Today’s Swagbucks success story is from Mindy:
I have been an avid Swagbucks user for years now, and have always cashed my Swagbucks in for Amazon gift cards. I usually bought textbooks for college, or treated myself to clothes or phone accessories. All that changed when I found out that I was expecting a baby last fall.
I used the next nine months to score all the Swagbucks I could.
Since I was not going out as much and was on bed rest by the end of my pregnancy, I was easily racking up Swagbucks. I would simply use Swagbucks search, Swagbucks TV, and watch & earn offers to redeem one or two $5 Amazon gift cards a week.
Along with signing up for Amazon Mom to save 20% on baby gear and get free 2-day shipping, I started my newborn shopping.
I used Swagbucks to purchase a fetal heart rate monitor at the beginning of pregnancy. I bought everything from my Boppy pillow to diapers and wipes to my bottle brush. I started my cloth diaper stock pile using my Swagbucks as well… and I even had enough Amazon gift card credit left over to purchase a book that I gave to my significant other from the baby.
I love Swagbucks, and continue to buy my diapers and wipes for free with my Amazon gift cards!
Mindy: Could you email me so I could send you your Amazon gift card as a thank you for sharing your story?
Lindsey says
I LOVE Swagbucks, but I didn’t even know about the Encrave activities! Thank you so much for sharing! As a stay at home mom, I want to be able to help out monetarily as often as I can, especially with our second baby on the way. I was just getting discouraged about how little I seem to be helping out when I read your story! I’m going to keep trying, and hopefully the Encrave will help boost my bucks! Is there a limit to how many Swagbucks you can earn through the Encrave activities? Thank you so much for sharing your story! 🙂
Brenda says
Lindsey,
They have been changing a lot of the Encrave activities recently. I personally have not hit any limit on the Encrave activities although they do pull some of them through out the day (maybe they have daily limits?) Personally, I just look for the ones that can run on “discovery” mode (these will have a little circle/arrow in the corner of them) Once you click on these and click on the button to run it on “discovery” it will turn the videos automatically. I do these throughout the day when I’m not at the computer and just let them run. Some of the activities have 10 videos to go through, some have 20 before you will earn your points. Not all of the Encrave activities have the “discovery” option which means you have to click on each video to earn your points.
Swagbuck’s facebook page is a good way to get tips and tricks from other people so I always check in there a couple times a day (just skip the negative talk about the recent changes…)
Hopefully, this will help you out with the Encraves.
Lindsey says
Thank you very much! That helps me out a lot! I’ve liked the Swagbucks Facebook page for a long time, but I never thought to check it out for tips from others. I’m definitely going to do that now! I did get some Swagbucks with the Encrave activities today! I’m excited to keep going! Thank you so much!
Mindy says
Hi Lindsey! Brenda did a great job explaining, but I just wanted to encourage you to keep at it. It all adds up! Babies are a great motivation to utilize all avenues, and swagbucks is great for SAHMs. Thank you for your kind words. Congratulations on baby #2!
Lindsey says
Oh thank you! You’re right! Babies definitely make you want to do more and work harder! I sure do appreciate your encouragement! Thank you so, so much!
Jill says
I am thinking of trying to do this.. what is Encrave? I haven’t seen that feature before.
Mindy says
Jill, you can find Encrave activities under the bottom of the “Discover” tab on the top of the swagbucks home page.
Jill says
Thanks!
Paula says
I had joined Swagbucks at least a year ago after seeing it on this site and then did nothing with it. I’ve had to tighten budget even more recently and decided to see if I could earn some gift cards to help out. Between surveys and running Swagbucks TV on my phone, I’ve been able to earn at least two $5 gift cards a week, sometimes more, for the past several weeks. I’ve been cashing in for gift cards to Target or Walmart and used the $10 to help with buying meat for the week. I have a good supply of pantry products, so most of my weekly grocery budget right now is meat and dairy products. With the gift cards, I’ve been able to really scale back my grocery budget. It’s been a big help to me right now.
Mindy says
Woot, go Paula! Every little bit helps 🙂
Joy A says
Does Swagbucks or Bing Rewards have a greater return for earning points? Which would be better to use? Or, would it be better to do both?
Cathy says
It would be better to do both. On Bing you can cash in for Swagbucks. I believe it’s 500 sb.
Melissa says
How do you get the videos to just keep playing? I have been running videos, and have to keep changing it to a new video when one finishes. I am busy and don’t get around to changing it as often as I would like.
Jen says
They will only play unattended on your phone, at least that’s how it works for me. Lately though, my SB Mobile TV app has been very finicky and doesn’t want to run unattended for long.
Mindy says
The “Watch” videos cannot run through unattended on a laptop/computer. You need to manually click through for the percentage to go up. You can let them run through on SBTV on your mobile device, but I agree the app has been on the fritz lately.
I let the “Discover -> Encrave” videos with the repeat arrow symbol on the bottom left hand corner of the photo play unattended on my laptop. If you put those in “Discover Mode” they will run until you earn the swagbucks. They are worth 5-6 swagbucks each, which add up quickly for next to no time or effort.
Terry H says
I’ve tried this, but only get 2 SBs each time. How do you get 5-6?
Brenda says
Terry H,
It’s harder to tell now how many Sbs you will earn since they removed the numbers from the clips. Look for the pictures of the squirrels or movie clips, these have 20 videos to watch and usually payout 5 sb (they just switched them from 6 to 5 sb). The sports and comedy ones usually payout 4 sb.
I just looked and it appears that the higher valued clips are gone for now, they occasionally pull them (maybe they have a total daily limit?) but will be back tomorrow. I always try to do those first since they tend to disappear.
Beth says
How did you score more than 5 $5 Amazon cards in a month? I’ve been cut off when I tried to score 6 Amazon cards in a month.
Crystal Paine says
They’ve now lifted their limits on how many of the same kind of card you can order in one month — it’s a limit of two cards per day, but there’s no monthly limit of five of the same card anymore.
Jonie says
Hi Crystal
I tried to cash out my 6th $5 amazon gift card after reading your above note, but a message pops up to say that “there is a limit of 5 orders for this reward each calendar month.”
So there is still a limit or is it just amazon gift card?
Thanks.
/jonie
Crystal Paine says
Hmm, I had been told that Swagbucks no longer had the limits on gift cards — and that’s been the case for me with other cards — but I’m wondering if they do have the limit on the $5 gift card only? Maybe shoot for cashing out for one $25 Amazon gift card and a few $5 Amazon gift cards each month. Would that work?
Brenda says
Yes, there is still a monthly limit on the $5 Amazon cards (I still can’t help to check every month to see if they get rid of that without telling anyone!) I buy my limit of those cards first thing in the month and then switch to either the $25 Amazon codes or the $25 Paypal codes (they cost the same amount of points) It’s tempting to just get the Paypal codes since I can have it deposited into my bank account but also like to use the Amazon codes as a built in savings account for Christmas and birthdays!
Mindy says
Crystal is right with the new guidelines of 2 cards per day and no monthly limit. You can always cash in your swagbucks for a larger amount Amazon card instead of multiple $5 Amazon cards as well.
April says
How do you do it? I have had no luck trying to get scores on swagbucks!
Mindy says
Hi April. The hardest part about getting going with Swagbucks is just figuring out all the ways to earn; and what gives you the most swagbucks for the time you want to put into it. The simplest ways to earn are to Search several times throughout the day, NOSO, Daily Poll, and the Toolbar. Other quick ways to earn are to check your email for short videos, complete Encrave activities, shop and earn, and print your coupons out through them. Any one of those activities can be done in a minute or two.
Challice says
Wow. What an inspiration! Mindy, do you know how much time you spend doing this a day? Thinking that it may be worth putting it into my daily calender. 🙂
Mindy says
Hi Challice! It depends on the day, honestly. Usually I just multitask while doing other online things (checking my email, facebooking, looking up a recipe). I leave my laptop open and let the Encrave activities run in Discovery Mode when I’m not actually in front if my computer. At work, I will let the Watch movies run on my phone. I fit it into my schedule, and would say on average I spend about an hour a day doing swagbucks related things and earn at least a gift card or two a week. That hour is not always me sitting in front of the computer and clicking away. Now that there are more activities that can run automatically, it is easier to earn with a busy schedule. I would say definitely try making it a daily thing – it has been a great help in our household. I have yet to actually pay for diapers 🙂