A few years ago, Kyle Taylor was like many people in their 20s, saddled with debt and making uneducated financial decisions. To encourage himself to get out of his financial mess, he started a blog about his journey.
The blog "was just my way of sharing what I was doing to pay off my student loan debt and hold myself accountable," Taylor tells CNBC.
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Now Taylor, 30, is a self-made millionaire, and his blog, The Penny Hoarder, is a full-blown company offering financial tips to thousands of users. Taylor is the CEO.
"Six years ago I was down to my last dollar, looking for change on the side of the street to buy ramen with," he says.
Here are a few key money tricks that helped Taylor go from broke to millionaire:
1. Earn cash back from online shopping
For purchases you make every month, start buying them online using a rewards site like eBates or Mr. Rebates, Taylor suggests. These sites give cash back on purchases made through their site.
"Just think about that for a second. Think about the Christmas shopping that you have to do or all of the birthday presents you're going to buy or even your groceries," he says. "If you could move even just half of that to purchasing online through a cash back rebate site, it could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year that you could put directly into a savings account."
2. Sell your photos
Don't let your awesome iPhone shots go to waste.
Check out the app called Foap that lets you turn your smartphone photos into extra money. Upload some of your high quality photos to Foap's marketplace, and someone could purchases the license to your photo. You get $5 each time the photo is sold, Taylor explains.
3. Become a beer auditor
If you are between the ages of 18 and 30, you could work as a beer auditor, someone who reports to companies on whether or not you were asked for ID before purchasing alcohol.
Businesses pay for auditing services like Corporate Research, The Source and Sinclair Customer Metrics to make sure their locations follow federal ID laws.
"I was a beer auditor," Talyor says. "I got paid to go to grocery stores and gas stations and see if they would card me. I would earn anywhere from $20 to $50 per location that I was sleuthing."
It was a job he could do in his spare time, with little effort.
I'm a huge fan of finding hidden money.Kyle Taylorfounder and CEO of The Penny Hoarder
4. Go to the movies
"I got paid to go to the movies and write down all the previews and commercials I saw beforehand," Taylor says. "Advertisers wanted to see that so they could ensure that their previews you're being seen."
You can get paid to review movies or count the number of patrons entering a show's theater, he explains on The Penny Hoarder.
"It's such a fun job," he says.
5. Review your shopping or dining experience
The CEO and his family used to do a lot of mystery shopping to get free services and extra cash. A mystery shopper is someone who pretends to be a regular customer, but is actually a paid worker who provides feedback to the company on the experience.
"We would all get to go out to eat for dinner," Taylor says. "My mom would be taking notes on the experience so that she could write a report later on [that] we get paid for anywhere from ten to twenty bucks. Plus we get a free meal as a family."
Video by Andrea Kramar.