Hey, just wanted to give an update on my SwagBucks adventures, which I first reported on last week. By Saturday, I had enough Swag Bucks to get two $5 Amazon.com gift cards. This morning – four days later – I had enough to get another one. I am loving this! So, what are you waiting for? You can sign up here or on the link in the right sidebar to get started. A few tips to help you increase your earnings:
- Download the SwagBucks toolbar and use it for all your regular searches and to be notified when a code has been issued.
- Join the Facebook fan page.
- Follow Swagbucks on Twitter.
- Subscribe to the Swagbucks blog feed.
- Get referrals by inviting your friends, adding the swidget or banner to your blog and/or your email signature. When your friends earn Swag Bucks for searching the web, so do you! (up to 100 swag bucks per referral)
- Do online shopping through the Shop & Earn feature of SwagBucks. You’ll earn 1 Swag Buck for every $5 ordered.
Ever heard of Swagbucks? I hadn’t either, until a couple of weeks ago when I read about it on one of the saving money blogs that I’ve been reading lately. Swagbucks.com is is an online portal dedicated to helping you earn digital dollars called “Swag Bucks,” which can be redeemed for merchandise. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s completely legit. I’ve been using it for a little more than two weeks now and am ready to order my first reward – a $5 gift card for Amazon.com.
Basically all you have to do is what you do all the time anyway – search the web for whatever information you’re looking for. Swagbucks is powered by Google and Ask.com, so you get the same results that you would if you used Google. But by using the Swagbucks search box, you earn points, called Swagbucks, that you can trade in for all kinds of prizes, the best of which, in my opinion, are e-gift cards for places like Amazon.com, Target, Starbucks, and iTunes. They are even giving away cash now, sent to your PayPal account! You don’t earn points every time you search, but I usually get them two or three times a day. Usually it’s one point, but sometimes it might be two or five or even more points. There are also other ways to earn points and by utilizing all the different methods, your points can really add up fast. One of the most important things to do is to download the toolbar for your browser so that you can easily search and also get the messages from Swagbucks about codes that you copy into a special box at the Swagbucks site to earn extra points. By following Swagbucks on Twitter, Facebook, or the Swagbucks blog, you can find out about special promotions and contests to earn even more. And you can multiply your Swagbucks by referring your friends. When they search and earn, so do you.
Another cool way you can earn points is by using their Shop & Earn feature. You just go to online shopping sites via Swagbucks and earn one Swagbuck for every $5 you order. One of the stores you can shop at is Walmart.com. So, I thought that whenever I need something from Walmart that isn’t urgent and isn’t food, I can just order and pay for it online and have it shipped “Site to Store” for free, and rack up some Swagbucks at the same time.
It’s not a huge amount of money – at least not now since I’m just getting started – but every little bit helps. Especially since I don’t work outside the home, any little thing that I can do to contribute to the family income or earn a little something for gift giving is a big deal to me.
So, if this sounds like something you’d like to try out, you can go to Swagbucks and sign up up by clicking here or on the link over on the right sidebar of this blog.
A couple of weeks ago I accidentally entered the wonderful world of couponing. I don’t know how I missed it. I’ve always used coupons on occasion, but had no idea of the huge amount of information on the internet and the number of coupons available to print out from my computer. I used to only get coupons from the Sunday paper, and when we decided to cancel our subscription (because we were tired of their liberal slant), my source for coupons dried up. Then, lo and behold, I found a link on the newspaper’s website for online coupons. That was just the beginning. It only took a little searching to find a goldmine. Let me tell you, I’m saving more than just a couple of bucks now, thanks to the internet and especially my favorite grocery store, Harris Teeter. For example, yesterday I went to HT with my list and my coupons and came home with $121 worth of food for $39. Besides having some fabulous sales, they also have triple coupons this week. Now, they only allow 20 coupons a day, so today I went back with 20 more. This is what I brought home for $20, including sales tax:
Today's haul - 20 bucks!
After I got home, I realized that if I had understood one of the catalinas I had in my possession (that’s one of those coupons they print out at the register when you check out), I could’ve saved an additional $4. Oh, well, chalk it up for experience. I can still use it on my next trip. Now, the bananas and radishes were regular price, but everything else was on sale and/or I had a coupon for it. Those Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios boxes are the gigantic, 25-ounce ones, and I think there’s one box of frozen vegetables missing from the picture. My receipt says that I saved $69 – that’s $89 worth of food for $20. Not bad! I’ll be going back at least one more time while this sale is going on.
I’m going to add my favorite money saving links and sources for coupons to the sidebar of the blog for anyone interested. I’ll get to it sometime this evening, so check back.
I am so disgusted with the Charlotte City Council I could spit nails. Last night they voted (along party lines, of course) to override the Mayor’s veto of the $4.5 million streetcar study. I fired off an email to them a few minutes ago, and this is what I said:
Dear Council Members,
I am outraged that you voted to override the Mayor’s veto of the streetcar study. I don’t believe that any of you truly have Charlotteans’ best interests at heart. If you did, you wouldn’t dream of taxing us so heavily and then spending our hard earned money on unnecessary frivolous things like streetcars.
I am going to do everything I can to fight this kind of fiscal irresponsibility and I will work hard to convince my fellow citizens to vote people like you out of office.
Now I’m going out to vote in the primaries today and cast my vote for candidates who will work for the people, not for their own self-interest.
Angie - R.I.P.
I’m sad to report that our zebra finch hen, Angie, went the way of all birdies this morning at approximately 10:30 am. She had obviously not been feeling well the last several days. This morning, however, I thought that she seemed a little more lively but then, before my very eyes, she fluttered around, keeled over, and died. So sad! Benji, her mate, has seemed bewildered and keeps calling for her. This is at least the third mate of Benji’s that has kicked the bucket. I guess females don’t have as strong a constitution as males. Not sure what I’m going to do now. Zebs are much happier with a companion, but I don’t really want to go out and buy another bird. Maybe I’ll sell Benji and the cage with all the fixin’s. Anyone interested?
You’ve probably already seen this, but it’s so funny – and, unfortunately, so true – that I just had to put it on here. Tim Hawkins is one hilarious guy!
A totally non-political blog post, believe it or not. But I’m sure I could relate it to politics somehow if I tried hard enough! Here’s movie a made yesterday of Wesley and his friends playing at a concert. Small turnout – just friends and family – but lots of fun. One thing I’ve learned from all this is to not judge a person by the kind of music they like and/or play. Who ever would’ve thought that my son would be into screamo music? And he’s the one of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet. So now when I see these crazy rocker guys, I think yeah, they’re just normal people who happen to like a style of music that I don’t care much for.
(This is a direct quote from The Traditional Values Coalition)
One of the most frequently recited distortions from President Obama is his claim that we have a health care crisis where 47 million Americans can’t get health care coverage! FALSE!
It is a myth that 47 million Americans can’t get health insurance! The Employees Policies Institute has published a report that shows that of this 47 million:
18 million who can afford medical insurance but don’t want it.
8.4 million between the ages of 18 and 25 who think they are invulnerable.
8 million children who qualify for coverage under some program but haven’t been signed up.
3.5 million adults who qualify for a government program but who have not signed up.
12.6 million illegal aliens who are not supposed to be here.
9.4 million who are in between jobs and only temporarily uninsured.
This report clearly shows that there is really no health care insurance crisis! Yet, Congress is being rushed to pass legislation based on false information!
This is truly frightening! Whatever you do, don’t login at Cars.gov, the Cash for Clunkers website! If you do, you are granting the federal government access to your computer for any purpose they choose – absolutely no limits!
I just happened to catch this interview on the Today Show this morning. She’s talking about her new book, Culture of Corruption. She calls President Obama a “racial opportunist” and talks about corruption in the Obama team. Great interview!
