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My favorite ways to earn cash & gift cards online – part 2
Yesterday I told you how I cash out mysurveys & other online reward programs and what I do with the money.
Now you want to know what programs I use and how much I honestly get from each one? Well here they are! Hopefully you can find some that work for you!
I’m sure you’ve heard of Swagbucks. But if not – it’s a free site to sign up on. You use it like Google. When you search for things you earn Swagbucks. You can also earn Swagbucks about a million other ways. You can answer the daily poll (just one question!), watch TV (confession I usually don’t have the sound on! I just have the shows running while I blog, check my email and such. Earning Swagbucks while doing my regular stuff!), playing games (I let Josh play! He has fun I get Swagbucks!) and more. There are so many ways to earn! You turn your Swagbucks into prizes from the SwagStore. I chose to get Amazon gift cards with mine.
I’m a numbers person. You can get:
a $5 Amazon gift card for 450 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 90 Swagbucks).
a $25 Amazon gift card for 3,150 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 126 Swagbucks).
a $50 Amazon card for 5,900 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 118 Swagbucks).
a $100 Amazon gift card for 11,599 Swagbucks (Or $1for 116 Swagbucks).
Or a $500 Amazon gift card for 54,995 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 110 Swagbucks).
Obviously the $5 gift card is the way to go! I earn about 30 Swagbucks a day (about 11,000 Swagbucks/year) so I am able to get 24 $5 gift cards for a total of $120. If I just saved my points and cashed out all at once I would only be able to get $100 worth of gift cards (2 $50 cards). Or if I cashed out each time I had enough for a $25 card I would only be able to get $75 worth!
Sometimes I earn more than my 30 Swagbucks a day! But 30/day is the minimum that I earn. (if Josh plays games or if a friend signs up. Invite your friends! Swagbucks will match the bucks your friend earns to your account up to 1,000 bucks! This year I reffered 12 friends which means I got an additional 12,000 Swagbucks! It doubled my bucks! So I will actually earn an extra $120 worth of Amazon gift cards just from my friends!!)
If you want to sign up for Swagbucks you can do so here. (This is my referral link just so you know! I do get points for you signing up – but I promise you will like Swagbucks!)
Total Estimated earnings for this year: $240 worth of Amazon gift cards
E-Rewards
I signed up for E-rewards about 3 years ago. It is an online survey company. You earn virtual dollars for doing surveys and then you can exchange them for gift cards. They have switched it to being an invitation only company. I earn about $50 worth of gift cards each year (and for Gamestop!) If you get an invitation I would recommend signing up!
Total estimated earnings each year: $50 worth of Gamestop gift cards
Valued Opinions is an online survey company. I earn about $10/month for doing surveys. I get mine back as Amazon gift cards (There is a $20 minimum threshold that you need to meet before cashing out.)
Total estimated earnings: $60 worth of Amazon gift cards
Shop at Home is a site that rewards you for shopping. I do spend money while I’m here but I earn money as well! Each day they have a “wild deal”. Lots of times they are for personal care products like toothpaste, deodorant, soap and so on. Sometimes they are for other things. Most of the time the items have free shipping, free store pick up or a very low shipping cost (Walmart does $0.97 shipping).
Here is how the deal works. Let’s say today’s wild deal is deodorant from Walmart. It’s on sale for $1.97 and has free store pick up. You buy the deodorant through the site for $1.97. In a few days Shop At Home credits your account $1.97 for buying something through their site. That makes for free deodorant! (Except for sales tax – which even if you used a coupon at a store to get free deodorant you would still have to pay Uncle Sam!)
Each day is a new “wild deal”. Generally I only do the deals that end up being free and if it has a free shipping option. Sometimes though they have just great deals. I’ve gotten a 10 pack of sharpies for about $1 (including shipping), a pack of 2 flashlights for $3 (free site to store shippings) among other things. So while I may not be making money from them – I think of it as a virtual savings account. I deposit money in and in turn get free items that we can use.
I would say I do about 2 deals a week. They usually aren’t high dollar amounts – probably $2-$5 each (on average). Shop at Home sends checks so you have to cash out earlier than most places. To get your money by December 1styou need to cash out by 9/30. You have to have $20 in your account to cash out.
Estimated yearly cash back: $520 ($10 a week)
Jingit is a new company for me but one that I am SO excited about!! Jingit pays you to watch ads online. Also, if you have a smart phone or a tablet you can use their app to ‘check in’ and scan items in the store. If you shop at Walmart this should be a must for you! There is a weekly earning limit of $10 but it isn’t that hard to get to. I’ve been hitting my $10 limit (or very close to it) nearly each week I’ve been using it.
$10 may not sound like much but it adds up to $520 a year! Not too shabby!!
Estimated yearly cash back: $520 ($10 a week)
InboxDollars is a survey site and it pays you to read your email. It takes a little longer to get your cash because they send a paper check but they do pay and I’ve never had a problem! I actually like them quite a bit. I earn about $1 a day. One dollar? Yes – one dollar – or $365 a year! Little things add up! Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Reading the emails & filling out a quick little survey may sound silly but it ends up being a free month of groceries. Now it’s worth it huh? J
Estimated yearly cash back: $365
I’m so cheap that fast food and movie theaters freak me out. For the 3 of us to go to McDonalds it’s about $18 (3 value meals at $5 each plus $1 each for a drink). $18!! For some chemically made “food”. I spend about $50 a week (or less!) at the grocery store so this is a lot! The movie theater is the worst! $4 for a drink? Are you crazy!?! Obviously I am because we go once a month….
I know that just because I’m a penny pincher that doesn’t mean we can’t go and have fun! That’s where Plink comes in. Plink is a company that you earn points for shopping at places like the movie theaters, Taco Bell, Burger King and more. I’ve heard rumors that they are in talks with Target. How awesome would that be?!?!
You do have to register your credit/debit card. Then when you use your card at one of their retailers you earn points which you can redeem for gift cards. I was a little nervous about it at first but I’ve never had a problem.
You can earn a $5.00 gift card for 500 points. A trip to the movies alone earns us 400 points! We go to the movies once a month either as a date for Andy & I, a mom or dad & Josh day or for a family trip so this program is a good one for us. We earn a $5 gift card each month.
Estimated yearly cash back: $60 in Amazon gift cards
So the grand total for all of my programs: $1,815!! $1,405 of that is cash, $360 is in Amazon gift cards and $50 is in GameStop gift cards.
Is it worth it? I think so!!
Do you use any other programs? What are your favorites to use?
