Winning all the cash by taking surveys

I usually take online surveys for cash or gift cards all year long, I had a few months this year that I went dormant, for personal reasons.  When my son started talking about wanting a play-station for Christmas I got a little bit of sticker shock because those run $400.  So I made it my mission (Since August) to make $400 in survey money to cover the cost of the play-station, that way I spend nothing out of pocket and Christmas will be fun and not cost that much.  Right now I am up to $287, I think I am going to be able to do this.  I take them in the morning and when I am on lunch, in all my spare time.

It took a while to weed out the really profitable sites and the ones that are easy to work with and have the best surveys and cash out options.  I do have to credit Coupon Clipinista, even though she banned me for no reason and I can no longer like or comment anything there, for the guidance to be able to choose the right sites.  She also has excellent tips on how to make the most from them.

So without further ado, here are the sites i use and the money I have made thus far this year (With a huge break)

Valued Opinions - I have made $100 so far, they do not offer too many survey's, but they do send you an email when they are available.  They have good rewards and you can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon.  They do charge a lot for redemption, on my $100 I will only get $75 in gift cards.

InstaGC - Endless, endless surveys and offers.  Adds up fast and you can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon.  Some of the offers can be spammy but for the most part it's awesome.  I have about $45 for 2 months worth.

Opinion Outpost - Lots of easy surveys, can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon, they send you emails, Easy to rack up money on here.  I have about $60 in two months.

Ibotta- This is an app I use on my phone and if you use it you can cash in on groceries you already buy.  Im up to $35 in two months, can cash out directly to Pay Pal and this is free.

There you have it, I hope you make a ton of money, wish me luck that I make my $400 for my sons Play-Station in time!

The post I never wanted to write

18 wins ago, #206 was a unique and excitable win for me.  I won a bouquet of wax roses with a piece of jewelry attached. The win was from Cyndee over at Rude Mom Blog.  I want to start with the fact that while sometimes hard to reach Cyndee has been nothing but polite and flexible in talking to me.  I do not have a ton of information about why the company hasn't sent out the prize but the blogger did inform me that she is also missing some compensation as well so that makes me slightly angry.

So after a huge 224 wins this is the very first time that I didn't get my prize.  While im bummed I have to remember two things.

One: 
This happens.
From what I understand in the sweeper community it's a fairly common occurrence.  It's a shame that a company would set up a giveaway and not commit.  It can also sometimes make the blogger look bad or cause tension between them and the readers, which I am not okay with.  Luckily im understanding and I know it is not her fault.

Two:
It was Free.
This is my hobby.  It doesn't cost me anything.  I do it when I have time, sometimes I have more time than others but it brings me a lot of pleasure to enter and to win things.  The bottom line is though that This is a prize and while I did a small amount of work to "earn" it, it in question is still something that I didn't have before.  So basically I am not really that upset because it's not like I got the prize and then they took it back, I never had it to begin with so I am not attached to something.  I also get that it isn't that big of a deal, there are more important things to be angry about in todays world.

I will still read Rude Mom, I will still participate in her giveaways.  I will Not be buying or recommending that anyone buy products from Jewelry Candles.

I don't know how to handle the number of wins at this point, it would be easy to just keep going but in fact I have to subtract one win from my tally.  We'll cross that bridge at some point I guess.