So, listen.... Obviously I'm all about being frugal, and little makes me happier than getting free stuff. One of my favorite things is free money. I'm going to tell you a little story (because I like to talk about myself) and then hook you guys up with one of the best ways to make money on your phones.
When I was little we struggled. A lot. We're talking government cheese (Don't try and argue- that stuff was NOT good) and sharing a mattress on the floor of a room with my sister. We're talking using water on my generic non sweetened cereal because we didn't have milk. Like 'po 'po folk. So I've since learned to be really conservative with what I do have. (Minus a few years as a young adult when clothes and going out were more important than rent) Last year we wanted to have a good Christmas for our girls, but we didn't save any money throughout the year or do early shopping. My husband would visit the New England Patriots app on his phone daily and noticed something different one day. That was the key to our kids getting overly spoiled last Christmas.
People don't usually believe me when I tell them that everything under that tree (and some stuff ON the tree) ended up costing us a total of $0.00. But it's true. We paid NOTHING for that. (I'm beginning to see my future as a late night infomercial sales person). We spent around $800 on it all. I already told you how to make money in
this post, This post I'm about to write now is gonna BLOW. YOUR. MIND.
I'm going to post a step by step guide to making money (in the form of gift cards, our preference is amazon.com cards since we can buy almost anything there) using
mPOINTS. When a company can get you to watch ads or follow their personalized link to a products website, they earn money. In turn, they are offering you an incentive to use these apps. mPOINTS are points that can be converted into gift cards or charitable donations. Click
here for a list of currently supported apps. I'm going to show you how to get points using a few of my favorites.
The app that started it all (Hell-oooooo fantastical Christmas of 2011!) was the
NE Patriots App. It's super easy and pays decent.
This should be the first screen you see when you go into the app. (You may or may not get a 100 point bonus for joining. Make sure you go to settings and set up your account. All this requires is an email address (that you have access to, not just one for junk emails) and a password. I promise, they never spam your inbox.
When you're all set up and get this message, touch the green icon that says "Collect Points" You'll get the daily visit points for every mPOINTS app once a day. Woot!
(note - every 1,000 points is worth $1.00 in gift cards, so I have $53.25 here)
Sometimes you'll get an ad for another app like this. I got my +10 point bonus, but nothing extra this time.
With this app you also get points for visiting the pro shop. The little icon on the bottom right of your screen. Again, go collect your +10 point bonus.
At this point I leveled up and got +50 extra points. This happens every 10th action you do to get points. After getting this screen you will then get the points you earned and possibly bonus points.
The next way to get points is by searching for a fan club. I always search "Indy" because that's my husbands Pats group here in Indy. :) You get +5 points for searching. You'd then click your icon and get your points.
When you finish at the fan club section you can head over to training camp. You'll want to tap the "latest" icon on the bottom left your screen. Training camp is at the top right.
Ta-da! +10 points! Go ahead and hit the x at the top to head on over to the photo gallery. (the icon in the top middle area of your screen)
Once you choose a gallery you'll get another +10 points. Now it's time to move to the videos. (You guessed it - the top left of your screen)
You might need to scroll down a bit to find a video, but when you find one, tap it. They're usually called 'Patriots Today'
A video will begin to play. (You didn't hear it from me, but rumor has it you can move that little circle mickbobber all the way to the end to fast forward the video if you're not the biggest football fan, like myself.)
You can watch several videos before it stops giving you points.
Bam! More points! Remember sometimes they'll look like this.....
The last thing to do is share content. That little box and arrow in the top right corner will lead you there....
Share however you want, I usually just e-mail. but they all work. And you get +10 points.
That's the basics of the Patriots app. Occasionally you'll get more bonus points, and I'll cover those later)
Next I want to go over my favorite mPOINTS app,
The Daily Puppy. Because lets get real - who doesn't love puppies? I'm now seeing that I must've been super sleepy last night while doing this app and forgot to take screen shots of everything. Forgive me, try to keep up - this is one of the top money makers.
You'll be greeted by a cute puppy like this guy. Just like the Patriots app, you'll get daily points. This time it's +50 instead of +10. Tap the greet collect button for your points.
*NOTE: Sometimes the points on this app come on the screen and leave just as fast. If one gets away before you have a chance to tap it, you can always come back to this screen and tap where it says "m rewards on the top left of the screen. There you will find any missed points. You can also use this to check and see how many points you have left as well as what rewards are available.
The puppy app is notorious for having the best bonus points.If you get a video - that's the best. Each video is worth +100 points and will only play for 30 seconds. But wait! There's more!
Most of the videos will end with a screen similar to this one. If you tap the picture it will take you to the company website or facebook page. It will look like this......
By doing this you are earning an ADDITIONAL +100 points. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!? Play on, Playa. It only gets better.
You can x out of that page and back into the puppy app. You want to tap the second icon from the left on the bottom that says "puppies". From here, go ahead and start scrolling to see all the cuteness these furry guys possess. As you go along be sure to tap the heart located on the bottom of your screen. this will add whatever puppy you're looking at into your "favorites."
After you favorite 3 puppies you will get +50 points and usually a bonus.
Around this point I think I fell asleep or something. There isn't much else to do besides keep scrolling. You'll get points after flipping through 15 pictures and randomly it'll choose a "lucky puppy" that will give you additional points and bonus points. Don't forget to go back to the main screen and touch the "grown up" icon and do the same thing there for even more points.
For all the bonus points in this app you can easily get $2 - $5 a day on this app alone. Think about it - it's only July! Do this every day and have a free Christmas! Or buy a MacBook Air like my husband
wants to will do. Whatever - it's totally free money!!
There are more app that this works with. Besides these two, my favorite money makers are the
LiveStrong Calorie Counter app and the
MTV News app. If I feel like playing a game, the
WordyBirdy app is fun AND gives mPOINTS.
Here's a few tips that we've found will make it easier on you and maximize your points....
- Check the Achievements section of the mPoints homescreen for each app to see what actions you can do to get points. Many apps have tons of little things you can do to get points.
- Have a set time every day to do these. If you skip a day it's like waving good-bye to a few bucks. Try setting an alarm on your phone.
- Know that mPOINTS resets itself at midnight on the dot. If the clock strikes 12 and you haven't finished all of your achievements for the day you, my friend, are out of luck. You'll have to start all over.
- The best time to do the apps in my opinion is when I'm getting settled in bed for the night. This way I always remember.
- Although, the most beneficial time is 8 pm EST, for some reason we get tons of videos and extra bonus points then. Some apps will give you points, but at a certain point the video bonuses stop coming. When the videos stop, I stop getting points and wait until 8pm (because I start mine at midnight) the following evening - and usually will get more videos.
- Take your time. Especially on the puppy app. Enjoy the pics, but it's easy to let the little pop up point button thing go by and forget about it. Pay attention and slow down :)
- Don't forget to click the mPOINTS icon from time to time to check out your balance and view the rewards catalog. Our favorite is Amazon gift cards. 5,000 points equals a $5 gift card. You can EASILY get that in one night. $5 a night will add up super fast.
- The mPOINT icon in the puppy app is the button on the main screen in the top left corner. On the Patriots app it's on the top right and looks like a little green present.
- When you do decide to redeem something, be sure to only do one a day. A few months ago Joe and I both cashed in $30 in $5 gift cards one after another. We were both flagged for fraud and I had to fight for 2 weeks with the customer service guy (who wasn't the brightest or nicest) to get our gift cards.
- Gift cards are sent via e-mail. So MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET TO YOUR EMAIL!!! After redeeming, it will usually take 24 hours to get your code.
Well folks, that's all I got. Have fun with this- the apps are fun and free! Do your thing and maybe in December you can have have a totally free Christmas, too!
