Intro

Written February 2010…..

I have been a member of various survey sites for about 2 years. A survey site is a website that pays people for their opinion about various products/topics; some survey sites offer you points while some offer $ per survey. All in all, in the end, you can cash them in for different prizes. The prizes range from gift cards, to dinner and movie tickets or you may just receive a check. Being a survey taker is a way to earn extra money. Well up until 3 months ago, I used my survey money to fund my girls’ night outings, a new outfit or to splurge on a manicure.

Well that all changed when I discovered Sunshine Rewards, www.sunshinerewards.com. Sunshine rewards is a site that has surveys, gives rebates for purchases at stores that you normally shop at……but the one thing that grabbed my attention, was the Disney gift cards. I have been trying to plan a vacation for my family and I to go to Walt Disney World sometime in the next 2 years. I knew that was a stretch because with our current budget, there is no way that we would get remotely close to Disney, or Mickey or Donald, for that matter!!!

After joining Sunshine Rewards and becoming a member of their forum, I discovered that many of the members have been to Disney world, some multiple times and they were going using their points that they have accumulated on this site. Me being the nosey person that I am; I began reading multiple stories about each member, their trip to Disney and how the trip was paid for….So I began asking questions. I started a new topic thread (for those of who are not sure what a topic thread is, it is like an email that you send. All of the members can post their responses to my questions). I asked how long it took for them to accumulate 1000 points (I just pulled this number out of the sky. $1000 in Disney Gift Cards would help pay for the trip). Some said 11 months, some said 2 yrs, but it all depends on how dedicated you are to earning points.

I know some of you are wondering, why not use the money on other things?….For cash maybe or some new clothes. Well I want to find other ways to pay for Walt Disney World trip so that my current budget is not affected, so I will use my points to help fund my trip. The Disney gift cards can be used to make my reservations, purchase Disney tickets and buy souvenirs.

So how am I going to make some extra $$$$:
First: I am going to login to my Sunshine Rewards account daily and take my first 3 surveys; Greenfield Daily, My Thoughts and the 2cents survey. If I qualify to take all three, that will give me $2.15. I know it doesn’t sound like much…but in a year that would give me $784.75 (to be used for my Disney trip). Next, I will check to see if I have any “paid clicks” available (you are getting paid to click on an advertisement…that’s it! Paid clicks range from .01 to .10). Then I will try my hand at the “Sunshine scratch off” (Think of a lottery scratch off. You have to get to it early because only the first 600 people will win any credits. I have won once so far and received .01 credit). Now there are many other ways to earn clicks. If you are like me, then you do most of your shopping online. The cool thing about shopping online is if you are member of Sunshine Rewards, you can earn rewards just for making purchases (Can you say more points!! More points!! More points!!!).

Now Sunshine Rewards will not be the only site that I make money from to fund my trip, there are many others…and some of them are available through Sunshine rewards.

I have priced out a trip to Walt Disney World (we plan to go during spring break 2011. This gives me a little over a year to get it together)
A Walt Disney World Trip for a family of four ( 2 adults, 2 kids), to include park hopper tickets, a dining package for 6 days/5 nights and staying a value resort will cost us $2500. We are in the process of comparing flight cost vs. driving cost (this will be fun ).

The Plan:
Login to Sunshine Rewards daily and take the 3 surveys, paid clicks and try for the scratch off. I will also do most of my online shopping here. I will continue to take surveys from other sites with all proceeds going to our trip. Now at this point you may be thinking that taking surveys will not fund our entire trip……and you are correct!
In addition to the surveys, I will also open a separate bank account and place $25 per pay check into this account (This will be placed automatically because knowing me, $25 will never make it into the account), in a year that will give me $650.00.
You’re still thinking…..not enough. If I just did Sunshine rewards and the bank account that would give me $1434.75 (that’s over half the trip paid for). The other money will come from bonuses, spare change, etc.

So come back daily as I chronicle my days leading up to our family’s first trip…

The plan worked as I went on our very first trip to Orlando Florida and planning to return Christmas 2013