3 simple ways to earn extra money

Want to bring in some extra cashflow? Who doesn't? Check these 3 simple ways to bring in extra cashflow to your pocket! 

Become a mystery shopper!
Mystery shoppers are people who are paid by a market research company to report on their experiences doing things like shopping, eating in restaurants and buying gas. For each assignment, the mystery shopping company will give you specific instructions on where to shop and what to look for. You'll report back on how the experience went: the customer service, the attitudes of the employees, the cleanliness of the facilities. After you submit your report, you'll be paid for your time and reimbursed for anything you bought. So on top of pocket money you can get free snacks, gas, meals or movie tickets while you work. The pay ranges from $12 to $25 per assignment [source: Secret Shopper].

Sell your gold jewelry! 
recession has driven gold commodity prices through the roof. The price of gold has reached an all time high as recently as Oct. 6, 2010, when it hit $1,351 per ounce [source: Wycoff]. So it's a perfect time to unload old or broken gold jewelry that you don't have any use for. But keep in mind that the ultimate price you get for the gold won't hit the $1,351 per ounce mark. That price is for pure, 24 karat gold and doesn't take into account the markup that the person buying your gold will make before reselling it. Gold below 24 karats is less pure and will bring in less.A scrap gold buyer, the type that advertises on TV, will pay considerably less than a jeweler. If you have an attractive antique piece of jewelry, a jeweler may be a better bet. But for scrap or broken gold, you might want to use one of those scrap gold buyers. In today's market, you can get from $12 to $50 per pennyweight of scrap gold. (There are 18.229 pennyweights in an ounce). Your gold will be worth more to those buyers the more karats it has, and the more of it you have. When using a mail-in buyer, check its ratings with the Better Business Bureau to make sure is hasn't received complaints.

Work Freelance!
The recession has driven more and more companies to look for contract and freelance work as an alternative to full-time positions. Farming out work to independent contractors makes sense for the bottom line because companies can pay for the work they need done, with decreased overhead expenses like benefits and setting up a physical office for each employee. In today's economy, nine in 10 companies use some amount of contract work [source: Koba]. If you have a marketable skill like graphic design, search engine optimization, Web design, public relations or writing, you can take advantage of those employers' cost cutting.Hourly pay for freelance work tends to be higher than for salaried positions. On the other hand, you will have to account for gaps between assignments. For a company, the benefit of hiring freelancers is not having to pay them when it doesn't need them. To get started, research online markets to determine the going rate for the type of work you'll be doing. There are multiple Web sites where you can post your resume and search job listings, including elance.com, ratracerebellion.com and flexjobs.com.