Sometimes our budgets can be so tight and the time we have available to earn more money is practically nonexistent.

Other times we are fairly content with what we earn, but there is just that something we would love to do each month that doesn’t quite fit in our income bracket. Perhaps it is a monthly date night, a few supplies to develop your passions, or a weekend getaway with or without the kids.

 

I have been in both situations. When my children were super little, I was fighting constant fatigue due to having small children that rarely let me sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch and a few health issues that compounded the problem. I was also homeschooling my oldest which took up a good chunk of time each day.

However, I still wanted to do something to help our family out financially. My husband was working two jobs and bringing home enough to cover our bills, but I wanted to be able to provide a perk now and again that simply didn’t fit in our budget.

One day a friend told me that she was earning gift cards online each and every month from various sites. She earned them by filling out surveys while her children napped or through watching videos on the laptop while making dinner.

I had her email me the links to those sites and within a short amount of time I earned my first gift card. I was HOOKED.

Soon I figured out what point-earning actions earned me points the fastest and how to multi-task while doing more time consuming point earning tasks like surveys so that I earned maximum returns for time spent.

I made a chart to keep track of what gift cards I earned each month and started making on average $50 a month. However, that was close to 10 years ago and since then the programs I originally joined have added many more ways to earn points and many more point earning companies have come on the scene.

I believe today most people could earn $100 a month in gift cards with the consistent effort of a few hours each week. To help you earn the $100 in gift cards, I created a set of printables to help you using 4 main point rewards programs. I have also included a printable that will help you keep track of what you earn and where so that you can see at a glance which programs you are earning the most money from in the shortest amount of time.

You can subscribe to that list and get your free printables at the bottom of this article, but first, let me explain what programs you are going to need to sign up to first in order to make the plan work.

4 Point Reward Programs for Earning $100 a Month

(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See my disclosure page for more information)

Swagbucks

With over 20 ways to earn, it is possible to make $100 a month with just Swagbucks alone. In fact, I have many readers telling me they do just that. Swagbucks is also the point rewards program I recommend to readers who just want to belong to one point reward program.

So why join more? Flexibility often equals higher return per time spent is my short answer. Meaning that I find a greater return on my time invested if I can do the quickest point earning options at each program first and then spend anytime I have left doing the more time consuming point earning options. This might mean I earn less at one program than I could, but overall each month I earn more.

Sign up for Swagbucks here

InstaGC

My favorite thing about InstaGC is the $1 instant Amazon gift cards available. If I want to take advantage of a Kindle sale, I check my InstaGC account to see if I can cash out my points for enough to cover the price of the eBook.

Sign up for InstaGC here

Bing Rewards

Bing Rewards only has simple ways to earn points and the daily tasks you can do can be completed in well under 5 minutes a day.  I generally receive all the gift cards I order through Bing Rewards in less than 24 hours.

Sign up for Bing Rewards here

Prize Rebel

Prize Rebel has some simple ways to earn each day including watching videos. They also have many great survey options and you do earn at least a few points if you get screened out (I did in the survey I tried, anyway). You receive your cash outs in around 24 hours.

Sign up for PrizeRebel here

At the bottom of this post you will find a set of free printables you can use to help you generate $100 a month in gift cards using these 4 programs.

15 Websites And Apps You Can Use To Earn Gift Cards

More Places to Earn Gift Cards

By working the 4 programs above together, you can generate an income of $100 a month in gift cards in little pockets of time you have each day. However, you can earn more by adding in a few more programs or you can swap out one of these programs for another program your might find that suits you better.

For instance, I have one friend who loves Inbox Dollars and earns well from it. I tried it, but I never seemed to qualify for many surveys and I couldn’t seem to get the easier point-earning options to work well for me. I don’t think it is because Inbox Dollars is a bad program (as I said, my friend earns well from it), I think it has more to do with our personal profiles and preferences. What I mean by that is your professional background, family income, hobbies and interests, etc effect what types of surveys you might qualify for at different companies and therefore your experience with them.

Point Reward Programs

These companies have several ways to earn as well as offering surveys

MyPoints 

• How To Earn Gift Cards With MyPoints

RewardShopping (previously Super Points)

• How To Use Super Points To Earn Gift Cards (now called RewardShopping)

Inbox Dollars

• 10 Ways To Earn Cash With Inbox Dollars

MintVine

• I am currently trying out MintVine after a reader suggested it to me. So far I like what I see.

Brand Reward Companies

These programs only make sense to join if you happen to buy and use the brand anyways.

Pampers Rewards

Kellogg’s Family Rewards

My Coke Rewards

I know that these three programs offer gift cards as rewards and, of course, there are more brand reward companies. I suggest going to the website of your favorite brands to see if they have one.

Survey Companies

Ones I have tried and liked

Paid Viewpoint

• Paid Viewpoint: Survey Taking Simplified (to this day I still take part in Paid Viewpoint, it is so quick and simple)

My Survey

• I used My Survey for years to fill out surveys. I usually earned one $25 cash out every month or so. The surveys are lengthy, but I got into most of the ones I tried for instead of spending 5 to 10 minutes trying to qualify only to get booted out and earn nothing (well, sometimes they gave me a few points for my time).

Some others that you might want to check out

I took the time to check out various survey companies over at Survey Police, here are the companies that had at least a 3 out of 5 star rating.

ePoll Survey

Media Insiders Panel (smartphone or tablet version)

Nielson Homescan Consumers Panel (available for Canadian readers only)

You Gov Surveys

Opinion Outpost (smartphone or tablet version)

Opinion Outpost (laptop or PC version)

Apps that pay you to shop

Ibotta

• Step By Step Guide To Using Ibotta

Receipt Hog

• How To Use Receipt Hog To Earn Gift Cards

Shopkick

• Step By Step Guide To Using Shopkick

BerryCart

• Step By Step Guide To BerryCart

Cashback sites that pay you for shopping

Ebates (paypal deposit or check only)

TopCash Back

2 places bookworms are going to want to join

The last two places on my list don’t pay you in gift cards (although sometimes Recycle Bank does offer them), but they do pay you in books and magazines and that is a huge passion of mine. I figured others might share my passion so I am including them.

Tyndale Rewards

• Tyndale Rewards: How To Earn A Book Within Just A Few Minutes Of Signing up

Recycle Bank

• I cash in points from Recycle Bank for magazine subscriptions.

Don’t look at this list and get overwhelmed. You do not have to join every single program. I simply wanted you to know about the different programs out there that offer you gift cards in exchange for a bit of your time so that you can try the ones that you think would work best for you.

If you are wondering what the time commitment is to earn that $100 a month in gift cards, I would say it is a fair estimate  that you can count on spending an hour a day, 5 days a week to make it work, plus a bit of time here and there doing point-earning actions while doing other things on the computer. If you want to earn just a bit more, dedicate an hour or two on the weekends.

It might take you a while to figure out the fastest ways to earn at each company, as well as how to multi-task different point-earning actions, and while you do, your earnings might be less–but hang in there! I know from experience that if you are consistent with point programs, you eventually learn the ins and out of each program and learn how to earn more in less time.

Now for That Plan I Promised

Update: A link to this free plan is still available on my freebies page, but please note that is fairly outdated. However, it still gives you a general idea of how to get as many gift cards as you can from point rewards programs each month.

My “How to Earn $100 In Gift Cards Each Month Without Spending All Day On the Computer” set of printables is free when you subscribe to my weekly newsletter below.

The printables include a plan to help you navigate the 4 main point programs and track your daily earnings so that you can earn $100 in gift cards month after month. Plus, I have also included a sheet to help you chart your income.

If you choose to sign up for more point reward programs, survey companies, or money saving apps, the gift card earning chart will help you see over time which programs are fast earners and which ones are hardly worth the time spent.

Again, this set of printables is completely free when you sign up for my free, weekly newsletter below that contains a few words about what I have been up to, a list of 3 great deals I have found that week that I just have to share, and all the links to the posts I wrote on Snail Pace Transformations that week.