Swagbucks - the Swag Buck Basics

Even if  you are filthy rich, you must be aware of the extreme methods Americans are using to save money right now.  Honestly, I have never seen anything like the current economic conditions, before, in my lifetime.  I do know that the Depression (of the 30's) was probably a very similar situation, but most of the people in the U.S. were too young to have ever experienced that.

Image via Wikipedia

Our family is not immune to these circumstances, and we have implemented some pretty drastic measures in our food budget, our travel expenses, and in our recreation habits, to reduce costs.  Making these changes has had AMAZING results on our emotional well-being during all of this hardship.  Although I can't say that the world is warm and fuzzy for us right now, at least we have developed some tools to help keep costs lower.

Additionally, we found an added source of online earnings which we have been exploring for over a year now. This is not something that I would call extra income.  However, I would say it is a strategy that brings in added money for expenses you might not have afforded before.  If someone in your family isn't working, or finds themselves at home with internet access, this is an excellent boost for extra spending.  And, in fact, I have recently started using it at work as well.

What is this additional source of money I'm talking about?

It is an online service called Swagbucks.com.

Ok, Chris ...
What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a search engine tool.  Just like Google.com, or Bing.com, or Ask.com.

However, unlike a typical search engine, you can also earn bucks for using the different tools at Swagbucks.com.


How to earn swagbucks?
The most basic part of Swagbucks is to use it as a search engine ... you search and you earn.  The more searches you do, the more bucks you can earn.  Additionally, you'll get 30 swagbucks just for starting up a new account.

Here's a sample search from their search engine.

When you do searches at Swagbucks.com, some of your searches earn you points.

Basically, they want you to do natural searches, like you would normally do on other sites. These points are called Swagbucks. Searching is essentially how you earn your Swagbucks points when you are first starting out. You can get banned for several hours, if you just keep searching, and searching, and searching, without actually visiting the sites you are searching. (I don't suggest this)  Instead, just use it to do normal searches whenever you might search something at home or work.

However there are many other ways for you to earn Swagbucks, as well.

1. They also have Swagbucks Swag Codes.
   These are codes that they release throughout the day. When you find these Swag Codes, by following and hunting down clues, you can plug them in at Swagbucks.com and earn extra points.
   
   Typically there about 2-5 extra Swag Code hunts per day. You have to keep your eyes peeled for these, because they are like a treasure hunt giving you extra spending power everytime you find one.
   
   
2. Additionally, if you ever buy or order sample products online, you may be able to earn extra Swagbucks for buying online. Up to now, I have not made any purchases through Swagbucks like this, but many people make their purchases this way, so they can earn those extra points.
   
   
3. Printing and using coupons for different products, at local grocery stores.
   One strategy I use all the time, is printing out coupons on the Swagbucks site, and then redeeming them during my grocery shopping trips.  Those coupons eventually make it back to the Swag site, where I get bucks for each coupon I use.
   
   
4. Also, you can earn swag bucks by using these features as well:
   Swagbucks TV - swag tv once in a while, Swag t.v is time consuming for very little bucks.
   Daily deals - I have used the daily deals a couple of times, To get the groupon and Living social deals that I bought. 
   Daily polls - daily polls is one I do every day, for one swag buck each day!
   Special offers - Special offers I only ever do the free ones
   Tasks - little jobs or projects you can sometimes qualify to do in order to earn some extra bucks.  

My Swagbucks Strategy:
I suggest using Swagbucks to search those sites you visit often -

• Facebook 
• Your email accounts 
• The Speer Family blog 
• Twitter (if you like that) 
• Maybe Youtube. 

Just use this engine to find those sites, instead of going straight to them. For example, in the morning, I usually search my favorite sites until I get points. This is usually about 3-5 searches. Then, you can do the same in the evening. Of course, you can do more searches throughout your day - but this strategy makes it more reasonable for those with normal lives and jobs.  During the day, at work, I will use the search tool to look for zip codes, products, or customer locations I am working with at the time.


What exactly are swagbucks?
Over time, you earn 'bucks' for doing all of these different activities at Swagbucks.  These bucks can be traded in for actual prizes and gifts offered on the site.

Swagbucks prizes:
Over time you will earn more and more swag bucks. When you collect enough of them, you will be able to use them to trade in for high-quality gifts and prizes. This is why I call it 'extra earnings', and not income. In a way, it is extra money you are making. But the money comes via gift cards, gifts, or digital payments which you can then use to get what you want.

Last year, we used our points to pile up $5 Amazon gift cards.  We used the gift cards to buy things on Amazon, during their super low priced Christmas gift sales.  You can use these money cards for anything, though, including Christmas gifts, birthdays, special events, or for everyday purchase items.

For example, you can see in this photo that I have saved up 344 bucks towards my next prize. Currently, the $5 gift card takes about 450 swag bucks.
You can get a maximum of 5 - $5 Amazon gift cards per month.
I was able to get all 5 this month, plus I'm still collecting points.

Here are some other Swagbucks Prizes you can get:
As you can see ... there are LOTS of options.

• Starbucks gift cards
• Southwest Airlines gift cards
• Paypal money deposits
• Apple (store) gift cards
• Target gift cards
• iTunes store gift cards
• Restaurant.com
• Barnes & Noble
• Lowes
• Nintendo
• REI
• Bass Pro Shops

** ONE Super Important Note **

When we originally started with Swagbucks, they only allowed one account per household.

If you had more than one account, they would deactivate your account, and you would lose all the points you'd earned. As of this writing, Swagbucks is now allowing one account per person.  This means you can have more than one account per household.  

We opened our second account this month.  So far, both accounts are still open and active, and collecting bucks.  If this changes - I will re-post an update for you RIGHT HERE. 

Finally, I wanted to show you my proof, because many of my friends are asking ...
Does Swagbucks work?

Obviously we all are going to have different results, because no person will have exactly the same searching, buying, and time strategies. But, since I joined Swagbucks in January of last year, I earned well over $150 Amazon gift card dollars that Al and I used for Christmas gifts for the girls. Plus, we used some of our earnings from earlier this year, to help lower the cost on a laptop computer.

If you are at all interested in joining Swagbucks, and you have any questions, I'll be glad to talk with you about it. You can email me at Chris {at} ScrapbookRadio {dot} com.

Talk soon!
Chris