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Some people don’t like getting gift cards as gifts because it might indicate lack of effort or you feel restricted to a specific location.
I wouldn’t want my partner to get me gift cards for special occasions but for everyone else? Bring it on! Gift cards are basically free cash and without the bulk.
If you don’t have a line of people showering you with gift cards though, take matters into your own hands and get free gift cards for yourself this month.
1. Cashing Out on The Everyday Things You Do Online
How much time do you think you spend online? Most likely more than you think.
The average American spends 24 hours online a week(*), but for me, I know I definitely surpass this since I have to be online for work. Along with post-office hours shopping, browsing, reading, it’s rare that I’m not online.
If it’s the same for you, capitalize on all that online time by earning points you can redeem towards gift cards, and even better, cash.
You can do it with Swagbucks, a free rewards program for the everyday things you do online.
Earn points by
- Watching entertaining videos
- Shopping at your favorite retailers
- Searching the web
- Participating in surveys
- Playing fun trivia games
Then you can redeem for a large variety of gift cards (Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks are popular) or my favorite, Paypal Cash and Visa Gift Cards. Cash out in as little as $3!
You’ll even get a $5 bonus when you earn 2,500 SB points within your first 30 days.
The best way to earn SB? Surveys. You can get up to 300 SB for each qualified one you participate in. While you obviously won’t get rich doing this, you can nab an extra $10-$20 a month on them.
Keeping your profile updated and doing the Daily To-Do List will also earn you extra SB. There are a lot of opportunities so you can cash out early and often!
2. Don’t Toss That Receipt! Do This First for Free Money
Before you crumple up that receipt in your pocket or forever lose it in the abyss of your purse, scan it into the Fetch Rewards app, and earn points towards free money. I repeat, free money.
It’s ridiculously simple and actually fun to use.
Shop at any grocery store, convenience store, club store, neighborhood store, or big box store, take a picture with the app, and that’s it. (Favorites include Target, Kroger, and Walmart!)
Unlike other apps, you don’t have to go to specific stores, there’s nothing to pre-select prior to shopping, and there’s no minimum spend. Just scan in any receipt from a store that sells groceries (even when you didn’t actually buy any groceries) and boom, points for money.
You can start cashing out as soon as $3 (3,000 points) and you can grab a $2 welcome bonus on us (2,000 points) when you use promo code REWARD before scanning your first receipt!
Welcome bonus: $2
Average savings a month (depends on purchases): $25
What it could add up to in a year: $302
Additional referral earnings: $2 per referral
3. Up To 40% Cash Back Automatically? Sign Us Up!
Saving money and getting cash back on purchases always sounds like a great idea – until you completely forget to take the steps to get the savings. There are SO many ways to save money while shopping, who can remember if it’s not automatic?
Ebates can help you get cash back on everyday shopping as well as apparel, beauty, and more, automatically. With Ebates, you don’t even have to upload your receipts after your purchases. They’ll send you simple push notifications when your favorite stores increase their cash back deals or have a good sale.
Offering simple one-tap savings with no points or fees helps ensure that you get the most out of your purchases. So, before buying anything, hop into the app to see if you can get up to 40% cash back at over 2,500 stores.
They also have an amazing referral program where you can earn $25 for each eligible friend. New members get a $10 bonus too!
4. Get Paid for Playing Free Digital Scratch-Offs
Don’t bother going to the liquor store to buy physical scratchers (they get expensive too).
Instead, play digital scratchers for free on Lucktastic.
There are a ton of different scratchers you can play, and you can earn both cash and tokens.
Scratched all of them for the day? Don’t worry, there are specific night-time scratchers that are available every night too!
When you want to redeem your earnings, you can choose from:
- Amazon gift cards
- CVS gift cards
- Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards
- Check mailed to you
- Visa gift cards
Lucktastic keeps things free by showing a few ads here and there plus it’s easy to play and multi-task at the same time.
Average savings in a month: $18.58
What it could add up to in a year: $223
Additional Earnings: Cash prizes up to $1M
5. You Gotta Eat! Get Up to $240 Cash Back in Grocery Savings
Did you know that it’s 325% more expensive to eat out versus eating at home*? Maybe it’s time to make more trips to the grocery store instead.
You’ll be aware of all the ingredients in your meal, in addition, you’ll get paid just for shopping!
It’s simple. All you have to do is take a picture of your grocery receipt and Ibotta will pay you cash.
Here’s how it works:
Before you go to the store, search for your shopping list items in the Ibotta app. After your store visit, take a photo of your receipt to get cash back.
Ibotta is free to download and you’ll also get up to $20 in Welcome Bonuses when you sign up!
Some offers we found:
- 25 cents back on any item
- $3 – $5 back on various wine
- $2 back on KIND Protein Bars
- 25 cents – $4 back on ice cream
- $2 back on Herbal Essence Haircare
Popular stores are Walmart and Target, but Ibotta also works at restaurants, online shopping sites, and at the bar! On average, active Ibotta users save up to $240 a year or more. What would you do with that extra money?
Welcome Bonus: Up to $20
Average savings a month: $20
What it could add up to in a year: $240
Additional Referral Earnings: $5 per referral
6. Upload a Service Provider Bill & Get a Free $10 to Spend at Starbucks
Go ahead and hang up the phone. Escape the hours of on hold music.
If you hate dealing with service provider reps, then let BillBargain handle it all for you. Their team of experts knows all the tricks to get the best prices available on your bill negotiation.
Just upload a current bill from your cable, wireless, internet, or home phone provider, and BillBargain will get to work on your behalf to negotiate it down (and will keep doing so regularly).
BONUS: For a limited time, you’ll also get a free $10 to spend at Starbucks just by uploading a bill. Skipping caffeine? You can also choose Walmart or Chipotle to get a gift card from!
On average, BillBargain saves its customers $300 on their current service plans (sometimes with free upgrades!), so see how much they can save you and also grab a free $10.
If there are no savings, there’s no charge. If successful, they’ll just take 40% of the annual savings and you’ll still come out ahead. Upload a bill, and see how much you could save. Since it’s completely free to try, why not?
7. Buy Stuff Normally = Get Gift Cards You Actually Want
If you have room for 1 more app on your phone, then it needs to be this.
Actually, delete another app to make room for this one. It’s that good.
It’s called Drop, a free app that gives you gift cards on stuff you already buy from your favorite stores and brands.
Your everyday purchases from Amazon, Target, Trader Joe’s, and Walmart? You’ll get points for that. Points translate to gift cards so the more you collect, the more you can redeem!
The only thing you need to do is link any credit or debit card you usually use for buying stuff and that’s it! Drop will automatically recognize when you buy from your activated offers to reward.
There’s literally no downside to using this free app to get more gift cards. Use it on top of your loyalty points and credit card points for even more rewards!
LIMITED TIME OFFER: Use promo code SMARTWALLET to unlock 5,000 points ($5) automatically when you link your first card on Drop!
8. New Rewards Program Alert – Join for Free and Get a $50 Gift Card Bonus
I checked out 2 free mobile games, got a treat for my dog, and then scored a $50 gift card for my time. That’s it.
We got the early private invite, but now we’re extending it to you.
Trophi, a new rewards program is now in early beta and The Smart Wallet readers can join for free so they can check out offers and get rewarded too.
To get the $50 gift card bonus is simple – just complete 3 offers and you’ll be able to redeem the card.
The offers range from:
- Mobile Games
- Movies
- Music
- Beauty
- Education
- Personal Finance
- Subscriptions
Some are as simple as downloading a game to check out while others can have different instructions. As long as you complete any 3 offers on the list, you’ll get rewarded!
We’re not sure how long they’ll offer the $50 gift card though, so join Trophi for free while it’s still available.
9. Get Paid to Try New Games. Every Gamer’s Dream.
Who would’ve thought you can play games to make some money?
All you need is Mistplay, a game platform where you can try new games to earn points redeemable for gift cards like Amazon, VISA, PlayStation Network, XBOX Live, Starbucks, and more.
In the app, all available free games are listed so just take your pick to try! The more time spent on each game, the more money you can earn.
You’ll only get paid for playing games if Mistplay is running so be sure to always install games from the Mistplay app!
BONUS: You’ll automatically get 200 welcome points upon sign up but use promo code Bonus_100 to get an additional 100 points for a total of 300 total points!
10. Binge on Food, Entertainment, Health & Tech News TV for Money
I can barely cook but I love watching food videos. The new season of Chef’s Table? I’m there.
If you’re a video junkie too, become an Inbox Dollars member where you can watch their TV and Videos section that ranges from Trending News, Entertainment, Food, Health, Tech, and even the latest World News to earn some cash. You’ll also get $5 as a sign-up bonus too!
They set it up in playlists though and they’ll tell you how long it takes as it can range from a few minutes to half an hour. Tip: You can set it to Play, open up another browser tab and let the videos run while you continue doing something else if you’re multi-tasking!
Playlists and earning potential can change, but it’s possible to earn up to $200 a month, watching videos!
11. Extremely Passive Income – Just Leave This App On & Get Paid
Panel App is a loyalty incentive app that will give you points just by leaving the app running in the background. This is passive income at it’s best.
Because it gives you points on location, go ahead and enable location services. Then just turn the app on before you go about your day and head to school, work, gym, walk your dog, wherever.
After testing it we think it’s a great (lazy) app that rewards you for doing almost nothing. If you’re still skeptical, know this:
- You don’t have to complete offers
- You don’t have to watch ads
- You don’t have to buy anything
- You don’t have to do anything but leave the app running
We snagged a $5 Amazon gift card via email after a few weeks of just leaving the app on and forgetting about it. You can also choose VISA gift cards, MasterCard gift cards or sweepstakes entries.
Overall, a solid choice for earning a bit of money to add to your rent for literally just leaving the app running on your phone!
TIP: When you’re a new member, it’ll ask you if you want to keep the app running in the background. Just tap “Yes” to continue getting paid!
12. Get Paid in Gift Cards if You’re Chill with Lock Screen Ads
The average person unlocks their phone 110 times per day – that’s a lot of time spent looking at a screen for free.
With S’more you get paid every day you unlock your phone. It’s even easier than it sounds, and since you can cash out with as little as $1 there’s no waiting around for your rewards!
They partner up with brands looking for more impressions (aka your eyeballs) and you don’t need to click on anything to get paid either.
S’mores pays in gift cards so you can redeem for:
- Amazon.com
- AMC Theaters
- Best Buy
- CVS
- Target
- Domino’s Pizza
- Starbucks and more!
Just use your phone normally, and your earnings will apply daily. Pretty much the easiest thing to do.
*325% more expensive eating out vs home source: Investment Zen
