Maybe saving money isn’t enough, and you need to earn a little extra. In that case, give these a try. Most of them won’t actually earn you money, but they will give you points that you can trade in for gift cards once you’ve accumulated enough. (I actually use all of these myself.)
SwagBucks
SwagBucks offers a number of ways to earn, the most notable being through searching. Now, I’ve tried other paid-to-search engines in the past and found them annoying and their results useless. Not so SwagBucks. It can be installed as a search option in Firefox’s regular search box, and it’s primarily powered by Google, so the results are usually pretty good. (Occasionally, I do switch back over to Google, but its easy enough to switch back and forth with Firefox’s search bar.) [2015 UPDATE: Unfortunately, SwagBucks has changed their search provider, and the results are no longer as good. It’s still worth keeping around as an option, but I like it less than I used to.] There is a full toolbar available, but I’ve heard it can cause glitches.
Once you’re logged in, check out the SwagBucks homepage to see other ways to earn – most of them are the traditional types of things, like signing up for offers, which you may or may not want to do. But I earn enough points purely through my own searches, for the equivalent of $5 Amazon “money” about every month.
MyPoints
MyPoints has a number of offers, as well. And you can earn points by shopping through them. I primarily earn points by opening their emails, though. I have a filter set up to send all of the MyPoints emails to their own folder. When I have a few minutes, I will go through several. If I get really backlogged, I can easily delete them in bulk and start fresh. (The emails thing is, admittedly, much easier on a high-speed internet connection than on dial-up.)
I have found that I can usually do better using ShopAtHome.com for cash back when shopping, rather than using MyPoints for points. But there is one other way to earn points: sign up for BzzAgent. Besides getting other great perks like getting to try out new products with word-of-mouth campaigns, when you take surveys and submit BzzReports, you can earn MyPoints points.
RecycleBank
RecycleBank‘s primary purpose is, as the name suggests, to encourage recycling. It does this by offering points for participating in your community’s recycling program – only, unfortunately, if your community is a participant. Our area has a fairly pathetic recycling program, so it’s no surprise that they aren’t part of RecycleBank. But there are still ways to earn “bonus” points on occasion, even if you aren’t otherwise participating. These can be traded in for things like coupons and magazine subscriptions.
Qmee
Qmee is a browser add-on that pays you for clicking on ads. When you visit a page that matches up with their keywords, a sidebar will open at the left of your screen with a handful of ads. (These are like the kind you’d see on a search results page.) It displays the amount you’ll earn for clicking. Click through and the money will be added to your account – you can click on the icon in your toolbar to see your balance at any time.
It’s not a lot – usually 6-8 cents/click – but it doesn’t take long to click on these once in a while and you can cash out for actual cash. (There’s not some crazy cash out threshold, either. If you want to cash out a dollar, you can cash out a dollar.)
Refer-a-Friend
Many companies will give you credits for referring friends to use the site. Some of my favorites are:
(I like these because I use them all the time to save money even without any referrals. I understand Zulily does the same thing, but Zulily is new to me.)
Tropical Traditions will reward you for referring friends, too.