Today’s Swagbucks success story is from Carmen:
I have been an avid user of Swagbucks for the past four years, saving up my points and always cashing them in for Amazon gift cards. This perk came in handy recently as I saved my codes for a couple of months (cashing in enough each month to get the $25 of Amazon gift cards) to purchase a cloth-diaper stash for my now-newborn daughter.
I’d always known that I wanted to cloth-diaper my children, and after doing a lot of research before she was born, I found all the essentials could be found on Amazon.com. I picked out six diaper covers (Thirsties brand) and two dozen high-quality, unbleached prefolds.
On Amazon you can make a baby registry and once your due date draws near, they email you a code to get 10% off any remaining items on your registry. That discount alone made for a great deal, but since I’d saved up my Swagbucks, the deal only got sweeter. I was able to get my daughter’s cloth diapers (and some cloth-diaper friendly laundry detergent, too!) for absolutely nothing out of pocket!
It took a couple of months to save up enough of the codes to cash them all in, but it was worth the wait because now I don’t have the dreaded cost of disposable diapers. (Not to mention my daughter sure looks cute in the cloth diapers!) All it took was simply switching my search engine!
Carmen is a brand-new mom to three-month-old Claire. She blogs about these early days of parenthood (turns out it’s a lot harder than it looks!), her faith, marriage and more at Life Blessons.
Have you saved up and purchased something using your Swagbucks? If so, you could get a $50 gift card just for sharing your Swagbucks success stories with MoneySavingMom.com readers!
Sarah says
What a smart and wonderful way to use Swagbucks! Free diapers!!
Amie says
Great idea! I’ve used my Swagbucks to buy Amazon.com cards that we used to pay for a huge chunk of Christmas and birthdays. I usually cash in now for CVS Swagbucks cards, which I use to buy diapers and Pull-Ups. 🙂 I am doing another rewards program and I am saving up for a new breast pump and bottles. My pump and bottles lasted through 2 sons before breaking. I should have the points by my due date in August. I had no idea about the baby registry. I will have to do that to try to save 10%. Thank you so much for sharing! I am pretty well set on most baby things and hadn’t planned to do a registry. I don’t expect a shower for baby # 3 so this will really help.
hollie n says
this is what i did too!!! i started when my son was born and by the time he was 4 mo old i had enough amazon $ to get a good stash. i bought thirsties too, and now he is 30 months old, we still use the thirsties. they are good diapers and BIG- he is 32 lbs and still not on the last snaps.
good for you being resourceful!!!
Jenni/Life from the Roof says
I think this is a really great use of Swagbucks, because not only do you save by not having to pay for the cloth diapers, but you will save by not having to use disposables. Way to go!
Bobbi says
That’s a great idea! I haven’t been using swagbucks lately, but probably should! I’m due in October. (o:
Connie says
Did you realize that you get more Amazon gift cards for less Swagbucks when you buy the $5 Amazon gift cards versus the $25 Amazon gift cards? For example: one $25 Amazon gift cards costs 2,500 swagbucks, however one $5 Amazon gift cards costs only 450 swagbucks. Doing the math that means that five-$5 Amazon gift cards would then come to only 2,250 swagbucks instead of 2,500. It took me a little while on Swagbucks before I realized this and changed my reward shopping patterns.
Sonya says
I’ve heard about Swagbucks so much and have absolutely no idea what they are.
Crystal says
You can read more about how they work here: https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/10/31-days.html
Krissy @ Just Take Two Bites says
I love Swagbucks! I didn’t buy cloth diapers, but I have bought disposables in the past, along with the Amazon Mom discount. This year I’ve decided to save all of my gift cards for Christmas gifts for the kids. I did that a few years ago and saved a ton!
Tori says
I have been a member of swag bucks for a while but I don’t know how to earn points. I type in free ones from Facebook but that is all I get. I would love to start building up a stash and buy more cloth diapers for my daughter.
Darcy says
I’d say the easiest ways to earn bucks are by using Swagbucks to search the web, and sometimes they have offers or surveys you can complete for more bucks. If you have an Android smartphone, you can download their Swagbucks Mobile app to watch commercials and earn points that way. Sometimes I set my phone to play those ads/commercials on my phone while it is plugged into my charger at work – I set the volume to low so it doesn’t disturb me or anyone else. Keep an eye on your data usage/plan if you do it this way, or connect to a wireless data network if available.
Money Saving Mom has a great article with more information! https://moneysavingmom.com/15-ways-to-earn-more-swagbucks
Amber L. says
Darcy, I didn’t know about that app, thank you!!! I’m alone in my office a lot so no one would notice if the phone was on silent, earning me swagbucks! Thanks again!!
Ashley_P says
That’s a brilliant idea! I too plan on cloth diapering, but since I don’t know what kind will work best for us, I hesitate to buy anything just yet. So we’re going to order a trial kit from one of the cloth diapering websites and see what works best for us. Once we’ve settled on a certain type, I plan on using the SwagBucks I have saved up to buy some off Amazon myself. I may not be able to get them for $0 out of pocket this way, but I’ll definitely be saving a LOT of money.
Little one is due in 1 month. Can’t wait! 🙂
Anne Marie @ The Oklahoma Texan says
Doing a trial kit is a great idea. I ordered all our diapers, based on research and my personal preference for all-in-ones and cotton, before baby was born. Couldn’t really use half my stash (Grovia AIO) for the first year because he always leaked out of them. Once he grew and no longer needed the rise snapped, he was able to wear them without leaking. But until that point, it was A LOT of money spent for something just sitting in a drawer. I think I would have been better served to do a trial of several types/brands first. (Our other diapers are BumGenius Elemental AIOs, and those have been fabulous from the start.)
Ashley_P says
Yeah, I was worried that the pre-folds might be too difficult for hubby to manage, but I didn’t feel comfortable with All-in-ones either, since I’d heard about leaking issues. We found one website (the name of which escapes me right now) where they send you like 2 of each kind that they have and you just send back the ones that don’t work for you and get your money back. I’ve asked for enough disposables from my shower to hold us over until the trial kit arrives (since, for the first couple weeks, I probably won’t be much in the mood to do laundry anyway!) and then see what works and move on from there.
Rachel says
I am doing the same thing! We have cloth-diapered on and off with our first, but I’d like to do it more with the second, due in August. My husband is fine with the Gerber pre-folds, but he’s not the one diapering all day every day. I like Rumparooz, which are a bit more spendy, but so easy! I’ve already purchased a few for free using my Amazon codes from Swagbucks. Thanks for the reminder about the 10% off for the baby registry. I will have to do that!
Sarah says
I love to hear stories like this. Especially ones about Swagbucks! I am saving all of mine to help pay for Christmas presents and Birthdays throughout the year. I was able to buy my other half’s son a brand new backpack for his birthday with gift cards from Amazon. All by just saving up and storing them.
Julie @Logger's Wife says
Awesome! We use Thirsties and a prefold with our 15mo daughter. We love them. I did get cheap Gerber prefolds and would like to replace them with something a little better for the next kid. But they have worked far better than everyone said they would. Love how you were able to use Amazon gift cards to get them all!
Bethany M says
Wonderful! I love putting swagbucks towards something that will continue to promote the savings. Last time I bought a microwave splat and splash cover so we can save on paper towels.
Brynn says
Same here! Due in September! Would love a report back on this brand in a month or so! I am having such a hard time deciding on which to go with!
Brittany says
Thirsties covers are good! Bummis covers too (I have and like both. I got them used on Ebay for cheap). Just don’t go with Gerber prefolds.
august says
We just bought Alva’s for our soon to be NB. I’m really excited to try them out and they come highly recommended. They’re under $5 shipped, too!
Jenni/Life from the Roof says
We’ve used Thirsties covers w/prefolds for over 2 1/2 years, and they are still holding up!
Victoria @ Creative Home Keeper says
I have really enjoyed my Flip covers to use over my pre-folds. I have also used Thirsties covers too, but I made the mistake of getting the Velcro tabs and they wore out so soon. Now I always get, and recommend for others, the snap closures. They never wear out!
Brynn says
Thank you so much for the tips!
Rachel @ Rachel's Giveaways says
I’m doing the same thing and recently blogged about it as well. Every little bit helps!