Over the past several months I have been able to save a good amount of money by using free gift cards.
According to NuRide’s website:
NuRide is the nation™s largest online ridesharing community where members are rewarded for sharing rides. NuRide is free to join and free to use and is supported by sponsors who reward NuRide members for reducing global warming, traffic congestion and energy consumption.
Since I started using NuRide in June, I’ve received the following awards:
That is $35 just for carpooling! That isn’t even counting the savings in wear and tear on my vehicle because I only drive every other day now.
In addition to the gift cards, I was entered into a drawing for a $250 gas card (I didn’t win), and am currently entered into a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card.
According to Mypoints’ website:
Earn Points when you shop, book travel, play online games, take surveys, search the Web, and do other easy, everyday things.
Redeem your Points for gift cards, online certificates, gas cards, travel, dining and more- all from your favorite brands. It’s easy, fast and free!
I’ve been using MyPoints since 1999, and have earned dozens of rewards without spending a dime more than I would’ve already have spent. Just in the past few months I’ve earned:
That is $100 in free money just for going through their website when I buy stuff and for responding to emails.
I started using My Coke Rewards a few months back when I started buying Fresca on a fairly regular basis. Basically, you buy Coke products (Coke, Fresca, Minute Maid juice, Poweraide…), get the code from the bottle, enter it online, and claim a reward.
I’ve since stopped buying soda almost entirely, but even with the few points I pick up now and then from friends and family, I’ve earned the following:
Again, that is around $18 of free stuff just by being slightly annoying and bugging my co-workers, fiancee, and friends to give me their bottle caps.
At work I jokingly said that I should get a reward for performing a task that is outside of my normal job requirements. I wasn’t expecting them to actually get me anything, but they got me (and everyone else that participated in the task) a:
Individually it may not seem like a lot, but for just a tiny bit of effort I’ve managed to get around $175 in gift cards.