How To Live Off of Gift Certificates

It is indeed possible to pay for your expenses using gift certificates. That is in fact how I cover my annual costs.

There are only a few things that you can’t use them for, such as hospital visits and rent. But other than that, you’re good.

How do you get enough gift certificates?

There are a lot of ways to get gift certificates. You can add them to your wishlist for your birthday or for the giftgiving holidays you celebrate, sure.

But the best way to earn gift certificates is to join a bunch of survey sites and check them daily.

You fill out the surveys that are available to you and when you have enough earnings to cashout, you “order” a gift certificate with your earnings. At those survey sites, you can also complete offers and play mobile games. I earned quite a bit from playing games on my phone, back when I still used a smartphone.

Depending on where you live, the survey sites available to you may differ slightly. If you are in the US or the UK, you are in luck. You will have a seemingly neverending list of survey sites to choose from.

However, I live in Sweden and even here there are more than enough survey sites available. Sweden is a small country in northern Europe, so if I can fill out enough surveys here to cover my annual expenses, so can you.

How do you use gift certificates to cover your needs?

First of all, you need to make a budget. Preferably an annual one.

1. Look at your bank statement from the previous year. Log your expenses and divide them into categories.
2. Figure out what you need to spend – need to, not want to – on each category.
3. When you know that, it is time to figure out which stores/businesses sell what you need for each category.

This is how I do it:

Homestead

I spend about 500 sek on homestead/gardening expenses each year. I use a survey site called Yougov where you can earn gift certificates of up to 500 sek each. It takes a bit of time, but you can quite easily earn 4 to 5 500 sek gift certificates per year from them. I made sure to confirm that they offer gift certificates to the gardening store that I use. So, my homestead/gardening expenses are now covered.

I make sure to earn a certain amount of gift certificates at Ikea each year. They are valid for ten years. So, if something breaks, if I need to replace something or even renovate part of my future home, I am covered.

Off-grid

I am creating an off-grid kit for my life. One of the things I need is a powerstation. I have calculated how much solar power I will need to run the things I use. I will need a 120W solarpanel and a 500W powerstation.

There’s a store in Sweden called Clas Ohlson and they sell everything from art supplies to solar panels. I make sure to have a good amount of gift certificates to that store as well. I purchase my notepads, pens, art supplies and solar lights from them. Last year I purchased a rain water collector from them and in a month or two, I will purchase my first solar panel.

I have been tracking the cost of the powerstation since last year. The price has now gone down to about a third of what it cost when I first started tracking it. Since the price dropped, it has become available at an online store that I can easily get gift certificates to.

In May-June I will have earned enough to purchase my powerstation and my first solar panel. From then on, I will use solar power for most of the year.

Health

You can also withdraw money from survey sites, as long as you have a PayPal account. I put away some of my earnings each year so that I can use them to pay for healthcare like checkups and prescriptions. But the rest of my health expenses are covered.

I take supplements and use quite a bit of herbs for my health. I track the costs of the supplements I buy using sites like Pricerunner. That way, I get notified when they are at their lowest price of the year.

I have purchased supplements enough times to know which store carries all of the essential ones. And that store happens to be the one that most Swedish survey sites offer gift certificates to. Thus, my supplements and herbal expenses are covered.

Should I need to see a chiropractor, need a massage or something of that nature, I can easily acquire some gift certificates that will cover those visits as well.

Clothes

I generally don’t pay for clothes, as I don’t like to support fast fashion. Instead, I make most of my own clothes, shoes and accessories, and I can cover the cost of the materials. I do tend to have a small clothing emergency fund (in gift certificates) that I can use at a certain online fashion store. Just in case.

If I want to upgrade my wardrobe, I either make something, or I sell something and use the earnings to purchase something second hand. At one of the stores where I sell my clothes and other items, you can choose to convert your earnings to gift cards to be used in that store. They will be worth 10% more if you do.

If I need to replace something, or if I am looking for a gift for someone else, I have a process. I tend to login to the site where I buy and sell clothing, and add my favourites from their shop to my wish list. Then I will be emailed each time the price drops. When the prices have dropped to where I want them, I make a purchase. And that is usually when I have received a code that will grant me free shipping.

Sometimes I will order very large garments that are made out of materials I like working with, like denim. Then I can take them apart and use the materials to make what I need. You don’t need to pay more for a larger size, but you will get more material out of them.

Food

I grow most of my own food. Most of my garden runs itself at this point. I make my own fertiliser from natural materials like seaweed, urine or nettles and I make my own soil. I have about 5 sqm of space for my container garden and that works for me. There are also a few things that I grow indoor.

I mostly spend money in the grocery store annually, for staples, or monthly, if there is a good offer on something. Most of my food expenses are somewhat optional. I budget for 4200 kr worth of food expenses each year, just to be on the safe side. That amounts to about 375 euro.

There are several grocery stores that offer gift certificates, so it is possible to cover those expenses as well.

Hygiene

I use an aleppo soap for my body and my hair. Sometimes I use baking soda water to wash my hear and then I rinse it with ACV water. And then some regular water too.

As for regular soap, I make my own every other year or so. I make my own body butter and salves too. It is not expensive and it is not difficult.

I buy a big pack of toothbrushes each year. Sometimes I buy toothpaste and sometimes I make my own.

Again, all of this – ingredients and all – are purchased using gift certificates.

Cleaning

I buy baking soda in bulk every other year or so.

I have an ongoing ACV that I use with it.

When I need to do the dishes, I use hot water and that will loosen up most stains. Baking soda and ACV covers the rest.

On occasion, I will use coffee grounds too.

I have no expenses in this category other than baking soda. Which I use for just about everything.

Phone/internet

I tend to jump from offer to offer and to pay for my phone and internet, I use virtual pre-paid cards. Many survey survey sites offer them among their gift cards. They are only valid for a certain amount of time and you can’t refill them. So they’re ideal when you need to pay for a subscription or a phone/internet plan. Offers usually run for four months. After one has run out, I take a break for a while, and then I choose another one with a new prepaid card. I never pay out of pocket for using the internet or my phone.

Streaming/music

This is so not an essential expense for me. I do my best to limit my screen time, though as I work digitally, it is not easy.

If I want to watch something, there are so many free streaming alternatives. Also, I have over 300 movies on my Apple TV, so I am more than covered.

However, if I do choose to subscribe to a streaming service or music service for one reason or another, I either find an offer that makes it free, or one that makes it cheaper than usual. And then I use gift certificates – such as the ones Apple offers – to pay for it.

Are you ready to get started?

To get started, check out this article.

Good luck!