Frugal Friday: Earning extras through reward sites & pay-for-content sites

Back several years ago, when the Dot Com heyday was at its height, one of the big deals was the abundance of "get paid to____" sites. Some were for reading emails (you had to click a link to show you received it), some for clicking on ads directly on the site, some included trivia and more. Using the sites as shopping portals often earned you even more money. I earned several hundred dollars back then; other people who were really good at getting referrals made thousands of dollars. (Most of these would also give you a percentage of a referral's earnings.)

Now, sadly, most of them have gone by the wayside, and many of the ones that are left aren't worth bothering with because it takes far too long to earn enough money to cash out. But there are still a few decent ones out there. The only one I bother with from the old crowd is good old MyPoints.com - email ads are easy to click on, and it's easy to check for surveys that are worth a few more points. I manage to earn a couple or three $5 - $10 gift cards each year, mostly by clicking, some by shopping. I'm frugal with my time, and I still manage to get a little bit every few months.

About a year ago I joined Gather.com, a place where you can write, publish photos, and now even post videos - and they pay you to do so! You get points via some mysterious formula (it's all very hush-hush in order to make it a little harder to game the system) which can then be cashed in for gift cards or even charity donations. I've earned a few $10 Barnes & Noble gift cards (they no longer offer those), two $25 Home Depot cards, and am almost up to my 3rd Home Depot card - and I'm not even very active there!

I've also done the occasional article for AssociatedContent.com, but they don't pay very well. Still, for the occasional throwaway article that you're not too worried about, a few dollars extra in the ol' PayPal account never hurts! Helium.com is a similar site, and while I have signed up with them, I haven't yet written for them, so I can't comment on their ease of use or their payment policies.

There are probably a few others floating around that still pay out enough to make a few minutes here and there worth it - drop me a comment if you know of a really good one! And if you'd like to join MyPoints or Gather and help me at the same time, leave me a comment and I'll send you a referral. I only get a few points, but every bit helps, especially with this move on the horizon!

Not trying to turn this into a giant ad, but these really have helped me stretch our budget, and extra treats from time to time also help making the nasty "budget monster" easier to bear!

Be sure to drop by Crystal's blog for even more frugal goodness - it's always a great treat!

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