Christmas is right around the corner and I wanted to put together a few suggestions for how to earn a few bucks for your holiday shopping.
None of these options are going to pay for the kid’s college education but they certainly might allow you to get a few extra things under the Christmas tree or just treat yourself to Starbucks and a pedicure.
Many of these things can be done from home- I can tell you I personally haven’t sat down in front of the TV in years. I usually have the laptop out doing stuff for the blog or projects for the family (or just pinning all the projects I would like to do for the family). So in the evening after the kiddos go to bed can be a great time to earn a few extra bucks.
These ideas are in no particular order:
IPSOS. This is a survey company I have always heard great things about. They are a simple and straightforward company to work with and they offer prizes, gift cards or cash after you accumulate a certain number of points. Learn more about Ipsos here.
SWAGBUCKS. This is a really simple program. You just register and start collecting “Swagbucks”. The bucks can be cashed in for gift cards to places like Amazon, Sephora, Old Navy, Starbucks and CVS or just get cash via paypal. The easiest way to collect bucks is to install the toolbar from them and use that for your regular internet searches. You can also watch for them to release codes on Facebook, Twitter and occasionally the Swagbucks page (I post the codes when I can).
This is a legitimate company and I have personally been cashing in for Amazon gift cards for years now. There is no catch, you just accumulate enough bucks and cash in for what you want. Some readers will save up the gift cards all year and then pay for some Christmas gifts with the gift cards. Get started with Swagbucks here.
MYSURVEY. This is a survey company. You can earn rewards for answering surveys. I haven’t done this one myself but I have heard that this company tends to offer a lot of full size products for people to review and answer questions about. Head over to My Survey to learn more.
INBOX DOLLARS. This is a survey company so you just read emails, take surveys etc… and you can earn a little here and there. The nice thing about this company is that you can get $5 just for signing up. Head over here to learn more.
VALUED OPINIONS. This is another survey company that you can earn rewards from. You can cash in for gift cards to various places- for example I can see Macy’s and Amazon right now. Get more info here.
NATIONAL CONSUMER PANEL– This is a consumer panel from Nielsen (the people that do tv ratings). This used to be a really popular program and then people became a little less enamored with them. The deal is that you apply and if you are accepted, they send you a scanner. You scan your grocery purchases each time you shop and you can accumulate points to cash in for various rewards like toys and electronics. A lot of people found this too time consuming- especially if you tend to use a lot of coupons at the store because you need to enter all those in the scanner. You can try it if you want and there is no cost to return the scanner if it isn’t for you. Learn more about NCP here.
If you decide to sign up for any of these companies, you might consider using an email account designated specifically for this purpose.
do you have a referral for any of these programs? i think many of these programs give you points for referrals.
So I REALLY want to do these websites, but I always worry that they aren’t legit. Do they really work? Can I trust them with my home address? 🙂
Thanks to you, I started Swagbucks & love it. Right now, all their gift cards (except amazon) are “on sale”. Normally I get my CVS $10 Gift Card for 1,250 Swagbucks, but now it’s only 1,000 SBs. $5 gift cards are now only 500 SBs, normally more. So if you’ve been saving SBs now’s the time to redeem! And I also still do Recyclebank, thanks to you, and that’s my source for Walmart Gift Cards. Those 2 programs aren’t too time consuming & I actually learn stuff on recyclebank!
Kayla,
Yes. These are ones that I have been posting for a few years now. I would just set up a second email address so you don’t feel overwhelmed with emails. The only one that people gave negative feedback on was NCP just because they felt it was too time consuming not that it was a scam.
Just so you’re aware – With Valued Opinions, the Amazon GC is not currently available. They say they are working on it, but it has said that for weeks, so I don’t know what’s going on.
Normally, I do redeem my $ on Valued Opinions for Amazon GC’s though! I do a lot of surveys and earn quite a bit of extra spending money. 🙂
Thanks! I signed up with Inbox Dollars, and am going to do some more as I could really use the extra money! 🙂 I currently redeemed points on Recyclebank for a $10 WalMart gift card, which was nice 🙂 I’ve also been using the different apps on my iPhone that give points for checking into places, very cool! 😉 Thanks for all of your great deals and postings, I enjoy them very much!
I’ve been doing Ipsos and MySurvey for some years now, along with some other survey companies like Inspired Opinions and Knowledge Network (by invitation). It is nice to get a check in the mail once in a while. If I had more patience I’d probably earn more but I just don’t want to spend 30mins or so answering a survey.