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 This post originally appeared last year, but Swagbucks has recently made it even easier to earn gift cards, so I felt it was worth updating you!

This month, I earned an extra $25 using Swagbucks for 1 - 16 minutes each day. And yep, that will come in handy during the back to school season! Best of all, most of the time I spent on Swagbucks was time I would have spent on a different search engine...except that by using Swagbucks, I earned money.

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is site that allows you to earn points for doing things you probably already do online (like use a search engine). Then you can turn those points into gift cards for PayPal, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and many businesses you likely already shop at. How much money those gift cards holds really depends upon you. I tend to put in very little time, and get at least one $25 gift card a month - but I know of someone who let her points rack up and used them to have a $0 Christmas! That's right; she didn't spend a single dollar on her whole family's Christmas gifts!

(UPDATE 8/16: My goal for 2016 has been to use my Swagbucks not only for school supplies, but also for birthday gifts. So far, I've met my goal!)




How I Use Swagbucks


There are a lot of ways to earn points on Swagbucks. I don't use them all. In fact, I'm sure there are some ways to earn points that I don't even know about! But I earn the most points just using the search engine, which is a version of Yahoo. I use it just like I would any other search engine, looking up the answers to the crazy questions my kids ask, looking up local business phone numbers, finding news stories on certain topics, etc. If I think of it, I also go through the Swagbucks search engine when I'm going to a site I already know the web address for. For example, if I want to go to Facebook, I type "Facebook" into the Swagbucks search engine, then click on the search results in order to get there. It takes seconds longer than typing in the web address myself - and helps me earn points. As you search, Swagbucks periodically gives you points. One time, you might earn 20 points, another time you might get 6 points. It's pretty random.

I've also developed a daily routine for Swagbucks. When I turn my computer on, I usually go to Swagbucks first. (FYI, you can use Swagbucks on any device that goes online.) There, I take the daily poll, go through the daily offers, and click on the "daily crave." The poll is a super quick question. The daily offers are mostly information you can send away for if you like - but I never do; I just click through them and when I'm through, I get points. The "daily crave" is either two videos or two slide shows. I just let the videos play in the background. In total, this routine takes 1 - 2 minutes to complete, and results in 4 points.

(UPDATE 8/16: Swagbucks recently introduced a very handy home page daily "to-do" list with 7 easy ways to earn Swagbucks. If you complete at least 6 of those items, you get bonus Swagbucks for that day. Because I do my daily 6, I'm now earning more Swagbucks than ever.)

If I have a little extra time, or I just really want to earn more money, I do surveys. I tend to stick to the shorter ones (usually 10 - 15 minutes is the estimate for them, but I find they are usually quicker than estimated) and choose the ones with the highest earnings first. However, some surveys sway me to take more time if they offer more Swagbucks for completing them.

(UPDATE 8/16: An awesome new update at Swagbucks is that if you attempt any survey, you get 1 Swagbuck, even if you don't qualify to complete the survey. (If you're not familiar with doing surveys, there are always a few questions to see if you're the sort of person they want to a"talk" to. This is called "qualifying."))

And that's it! I find that if I stick to this routine, each month I can easily earn enough points for a $25 Amazon gift card (my favorite!)  - or a gift card worth more, if I spend extra time on surveys.
 
Now it's your turn! Sign up for Swagbucks right here.  Why not give it a try?