I’ve been sitting at 975 points with MySurvey for something like two months now.  I haven’t had many surveys come my way lately and I haven’t had any referrals in several months.  When I get to 1,000 points I can cash them in for $10 which will take my lifetime payouts from MySurvey to $100.  If you’d like to help yourself (and me) to some easy money, just sign up by clicking the banner below!

Having multiple income streams is one of those things you often hear about in the PF blogosphere as a good idea.  And I totally agree.  It’s nice to collect a salary from your day job, but it’s extra special to make some money on the side.  One of my goals over the last few years has been to increase my number of income streams and then increase the income coming from those streams.

My alternative income streams in 2009…

1) Selling Books:  $2,081 - I’ve written several times about how I sell used books online.  This is my largest alternative income stream and one of my most enjoyable.  I’m already off to a great start for 2010 and my goal is to do over $3,000 in profit from book sales this year.

2) Interest income:  $289 – Between my checking account and my ING savings account, I totaled $289 in interest earned for 2009.  Super easy free money.

3) Online Activities:  $486 – This category includes mysurvey.com, mypoints.com, Swagbucks, blogging, and affiliate sales.  This is a category I would really like to increase in 2010 and I’m going to set the bar at trying to make at least $1,000 online in 2010.

4) Credit Card Rewards: $695 – I like to use my rewards card for every possible purchase and earn miles that I can redeem for travel-related purchases.  I was really pleased with this amount for 2009, but I will admit that it was so high because I put many wedding expenses on the card and hopefully I won’t be spending anywhere near that amount of money in 2010.  So I look for this income stream to kind of dry up in 2010, though not to go away completely.

5) Random: $266 – This category features things like winning the office football pool, winning at Bingo, dogsitting, donating plasma and finding cash.  I have no idea if I’ll make any random income in 2010, but here’s hoping.

What’s not included on this list that maybe could have been:  rebates I received from purchases, tax returns, and gifts.  Leaving off the gift category probably had the largest impact.  As you know, I got married in 2009 and not only did we receive substantial monetary gifts from our parents to help up pay for the event, but we received thousands of dollars in gift money from our guests.  I’m going back and forth on including the gift category for 2010, but I probably will.  Last year was just such an anomaly.

All totaled, my alternative income streams added up to an extra $3,817 on top of my salary.  Not too shabby.  For 2010, I’m making it a goal to make at least $5,000 in alternative income.

As if getting paid to take surveys wasn’t cool enough, now I’m getting free stuff from MySurvey.com.

Last week I came home to find a big box waiting for me at the door.  When I opened it, here’s what I found:

You can’t really tell in the picture, but those aren’t sample-sized, they are the real deal full-sized laundry detergent containers.  A few weeks ago I had participated in a survey about my laundry habits and at the end of the survey I agreed to participate in a home sample/survey.  I just need to use this detergent for four weeks and take another survey.  I think the value of this detergent is probably around $8-10 but I got it for free.

ps. I didn’t blog about it, but I have also received free deodorant in the past from MySurvey for the purpose of a survey.

If you are interested in getting paid to take surveys and possibly receiving some free products, sign up at MySurvey!

I’m assuming most of you bloggers are familiar with Amazon’s Associates program which allows you to promote Amazon products and earn a commission if someone makes a purchase after clicking through your link. 

I’ve been a member of the program for probably a year and a half now.  I don’t promote it very much on this blog, maybe every now and then linking to a book or DVD.  I’ve only had a handful of clicks, but no one has ever made a purchase.

About a month ago, I bought a new domain and created a new blog that focuses on a very specific niche.   I created about 25 posts and each post linked to an item on Amazon.  In short order, I was getting a trickle of visitors from google (less than 5 a day) for a few keywords that I had targeted.  Several of them had clicked thru to Amazon but no one made a purchase.  Until yesterday!

I logged into my Associates account last night, and imagine my surprise after a year and a half of logging in with no results, to see that someone had placed an order and I had received a commission of $1.00!  It may not seem like much–because it isn’t–but where there’s one sale, there may be more.  I’m really proud of this little endeavor.  I was so excited I had to call Bird at work just to tell her I made a dollar.  I can’t wait to see what happens in the future.

I recently cashed out $10 more dollars from MySurvey.  That’s now $90 I’ve earned from simply filling out online surveys in my spare time.  And it doesn’t take much time at all.  If you’d like to sign up, consider using my referral link by clicking the banner below and start earning money!

Oh, and I’ll be putting this latest $10 in the home downpayment fund.

I just received my 8th $10 check from MySurvey.  That’s $80 I’ve earned from filling out online surveys in my spare time. 

Since receiving that 8th check, I’ve actually earned another 350 points, so only 650 to go until my next check!  I get 150 points every time I refer someone, so if you are looking for some extra cash and would like to help me out as well, go ahead and click on the banner below!

I just got home from happy hour a little while ago and was excited to find a $10 check from MySurvey waiting in the mail.  This is the seventh check I’ve received from them for a grand total of $70.  That’s basically free money people!  I don’t consider filling out simple surveys every now and then to be real work, so yeah, it’s essentially free money.

If you have yet to sign up for MySurvey, what are you waiting for?  Click the banner below to sign up:

I was pleasantly surprised to come home and check the mail last night after floor hockey and find a $10 check from MySurvey waiting for me!  That brings my total haul from MySurvey up to $60.  Not enough to quit my day job by any means, but a real nice alternative income source for very minimal effort.

I will deposit the check next week and add the $10 to my honeymoon fund.

As always, if you have yet to sign up for MySurvey, I suggest you do.  It is the most consistent way I have found to make a little bit of extra cash on the net.  Just click the banner below to sign up:
 

If you think this is another MySurvey post, you’re right!

But that’s not the only money I got in the mail last night.  When I got home, not only did I have a check for $10 from MySurvey, but I also received a birthday card from my aunt which included a $10 check.

I have added both of them to the honeymoon fund which now stands at $1,865.

As always, if you have yet to sign up for MySurvey, I suggest you do.  Just click the banner below to get started:

Full disclosure: This wasn’t in the mail and wasn’t even really for my birthday or anything, but my mom gave me $200 when I stopped at home last weekend. I’ve also added that money to the honeymoon fund.

This weekend I received yet another $10 check from MySurvey.  That makes a total of $40 just for filling out surveys online. 

The cool thing is…when I got my check, that reminded me to go check my account.  I had received enough points from referrals that I could request another check!  So now my fifth check should be in the mail.

Thank you to anyone who signed up by clicking on my links or banners.  I really appreciate it.

I added the $10 to my Honeymoon Fund and that’s where the fifth check will be going as well!

As always, if you want to earn some easy money, click on the banner below to get started: