How to Get Free Gifts Cards (5 Easy Ways)

Deb Montgomery

When you’re working on some serious financial goals, you do not want to spend a lot of money on extras and wants. But when you have gift cards and even free gift cards, it’s time to treat yourself.

Hi, it’s Deb Montgomery and today I’m sharing five ways you can earn free gift cards.

My husband and I have paid off over $50,000 of Student Loan Debt in 4 years as newlyweds. It wasn’t easy, it was a goal we set together. During those four years, we had to say no to a lot of things and we minimized our lifestyle and fun expenses. We were so thankful for free gift cards then and still earn and use them today.

We took every penny we could save to pay down our debt, but our families knew how much we were sacrificing for a debt-free goal and they supported us in other ways and with gift cards.

Getting gift cards for Christmas and birthdays was our favorite. It allowed us to go on date nights and Target shopping trips when we wouldn’t have normally included it in our budget ourselves.

And when I heard that there were websites where you could earn free gift cards, I was sure to check it out. In fact, I’ve used some of these sites that I’m sharing today to fund my weekly Starbucks runs and other fun stuff.

But before we get into this article, don’t forget to subscribe to join our Save Your Bucks family for more money-saving and making articles. Your feedback on this article is also appreciated.

Also, check out other blog posts and articles talking about even more options to support you. So, if you have that dream purchase but don’t want to bust your budget to get it, here are five ways to earn free gift cards:

1. Use Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a market research company that pays you to use their search engine instead of bigger ones like Google. They want to learn more about people’s search habits and uncover patterns that may be valuable to companies trying to better understand consumers.

You can get currently get a $5 sign-up bonus.

Now, this isn’t going to make you rich, but if you can earn Amazon or Visa gift cards with virtually zero effort, you might as well check it out. You can learn more at www.SwagBucks.com

2. Join Rakuten

When you sign up with Rakuten, or formerly known as Ebates, you can get a $10 gift card after your first purchase and you get cash back every quarter.

Rakuten is a cashback shopping site. The way it works is you go to the Rakuten site, then you search for the company you want to shop online with. Then you follow Rakuten’s link to that website and shop like normal. Once you check out, you get cash back for your purchases added to your account. The cashback amount is a percentage of your purchase and varies depending on the store. This is a super-easy way to earn cash back and gift cards on purchases you were planning to make anyway.

3. Get the Honey Extension

Honey, not only gets you the lowest prices but also earns your gift cards. Honey is a free Chrome extension that follows where you shop and automatically applies the best coupon codes so you get the lowest prices possible.

And for every 1000 points, you earn from your purchases, you get a free $10 gift card.

There are gift cards for just about everyone that can be redeemed and not only do you get the lowest prices, but you get gift cards too. 

4. Responsibly Using a Credit Card

Almost all credit cards offer a cashback perk and many even do so without an annual fee.

We have a credit card that gives us one and a half percent cash back on all purchases and doesn’t have an annual fee. We’ve decided to save up the funds all year long to use for our Christmas fund. Now, this option isn’t right for everyone.

You should only use a credit card if you’re certain that you can use it responsibly by paying it off in full each month and still follow your budget when it comes to spending money.

5. Ask for Gift Cards Instead of Gifts

Okay, I know this may feel a little weird, but it can be beneficial. Like I shared earlier, receiving gift cards for Christmases and birthdays was so valuable to my husband and I when we were on our debt-free journey.

So, instead of having people get us random things that we didn’t really need or want, we just asked for gift cards for date nights.

I remember one Christmas was deemed the “gift card Christmas” and we came away with date nights planned for the next few months. It meant so much to us.

You may feel weird asking for a gift card, but a clever technique is to share that you’re working on saving up for a bigger item and would appreciate a gift card to help with the purchase.

One of my friends had her second baby and didn’t have a baby shower, but I still wanted to get her something to celebrate her new baby.

So, I asked what she needed and she said that they were saving up for an additional car seat purchase at Target and would love a Target gift card to help. I was not offended at all, and honestly, super happy that I could contribute towards something that they wanted and needed.

Or even just let people know you value experiences over things right now and would prefer a restaurant gift card over an item. When people give gifts, they want to get something that the person truly wants. So, I think it’s okay to share.

Getting gift cards from online websites or even from family and friends as gifts is a great way to treat yourself. Whether that’s for a new purchase or an experience, while your budget may be a little bit tight. My husband is a big huge University of Kentucky basketball fan. He actually found a website during the holiday that gave you (5) free $5.00 gift cards for every $25.00 gift card you purchased. So if you know any University of Kentucky basketball fans you can check out their gift cards here:  Kentucky Basketball Merchandise Gift Cards.  

So, don’t forget to check out the other articles here at Save Your Bucks websites where we share even more money-saving options.

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