My Freebies Guide

Damn, 2 weeks offline

2009-06-24T22:47:00.002+01:00

I hate moving enough without this....there is no cable where we're moving so I have to move to BT. I just got notification that my date is 2 weeks tomorrow so there'll be no updates for a further 2 weeks.

Surely they just have to press a button and post some equipment? Ah well, let's hope the withdrawal symptoms aren't too bad lol. See you in 2 weeks.

Busy Times

2009-06-23T13:53:00.002+01:00

I feel I should apologise for the lack of updates this past week, I've been rather busy, and will be for the coming week as well, due to moving house this weekend.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. :)

An Update including rewards received

2009-06-12T07:14:00.005+01:00

Just a quick update today as we're off camping for the weekend shortly...

I thought I'd post and let you know that I have now received Amazon vouchers (and spent them already!) from Lightspeed Panel and Valued Opinions. I have received 3 x £5 Amazon vouchers from Lightspeed Panel now and 1 x £10 from Valued Opinions (with about £12 still pending). These 2 definitely seem the be the best and most worthwhile survey sites.

Not technically freebies, but the vouchers were essentially free, I have ordered new guitar strings, a new jack lead and a guitar stand and still have £5 on Amazon!

I am still awaiting £5 PayPal cash from Ciao Surveys and £5 Amazon vouchers from MySurvey...why can't they be as quick as my two favourites. :)

I have written 16 premium reviews on DooYoo and currently have £9.23 on there, I'm struggling to find something interesting enough to warrant a 150 word+ review. (I need to earn £20 to redeem for Amazon).

No other progress worth reporting on the other sites, they're all a trickle of pennies/nothing so far.

A good source of freebies info

2009-06-09T11:58:00.003+01:00

I've had a busy few days so it's been quiet for me on the freebies front, so instead of a freebie I'm going to tell you where I find some of mine...

Money Saving Expert is an immensely useful site, it has much more than just freebies, but it is huge, and with the forums there is sooo much information to try to take in.

There is information on upping your income, reclaiming bank/credit/etc charges, reducing outgoings/bills. In fact, if it's anything to do with making/saving money, you can bet it's probably here...and don't forget to check the freebies forum!

The website address is www.moneysavingexpert.com

An Alternative to Surveys...

2009-06-06T20:31:00.005+01:00

I've discovered an alternative route for earning cash or Amazon vouchers that possibly works out better than completing surveys.

DooYoo is a shopping comparison website, similar to Ciao, where you can post reviews of all sorts of topics and goods. For completing a premium review (over 150 words) you get 500 DooYoo miles, this is the equivalent to 50p.

Once you earn 20,000 DooYoo miles you can cash out with a £20 Amazon voucher, or wait until 50,000 and claim £50 cash.

You do have to make sure your reviews are your own original work and that they are useful and relevant. When you first write a review your points are 'pending' for 72 hours during which time you can't redeem them and the website runs it's checks on your review to make sure it is valid.

You also get a few bonus Miles whenever somebody reads your reviews as well. I have (at time of writing) written 11 reviews and have 6329 (£6.33) in my pending balance.

You can join directly at www.dooyoo.co.uk.
You can refer a friend and get 500 bonus points when your friend writes their first premium review, but you have to enter their email address on the website. If you'd like me to get you an invite (and get me some bonus points ;) then drop me an email :)

Another Survey Site... OnePoll

2009-06-03T20:49:00.005+01:00

I've been scouring the archives of one of my favourite sources of information and found another surveying website that seems pretty popular and reliable, it's called OnePoll.

There is a requirement of earning £40 to withdraw cash via cheque, BACS or PayPal, but my reading suggests that this is achievable in around 4 months if you complete 2 or 3 surveys a day. Oh, and you earn £2.50 bonus for signing up.

They do not email surveys to you like many other sites, you have to log in and check for them, but it's a lovely looking site and very easy to use.

The surveys seems simpler and much shorter than most traditional survey sites. All the surveys I've done so far have been multiple choice questions on a single page. Being simpler and shorter, they do pay less, as far as I can tell 5p to 50p is the typical range.

They also have 2 off-shoot websites that look promising too...

There is YoungPoll, which is basically another survey website, much the same as the main OnePoll website, except that it is for you to sign your kids, aged 6-15, too. They need to earn £30 to withdraw their earnings, but they get £5 just for registering.

The second off-shoot website is OnePoll Cashback. It's another cashback like GreasyPalm (see my review of that on this site for more info). I've not used it, so cannot write about it, but based on my experience of the main OnePoll website and my research, I would say it would be worth checking out.

The website address is (surprisingly lol) www.onepoll.com.
As seems usual with most legitimate survey sites there is no referal scheme. Though you can earn £1 by entering 5 friends email addresses so that they can send them an invite.

Free PC Software, even P&P is free!

2009-06-02T14:53:00.003+01:00

I don't know how long this offer will be on for, but you can get a random PC software package from a selection of various titles completely free, not even postage to pay!

I received 'Internet Protector', not a great title and not one I'll ever use (I'm quite well protected already lol), but there are other titles including Crazy Golf, Chainz, Scrapbook software and more...

To see if the offer is still on (it is at time of writing) visit www.ministryofdeals.com, they have 4 deals on every day, so it's possible if you missed it, it might return another day.

KudosNetwork

2009-06-02T09:02:00.006+01:00

KudosNetwork is another freebies website that gives substantial free gifts if you have some time and effort to put into it. It works the same way as FreebieJeebies (see this post for more details).

From my research KudosNetwork and FreebieJeebies are the 2 most respected and reliable such websites available with many, many people having received their free items. See www.exceem.co.uk for proof and more information and tips on how to make it work for you.

For this network I am trying to earn £100 Amazon vouchers to help compliment my survey earnings (I need just 5 referals for this). There are other gifts to choose from such as games consoles, tv's, etc or you can even create a custom order if there is something not listed that you really want.

As with FreebieJeebies, KudosNetwork also have a selection of free offers you and your referals can complete for their items, so it is possible to get your item completely free.

My referal link is gifts.kudosnetwork.co.uk/45354. Or, if you prefer, just go direct to gifts.kudosnetwork.co.uk.

(Remember, I always give non-referal links as well in case people don't want to give me credit for their click. This is primarily an information site, not a money-maker)

The Best of the Rest (Surveys)

2009-06-02T07:12:00.008+01:00

I've already posted about my two favourite and most successful survey sites, today I will post a short bit about 'the rest'. These are all sites that I am using but have no proven success with...yet...

Ciao Surveys
Ciao are a pretty well known name for product reviews (kinda similar to kelkoo I guess) but they also do surveys. A while back I got £10 paid direct into my bank account from Ciao for surveys, but then I stopped using them for a while.

Now Ciao have split their surveys operation to a separate, dedicated website. They have plenty of surveys to take part in, but I seem to get screened out of a lot of them. I currently have credit of £4.65 and once I reach £5 I can request another payment.

Not one of my favourites, but they are legitimate and it may just be my profile isn't best suited to the type of surveys you get there.

They have no affiliate link, but if you want to email me I can send you an invite that will earn me £1 when you sign up and complete 1 paid survey. Alternatively, you can just go direct to http://www.ciao-surveys.co.uk/

Global Test Market
I don't know much about these guys. They are American, but do pay out to UK users. They pay 5 cents per 'Marketpoint' and you have to reach 1500 Marketpoints to receive a cheque. I am currently only on 285points.

They have no affiliate scheme, go straight to http://www.globaltestmarket.com/

YouGov
This site seems pretty slow going, I have only £1 in my account from signing up and completing my profile and you can't cash out until you reach £50. However, on some forums that I read I see that many people have actually cashed out successfully from this site. Perhaps I've just been unlucky...

This one has an affiliate scheme, my link is http://my.yougov.com/go.aspx?id=f815ba8a-4bce-4df8-85a9-0f0978fc1078. With this one, whatever rewards you get for surveys in your first 3 months, I get as well.
If you prefer not to give me credit you can go direct to http://my.yougov.com/

Others
These links are to sites that I've not had much experience of or many surveys from. Whether they'll be worth signing up for in the long run, I don't know, but they're here if you want to try your luck...

http://www.surveys.com/ (never received a survey)
http://www.harrispollonline.com/ (only just registered, looks promising though)
http://www.itsyourview.com/
http://www.opinion-people.com/

FreebieJeebies

2009-06-01T08:03:00.005+01:00

For some time now I've been seeing websites offering a free xbox, or iphone, Amazon vouchers, etc. You may well know the type I mean.....you signup and complete an offer then get a certain number of friends to do the same and you get a free item?

I've been extremely dubious of these sites, but after quite a bit of searching and research it seems that they can work for you. It's not easy, and it does take a little time, but if you have patience and perseverance you could get that free item.

The best source of information about these is a community website/forum at http://www.exceem.co.uk/. Here you can view the available networks and schemes, as well as tips and advice on how to complete and get your offer. There are also plenty of posts in the 'proof' forum of people showing off their new, free gifts!

So, given what I found there I bit the bullet and have signed up with consoles.freebiejeebies.co.uk/103791 in the hope of working my way to a free xbox...

I have completed my offer and it cost me nothing...from their offers page I clicked on the HSBC savings account link and opened an online savings account at no cost to me. Now I just have to get 8 other people to sign up through my link and complete an offer to get my xbox.

There are other free/low cost offers to choose from including other banks accounts, a free lovefilm trial (they are good, I am still a customer after joining a free trial a year ago), and other low-cost offers....like join and deposit £5 at galabingo.

Even if nothing comes of it, I've lost nothing, so I figure it's worth a shot. Why don't you give it a go? Signup to consoles.freebiejeebies.co.uk/103791, complete one offer, then head over to www.exceem.co.uk for advice on how to complete your referals for your free item.

Of course, as usual, here is my non-referal link that you can click on and not give me credit if you prefer.
(Remember, this is primarily an information site for you, not a money-making site for me)
http://consoles.freebiejeebies.co.uk/

GreasyPalm

2009-05-31T17:22:00.008+01:00

GreasyPalm is a cashback website. That is, when you take offers or purchase items through their website they give you cashback. They can do this as they earn commission from the offers and purchases you make, they pass some of their commission back onto you.

There are a huge amount of free offers, no spend cashbacks and normal purchasing cashbacks. I earned my payment mostly from a free trial of dvd rental and switching energy supplier. I received cash of £48.25 paid directly into my bank account.

Payment runs are made monthly, and they don't pay out until 30 days after your balance passes the £25 mark. However, rest assured, I can tell you from experience that they certainly do pay out.

Currently offers include £70 cashback for a dual fuel switch to Scottish Power, £40 for taking out insurance with MoreThan. They also have a system for paying cashback on High Street spending , however, I have not used this and don't know how it works.

This site I do have a referal link for. If you use this link and earn yourself £15 or more then I will earn a bonus £7. My referal link is http://www.greasypalm.co.uk/r/?l=724976

If, for some reason, you don't wish to use my referal link you can visit direct at http://www.greasypalm.co.uk/

Lightspeed Panel

2009-05-31T17:00:00.005+01:00

My second survey website to write about is the Lightspeed Panel.

This is my other favourite survey website, and I have already claimed 2 x £5 Amazon vouchers, therefore I can vouch for them and honestly say they are genuine.

Rewards per survey are in the form of points. And range mostly from 80 to 110 points per survey.

Roughly 110 points is worth about £1 depending on what rewards you decide to take. There is a HUGE selection of rewards to choose from ranging from my favourite, Amazon vouchers, to Cash via PayPal, Charity Donations, Computer Accessories, Magazine Subscriptions....the list goes on. Their rewards shop is managed by a third party website that seems to specialize in this kind of service.

Each time I have ordered my Amazon vouchers they arrived in my inbox with about 5 minutes!

As well as the main surveys that you complete for points there are also Quick Match and Mini-Poll surveys that can earn you entries into the monthly £2000 prize draw and increase your chances of being invited to more full surveys in future.

This is another site that doesn't have an affiliate program, I am just writing about them because it's genuine and I have received real rewards from them in the form of Amazon vouchers.

Signing up for this website is not as easy as others, their main site does not have links to sign up, you have to find an invitation. However, I just searched for 'join uk lightspeed panel' on google and the first result was http://uk.lightspeedpanel.com/register/join.html?custom=SDMGB31070 . This seems to work ok at the moment, but if it doesn't work for you then just search google like I did.

Valued Opinions

2009-05-31T16:39:00.008+01:00

The first Survey website I'm going to talk about is Valued Opinions.

Valued Opinions are one of my two favourite and most reliable survey websites. I joined them only a little over a month ago now and I have £7.25 in cleared rewards and a further £15 pending.

Most surveys seem to pay £1 or £1.50, however, I have completed one for £5. The £5 survey (if I remember correctly) also involved having a packet of biscuits sent to my house to try and comment on! Delicious! :)

I've not yet reached the £10 threshold (of cleared funds) to be able to claim a reward, but I can see that you have many choices of how to redeem your earnings. They provide Tesco, Amazon, John Lewis, Ocado vouchers and more. Or you can even support a charity with your earnings!

Personally, I'll be going for the Amazon vouchers as many survey sites also provide Amazon vouchers and I think if I take Amazon from them all then I should soon be able to buy something really nice.....And Amazon seem to sell almost everything these days! I have my eye on a USB 8-track mixer so I can start setting up a small home music-room/studio. (I am learning guitar and my partner plays keyboard, penny whistle and sings, her brother plays bass, etc)

I am a member of many survey websites, and some of them it's hard to get past the initial screening questions (to see if you qualify for the survey's target group). Valued Opinions is the site I get accepted and complete the most surveys on.

The site has no referral or bonus scheme, the only way to earn is from completing surveys. Therefore, there is no incentive for me to write positively about them, I just am because it is a genuine and useful website that rewards it's users fairly :)

Click to get taken to the Valued Opinions website : http://www.valuedopinions.co.uk/