once on the site I just entered my first and last name, my email and a password and I was set to go. From there I was able to start taking surveys and signing up for different offers to get payouts. I think from start to finish it only took a couple of minutes to get going.
Using Cash Crate
Once signed up you just need to start completing and submitting offers and filling out surveys to start piling up the money. Once you reach $10 in your account CashCrate.com will send you a check on your specified payout day.
Probably the easiest way to start getting money in your account from the get-go is by selecting to complete offers that are “100% free” so that you don’t have to pay anything to complete the offers. To do that just sort them by type and payout as shown below. The highest paying offers will show up at the top of the list.
Be careful because the top paying offers are often for things like payday loans and other services that you might not really want to get involved with.
Other offers can sometimes be confusing as well. For example, some offers will ask you to fill out a form to receive payout, but you often don’t have to fill out anything past the first page. For example, on the offer below all you should have to do is just fill out your email address, submit, and then submit the confirmation on cashcrate. However, when you submit your email it will ask for further information, have you fill out a survey, etc etc. You don’t HAVE to go past that first page.
Does it work?
So far I’ve been reasonably happy with Cashcrate.com. I’ve been able to reach the payout amount in less than 2 days of surfing when I had a free moment. In two days of surfing I’ve currently got $11.69 in earnings with another $21.50 pending. Not bad for a couple hours of clicking in my free time! On top of that you can earn referrals by referring other people to use the service.
Try it out
If you’re interested you can try it out by signing up through my affiliate link here:
When signing up, remember that you might want to use an throwaway email address, or sign up for a new one because you WILL be getting emails from companies you do the surveys through, etc.
Let me know what you think once you’ve signed up!
John Tesh tells us how to save, and gives us free gas cards!
John Tesh in all his glory
I didn’t realize it, but John Tesh, (yes THAT John Tesh) is also now a bit of a self-improvement guru. In his new book, “Intelligence For Your Life: Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth” he talks about some good ways that you can save money when times are tough. He posted an excerpt from it on his website this week.
Don’t buy a new car before calling your insurance agent.
Compare the cost of insurance for your top car choices. Also, check on the costs of repairing your new car and the likelihood of theft. All of this contributes to your out-of-pocket costs as well as your insurance premiums.
Pay with cash more often.
This seems like an obvious one, but if you always pay with cash, you won’t get into debt. You also will end up saving a whooping 30 to 50 percent more because watching the dollar bills slip from your wallet will stop your spending. Another benefit of paying with cash is that you’ll avoid financing fees from credit cards, late fees, and overdraft charges at your bank.
Eat out half as much as you do right now.
Studies show that the average American family eats in a restaurant four times a week. That’s much different from when I was a kid and eating at a restaurant was a huge treat. Today most families spend more than $5,000 a year in restaurant bills and tips. I’m not saying that you should always eat at home, but just cut back a bit on the eating out if you want to save money. A bonus: You’ll also save calories. Studies show we eat 30 to 50 percent more when we eat out.
When flying, check out the airports that are a little farther away from your home.
It might be worth another twenty minutes in the car to fly out of an airport where the ticket cost is one-third lower. This really adds up if you’re flying the entire family out for an event. Many of the smaller airports also have cheaper and easier-to access parking.
Freeze your credit cards—literally.
This is one of my favorite pieces of personal finance advice from the radio show: If you are having trouble with credit card debt, don’t cancel your cards. Instead, put them in a bowl filled with water, place the bowl in the freezer. Whenever you get excited about a new purchase, you will have to wait for the cards to thaw out before you can put them on your card. By that time the urge will likely have passed. No microwaving!
John Tesh is also giving away $500 in gas cards every day through September 1st on his site at Tesh.com Stop on by and register for your chance to win.
Who knew John Tesh could be so cool!
Links:
John Tesh: How to save money in an economic crunch
Free online resources for losing weight and working out
A couple of days ago I posted about how I was going to be joining the 100 Push-Up Challenge that so many other bloggers have embarked upon in the last week or so. On Monday I completed day 1 of the challenge, and so far so good! I haven’t buckled under the pressure… yet. I have to tell you - I am already pretty sore!
Over the past few days I’ve been putting together a list of some free online resources that helped me in losing weight last year, and I’m sure that can help you as well.
A caveat I should put here - I’m a firm believer that there is no big secret to weight loss. Any successful weight loss plan comes down to two simple steps:
- Eat healthier.
- Exercise more.
I know a lot of people who make excuses for their weight gain or inability to lose by saying things like, “I just have a different body type than you”, or “I never seem to lose when I work out”. My answer to those people is that you’re probably not doing something right. Either you’re still not eating healthy, or your exercise program is leaving something out. (not enough exercise, or not enough of the right kind of exercise). A lot of those people just don’t have the patience to stick to a workout plan as long as it takes to see some real results. Sometimes it may take 30-60 days for you to notice any real progress, but trust me, if you stick to it you’ll lose weight!
With that said, on with the weight loss resources! The ones in red are my current favorites, and the ones I use the most.
Free resources for getting fit:
- 100 Push-Up Challenge: website that will get you on track to do 100 Push-Ups in 6 weeks, or your money back! (You don’t pay anything, don’t worry).
- Traineo.com: Traineo is a website where you can track your weight loss, hook up with other individuals to keep you motivated, track your workouts and a ton of other stuff. You can even get a cool little badge to put on your blog to show your pounds lost, or pounds to go until you reach your goal. Great site, I would check this out.
- Bodyforlife.com: Great motivational website with lots of stories of regular people changing their lives, losing weight and becoming fit. Tons of great healthy recipes, workout programs and more to get you going on a lifestyle of fitness. I used the Body For Life program to lose 40 lbs last year. You can get the book through my link below as well if you’re interested in the program.
- StrongLifts.com: The tagline for this website is, “Build Muscle & Lose Fat through Strength Training”. This website has a ton of practical weight lifting exercises for regular people. Lifting weights is probably THE best weight to drop weight. When I started lifting with dumbbells at home, the weight dropped MUCH quicker.
- Read diet and weight loss blogs: GetFitSlowly.com, Drop the Fork, Skinny Kat and The Better Body Blog are a few, although there are a ton more out there.
- Eatright.org: The American Dietetic Association’s Web site will give good nutrition advice.
- thedailyplate.com: - This site helps you track foods, exercise, carbs, protein, water, sodium, fiber, sugars, sodium, fat and fiber.
- Easy Ways to Lose Weight: 50+ Ideas: Quick and easy tips and pointers on how to lose weight.
User suggestions left in the comments:
- Gyminee.com: I just signed up, and it seems to be quite similar to traineo.com. Worth a look! (thanks L@spillingbuckets! )
- The Hacker’s Diet: I haven’t checked this one out too much yet, but it looks interesting. (thanks TUDrewser!)
- Sparkpeople.com: track your eating and exercise. Lots of articles about health, nutrition, and fitness. (thanks Eponine!)
So there you have it, some great free resources for losing weight online. Keep in mind that losing weight is still going to be up to you, and you’ll need to have the discipline to get it done. Get crackin!
Don’t forget to check out my recommended weight loss and workout plan in the book “Body For Life“, and at their website discussed above.
Reminder - 7 days left to enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card!
There’s only one week left in the Money Life Network’s Summer Savings Series!
We’ve already had two great weeks of summer savings tips both from our network members, and from readers like you! With only one week left, time is running out to have your say. And if you join us in our summer of savings series, you could win a a $100 Amazon gift card. What a great way to get your summer started, right?
Here are 3 easy ways you can enter our contest:
- Write a post about how you plan to save money this summer. Send us the link. (5 entries)
- Subscribe our our group feed, and email us the secret phrase. (3 entries)
- Leave a comment (on the MLN Post) with your summer savings tip. (2 entries)
You can enter each way once for a total of 10 entries. We’ll put all of the entries into random.org to choose the winner. Entries can be submitted up to 11:59 am Monday, June 30th. We’ll announce and contact the winner on Tuesday July 1st to email the gift certificate. If the email address is not valid we will award the prize to the second place finisher. Good luck!
We’d really like to see how many comments and articles we can get about Summer savings so get in on the fun and help make this project bigger!
Other news - carnivals!
In other news, I submitted a post to the Carnival of Debt Reduction this week over at Squawkfox. She has done a great job on her summer themed “summer solstice edition” of the CoDR. Check it out here.
Some of my other favorites from the carnival include:
- TooSmart, writes a post about hitting rock bottom in Payroll Advance: Hitting Rock Bottom
- PT at Prime Time Money and his article 10 Reasons Why You Would Be Happier if You Were Debt Free.
- Ryan Taylor at Millionaire Money Habits talks about online financial software in his article - Mint Review - How Secure is it?
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