Savvy Londoner reveals how she earns almost £500 a year from paying bills and booking holidays – here’s how to do it too
Trudie has earned just under £3,000 in total, by paying for her household bills through a cashback website
SAVVY saver Trudie from London earns almost £500 a year simply by using a cashback website when paying for her household bills and holidays.
The 27-year-old project manager has been using a cashback website for six years, and has managed to earn £2,817 in total - averaging at just under £470 a year.
Trudie has always been savvy with money, and even managed to buy her own home at the age of 23 without help from her parents, by working a number of jobs to save up a big enough deposit.
She first started using cashback website Topcashback.co.uk six years ago when her mum told her about it, and she quickly started pocketing extra cash just by simply paying for her household bills - including gas and electricity, broadband and insurance - through the website.
She has also earned a lot of cashback on holidays and hotel bookings, as she says the site offers decent cashback rates on Hotels.com - the main bookings site she uses.
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Trudie insists that she almost always uses the cashback site for items she needs anyway, so she's not spending extra just to bag the cashback.
"I've always been very careful with my money, something that was instilled in me from a young age, and I try my best to never pay full price by using discount codes and getting cashback where possible", she said.
"I also use eBay to flog things I no longer use, just to make an extra bit of money.
"My salary covers all my bills, so I see cashback as free money which I can use to pay for smaller luxuries like new clothes or experience days."
How do I sign up and get cashback?
IT’S easy to start earning cashback on your bills and purchases. Just follow these simple steps:
- Sign up to a cashback website. Topcashback.co.uk and Quidco are two of the best. Click the ‘Join now’ option and enter your email address and password
- Make sure you click the free / basic membership option, otherwise you’ll be charged. If you want premium membership, both websites charge £5 a month for this. The premium membership will reward customers with bonus cashback, ad-free shopping and quicker payouts
- Find a deal that you want to purchase, whether that’s a home insurance policy, a new laptop from Currys, or a Tesco grocery shop. Instead of going directly to the retailer, you can access the shop through a link in the cashback website, and any purchase made will be registered with the cashback site.
- You still receive your item directly from the retailer, and the casback earned will be added to your online account. Once it’s there, you can withdraw it and transfer it to your bank account, or you can turn your cashback into a gift voucher or code to spend at a retailer.
- Bear in mind that it can take a few days or even weeks for the cashback to appear in your account on the website.
Trudie says she doesn't cash in on her savings from the cashback site until it has accrued bigger sums, so it can be used for larger purchases, rather than a means to supplement her income.
The Sun Online revealed earlier this year that single mum-of-two Paula Hancock has pocketed £1,200 in just two years by using a cashback website on all of her household bills, as well as takeaways, birthday gifts and more.
These savings, she says, allow her to push the boat out at Christmas and for birthdays, with the money saved being spent on treats for her children, including an iPad mini.
Three cashback safety rules
THERE are certain things to be aware of when buying on a cashback website.
- Cashback isn’t guaranteed. Sometimes link tracking problems occur and customers (and sometimes the cashback site itself) isn’t paid by the retailer. If you’re expecting to be paid and you aren’t, make sure to contact the cashback site
- Cashback sites should be free – don’t use one that charges for use
- Once the cash is in your online account, withdraw it straight away (once you’ve hit the minimum amount at which you can withdraw funds) and transfer it to your bank account. That’s because if the company goes bust, your money goes with it.
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