Make money from your wallet

Rachel Robson highlights five top ways to make money from your wallet!

Having read this headline, you might think I’m going slightly mad.

‘Make money from your wallet?’ I hear you cry. ‘How is that even possible? Surely the only thing your wallet is good for is spending money?’

But that’s where I am going to prove you wrong. So here are five ways to make money from your wallet!

Credit card

You might be surprised to learn that spending on a credit card can in fact help to boost your income! If you religiously pay off your credit card bill in full each month, spending on a cashback credit card will actually help you to earn money back.

Take the American Express Platinum Cashback Credit Card, for example. This card offers 5% cashback for the first three months (up to £100 cashback). After that, you’ll earn 0.5% to 1.25% cashback, depending on how much you spend.

So if you’re prepared to use a cashback credit card for the majority of your purchases – such as food, petrol, eating out, and holidays – the earnings will easily stack up.

If you don’t believe me, why not check out the American Express online calculator. Simply enter how much you usually spend on your credit card in a year, and it will calculate how much cashback you’ll earn!

For example, if you spent a total of £7,800 in the first year of using the card, you’d earn almost £150! Not bad.

Debit card

A debit card comes hand in hand with a current account. And if I offered you £100 for simply switching your current account, I think it’s pretty likely you’d jump at the chance.

That’s exactly what you’ll receive if you switch to the Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account. You’ll also receive an interest-free overdraft for 12 months, as well as free annual multi-trip European travel insurance worth up to £60.

Just bear in mind that to qualify for this offer, you must switch all your direct debits across and pay at least £500 into the account each month. What’s more, the £100 cash offer this Sunday! So get in quick.

If you miss out on this deal, don’t panic, because First Direct’s 1st Account also offers £100 to anyone who switches to this account - providing you pay in at least £1,500 each month. What’s more, First Direct is renowned for its excellent customer service and is so confident you won’t leave, it will give you another £100 if you do!

Another option to consider is the Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct Current Account – not to be confused with the Premier Current Account mentioned above.

Although you won’t receive a cash sum for switching to this account, you'll earn an interest rate of 6% on your money. And let's face it, this is higher than most savings accounts are offering these days. Again, you’ll need to pay at least £500 into the account each month.

Finally, you might prefer to opt for the Halifax Reward Current Account which gives you £5 each month you pay in £1,000 – whether you’re in credit or overdrawn!

Store cards

Here at lovemoney.com HQ, we’ve always made it pretty clear we’re not fans of using store cards. The reason for this is simply because they tend to lure you in with a discount on your shopping, and then hit you with a high rate of interest if you can’t afford to pay off your balance in full.

However, if you use your card correctly, it is possible to reap rewards. The John Lewis/Waitrose Partnership credit card, for example, earns you one point for every pound you spend in John Lewis, Waitrose or Greenbee.com. You’ll also earn one point for every £2 you spend elsewhere.

Then, for every 500 points you earn, you will receive a £5 voucher to spend in John Lewis or Waitrose!

Alternatively, if you regularly shop in Sainsbury’s, you might prefer the Sainsbury’s Finance MasterCard which allows you to earn two Nectar points for each £1 you spend in the first two years (or 1 point for each £5 you spend elsewhere).

These Nectar points can then be put towards all sorts of treats - whether it's your next Sainsbury's shop, a holiday, a spa day, theme park tickets, or a trip to the cinema.

What’s more, the Sainsbury’s Finance MasterCard has the added bonus of offering an interest-free period on all purchases and balance transfers for 10 months, as well as an extra two-months interest-free on any purchases you make in the supermarket.

You can read more about these credit cards in The best rewards credit card in Britain.

Finally, one of my favourite cards is the Boots Advantage Card. This isn’t a credit card, but if you hand it in every time you make a purchase in Boots, it allows you to earn four points for every £1 you spend. Each point is worth a penny – so once you’ve accumulated a number of points, you’ll be able to put these towards any further purchases in-store. For example, if you have 500 points, you can buy something for £5.

Vouchers

It’s well worth going through your wallet to see whether you have any vouchers you can redeem in certain retailers. I’m always shoving Boots vouchers into my wallet, and then promptly forgetting to use them – and losing out on some pretty decent savings in the process.

You could also print off some of the 2-for-1 restaurant vouchers we mention every week in our Frugal Food blog, so you've got them handy whenever you want to pop out for a bite.

So make sure you have a good search through your wallet and remember to spend your vouchers. These can slice several pounds off your purchase.

Loose change

Finally, if you have a wallet full of change, make sure you don’t ignore it. Either spend it straight off, or put it in a money jar.

Once your jar is full, you can take the change to your local bank to pay it into your savings or current account. Just bear in mind you will need to collect money bags from the bank first and then sort your change into the correct bags before paying it in. Some banks will limit the number of bags you can bring in at any one time.

Alternatively, you could put your spare change into a Coinstar machine which will add up the total for you. Kiosks are usually found in supermarkets. Be warned though, you will have to pay a fee of 8.9p per pound counted.

Coinstar reckons the average UK household has about £50 of spare change sitting around. So it’s well worth doing!

Hopefully this has proved that you really can make money from your wallet!

• Adopt our goal: Make some extra money.

Don’t forget, if you have any further money-making tips, you can share them with other lovemoney.com readers in the comments boxes below!

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