How many rewards programs are you in?

[dustysky]

I have GOT to start taking my OCD meds
I just relized TODAY that we buy so many products that have a rewards system in place. For instance my husband drinks LARGE amounts of Coke, I took all his boxes and used the codes off them, I already have 180 points to buy something with!!!

I am hooked on the take 5 candy bars (stupid bzz) so I looked at the package and they also have a rewards/points program on the hersheys web site.

In addition to those I have been a long time mypoints member ....

How many do you do??

Can anyone share some good ones?

Whats the best PRIZE you ever got from a rewards program??

 

[NY Disney fan]

Rewards programs are intrinsically designed to promote spending. I try not to get involved.

However, I do have a Disney Visa, that I try to keep under control.

 

[dustysky]

true but if we are already buying those products already then whats the harm?

 

[purplegirl247]

I'm a big fan of mypoints as well. I also belong to several survey sites (my favorites are where you earn points for stuff; I've only ever won $50 TOTAL through the sites that offer raffles). Through hipoints (Harris Poll online), I got a really nice crockpot absolutely free of charge. Hooray! I use my Discover card to get gas rebates; it's so great to get those free giftcards in the mail!

 

[bettyann29]

I currently do Mypoints.. I get alot of emails so I click on all of those.. I only buy what I was going to buy anyway but I do it thru them.. so I dont spend any more than what I was going to anyway.. I also do clicktothemagic which I only click for points, memolink (although it seems like now it takes more points to get anything.. but they still send me emails and I click those) and I do sunshinerewards.. again I only do paid clicks I dont buy thru them.. Back in the days when the programs were abundant I did quite a few.. I do them for the gift certificates..

 

[DawnM]

I find that if I am trying to get to the "next set of points" I will spend more. It is cheaper to scrimp and save and have a Disney account for ME personally.

When we were remodelling our house in CA we used the Disney Visa for pretty much everything for while. That gave us a free Disney trip last year! We won't be spending that much again any time soon.

If it truly does save you money, then great.....for us, it typically doesn't.

Dawn

 

[MyGoofy26]

I belong to a number of different programs. Excluding frequent flyer and hotel programs, I do a lot of rewards programs. Sometimes I end up buying something that I didn't need . . but ONLY if I'm getting back more than I'm paying and I do the research to make sure I won't get scammed into paying more money. But most of my earnings are for things that don't cost money or for something I needed to buy anyway.

*MyPoints, I've cashed out for $175 in gift cards in the past couple years. I don't even use them a lot, I just take advantage of big point opportunities when they come up. They had 500 points for each order on Overstock right before Christmas a couple years ago, at the same time there was free shipping. I ended up buying most Christmas presents separately so I'd get 500 points on each order and ended up with $50 to cash out in Rainforest for our Disney trip that December. There were a couple books I needed to buy, so I played one of their "games" and my consolation prize was double points to join Zooba for a minimum of 3 months. Well, I needed 3 books and I could wait. . . so I bought them there, cheaper than the bookstore! They had 1000 points earlier this year for any Avon purchase, there was a free ship code floating around, so I bought a bottle of makeup remover for about $1.

*CreationsRewards, other than a plane ticket, all my points have been from clicks and signing up for "surveys" that spam me. Well I have a junk mail account anyway, spam away! I think I'v cashed out about $50 or $60 in the past year.

*Sunshine Rewards I've cashed out $60 ($65 if you count the Disney gift card deal a couple weeks ago) for the same types of things as CreationsRewards. . I've done a few trials, mostly for things I actually planned on trying anyway. But I've done a few that cost $1 for the trial, and I'd get much more than that back if cancellations were easy in my research. I probably haven't spent more than $5 in things I didn't want/need.

*e-Rewards, they send out a lot of surveys (judging by other boards, I get more than a lot of people - guess I'm a good demographic) and I use that "money" (since you can't cash out for the actual cash they give you) for Hilton Honors points every 3 months.

*Pinecone Research, I get at least one a month . . usually a few a month. $5 right into the vaca fund!

*Good Housekeeping has something I signed up for. . . I never do anything regularly but they send out things to try and then email you a survey. I got a huge box with a Corelle plate (LOL!), full sized toothpaste, full sized hair products, and I don't even remember what else.

I tried FreeRide, but it took me a year to cash out for $25 and after 2 months I still don't have the gift card. I did RewardTV as well and cashed out once and got my GC, cashed out again and 2 months later nada. Haven't done either since cashing out and won't if I don't see something in the mail.

I've been collecting the Coke rewards - we have a crapload of 2 liter bottles with that Olympics promotion, so I've been collecting the codes. Already cashed outor 500 (I think) Hilton Honors points, and will probably keep doing those.

Wow, you'd think I spend 10 hours a day doing rewards reading all that! LOL! I really don't spend *that* much time on them.

 

[barbeml]

I try not to spend a dime on anything that doesn't earn me rewards.

I have two rewards CCs: AAA and Marriott (because I am a meeting planner I get lots of free points from Marriott). I pay them off monthly, so I don't pay interest and the rewards are really free.

I do most of my shopping on line (free shipping) using my rewards CCs and going through rewards sites: MyPoints & Creations Rewards.

I track my rewards, prizes, survey payments, free items, product tests, etc. My "hobby" earns us a couple of thousand dollars annually.

My best cash out ever was two years ago when I used $3400 from my GM Rewards Card toward a new car. Two months ago, I got two 7-day Adult Hoppers from Marriott Rewards. Last year I got free plane tickets to WDW with AAA rewards vouchers.

If you do it right, you can do very well with these programs.

 

[Savsmommy]

I belong to MyPoints, Sunshine Rewards, Pinecone Research, Inbox Dollars, Test Spin Survey, Greenfield Online. I do the Coke Rewards. I'm a Buzz Agent. I think thats it.

 

[azgal81]

I belong to sunshine rewards, e rewards, mypoints, memolink, freeride, click to the magic, quick rewards, bzz agent, creations rewards, inbox dollars, snap dollars, send earnings and rewardtv. You don't have to shop to make money through the sites.

And a number of survey sites as well - pinecone, mysurvey, lightspeed panel, survysavvy, surveyspot, ipos, opinion outpost, opinion square, harris poll, epoll, ACOP, globaltest market, zoom panel, otx surveys, survey direct, test spin, buzzback and your 2 cents.

I also have two reward credit cards I use for all my shopping and yes pay them off each month. I also gain quite a bit of interest through my online savings accounts which go to the fund as well. I also belong to frequent flyer and hotel stay programs so that helps get things for free as well.

Reward and survey sites are not that big of a time investment. The rewards are great and most of them go to the disney fund. This might be silly to some people but it does pay for at least 80% of our trip sometimes more.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

I do:

My Points
Sunshine Rewards
Inbox Dollars
Treasure Trooper
Partnership Plus
Pinecone Research
Survey Spot
Click to the Magic

The best ones for me have been My Points (I have earned over $90.00 in gas gift cards plus I still have a few more months until the trip. I also have Rainforest Gift cards too) and Treasure Trooper (I earned over $70.00 the first month, without doing credit card offers).

I earned a $60.00 check from Partnership Plus (it did take almost a year, but you only do one survey a month). I am up to $40.00 from inbox dollars.

 

[kfeuer]

I used to belong to quite a few, but I've had to scale back. Right now I just do Mypoints, Upromise, Ebates, lots of survey sites, and I'm a Bzzagent. I also work hard at maxing out our credit card rewards. I charge everything possible and pay it off at the end of the month.

I try to use all the rewards I get towards vacation costs. I've already got $130 in gas cards saved up for our cruise (8-hour drive to port), and we're going to do the test drive for another $50. I've got $50 in Walmart gift cards saved up to help cover photo developing when we get back. I've also got a $25 Eckerds gift card (from filling a prescription) for sunscreen, Dramamine, etc. When you're on a budget like we are, these things really help out.

 

[NancyIL]

I remember a few years back when Freeride used to be SO good! Sigh...I just do MyPoints these days. If I am ordering something online and it doesn't give MyPoints -then I'll check UPromise.