Do you hear the Jingle Bells of the approaching Holiday season and wonder just how you are going to pay for the next new gadget your teenager is asking for? Why not check out Jingit, a mobile app that pays you to shop and earn a little extra cash for the holidays or that vacation fund. There are no gimmicks here, just download the free app, sign in and start earning money.

Jingit pays you to watch short commercial ads, ranging from $0.03 to $0.30 a piece and while that sounds like pocket change, the pennies really do start to add up. I was able to earn $8.30 in the first two days after install. In order to earn the change you do have to answer a few quick survey questions relative to what, if any, impact the ad has or will have on your shopping habits. Questions include, “Now that you have seen this advertisement, how likely are you to purchase this product on your next shopping trip.” Simply touch your answer and it will move to the next two or three questions.

Jingit also gives its users the ability to earn money just for browsing stores and scanning specific products. It’s quite simple and these incentives are often worth upwards of $1.00 each. Just open the app, check in to the store that you are shopping at and find the products listed in the app. For example, Jingit recently featured advertisements for S’mores ingredients including Jet Puffed Marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate bars and Honey Maid Graham Crackers.

Not willing to pass up on easy money, I walked through my local Wal-Mart with iPhone in hand and found each product. It was almost like a paid scavenger hunt and, with my 11 year old daughter tagging along, it was actually pretty fun. When I found the first product, the Jet Puffed Marshmallows, I picked up the bag. With the Jingit app open I simply clicked “Check-in” and selected the Marshmallows. I found the UPC code, held my camera viewer so that the app could read the bar code and waited. Within seconds Jingit recognized the product and asked me a couple of questions about whether I was going to be buying the product on that day. Even when my answer was, “No,” I was prompted to continue answering the next few questions and the money was added to my account.

As an added incentive, Jingit donates Box Tops for Education to the school of your choice. Box Tops for Education is a great program that helps local schools earn cash and incentives for equipment, books and other learning materials and supplies. My six year old’s school recently used their Box Tops funding to replace an old and unsafe wooden playground with new, more modern outdoor play equipment.

Jingit offers cash outs when your earnings reach a minimum of $25. The earnings can be mailed to you in check form, sent to your PayPal account or added to a pre-paid debit card offered exclusively by Jingit. I love the debit card as it can be used for specific items for which I am saving toward by using the Jingit app alone. That next new gadget may not be so far away after all.