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.

My Two Favorite Point Reward Programs

(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 Swagbucks alone. In fact, many readers tell me they do just that. Swagbucks is also the point rewards program I recommend to readers who want to belong to a 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

MyPoints

MyPoints is the first point rewards program I ever joined, and I am still a member today over a decade later. My favorite way to earn points with MyPoints is through their emails, where you can earn 5 points just for clicking through to the website advertised in the email. I earn several $3 gift cards to Amazon each year just by doing this one point earning action–and MyPoints offers many more ways to earn points. Go here to sign-up for MyPoints.

15 Websites And Apps You Can Use To Earn Gift Cards

More Places to Earn Gift Cards

By working several programs together, you have a higher likelihood of generating an income of $100 a month in gift cards in the little pockets of time you have each day.

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

Cashback sites that pay you for shopping

Ebates (paypal deposit or check only)

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.