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Website of the week Wednesday: Swagbucks

May 5, 2010 by

Search & Win



Swagbucks is by far my favorite website. If you’re not familiar with Swagbucks, you earn “Swagbucks” by searching online and your Swagbucks can then be redeemed for gift cards or other prizes and merchandise. I typically redeem mine for Amazon gift cards.  I joined Swagbucks last January, saved my Amazon gift cards all year, and used them to pay for most of our Christmas!

If you haven’t signed up for Swagbucks yet, now is the perfect time! This week only (through 5/7 at noon PST) if you sign up for Swagbucks and use the code SWAGNATION5, you will get a bonus 50 Swagbucks!

This week, Swagbucks is also doubling the amount of “winning moments” awarded throughout the day which means that if you use Swagbucks as your search engine throughout the day, you will have more chances to win.  They will also be awarding Swagbucks in larger increments!

The new “Daily Poll” was also introduced yesterday.  I got one “buck” just for participating!  If you submit a poll and they decide to use it, you’ll earn 100 Swagbucks!

Here are a few tricks that I have learned to help you make the most of your Swagbucks account:

*Do a few searches every day until you win at least once. I search for things that I would normally be searching for online anyway and I have found that I can easily earn 10-30 Swagbucks each day by doing this. Your searches do need to be “natural” searches. If it does not seem like your searches are legitimate, they may freeze or even close your account.

*If you have a Facebook account, become a “fan” of Swagbucks on Facebook. Click here to do this. If you check out the wall, there are bonus codes posted from time to time that you can add to your account. (To add bonus codes, log into Swagbucks, and then click on the icon that says “You have X Swagbucks.” There will be a box that says this: Have a SwagCode? Just enter it here and receive your SwagBucks instantly! Enter your code and click GIMME!)

*Publish your Swagbucks winnings on Facebook – when you “win” a buck, you now have the option of posting your win on Facebook. It shows up on your profile and it’s another way to promote your Swagbucks account (and get more ‘friends’)

*Read the Swagbucks blog (you can access this here). Bonus codes are posted here, as well.

*Sign up for the Swagbucks newsletter. They send bonus codes embedded in the newsletter, so it’s an easy way to earn extra Swagbucks!

*Download the Swagbucks Toolbar onto your internet browser – Click on the “toolbars” option on the left hand side of the website after you log in and follow the instructions!

*Post the Swidget on your blog or your Facebook page. You can download it here.

*Tell all your friends – When your friends sign up under you, you win when they win for the first 1000 Swagbucks (this does not include any Swagcodes that they enter)

I have found that I typically earn at least 30 Swagbucks per day just by doing the things listed above. That adds up to 900 Swagbucks in one month’s time (or 2 $5 Amazon gift cards!). I work full time and I only do searched from home (non working hours) and I’m able to do this, so it isn’t something that you have to spend a lot of time on, but you should easily be able to earn $120 in Amazon gift cards in a year’s time. If you’d rather have gift cards for somewhere else, that would give you enough to cash out for $100 in Target gift cards (these can only be used online) or for 8 $10 Starbucks gift cards. If your goal is to do a 100% Cash Christmas, this will help you get started!

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Website of the week Wednesday: Opinion Outpost

April 21, 2010 by

I discovered Opinion Outpost about six weeks ago, but it has quickly become one of my favorite survey sites and I wish I would have discovered it a lot sooner!  On average, the surveys pay between $1.50 and $3 and most surveys only take about 5-10 minutes to complete.  Since I joined, I have already been able to deposit $36 in our 100% cash Christmas account, which is more than I’ve made from any other survey company recently.  Their turn around time is also very fast – my check arrived less than a week after I cashed out!

How it Works

Once you register, you will receive e-mails about potential surveys you may qualify for.  When you click on the link, you will have to answer a few quick “screener” questions.  If you qualify for the survey, you will then be directed to the survey.  If you don’t qualify for the survey, sometimes they will ask you if you want to see if you qualify for any other surveys.  Other times, you will be directed to a link where you can enter an instant win game to win $50.

As you complete surveys, you get a certain amount of reward points.  These points correlate to dollar amounts.  For example, 10 points is equal to one dollar.

To ensure that you qualify for more surveys, I recommend filling out all of the information in the “Member Profiles” section.  There are seven different areas – general, health, household technology, leisure & activities, personal finance, personal vehicles, professional, shopping, and travel.

Cashing Out

To “cash out” click on the “Rewards” link on the left of the page.  This will show you what your current accumulated award balance is.  Once you accumulate $5, you are eligible to cash out.  This is a much lower threshold than other companies require for cashing out.  You can cash out for a check, and Amazon.com code (sent instantly to your e-mail address), or a Citi gift card (virtual or physical).  The Amazon.com and Citi card options were new for me!!

If you haven’t checked out Opinion Outpost yet, you really should!

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Website of the week Wednesday: Cozi.com!

April 14, 2010 by

Our family seems to always be “on the go” and even though we have a family calendar where I try to keep track of things, it’s not always easy, especially if we are not AT home to keep track of things!  I recently discovered Cozi.com and it has helped me to solve this problem.  I love it!

You create one account for your family and my favorite feature is the family calendar.  Each family member gets assigned a color and you can appointments and events for different family members to the calendar.  If your school participates, you can also import the school calendar to your family calendar.  My daughter’s school participates, so this made things even easier for us!  Every family member who has an e-mail address can log in to access the calendar.  You can also send yourself reminders as events come up!  Now, my husband can’t say he doesn’t know what we have “going on” as a family, either. 

Some other features include a shopping list, a to do list, and a journal.  You can send things from your shopping list or your to-do list to your e-mail or to your phone!  Again, these are great features if you’re on the go a lot!

They also have a “live simply” section that has great ideas for meal planning, home organization, and family friendly activities/tradition ideas.

If you feel like you’re having trouble keeping all of the “pieces” of your busy life together, check out Cozi.com!

Disclaimer:  I did not receive any incentives from Cozi.com for publishing this article.  I just think it’s a great site that has really helped to simplify things for my family and wanted to share!

Filed Under: website of the week

Website of the Week Wednesday: Vocalpoint

April 7, 2010 by

Have you signed up for Vocalpoint yet?  If you aren’t familiar with Vocalpoint, they send you products to sample along with great coupons and all they ask is that you review the products and/or share our experiences with your family and friends.  My latest “freebie” from them was a full size bottle of Pantene Nature Fusion shampoo.  They also sent 3 $2 off Pantene Nature Fusion coupons which I was able to use at CVS this week to get three more bottles for free!

Some of my other “freebies” have included Secret Clinical Strength deodorant, a Bounce dryer bar, and various Olay products.

Don’t miss out on the next great freebie!  Sign up for Vocalpoint now!

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