If youâre like most of us, 2020 did a number on your cash flow.
What is cash flow, you ask? Weâre so glad you asked! Cash flow refers to the money thatâs constantly moving into and out of your bank account.
Your paychecks (assuming you have work) flow in, and your payments (for food, housing and everything else) flow out.
For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has torn a hole in our finances, mucking everything up. Whatever has your cash flow bottled up, weâve got six suggestions for improving it, one step at a time.
1. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company
Credit card debt will destroy your cash flow. And the truth is, your credit card company doesnât really care. Itâs just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
The benefit? Youâll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 3.49% APR), youâll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
It takes two minutes to see if you qualify for up to $50,000 online. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but donât worry â they wonât spam you with phone calls.
2. Get Paid Every Time You Buy Groceries
Grocery shopping was never exactly pleasant. But these days, itâs a downright struggle â wondering about your personal safety, maintaining six feet of distance from other customers, etc. Shouldnât you have something to show for it?
A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.
Hereâs how it works: After youâve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, youâll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart.
You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto somethingâ¦
3. Make Sure Youâre Not Overpaying
Hereâs another way to improve your cash flow: Stop overpaying for things.
Wouldnât it be nice if you got an alert when youâre shopping online at Target and are about to overpay? Thatâs what this free service does.
Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, itâll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the itemâs price history.
Letâs say youâre shopping for a new TV, and you assume youâve found the best price. Hereâs when youâll get a pop up letting you know if that exact TV is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, theyâll also automatically be applied to your order.
In the last year, this has saved people $160 million.
You can get started in just a few clicks to see if youâre overpaying online.

4. Knock $540/Year From Your Car Insurance in Minutes
Speaking of overpaying for things, whenâs the last time you checked car insurance prices?
You should shop your options every six months or so â it could save you some serious money. Letâs be real, though. Itâs probably not the first thing you think about when you wake up. But it doesnât have to be.
A website called Insure makes it super easy to compare car insurance prices. All you have to do is enter your ZIP code and your age, and itâll show you your options â and even discounts in your area.
Using Insure, people have saved an average of $540 a year.
Yup. That could be $500 back in your pocket just for taking a few minutes to look at your options.
5. Add $225 to Your Wallet Just for Watching the News
This is a historic time for news, and weâre all constantly refreshing for the latest news updates. You probably know more than one news-junkie who fancies themselves an expert in respiratory illness or a political mastermind.
Research companies want to pay you to keep watching. You could add up to $225 a month to your pocket by signing up for a free account with InboxDollars. Theyâll present you with short news clips to choose from every day, then ask you a few questions about them.
You just have to answer honestly, and InboxDollars will continue to pay you every month. This might sound too good to be true, but itâs already paid its users more than $56 million.
It takes about one minute to sign up, and start getting paid to watch the news.
6. See if You Can Get More Money From This Company
Hereâs the deal: If youâre not using Aspirationâs debit card, youâre missing out on extra cash. And who doesnât want extra cash right now?
Yep. A debit card called Aspiration gives you up to a 5% back every time you swipe.
Need to buy groceries? Extra cash.
Need to fill up the tank? Bam. Even more extra cash.
You were going to buy these things anyway â why not get this extra money in the process?
Enter your email address here, and link your bank account to see how much extra cash you can get with your free Aspiration account. And donât worry. Your money is FDIC insured and under a military-grade encryption. Thatâs nerd talk for âthis is totally safe.â
In summary: Take these six steps and watch your cash flow improve.
Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
Source: thepennyhoarder.com