Last week I wrote about my May goals, and one of them was to figure out how to spend my $120 in Swagbucks gift cards. In my time of using Swagbucks (probably 5 years) I’ve accumulated nearly enough points for $400 in gift cards. What! That’s crazy!
I am CONSTANTLY telling my friends to use Swagbucks. If you get in the habit of using the site, you’ll start earning gift cards while you’re watching TV or doing things you normally do like searching the web or making purchases online. I’m going to walk you through the ways I usually and consistently earn Swagbucks.
Throughout this post I’ll refer to SB (Swagbucks) which is the point currency system on Swagbucks.com.
500 points = $5 gift card.
- Daily Tasks
On the home screen of Swagbucks is a daily to-do list. A poll for 1 SB, No Obligation Special Offers for 2 SB (you click through and say “skip” on each offer), daily use of installed Swagbutton (in your browser) for 1 SB and the Daily Crave for 1 SB.These tasks can be completed within the time it takes for a commercial break of your favorite TV show. 5 SB a day. 30 days a month = 150 SB/month or 1,800 SB/year, which is $15 in gift cards.
- Searching
Some of you might think “that’s a lot of work for not a lot of payoff.” Do me a favor. Develop this habit. Every time you want to type in a website, first go to swagbucks.com and then type in the name of the website. I do this with EVERYTHING – Google Analytics, Google Adsense, Google Maps… okay, not Facebook or Twitter, but basically any website I don’t know off the top of my head, I type into Swagbucks. Every so often you get a Swagbucks search bonus. They tend to be between 7-9 SB, but I once received 40 SB for searching.
- Shopping
Before you buy ANYTHING online, go to the “shop” option of Swagbucks and search for the store you were going to buy from. I never buy directly from Groupon, I always go to Swagbucks and buy through there. There are SB per dollar offers, sometimes up to 8 per dollar, and you can earn large amounts of SB just by making purchases you were planning on making anyway.
- Videos
Swagbucks has a variety of videos you can watch – I love the pop culture/entertainment ones – Every 10 videos, you earn 3 SB and you can earn up to 150 a day. If you’re just on the computer and don’t mind background noise, this is a perfect opportunity to earn lots of Swagbucks while you’re going on your everyday life. They even have a mobile app for watching the videos.
- Surveys
Like with most survey sites, this is hit or miss. Swagbucks offers surveys, but you have to qualify. The payout for surveys you are able to complete is pretty good, and you get 1 SB for being disqualified. Last month I finished a survey and earned 60 SB. Definitely worth the disqualification, and I’m sure I could be earning more through surveys, but it’s not really my cup of tea.
- Special Offers
Swagbucks hosts TONS of special offers that hook you up with SB. When I caved and signed up for the Disney Movie Club (which I sadly had to recently cancel because of my new debt repayment journey), I did so through Swagbucks and earned a few hundred points. Same goes for when I signed up for Julep… and Graze. Some of the offers cost money, but others are “Watch a short video” or sign up for an e-mail list or download an app.
- Referring friends
When you sign up for Swagbucks using the link I’ve provided, you become my referral. I will earn 10% of what you earn. They don’t take the points away from you, they just kick them back to me. Do you see how brilliant this is? The more people you refer and teach how to use Swagbucks, the more SB magically appear in your account. Once you start redeeming your SB for gift cards, this will become a no brainer.
These are my favorite ways to earn Swagbucks. You might find that some work better than others, but if you get into the habit of making Swagbucks.com a daily part of your life, you’ll be amazed at how the SB add up and you’ll be in the dilemma I’m in now – what to spend my 12,070 Swagbucks on!
I’m torn between Paypal money to put towards my debt (#grownup!) or a Starbucks gift card (to save money on coffee and put more money toward my debt… #grownup!) or an Amazon gift card to splurge on more Instax film (and save money… to put towards my debt… #grownup!). What do you think??
I really need to get into the habit of doing this!!! Thanks for the reminder AND for the great tips!!! <3
yes!!! i’m pretty certain that building a small army of referrals and equipping them with the necessary tools to succeed is really going to be the key to generating lots of passive swag bucks. i’m already consistent at using it but imagine if all of my referrals were, as well!! you should make it a goal one day to try and meet the daily goal. just to see if you’re able to make that much in a day, you know?
so that means you’ve gotten 40,000 points if you made $400 in gift cards! you are crazy awesome! i signed up for an account but always forget about it… so i’m going to use your tips & try to get in the habit 🙂
YEAH!!! i used it to buy a $100 southwest gift card once, which was AWESOME! and lots of amazon gift cards, for the most part. let me know how it goes!
I’ve never heard of swag bucks. I’ve been trying out the bing rewards thing because a family member suggested it. I’m not entirely sure how it works though. I should probably figure that out…oops. haha
i have bing rewards, too! i just went and earned 6 points… which is something i do every like 4 months, haha. i’m 39% of the way to an amazon gift card! whichever you choose, the most important thing is brand loyalty. i’m more drawn to swag bucks because i feel like there are so many more ways to earn points. you should try SB!
I’m a member of mypoints…which is very similar to swagbucks. In fact, I didn’t know you could watch videos for points until I read your blog and it turns out that I can!!!! So, thanks for the tip :).
no problem! there are probably a zillion ways for you to earn points. you should try to sign up for an account at bzzagent.com … they offer my points for participating in their sample campaigns! they are the only reason i have a my points account and i have over 1,000 points!