I know that most of us are struggling with finances these days, and you know I’m always here to share my favorite solutions. One way that I help our family – {since with Mike out of work, I’m the ONLY one bringing in any income. Yikes} – is to use rewards sites to earn free cash through PayPal, free checks delivered in the mail, and loads of free gift cards to stores we shop at most. And most of these sites have the added bonus of rewarding you with entries into exclusive members-only giveaways, which have much better odd’s than the nationwide sweepstakes you always see. I’ve won quite a few times over the years, and they’re some of the biggest prizes that I’ve ever won, which can be an amazing help – think free toys for the kids, or free kitchen appliances.

What’s holding you back?

Many people tell me, “I don’t have time for those survey sites.” Or, “The rewards aren’t even worth it.” Well, I can tell you – they ARE worth it! I’ve done them for years while I worked full-time, and I’ve done them now when I’m even busier running this site and my business – so I’ve never had a ton of time to devote to this. And, if they weren’t worth it, I wouldn’t do it – I have a never-ending to-do list each day, and have to really prioritize!

My Tip: Sign up for as many different sites as you can find. That way, you’re automatically entered in more of their sweepstakes, even if you’re not very active. Then, make a separate folder in your email, called “Surveys” – move all survey invites into that folder when you get them. Next, make some time – 30 minutes a day after the kids go to sleep, or even an hour on the weekend – and go through as many survey invites as you can in that time. Some may be expired, because they’ve been in there awhile, but you’ll complete quite a few. After a couple months, check ALL your balances – you’ll be uh-MAY-zed at what you’re ready to cash in. Promise.

Free Shopping Spree!

I usually only cash out twice a year, once right before summer, and once before the holidays. This year, I’m doing a very low-budget Christmas, and decided to wait until January to cash out all of my sites – then splurge on some fun new stuff for ME! I’ll share my totals when I cash it all out – so that you can see what kind of serious cash and rewards you can earn. Now – Don’t be the only one missing out on this free stuff – get signed up today!

Want more great tips? Check out my most popular post of all time – 10 ways to make money from home – perfect for moms!

Earn CASH rewards!

• Vindale Research – Earn from $5 to $75 per survey! Mine are usually in the $10-$15 range – but I have gotten a couple that were the top rate. Very cool when you get them!
• Inbox Dollars – Earn $5 bucks cash today, and request a check every time you hit $20. Earn for shopping, doing polls and surveys, playing games, or just clicking on emails. Plus, if you’re a coupon girl, you earn .10 cents per coupon you print and redeem. Sweet! Another new one that’s super similar {that I JUST signed up with, so I don’t have much feedback for yet, is Send Earnings. It looks almost the exactly the same.} And – see an example of how much I made with Inbox Dollars last year in November.
• Opinion Outpost – Rewards include get cash, Amazon gift cards, game points, donations to your favorite charities, and more. Everyone is also automatically entered to a $10,000 sweepstakes by joining and taking surveys. Minimum payout is $5 for Amazon gift cards, or $10 for PayPal cash.
• USell.com – This isn’t a survey site. But you can earn a ton of cash selling your old, unneeded – even broken! – cell phones. I had a whole drawer full, and got cash for all of them. Better cash in my pocket than a drawer of old half-broken phones :)
• Toluna – Join the survey research panel and start taking surveys to earn cash! Surveys are usually pretty short, so they’re easy when you’re short on time. They also do mini-polls, to earn points even quicker.
• Upromise – This is a bit different – register an account, install the toolbar, and start earning money that you can put towards your child’s future college tuition. This really does work – I used it, and didn’t even really do anything with it, but earned about $150 in less than a year – with no effort at all, that I cashed out to pay for a few college textbooks last year. If you start it for your kids and let it add up over time, it could be a big amount of totally free college funds!
• Cash Crate – This one is super cool – I won some contests there last holiday season that I didn’t even know they were having :) They have a TON of ways you can earn money… You just pick and choose offers, things like watch a video and earn .50 cents, join a book club and earn $10, sign up for a brand newsletter and get $1. It adds up quick.

Free Products!

• MySurvey – Take Surveys, Get FREE Products to try out, and Earn amazing Rewards!!
•  – Test free products in your home and earn rewards. After you get to see new products and ideas before anyone else, it’s easy to understand why businesses don’t want their new ideas to leak out!
• Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel – Must be over 18. Earn points that you can redeem towards seriously amazing stuff: I used to do this, and redeemed points for kitchen appliances and other cool home stuff. Been trying to get approved again forever!
• Pinecone Research – It’s easy and fun to see and evaluate new product ideas in the comfort of your own home. You will earn points for each completed product survey, which can be exchanged for cash and other rewards. PLUS you will be automatically entered into a bi-weekly Sweepstakes to win additional cash prizes for your time. Each interview usually takes 15-20 minutes of your time.
• Minds Pay – Evaluate cool products right in your home, that they send you for free, then share your opinions of them online in surveys – and get rewarded for it. Sah-weet, right?
• Survey Spot – *Frequent opportunities, average of 24 surveys a month. You’ll earn sweepstakes entries for each survey, to win $12,000! I get TONS of baby products to test from them!

Earn Gift Cards!

• Valued Opinions – Every survey earns you points, and you turn those into FREE gift cards!
• MyPoints – Earn with surveys, shopping, and SO much more. Then turn those points into FREE gift cards, hundreds to choose from! {One of my favorite sites!}
• E-Poll – Earn gift cards for sharing your opinions, and enter to WIN a montly $1,000 giveaway! You’ll even get access to cool new products to test out sometimes, before they even hit the market.
• SwagBucks – the easiest way to earn free stuff on the web! Redeem for my favorite, Amazon gift cards, or even PayPal cash! {Tip: When doing Amazon GCs, always get the $5 ones. They’re a better value than the $25 ones, when you look at points per dollar :)}
• Your Word Panel – Share your thoughts with brands who want to hear them, and earn free gift cards from sites like Walgreens, and more.
• 15 Ways to Shop for Free: Ok – this isn’t a site, this is a list I put together. I LOVE those deal sites that reward you for sharing with your friends… And I earn enough credit to do the majority of my holiday shopping for free. And when you do it right, your friends appreciate it too – who doesn’t love it when a friend finds something totally awesome that you love, at a crazy-discounted price, right? So, sign up for a ton of these sites, get great deals on stuff for you, share the deals with your friends, earn tons of free credit when they shop, and then shop for free! Love it.

Have questions?

If you have any questions about how any of these sites work, feel free to ask in the comments, or on my Facebook wall, and I’ll answer right away! And I’d LOVE to have you share YOUR story of how these sites have worked for you – for a chance to be featured on Sunshine and Sippy Cups. Thanks for reading – and have a great weekend!