Rewards Programs

Since I didn't post about anything thrifty on Sunday, I'm going to take today to talk about some great rewards programs I'm a part of.

The first is Swagbucks.  I have very mixed feelings about this program.  There are lots of ways to earn "swagbucks" (points), but to be honest the only thing I really use is the search feature.  You can rack up the bucks by watching different ads on SBTV, answering polls, buying products through different websites, printing and using coupons, finding swag codes (on facebook, in your sawgbucks mail, etc.) and filling out surveys.  I did the survey thing for a while, but eventually I stopped qualifying for them and just sort of moved on.

So lets get back to the search feature, and of course the rewards!  After reading rave reviews on both Totally Target and hip2save and deciding to join the program myself, I installed the toolbar on my browser.  Now, instead of using google, I just type whatever I'm searching for into the toolbar, and every now and then I earn bucks!  You don't earn bucks every time you search, and when you do seems pretty random, but eventually it pays off.  Granted, it's not as good of a search engine as google, so if I'm looking for something super specific, I still revert back.

The rewards are really the best part.  Some require way more bucks then they're worth, but there are some great gift cards.  Already I've earned $25 in $5 amazon gift cards at 450 points each (just for searching the web!).  Of course, if I had saved my points and traded them in for a $25 gift card, instead of 5 $5 ones, I could have earned way more, but what can I say - it's the instant gratification of it all!  :) 

Once you get rolling, you can start referring your friends, and swagbucks will give you a buck for each buck they earn!  This is really the best way to start getting bigger and better rewards.  That being said, here is my referral link :)  I would love the referrals, but feel free to join through the website itself if you'd like. 


So that's it!  Research it, check it out, sign up, and tell us what you think!