I am picky about my online money makers. Very picky. I wasn’t quite so picky when I was in college, LOL, but now my time is more valuable to me.
I’ve tried Mypoints, Treasure Troopers, and a whole slew of other sites aimed at people trying to make some extra cash. I make $5 here and there, but generally the extra time spent is not worth the amount that I make.
Then I tried Swagbucks. If you haven’t tried it yet then you should. I would never recommend a site that I haven’t “test drove” so to speak. I have been on Swagbucks for one month now and I have 105 points. What does that mean? Well, you trade the “swagbucks” in for giftcards and prizes. 45 points gets you a $5 Amazon gift card (so I could trade those points in for $10 to Amazon). But, I found something I would like even more!
The best trade value on the site is for a Southwest giftcard. For 400 points you can get a $50 gift certificate for Southwest. Southwest offers one way trips (leaving on a Tues/Wed) for as low as $39! They also offer full vacation packages.
If I make 105 points a month then I will have 1260 at the end of the year – enough for $150 in giftcards to Southwest. If my husband does the same thing then we will each get a FREE PLANE TICKET!!
Now, part of the equation in figuring out if it is worth it is time spent. That is the best thing about swagbucks. All you have to do is use their search engine. Use it like you would any other search engine (google runs it – so it will pull the same results as google.com). I average 1 swagbucks in the morning and one at night. Both times it is in my first 5 searches. The swagbucks you earn can be for $1, $2, $5, $10 or more. You can download a toolbar so it is always on your screen or you can go to swagbucks to do the search.
Don’t overuse it – when you need a search, use it! If you don’t search often then use it to get to your main pages (if you need to go to ebay for example, then type ebay in the search box instead of the address box and use the search link to get there). The key is to not spend any additional time earning the points. That makes the extra $150 at the end of the year truly free!
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Wow–thanks for this tip
You’re welcome 🙂
thanks for sharing this, i think i belong to them already. i also do mypoints, i have over 4,000 points but im waiting till next christmas to claim for gift cards. thanks
-Misty
I think waiting until the end of the year is a great idea! It makes it seem larger that way 🙂
That is a great idea and something to think about. I do need to check and see where Southwest flies to. We don't travel that often via airplane with only one income and two little ones, although one of the little ones needs his own seat.
I have been using swagbucks for about 4-5 months. I trade for the Amazon gift cards and put them in my Amazon acct. until I have enough to pay for what I want.
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