Free Apps That Earn Gift Cards and Money

There are tons of free and useful apps that will earn you money and gift cards. Why not take a few minutes out of your day with the following smartphone apps to make some money, or earn prizes such as gift cards from Amazon, Macy's, or Target?

What is Swagbucks? How to get started

There are several sites where you can earn money or gift cards in exchange for a few minutes of your day. It's like saving up spare change to spend on great prizes.

One of my trusted sites is Swagbucks.com. It's a free site where you earn points to redeem Paypal credits, gift cards, and an assortment of random prizes. You can earn points for taking daily polls, by using the search box (like Google or Yahoo search), or completing special offers like watching short video clips. Points are called Swagbucks. I'll explain the site step-by-step.

Earn: The 'Earn' tab lists all the various ways you can earn points.

Coupons - 10 points for every coupon you print and redeem. You can also add coupons to your grocery or rewards card so no need to print.

Daily deals - These are similar to Groupon or Livingsocial deals. You get points for your purchase of a deal.

Daily Polls - Earn 1 Swagbucks point for every day you answer the poll.

Games or Swagbucks TV - Earn points for playing games or watching short video clips

NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers) - Click through the offers, respond no to them to earn 2 points per day

Search - Use the search box as though you are doing a Google or Yahoo search. Points vary from 5 - 50, sometimes more.

Special Offers - Stick to the free offers that consist of watching video clips.

Tasks - These are job tasks that pay you with Swagbucks points. You will often perform searches or categorize images. Note that these tasks can be tedious and time consuming depending on which one you choose to complete.

Trade in your old electronics or books in exchange for Swagbucks points

Trusted Surveys - take surveys for Swagbucks. I generally skip this entirely since it's time consuming.

There are often Swag Codes that offer points. They expire in a short period of time, and you would enter them on your main Swagbucks.com home page. www.sc-s.com posts these codes if you can't find them.

In addition to redeeming your points for gift cards or prizes, you can enter contests to win expensive prizes.You can also donate your points to certain charities listed on the site. I like to redeem my points for Amazon gift cards (450 = $5).

Earning gift cards or making some money from this site only takes a few minutes of your day. Gift cards take 1-2 weeks to be fulfilled, and prizes are mailed within 4-6 weeks. It may seem like a long time, but those gift cards quickly add up.