Going Grocery Shopping? Here are 8 Ways to Get Paid (You Could Earn $25/Hour!)

The grocery bill can be a source of stress for a lot of households.

But we all have to eat, which makes grocery shopping unavoidable.

And one of our favorite things here at The Penny Hoarder is finding ways to make money doing the things we already have to do every day.

Turning an everyday grocery trip into a cash source can not only help curb some food expenses, but also make it a little more fun!

Here are eight ways we found to make money while grocery shopping:

1. Be a Mystery Shopper

Mystery shopping is a brilliant side gig for a Penny Hoarder. Not only are you paid for your time, but you often get compensated for your purchases, too!

You can mystery shop anywhere — from Ikea to a liquor store.

But why not mystery shop a grocery store and get paid for shopping you have to do anyway?

You may be wary of mystery shopping companies. Probably because there are, indeed, plenty of scammers out there who try to make you pay them.

Don’t ever do that.

Instead, find legitimate jobs with our list of reputable mystery shopping companies.

2. Pick Up Other People’s Groceries

While you’re at the store, earn extra money picking up someone else’s groceries.

Connect with clients through TaskRabbit or Instacart. Pick up and deliver groceries to people in your area who don’t have the time or interest for grocery shopping.

Use these apps to work whenever you want to make some extra money. You might as well pick up a job anytime you’re headed to the store yourself.

Instacart is an app designed solely for grocery pickup and delivery in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

After brief training, you can log on to Instacart when you want to work and accept job assignments. Shoppers can earn up to $25 an hour during peak hours, plus occasional tips.

On the other hand, TaskRabbit is a general gig site available in 18 U.S. cities and London.

You can pick up tasks from housecleaning to bartending at a private party — or shopping and delivery.

3. Get Paid for Your Steps

Have you ever wondered how much walking you actually do while you’re shopping?

Think about the size of warehouse stores like Costco or Sam’s Club, or enormous big box retailers like Walmart. I’m tempted to consider every Walmart shopping escapade a workout, as long as I don’t tear into the snacks I bought as soon as I get back to the car…

Get credit for the work you put in traipsing the aisles!

Wear your FitBit or other activity tracker when you hit the grocery store so your steps are counted. Then, turn those steps into cash by earning rewards through FitStudio.

If you use FitStudio, your workouts earn rewards points, which you can redeem for savings at Sears and Kmart.

4. Pay With a Cash-Back Credit Card

This tip is almost too simple, but worth the reminder: Always pay with your cash-back credit card.

A cash-back or rewards credit card lets you earn money or points for money you’re already spending.

As long as you budget well and pay off your balance each month, it’s free money in your pocket.

Our favorite rewards card is the Barclaycard Cash Forward World Mastercard® — it offers 1.5% cash rewards on everything you spend.

A family of four spends an average $216 per week on groceries — which could earn them $168 a year in cash rewards.

5. Use Moneymaker Coupons

Did you know you can be so clever with coupons, you’ll leave a store with more money than you brought?

It involves smart deal-stacking and a little planning — but it’s possible.

With the growing popularity of extreme couponing, many stores have adjusted their coupon policies to avoid paying coupon overages, or “moneymakers.”

But some will still put the cash in your hand!

Check your local store’s policy before showing up with a pile of coupons. Target does not pay overages, but Walmart does.

A quick search for “[store name] coupon policy” should bring you information on your favorite grocer. If the policy isn’t online (kudos for shopping small!), just ask a cashier or manager next time you’re in the store.

6. Wager With Friends to Get Healthy

If you’re looking for extra incentive to eat healthier and lose weight this year, would money help?

Bet on yourself through a site like DietBet or HealthyWage. Earn money when you lose weight!

Or do it the old-fashioned way: Create an in-person weight-loss challenge pool with friends, family or co-workers.

What you eat has a huge impact on how much weight you will — or won’t — lose.

Consider the challenge a way to reward yourself for bypassing sweets and non-nutritious treats on your trips through the grocery store.

7. Use Rebate Apps

Rebates are like coupons you don’t have to find before grocery shopping.

Download a rebate app — our favorites are Ibotta and Checkout 51 — and earn rewards for the money you’ve already spent.

Using these apps, scan your receipt and item bar codes when you get home to discover rebates and earn cash back.

To optimize each shopping trip, check the app before you head out to see which items are offering rebates.

Ibotta even offers rebates for everyday items like milk, bread and eggs! Earn rewards on these staples, regardless of the brand you buy. It should help you stay away from processed foods and make progress on your get-healthy challenge, huh? (See above.)

8. Shop Online and Pick Up in Store

If you’re shopping for items in the store, you’re missing a key opportunity to make money: cash-back websites.

If you do your grocery shopping through a major chain like Walmart or Target, order online through a cash-back website and pick your items up at a store near you.

When you shop through cash-back sites (or “shopping portals”) like Swagbucks, you’ll earn points for every dollar you spend. You can redeem those points for rewards — usually a gift card or PayPal deposit.

Start on Cashbackholic to find the cash-back site that offers the best deal for the store you want to shop. For example, as of this writing, BeFrugal is offering 5% cash back and a $10 bonus when you shop at Walmart.com.

Your Turn: Do you use any of these tricks to make money while you’re grocery shopping? What tips can you add?

Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which ThePennyHoarder.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.

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Real-World Cost of Living Analysis: Los Angeles vs. Madison, Wis.

Awhile back I wrote a post explaining my decision to move from Los Angeles to the Midwest. I’ve now lived in Madison, Wis., for more than five months, and in this follow-up post I’ll do a deep dive into how much money I’ve actually saved since making the move.

Hopefully this can inspire others to look into areas with a lower cost of living. If you’re striving to achieve financial independence as soon as possible, location is one of the most important factors that’s often within your control.

Rent is the obvious money saver, but things like Internet service and car insurance cost way less out here than I anticipated. For this project it made sense to compare the best data I currently have, which is from my last three full months living in L.A. versus my first three full months living in Madison. So, the utilities category is sure to rise in Madison once the February heating bill arrives.

Let’s dive in.

Monthly Expenses

Rent

When I left L.A., I was paying $700 a month in rent. This was for a one-bedroom apartment I was sharing with my girlfriend that cost us $1,400 a month in total. I now pay $400 per month for a two-bedroom apartment that costs $800 per month in total.

• Savings: $300/month

Utilities

My last three months of utility bills in L.A. averaged $81 per month. They cost $68 per month for my first three months in Madison. But as I mentioned above, this coincides with some very hot months in L.A. and some mild months in Madison, so this is not the best indicator of where there is money to be saved. 

• Savings: $13/month*

Internet

I was paying $56 per month for Internet service in L.A. That dropped to $30 per month in Madison!

But, we also had to buy a new router ($80), because the one we had was not playing nice with Charter. (I wasn’t all that surprised to learn that the technology that worked seamlessly with Time Warner wouldn’t give us a signal on Charter. I can’t wait until Google Fiber is available everywhere.) Still, I’m saving $26 per month now that I’ve broken even on the one-time expense of a new router.

• Savings: $26/month

Car/Commute

This is a big one. Since I’m now working from home and have no commute, my girlfriend and I were able to drop down to one car. We sold her 20-year-old Camry for $1,600, and we kept my 2007 Prius (bought used for $5,000).

My commute to work in L.A. was only 12 miles total, but that adds up. This Lifehacker article details how, when commuting by car and accounting for lost time as lost income, each extra mile you live from work costs you about $800 per year. By that calculus, I’m saving an estimated $4,800 per year just by working from home — although to be fair, this is more the result of a career change than a geographical one. 

Plus, I now fly to New York once a month for work. While my company picks up the tab, I get to book my own flight and hotel, which converts directly into rewards points for me. (I got the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to maximize my points on all these purchases.)

Finally, my car insurance in L.A. was $800 per year. That was cut in half, to $400 per year in Madison. (If there is one thing I learned from going through my finances in granular detail it’s that driving is incredibly expensive, even with a Prius!)

• Savings: $400/month + miscellaneous vehicle expenses

Big-Ticket Items for the Move

These large purchases drove up my expenses in the months after our move, but like the modem, they should only be one-time costs as opposed to ongoing expenses.

Bicycle: $250

Madison is a wonderful biking city, and I wanted to take full advantage of that. But, that meant I had to find a bike. I inherited a nice one from my girlfriend’s sister, which was great. Still, it needed a major tune up, and I wanted fenders to make it more comfortable to ride it during inclement weather. All in all, it set me back about $250.

Winter clothes: $500

My year-round wardrobe in L.A. consisted of a mix-and-match ensemble of three basic items: jeans, basketball shorts, and t-shirts. All old, all comfortable, all perfectly suited to handle perpetually 70-degree days. I hadn’t worn gloves since college and my one winter coat was donated years ago.

Even with our current winter setting records for warmth, I still can’t run around in a t-shirt every day. So, stocking up on good-quality, warm clothes was a big chunk of expenses — though, like the bike, they’re one-time costs I’ve chalked up to the move itself. My jackets, shirts, socks, hats, and long underwear cost me $500.

I have one glaring regret when it comes to my winter clothes purchases. I bought a hat for $150.

No, that is not a typo, and no, the hat did not come with a hundred dollar bill inside it. I really spent that much.

It started so innocently. I wanted to see if I could find a warm hat that wasn’t made out of polyester. I was reading some not so nice things about the process behind making polyester, and how the chemicals can be irritating to some people. If something was going to be on my head for hours a day, I wanted it to be as pure as possible.

Next thing I knew I was whipping out the credit card to pay for a fancy, 100% wool hat. Whether it was excitement over my new living situation, not asking myself the really important questions to consider before a big purchase, or some other combination of factors, I was helpless in the face of this warm, beautiful hat. It looked so soft and comfortable, and I was doing my part to support small businesses! I’d be silly not to buy it!

I regretted it soon after, but it just goes to show that we all make financial mistakes, and it’s important to remain vigilant against the relentless desire to have shiny new things. In that moment, I was just your average “see-it-want-it-buy-it” consumer, and I learned a hard lesson. The hat is nice, but I’m not a millionaire. Thus, I should not be buying hats that amount to half of my monthly grocery bill.

Total Breakdown and Final Thoughts 

Not including rent or transportation, my average overall expenses for my last three months in L.A. were $578. My average expenses in Madison round out to $742 per month, although that includes one-time purchases like the router and, argh, that hat. But I was still surprised by these results — I thought Madison would come in much lower.

However, housing and transportation are two of the biggest expenses in an average American’s budget. Once those categories are factored in, minor differences in the cost of living are almost inconsequential.

Factoring in my higher rent and car-related costs in L.A., my expenses there were closer to $1,700 per month — significantly more than the $1,200 I’ve been dropping monthly in Madison. And once my one-time, big-ticket purchases fade into the background, I should be saving about $700 a month or more on an ongoing basis.

While my expenses have certainly dropped since the move, this exercise has brought to light some issues I need to address. For starters, I would have guessed I was spending less than $1,200 per month — that’s why it’s so important to track your spending. I think it’s time to trim the fat and see if I can get that figure even lower.

Anyone want to buy a $150 hat?

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These Professional Matchmakers Earn 6 Figures Helping People Find Love. Could You?

Who out there binge watches “The Millionaire Matchmaker”?

C’mon, I know I’m not the only one.

I enjoy watching the flops, but what I love even more are the success stories.

It just seems like such a beautiful thing — helping people find the love of their life. Is there anything better? So I started wondering…

How the heck does one become a matchmaker? I’m outgoing and love setting up my friends — could I get paid to do what I’m already doing?

I decided to look into it.

I talked to four professional matchmakers, who collectively earn millions each year and together have more than four decades of experience.

I asked them how they got started as matchmakers, and their advice for others interested in this unique career.

Here’s what I found out…

Striking a Match on Their Careers

All the matchmakers I spoke with had similar stories: They were matchmakers long before they started getting paid for it.

Janis Spindel — who runs Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking with her daughter Carly — is a perfect example.

Nearly 25 years ago, 14 couples she’d set up got married in less than a year.

That’s when she looked at her husband and said: “I can turn this into a business.”

“I went to a bunch of other matchmakers and picked their brains and decided I could do this better than anybody else, because I had an uncanny sixth sense to just know who belongs with whom and that was it,” she says.

Michele Presley, vice president of sales and marketing for online matchmaking service Tawkify, has a similar story.

“I was always that person my friends would come to and ask for relationship advice,” she explains. “The minute I would meet people who were single, I would be putting them together in my head.”

While working in marketing for a regional matchmaking company, she realized she could turn her passion into a profession.

“I was supposed to be over on the sales and marketing side, and I would always find myself in the matchmaking room,” she says. “I kept getting more drawn to that, so then I just kind of dove in.”

She attended the Matchmaking Institute in New York City, which costs $3,500. Though she doesn’t regret going, she does emphasize there are less expensive avenues to a matchmaking career. (More on that in the last section.)

Is Matchmaking a Viable Business?

With the advent of online dating, is matchmaking even a thing anymore?

Yes. In fact, the matchmakers I spoke with said their businesses are booming.

“We love that the dating apps and ‘The Millionaire Matchmaker’ have made matchmaking and publicly dating so common and so popular,” explains Carly Spindel.

“People usually get tired of the dating apps and hire us because it’s about quality over quantity.”

Her mother Janis, who is one of the most experienced matchmakers around, charges men a premium for her services: from $50,000 to $250,000. Carly, who “was trained by the best,” charges similar rates: from $25,000 to $100,000.

For women, the Spindels charge an application fee of $25, and if accepted, a one-time consultation fee ranging from $250-$1,000.

Together with their international team, the Spindels brought in $5-$7 million last year. “I’m a very happy camper,” Janis says.

Stefanie Safran, who owns Chicago’s Stef and the City, started her matchmaking business in 2009.  

Her starting rate is $3,000, which gets a man six to eight matches over the course of a year. For women, she charges a rate a la carte: $50-$200 per “introduction.”

In addition, she offers a slew of other services, including dating coaching, which costs $1,400 for six sessions.

“It’s definitely a six-figure job if you do it full time and you get experience,” Safran says.

At Tawkify, which hires matchmakers around the country, Presley says: “We have full-time matchmakers earning above $100,000 and part-timers earning a wide range of incomes based on their preferred client loads. Safe to say, though, that roughly half of the full-time rate is doable for half-time work and client load.”

In other words, you might be able to earn $50,000 per year as a part-time matchmaker with Tawkify.

Could You Be a Matchmaker?

Interested in following in their footsteps?

The money may sound nice — but are you a good fit for the job?

If you don’t have these essential qualities, you’ll never make it as a matchmaker:

A Genuine Love of People

There’s no way around it: You must enjoy meeting and engaging with people to be successful.  

It’s important “to really be a people person, and like spending time with people and getting to know them and to see who would be best for them,” says Janis Spindel.

Strong Debate Skills

Yes, matchmaking is all about love — but it’s also about tough love.

That’s the only way people are going to change their habits and actually find a mate.

“You have to be a good debater,” says Safran. “Somebody might come with a laundry list of what they’re looking for and you have to [tell] them if it’s not particularly attainable or is going to take them down the wrong road.”

A Knack for Matching

Even if you have both of the above qualities, you still might not make a good matchmaker. One common refrain from the pros is matchmaking isn’t necessarily something you can learn.

It’s a skill — you either have it or you don’t.

“You definitely need to be intuitive,” says Janis Spindel.

“I don’t really honestly think you can teach somebody, per se, to be a matchmaker,” adds Carly Spindel.

“You have to a very definitive, outgoing, vivacious personality…  You need to be able to talk the talk, walk the walk, go up to anyone, anywhere, anytime and start a conversation with them.”

Ready to Don Your Cupid Outfit?  

If you’re chomping at the bit to be a matchmaker, you’ve got a few options:

1. Work for Another Matchmaker

You could work as another matchmaker’s apprentice or affiliate.

“If they’re really, really awesome, tell them to send us an email. Maybe they can be an affiliate under our umbrella, because that’s what we do with a lot of people who want to attempt to go out on their own,” says Janis Spindel.

Though the Spindels didn’t share a lot of details about how this process works, I bet working for renowned matchmakers like them would be an excellent way to kickstart your career.

2. Work for a Matchmaking Service

Or, work for a matchmaking service like Tawkify.

This year, it’s expanding in San Francisco and New York City, as well as hiring matchmakers in the following locations, according to Presley: Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Minneapolis.

“We need matchmakers everywhere,” Presley explains. “In the cities we don’t have matchmakers actually on the ground, our matchmakers work with the client remotely over video chat.”

The application process is straightforward: a resume and cover letter, followed by a quiz that compares your strengths to those of successful matchmakers. Then there’s a video interview.

If you’re hired, Tawkify takes care of the business side of things.

“We bring them in and we train them on everything,” Presley says. “They don’t need to open their own business, they don’t need to market themselves. They can save all that money, and all that time, because we do all the marketing… and then just deliver clients to them.”

As a matchmaker with Tawkify, you’re paid for each action you take, including recruiting new clients, meeting clients, matching clients and planning dates.

3. Start Your Own Matchmaking Business

Starting your own matchmaking service has the potential to be the most lucrative, but it’s also the most difficult.

One key? An entrepreneurial mindset.

“You have to be a business person in order to be a business owner,” says Janis Spindel.

“There’s a very big difference between a worker and an entrepreneur. Just because you think you have the skills to be a matchmaker, that doesn’t mean that you can open up your own business… I’ve known many people that have tried and failed.”

“You have to have an action plan; you have to have a goal,” adds Safran, who found her first clients by handing out business cards at networking events. She told men she’d find them dates very cheaply, and once she proved her skills, her business grew.

However you choose to pursue this career, remember these wise words from Presley:

Matchmaking is not what it looks like on TV… Successful matches and the love stories and all of that keep us going, and is really an exciting part of what we do.

But there’s also a side to matchmaking that’s tough. When people have been looking for the match for a long time… It’s also a matchmaker’s job to tactfully and delicately challenge that client.

Regardless, I think it sounds like a fun and interesting side gig… So much so that I’m going to apply to Tawkify right now. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Your Turn: How about you? Do you think you’d be a good matchmaker?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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