Make Money Online #2

In today's economy you are probably having some trouble making ends meet, and chances are if they are meeting, you don't have much money left for the little extras.

You may have options, such as working extra hours or taking on a part-time job, but where does that leave you time or energy? If all you need is a few extra dollars here and there, then the following are some options for trying to make a little bit of extra money on the internet in your spare time.

1. Cash Back Rewards for Online Shopping

One of the most painless ways to make some extra cash is to use online shopping rewards programs such as Ebates to make purchases online. These websites offer hundreds of online retailers with anywhere from 2% to 12% cash back. You need only sign in to the website, click through from the website to the online retailer of your choice and make the purchase. My rewards program of preference is Ebates, but there are also plenty to choose from, such as BigCrumbs, Fatwallet, CashBaq, and Spree.

2. Paid to Click and/or Read Email

Another way to make some extra funds is through the use of Inbox Dollars and MyPoints. Both Inbox Dollars and MyPoints use email where you can click for credit. Inbox Dollars additionally offers "paid to complete" sign-ups that will earn you anywhere from $0.25 to $10.00, just be aware that not all of these offers are free and they may cause a deluge of spam, but overall I think it is worth the few extra dollars in my pocket. As for MyPoints, the site has paid to click and paid to complete offers, but they also have rewards programs where you can earn for shopping, similar to Ebates as above, but with a point system. Though the point system may be irritating to some as it doesn't provide cold hard cash, it does offer gift cards for many retailers with the dollar amount based on the points you have accumulated. MyPoints sends plenty of emails and the points add up rather quickly.

3. Online Surveys (and yes, plenty of sites are legitimate!)

When I first heard of taking online surveys for cash, I thought that it sounded ridiculous. How can you earn extra money, don't these usually happen through market research companies? I am happy to report that after several months with some of the companies, I have to say that some are absolutely worth the clicking time. My personal favorite has definitely been SurveySpot - though the cash surveys don't come as frequently, they pay anywhere from $2.00 to $10.00 with the most common survey payout at $3.00. They are prompt in payment and I have received several checks from them in the past 4 months. They have a low payout threshold of $5.00 and send by check. I highly recommend SurveySpot. The second I will recommend to beginners is OpinionOutpost. They work on a point system where each point is equal to $0.10. In other words, an OpinionOutpost survey paying 35 points is essentially paying $3.50. The payment threshold is 50 points ($5.00) and I have received prompt payment from them by check several times.

There are plenty of ways to make some extra cash online. In the interest of protecting yourself from spam it is a good idea to set up a separate email for these extracurricular money making sites. My suggestion is to start slow and get used to each site before moving on to the next money making opportunity. Good luck!