Lesson 7: SweepstakesToday

If sweepstakes are your thing, you need to be a member of SweepstakesToday. It makes finding and entering contests soooooo easy. It categorizes contests by how often you can enter, and has a rating system for how good the prizes are. I think the minimum value for the prize to appear on the site is $100, so they're all decent.

What is really nice about the site though is some of the little things.

1. They give you a link directly to the entry page, so you don't have to go through all kinds of introductory pages that sponsors put on contests.

2. You can read user comments based on the sweepstakes - especially helpful for ones that aren't working or ones where you need codes.

3. You have a "Lucky List" where you can save all the multiple-entry contests that you want to remember to enter again.

It really is a great webpage, and if you like to enter contests, this is the only way to do it. That and autofill.

Swagbucks Proof

Here is my orders page from Swagbucks. As you can see I've earned $55 in Amazon giftcards and currently have enough points for $10 more. It's so easy, and it comes with absolutely zero junk mail or spam or anything else that you don't want. It's just stupid not to join.

Lesson 6: Winster

Winster is another site where you get prizes just for playing games. Winster has its own set of games which have a social set up. You help people win and they help you win. You earn points for your different achievements, and when you reach a certain number of points, you win a prize.

Right now, my prize is $4 to InboxDollars. Other prizes include DVDS, Amazon gift cards, and many more. While it takes a long time to get these prizes, the games are quite fun, and definitely worth doing in those times where you can't think of anything to do.

Leave a comment here for an invite.

Tooltip: Dropbox

Ok, so this one won't make you any money, but it will make your life about 30x better.

If you ever get sick of carrying around flash drives, or find yourself searching through a stack of them to find your file, Dropbox is for you. Dropbox is online file storage.

You get 2 GB free, and can store any kind of file you like. Install the desktop app on all the computers you use, and the files will stay in sync automatically.

I use this site for everything. I upload to Dropbox at home using the desktop app, then pick them up at school using the website to finish my assignments and print them. In addition, you can enable sharing between friends who also use Dropbox. My boyfriend and I share a folder where we can easily send large files to each other.

I seriously suggest you join this site today. 100% free, 100% better.

The most important thing to think about when considering how best to use your time on the internet is what your interests are.

Do you like playing games when you're online? There is a way to get paid for that.
Do you like online shopping? You can make money doing that too.
Social networking? There's money there.

You can find ways to make money and/or earn rewards and free stuff doing just about anything that you are already doing online. The hard part is finding the best sites to help you do that.

Just remember: your time is valuable. Don't do anything for nothing.

Lesson 5: InboxDollars

InboxDollars is just that: money sent to your inbox.
But of course it's not quite that simple. One of the features of InboxDollars is paid emails. They send you an email, you click a link to confirm having opened said email, they pay you $0.02.

Along with paid emails, InboxDollars pays $0.50 for completing surveys, up to $10 for completing offers, cash back for shopping through their affiliate links, and they pay you money for every dollar you spend on cash games at the WorldWinner site, which itself is awfully fun, in that you can make money playing games.

There is a $30 first time minimum cash out, but if you join now, you get $5 just for signing up. After the first cashout, payments are made automatically each week.

Simple money, much of which comes from doing things you already do.

Lesson 4: Neobux

This site holds a lot of promise to me. It is a PTC (Paid-to-Click) site that has been around for a year and a half.

Here's the premise: you click on an ad, you watch it for 30 seconds, you make a penny. You get about 5 ads per day to watch. You also get paid for the clicks that your referrals make. Here's the cool part though. You can pay to rent referrals to earn money for you. What you pay is less than what you earn, so you make money by spending it. It is a slow to start program, but has the potential for long-term big money earnings.

It also has a forum full of helpful members with tips on how to succeed.

It's free to join, and definitely worth the time. Join now.

Lesson 3: When you should ignore me

When you have a paper due, and you can't focus on typing it up because you just want to visit all your fun sites instead.

School is awesome.

Lesson 2: Lockerz

Lockerz.com is a new site that is in beta. You have to have an invitation to join.
Because of that, there is a small population of people who are using this site right now, which means that Lockerz can offer awesome prizes for very cheap, since the demand hasn't skyrocketed yet.

It is an easy, easy site to use. Each time you login, you get 2 pointz. Answer the question of the day, you get 2 pointz. Refer a friend, get 2 pointz. Refer 20 friends, you get double points on everything for a year.

The pointz add up to get you free stuff. I've been a member for probably about 2 months and can already afford either a Wii Fit or an IPod Nano - 250 PTZ. Personally, I'm saving up for a macbook though. And at 1000 PTZ, that is not too bad.

Leave a comment here for an invite to this awesome site and start earning your free stuff.

Lesson 1: Swagbucks

Here is my first love of optimizing the internet: getting free stuff for searching. Everyone searches. Heck, I use my search bar instead of my address bar most of the time.

Swagbucks is the best website I have found for earning rewards for searching. Every time you search, you get great Google-based results, but you also get the chance to win swagbucks.

Swagbucks are an online currency used to purchase real rewards from the Swagbucks online store. Just from searching and free swagcodes, I have gotten 10 $5 Amazon gift cards. I think this is the most worthwhile prize there, but there are lots of fun options to suit anyone's tastes.

I definitely recommend this site, as it doesn't take any extra time that you wouldn't already be using to search for free anyway. Try it out today and get 3 free swagbucks!

Why are we here?

I've learned in the last few years as a poor graduate student how to make my free time more efficient. Specifically, for me, I've learned how to optimize my web usage to make me money and earn rewards. I hope to use this blog to share this content with you, so that you can get free stuff while enjoying your time online.