Every once in awhile, I just feel the need to give a “gentle reminder” to everyone I meet on or offline: please back up. Losing all those files, family photos, etc. hurts sooo bad. This is the easiest option I’ve found and you can have free storage up to 2 gigabytes - Mozy.

You see them everywhere - paid to surf and paid to read email programs that turn out to be pyramid scams or earn only pennies a year. Are any of these programs worthwhile? Well, I already mentioned My Points, which is a fantastic program I use to get a bunch of gift cards for stocking stuffers each year. You can earn enough points just by reading emails and completing a few free offers, but I try to shop through My Points when it is a business I am buying from anyway and that is how the points really add up.

Another program that is pretty successful for many people is Cash Crate. I’ve just signed up with this program recently. Frankly, if you are short on time, you may want to skip it. Getting 80 cents for a survey or two dollars to complete a free offer isn’t awful, but it isn’t great, either. I’ve heard of people earning several hundred dollars a month through Cash Crate, but they probably put in some serious time.

I keep hearing about moms paying for survey opportunities. That is not a good thing. You should never pay for the chance to take surveys. There are many legitimate survey opportunities out there and they have one thing in common - free sign ups. Please don’t spend your money on survey sites.

Here are a few survey companies with free sign ups that pay you for your time:

Focus Forward - pays cash if you qualify. I just joined recently.

Greenfield Online - pays cash if you qualify. Otherwise, you are entered in a sweepstakes as a thank you for your time answering a few preliminary questions. I rarely get past the preliminary round.

My Points - This program actually is a rewards program, but there are a lot of surveys worth 5 points. Cash out at around 800 points for a $5 gift certificate. I’ve been doing MyPoints for years. (Since 2001, to be exact.) It is the only rewards program that is really worth doing, as far as I’m concerned.