I was chatting with some fellow stay at home moms and we began talking about how to make extra money from home with little to no effort.  Idecided to write down all the things I do to make a little extra income.  Now — these methods will not make you a quick million BUT I have found that all of these add up to quite a nice little sum and are really effortless!!

1) While I do not use credit cards…I do use my debit card for most all of my purchases.  My bank has a reward program where I earn points for purchases made when I use my debit card as a credit card.  Now when anyone asks debit or credit…I always say “CREDIT”.  I then redeem the points I earn for gift cards.  I was able to get a pretty nice sized gift card last year and used it to pay for Christmas presents!
2) MyPoints –this is a rewards program where you earn points for reading emails, respond to offers, take surveys, etc…  I rarely do anything except click that I read their emails and each year I earn at leasta $50 gift card!  It is June and I already have enough points for a $25 Target gift card!!  If you are not a member and would like to join–email me at iheartpublix @ gmail.com and I will send you a link from my referral account!! 
3) Swagbucks–this is a GREAT one!!  I am actually new to Swagbucks.  I have been a member for just a few months and I already have enough swagbucks to get $35 in Amazon gift certificates.  I am going to wait and use the points around Christmas for gift cards to get FREE presents!  Swagbucks is super easy to use–it is a search engine.  You earn swagbucks for doing web searches.  You will not get them for every search but I generally get 1-5 swagbucks per day!  They also have a cell phone trade in program where you earn swagbucks too.  I set Swagbucks as my home page and I love to see my point increase every day!!
3) InboxDollars  is another super easy rewards program.  Like MyPoints you earn by answering suveys, reading emails, playing games, etc… With Inbox Dollars they send you money!  You cannot request a payment until you reach $30–I currently have $25.37 in my account but I only read emails…so you can make more if you put more time into it!!  I will happily take that $30 –that is almost 2 weeks worth of groceries for me 🙂
4) Upromise You earn money for college just by shopping for everyday items.  You can earn online and through participating stores. What is best is that you can get your friends and family to save for you as well.  While it will not cover the full expense to put my 2 boys through college…any little bit will help!   I also participate in a program called e-rewards.com **.  For every $100 I earn for giving my opinion…they will put $50 in my kids’ Upromise account!  I have already added $150 to the boys’ Upromise account from e-rewards–not bad for doing a few opinion surveys!! (**Note–Kerry just told me that e-rewards is invite only…either they have changed formats or I might have  forgot. Since they partner with Upromise you may get an invite after you sign up with Upromise??)
5) Pinecone Research /–This program pays you $3 per survey that you complete and often send products for you to try out.  They pay out very quickly–I would estimate that I make $50 per year.  The money is deposited directly in your paypal account which is what I call my “monopoly money.”  I use my monopoly money to cover the cost of coupons or other purchases that I want–without touching my personal bank account!!  You cannot sign up for Pinecone–they will open to new member randomly throughout the year. 

The next few items are not things that earn me money but they do earn me various perks:

6)  BzzAgent–This is a cool program where you get to try out products (and keep them)  if you agree to spread the word about those products. They typically send you the product and some awesome coupons to share with your friends.  Right now I have the Off Clip On & Power Pad campaign and the Neutrogena Baby Sunblock campaign.  I have had some awesome products in the past…a $300 digital remote (My hubbie liked this one!), Teddy Grahams, Palmolive Pure & Clear, Pork, Pledge Multi-Purpose and lots of others!  I love freebies!! 
7) Pssst is a program that will occasionally send you out coupons and or products to sample. 
8) Kraft First Taste is another program that sends out coupons and samples…They just sent me a free DiGiorno Flatbread Coupon and I will be getting a 2 coupons for Free Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups.  You also get to send your friends coupons as well!

AmyC reminded me of mystery shopping–I belong to the following and would recommend them both! THANKS AmyC

9) I do mystery shops as well– GfK Mystery Shopping has been a great for a little extra income  and Focus on Service is awesome as their client is Longhorn Steakhouse.  Although you have to pay up front –you are reimbursed for your meal and paid for completing the survey based on your experience!!
All of these programs take little to no effort but really pay off!  I am sure there are others I am forgetting. What are some of the things you all do for extra money or  perks?  I’d love to hear your experiences!