Saving pennies and making pennies with rewards programs

Or nickels or dimes or dollars. Or even tens of dollars and occasionally hundreds of dollars. I'm talking about the rewards programs and the "get paid to" programs on the internet. The chances are that you can make at a minimum enough to pay for your internet connection.

Some pay cash, some pay in gift certificates to various sites and stores and still others pay in "prizes," where you choose what you want (like shopping) and then you work toward having enough points or tokens or whatever they call them.

If you have a few moments online, why not try them? This is the other side to saving money where we can: Making money where we can. The only thing it takes is a computer with internet access. To get cash, many of the sites require you to have a Paypal account and you'll have to have a physical address and an email address and that's about it.

Here are some of the programs that I like best:

MyPoints - This is one of the oldest and best established programs on the internet. They send emails usually worth 5 points each. You simply click on the link provided and you're immediately credited. Besides that, you can earn by going to the site and clicking on the "Easy Points" link in the navigation bar. There are various offers and videos in that section. You also earn when you buy things through them. There is an enormous list of companies on the site, but you must start on the MyPoints site to get credit. Download their "toolbar" which is a search bar, and you will get credit for searches each month. They started at 75 searches and I can't remember how many points you got for that, but last month (May), they gave me 400 points for 153 searches. They will send an email alerting you to the search requirements each month, usually mid month, so use their search bar anyway. It isn't the greatest search function, but it's getting better.

Mypoints offers a very long list of gift cards that you can get, from Amazon to Walmart. They have recently begun paying cash through Paypal, too.

Swagbucks - New on the scene, but robust and fun, too. You can make points by searching, through which points are randomly given. About every other search will get you points, anywhere from six to thirty. The lower amounts are more common, of course. Make points also by checking the home page where there is sometimes a video to watch for a couple of points. Offers of various kinds will get you points, including free sign ups and things you might do anyway. Also, watch "Swagbucks TV" but only if you have something else to do while it's running. You get three points for 10 clips. Some of them are less than a minute, but some run far longer. If you're reading your email, start up the Swagbucks TV and check it every so often. I read somewhere that you can make up to 75 points each day through the TV, but I've never got that far! They also give out codes, which are kind of hidden and hard to find until you get the hang of it.

Swagbucks has all kinds of rewards, from cash to gift certificates to merchandise and donations to charities. You can rack up the Amazon gift certificates quickly (well, quickly for this type of program).


I do several more, mostly depending on how much time I have and the mood I'm in, but these three are my favorites. They make take some time, but they're an easy way to get a little more cash or merchandise. If you spend wisely, you can use them to save money. For instance, I recently ordered a cable modem and paid with Amazon gift certificates, at least half from rewards programs. I will save the $7 fee that Comcast charges for renting their modem. That's money saved all around.