Testimonial from Angie
I’ve been a Swagbucks member for a few years, but my intensity didn’t pick up until last year. I was determined to pay for most of our Christmas by purchasing gift cards and using them toward gifts.
While this worked out well, I also learned some valuable lessons in the process.
1. Get the right gift cards.
It really doesn’t save any money to have gift cards for stores I don’t shop at, so whenever possible, I only used my Swagbucks to get gift cards for stores I frequently shopped in. For me, this includes Walmart, Target, CVS, and Amazon.
2. Remember that it takes a while to get the gift cards.
Because it can take a little while for the gift card to be credited to your account, I try to redeem my Swagbucks regularly so I always have a supply. This came in handy this month when I realized that both mine and my husband’s Sonicare toothbrush heads had gone past the gross stage. In fact, upon further inspection, the clear head covers were no longer clear. EWWW!
Since I had a $50 Walmart gift card sitting in my Swagbucks account, I did a little on-line research. I found a box of 3 replacement heads at Walmart for $34.95.
I just happened to remember that I could also use my Walmart card at Sam’s Club too, and proceeded to look on-line there. Was I stoked to find a box of 4 replacement heads at $36.88 AND an instant $10 off at checkout. BONUS!
3. You can earn even more by shopping through Shop and Earn.
What I did next makes me giggle a little. It occurred to me that I could not only get these for free but I could use the Shop and Earn on Swagbucks and get points for “purchasing” these!
While I had decided that the Sam’s price was a better deal, I was disappointed to learn I only got 2x the points for my purchase (the actual price, no tax nor shipping, if applicable, included) where Walmart was 4x the amount. Oh well, I was still getting a freebie and points and still felt that Sam’s was a great deal so I went for it!
The only bummer was my local store was out of the product I wanted. I had planned to order it, pick it up at the store and use the remainder of my gift card there. I had to pay a little extra in shipping – still covered by my gift card. leaving me $15.48 to use in the store. I went to Sam’s over the weekend and used the balance on my gift card to purchase frozen fruit for our daily smoothie.
Today, my Sonicare heads arrived as well as my Shop & Earn email telling me that I have 74 Swagbucks pending which will probably show up on my account mid February. That’s a great chunk toward my daily goal, which I try to meet every day!
Angie is an Air Force wife raising 4 kids (ages 8, 6, 2, and 9 months). She loves good deals and learning how to stretch their money.
Candice says
I don’t know how swagbuck is so popular! I have been trying for several months to make progress with this website and it really seems useless, without buying stuff. I have used Mypoints.com since 2004 and have redeemed A LOT of money in gift cards etc. from them and it isn’t near as complicated. No, it isn’t a get rich quick, but at least they will send you several emails that give you 5 points each, survey oportunities (which, I usually don’t do because if take too long) and they they give you 100 points for doing a certain number of searches for the month. Plus you can shop and earn and you don’t have to wait for a month for your point to show up or for you reward to come in the mail. Swagbucks truely doesn’t hold a candle to mypoints!
michelle says
Sonicare’s covers are for travel only. If you keep them on the toothbrush they don’t dry between uses.
Heidi says
I, too, am wondering how people find time to earn all those Swagbucks! Is there a way to have the Swagbucks TV play continuously? I’ve only been able to have it play one clip at a time and then I have to choose a new one. It’s hard to keep going back to it!
Angie says
I have the SBTV app on my iPad that I run everyday- that’s 50 points right there! I also do the daily poll (1 point) and NOSO (2 points). That’s at least 53 points per day that are what I would consider freebies. There are tutorials on the SB blog on easy way to earn.
Lu says
I just signed up. It does seem a little complicated but I am willing to give it a try if it has rewards!
Kay says
Wow…how in the world do you earn 200 swagbucks a day without buying anything or spending your entire day at the computer? I understand earning free stuff, but I cannot spend hours a day on surveys, etc. I am just thinking about how many hours it would take to earn the 450 swagbucks for a $5.00 Amazon card, when you have to watch like 10 videos just to earn 2. Especially without buying anything, as that would defeat the purpose of trying to make money, no? Clearly many folks find it worth their time, but can anyone tell me how?
Kathy says
I have wondered the same thing Kay! I can usually only get the bigger numbers if I have time to sit down and do a survey, and those usually take a while because first I have to get through so many disqualifications before I actually get one! Then they always take longer than it states. 😉
Sharon T says
You technically do not have to watch the videos. I start a video and walk away to do something else, I check back every few minutes. If I have a lot to do at my computer, I click on a video and let it run in the background while I am working on something else, I just periodically click to the next video. Early mornings are best for me, I can get in a lot of videos in a short period of time. I also have SBTV on my iPhone. I set it up and forget about it. If I am going out I just set it up on my Kindle with the SBTV app. I meet the goals every day and sometimes a little more. I am the minority though I guess, I do not have children nor do I have a job.. so I guess you can say SB is like a job for me. I earn us extra income to pay for our subscribe and save purchases through Amazon. I do not sit here all day either, I do have household chores I like to accomplish daily. I put a time limit on how much time I spend doing SB, if I finish my household chores, my daily exercise and spend time with our two rambunctious dogs then I allow myself more time during the day before hubby gets home. I also use SW for shopping online for certain places. Example, we received several Kohl’s gift cards for Christmas. I used them online for purchasing a few canvas paintings for our bare walled apartment and in return I received a nice sum of SB! 4 bucks per dollar netted me about 750 SB. My husband also has a SB account and for Christmas he bought me the WEN hair products through SB and received 2000 SB, that’s almost $25 in Amazon cards for us! I just really love SB, it has helped not to feel so frustrated on a tight budget and allows for us to take advantage of Amazons subscribe and save to buy our fur babies food, which is $5 cheaper per case through Amazon. I found out about SB through this blog and am thankful everyday to have the opportunity to earn a few extra bucks each month to help us out.
Lucy says
I always am considering signing up for Swagbucks but in the end I never do. It seems complicated and I’m afraid it’s going to be like some of these survey companies, where it takes SO long to save up enough points to redeem that it’s really not worth it. I went to the Swagbucks page to try and get more information. Can you only receive points when you shop at the online stores or can you also receive points when you shop at the comparable brick & mortar store? I couldn’t find the answer on the Swagbucks page. Thanks to anyone who might have the time and the answer to my question!
Lucy…
Kathy says
Hi Lucy!
You can only earn Swagbucks for online activities and shopping. It’s really not complicated at all, and if you have some time to devote to it during the day, the points can really add up! Just make Swagbucks your homepage so that if you need to search for something, you go through them. You can earn Swagbucks just for searching! You won’t get them every time, but I get them at least once a day. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook, and they will post ‘swag codes’ that you can enter in on the homepage and get points that way. One of the easiest ways is to ‘watch’ videos on your phone if you have a smart phone. I just turn it on and do something else. It will run continuously and you earn 2 bucks for every 5 videos I believe? You can also watch videos on their site and earn 3 bucks for every 10 watched. I just open up a browser and let them run while I’m doing something else.
Shop & earn is a good way to earn, just go through them before you shop and the bucks will be credited in about 30 days, as long as you don’t return your purchase. Surveys are also a great way to earn a large amount, but you don’t always ‘qualify’ so you have to stick with it. I don’t know how people get 200 a day without sitting on the computer all day! I don’t always meet my ‘goal’ but I do pretty well.
Hope this helps clear things up for you a little bit!
Julie @ Logger's Wife says
I always forget to check Shop and Earn. I use Ebates but always forget to check Swagbucks too. Good idea.
I tend to use my Swagbucks for Amazon cards and use it for “fun” money. Our budget is very, very tight and doesn’t allow for many non-necessities. I use it for things we need too like when my husband needed new hiking boots. But it is nice to get a new DVD or something every so often. 🙂
Erika m says
This question is for Crystal, Angie and any other swag bucks, and other online earning (my survey) checkout 51, etc. Are you concerned over giving out your address, your name, your shopping habits etc? I don’t have a Facebook account because of the relative lack of privacy, I have an email address that I use to sign up for practically all stores, merchants, coupons etc, but I have not tapped into the earning potential of swag bucks, and other programs because I am worried about all that info being out there….it’s the same reason I don’t sign up for free samples to be sent to my home address(my last name is not that common either). would love some info/ input from other readers and you! thanks!
Emily says
Hi Erika! Swagbucks has a lot of different ways to earn; for me, I earn most of my points by watching videos, using the mobile apps (to watch more videos), playing the games, shop & earn, etc. If I give out any information, it is usually my demographic info (for surveys) and I don’t do them very often. I earn around 200-300 points a day, and it certainly adds up! The amount of info you give out is totally up to you. Hope that helps! 🙂
Busy Mama says
Great job!! Don’t you just love it when the deals work out like that?!
I do something similar, but throw ebates.com and shopathome.com into the mix along with Swagbucks Shop & Earn feature. By taking the extra 15 seconds to see what the available cash back options are, I might order through a different link.
For example, I just checked after reading your article and found that shopathome.com is currently offering 5% cash back on both Sam’s Club and Walmart purchases. While it won’t add to my Swagbuck cash, it nets me more as cash when the check arrives.
On another note, I was very happy to see the Shop & Earn points from a Groupon purchase last month added to my account this morning; it covered both of my daily goals. Yippee! Gotta love the S&E option!
Crystal Paine says
Love this! Thanks for sharing!