Pennies for your thoughts

I'm all for free stuff -- especially now. I've used the WalMart site and others like StartSampling to get stuff to try, travel sizes to take on trips, and for stuff I use everyday.

My wife and I also have all of the frequent shopper key tags, and have even joined AC Nielsen's HomeScan program.

One of the most rewarding sites so far has been e-rewards, though. My wife joined (for free) last year sometime and I joined earlier this year. This program works through sponsored surveys that take 1 minute to 30 minutes to fill out. They range from interest surveys, to buying habits, to ranking questionnaires. You answer the surveys (infrequent to up to 10 a week) and they reward you with 50 cents to 15 dollars in e-rewards money that you cash in for rewards at places like Borders, Pizza Hut, Wall Street Journal, blockbuster and different airlines. My wife got a Borders card earlier this year and we've each got over 50 bucks sitting in our accounts again! Every little bit helps.