Newbie- How do I begin???

[KathyFP]

I have never tried any of the reward programs before. Now that we have scheduled an unplanned trip to Disney (could not pass up the FairyTale Package). Money is really tight, so I thought it might be a good idea to try something new.

I just don't know where to begin????

 

[Cinders]

If you are doing the Fairy Tale Package then can I asume you're going this summer/fall? That doesnt give you much time to earn points on the reward sites unless you do quite a bit of shopping online. I'd suggest starting with the Important:*~How To's, Survey Sites, Bugs & Spies and Phone Numbers*~ Post at the top of the page. Try signing up for the survey sites first. They'll pay more $$ for your time than the rewards in a short time span. If you do shop online I'd suggest signing up at Creation Rewards since they credit earned points for shopping within 24 hours and send out rewards quickly too. If you're interested in earning GCs for a possible trip next year then I'd recommend Memolink points add up nicely but they take a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnng time to send rewards out but they *knockin on wood* always send out the rewards. MyPoints is another one that is good but again it might take you quite awhile to earn enough points unless you sign up for several offers and shop there. Not sure if UPromise is in the How to list but its good for effortless earning....simply sign up then use your zipcode to find participating groceries and drugstore then print out the list of Brands that give you a 3-5% credit. You can shop online there too. They also have some other cool offers such as if you make certain purchases with a registerd debit/credit card at places like Circuit City or Staples or buy a Whirlpool applaince.
Now if you still have computer time try Mal's contest post at the top of the page too. Ohhhh and dont forget Ebay!!! CAnn has a great post on selling items on Ebay on the Budget board. You'd be amazed what you can earn on Ebay.

Ebay your way to Disney

 

[Eilonwy]

Besides all the stuff above, get yourself to your local Target and ask for the Lullaby Registry packet. Inside is a Test Drive offer from Saturn--test drive any Saturn car and get a $50 Target Giftcard in the mail. That doesn't exactly apply to a Disney Trip, but if you're like us, who shop at Target all the time, it's not going to go to waste. I figure once we get around to doing ours and getting the GC, I'll take $50 out of the bank and put it in our Disney fund.

As an aside: Unfortunately the Lullaby Registry packet is quite a waste of paper once you take out the testdrive sheet. The booklet just has pictures of all kinds of baby products and not really any useful information for mothers-to-be. If I were a first time mommy, I'd be a little disappointed. Yeah, I know I shouldn't expect anything other than one big advertisement, but there wasn't even a registry application inside.

 

[TreeOfLife]

Over and beyond what is stated above, GET PROTECTION FOR YOUR COMPUTER! One problem from signing on to reward sites is the spywares you'll get. They not only track down where you've been but in some cases download commands to change your settings too! Ad-Aware is free for personal use and a popular one.

In all honesty, unless I know I am getting a reward mailed out for sure, I NEVER use my real residential address. And more serious to me yet, I never print my real phone number. As far as I am concerned, unless they give me something I wanted, they shouldn't locate me.

The test drives are an easy and useful way to accumulate rewards. My Points has always been honest in resolving issues and crediting points in my experience. Blink is a site many use but I would not recommend because of their unpredictability and I have yet to see my points awarded from purchases made in the beginning of the year! The smaller rewards sites limit rewards absurdly unless you sign up for offers through their portals. Most of them are credit card offers. Do not go crazy applying for numerous ones for the equivalent of $10 - $15 bucks, your credit report may not look so good after that.

They award such low points that if you don't have at least a year to accumulate rewards you may not get anything out of them. In fact, you save more saving $0.50 - $0.75 a day staying away from vending machines than exposing yourself to online rewards programs.
Sometimes you earn a lot in purchases awarding double points, most times you do best in promos awarding 1,000 at one single time. Do your research and choose what is best to your situation.

I am a strong advocate of My Points and absolutely love their customer service.

 

[mad4themouse]

Get a free email address at hotmail or Yahoo. You're going to get a ton of junk mail and it's a good idea to keep your personal email separate from the rewards stuff. Start out with just a few progams and add more as you become familiar with how they run.

ToL is right about all the spyware. Get a good firewall and keep it enabled. You might also want to get Adaware or PestPatrol and run it regularly to remove any pests that get installed without your knowledge.

With so little time before your trip, your best efforts would be with the companies that have low cashout levels and reward quickly. I like the survey sites for that reason. Pinecone is one of my favorites but you would need to find one of their advertising banners in order to apply. Vividence is pretty good too. They pay in Amazon.com GCs. I got my Deluxe Passporter for free by doing Vividence "Customer Experiences". P&G Surveys also pays pretty good if you can get on a consumer panel.

I also do SearchCactus, MyPoints, CreationsRewards, ClicktotheMagic, Memolink, LuckyPoints, PCHPoints and eBates. You really need to have a lot of time or do a lot of online shopping for these to pay off. I usually cash in for either Webcertificates or Disney Dollars but SearchCactus and eBates pay by check.

Lastly, there are some programs like Linkburst that pay you in eGold every month. eGold is a strange program and there are confusing ways to convert it to usable cash but there are a lot of programs like Linkburst that use them. If you do enough of them, I suppose that you could make enough to make it worth your while to explore eGold's possibilities.

Good luck with your efforts! You should be able to get a few dollars towards your trip before September.

 

[gdulaney]

I also do RewardsTV (www.RewardsTV.com). You can save your points for auctions, contests, or cash-outs (first-come, first-serve basis). While you don't get money for Disney, I've gotten a $10 Shell gift card (gotta have gas!), a $10 Olive Garden gift card (gotta eat), a $ 10 Chili's gift card (still hungry!), and a $ 10 Home Depot gift card (okay, that one was for home stuff).

It's FREE to join, FREE to play, and all it takes is your time...and they are usually very prompt in mailing out rewards!

The only drawback is that is does take a while to build up your points. But as my husband says...if it isn't here in time for the trip, we can use it when we get back.

Good luck!!
Ginny