How I'm going to get a free DSi for Christmas

Ever help out Santa? My kids have each asked for a Nintendo DSi for Christmas. And since sometimes I have to help out Santa...and since DSi's are on the pricey side ($149)...I thought I'd try to get one for free. :)

So, how in the world am I going to get a free DSi?  Using Amazon credit.

Ok, ok, your next question is "But how do I get Amazon credit?"

I'm so glad you asked!!

There are 2 main ways that I earn Amazon credit. 1 - Taking online surveys. 2 - Using  points reward websites.  I thought I'd list some of the sites I use and how much I've earned from them.  (I'll tell you about the surveys this post and the reward sites in a future post.)

1.  Online Surveys
 Online surveys are great, if you can find the right website to go through and if you can do the surveys while you are doing something else.  Every evening Tim and I like to watch TV (or Netflix).  Since I'm sitting there, basically doing nothing anyway, I've started doing surveys during that time.  I can probably get through, on average, 2 surveys a night.  That way I feel like I am being more productive with my time.

Here are the survey companies I use and the good and bad about them:

Toluna
This is one of my favorites.  You'll get about 5 or 6 survey invites a day, but will probably only qualify for 1 or 2 of them.  You earn points for each survey, anywhere from 1500 points up to 90,000.  I typically qualify for the 1500-3000 point surveys.  The higher ones are usually for a very specific demographic - such as "caretakers for someone with diabetes".  I always click through and try for the higher ones, though, just in case I qualify.

Once you earn 60,000 points, you can trade it in for a $20 check.  I've just requested my second one of these and I've been using Toluna for about 6 months.  ($40 in 6 months may not sound like a lot, but it was earned in time that I was already doing something else.  In other words, its like not spending any additional time on something and earning money for it.)

Valued Opinions
This is one I really like too.  You won't get as many survey invites from them - maybe 4 a week.  Each survey is worth a certain dollar amount, from $0.50-$3.00.  Once you've earned $20 in your account, you can cash it out for a $20 Amazon gift certificate.  The certificate code is emailed to you immediately, so you can use it right away.  The downside to this site is that your qualifying survey money takes about 4 weeks to credit to your account.  So you can see that it is there "pending", but you just have to wait for it to go through.

I've claimed 2 Amazon cards from them.  So, just like above, I've made $40 in about 6 months.

MyView
This is a smaller site, which is good and bad.  Good because you tend to qualify for more surveys.  Bad because there aren't as many surveys available to take.  One thing I really like about MyView is that it gives you points even if you don't qualify for the survey.  If you answer all the initial questions, you usually get 175 points.  If you then qualify for the survey from those questions, you'll get anywhere from 700-1400 points.  I also like the fact that your points are credited immediately.

Once you get to 21,000 points, you can cash them in for a $15 Amazon card.  I've earned one of these.

My Survey
I get a couple survey offers a week from them and tend to qualify for most of them.  They are worth anywhere from 150 to 700 points each.  When you earn 1100 points, you get a $10 Amazon card.  I've gotten 3 of these.

So overall I've earned $125 doing surveys over the last 6 months - $40 in cash and $85 in Amazon credit.