Swagbucks! It's like FREE money! Plus 50 bonus bucks when you sign up today!

I just ordered my 71st $5 Amazon gift card! This means I've earned $355 in Amazon money since I signed up with Swagbucks last fall. And it has all been earned by doing just what I would normally do everyday anyway - using the Internet and using a search engine.

You can earn Swagbucks too! Just go sign up here and start using their search engine as a means to get to where you're going. Sign up before 11:59 pm on Monday, Feb 28th and you'll get a bonus 50 Swagbucks by entering promotional code 3rdBirthday96 during the sign-up process.

Use the search engine for when you're trying to find something out, but also use it just to get to a website that you already know. For instance, when I'm going to go to Amazon, I just type "Amazon.com" in the search box, instead of typing it in the url spot. I have probably won most of my Swagbucks this way!

You can read some more tips here:

http://thebargainistablog.blogspot.com/2009/09/swagbucks.html

A few new things since that September post:

1. You can install a plug-in for your browser so that Swagbucks will show up as an available search engine in your search bar (to the right of your URL bar). You can get that by clicking on the "Toolbars" button once you've signed up.

2. You can often earn Swagbucks when you purchase the Groupon, Living Social, Mamapedia deals of the day, so be sure to check out the "Trial Pay" wall under Special Offers section before buying!

3. There are other Special Offers that do not require you to purchase anything, just signing up to receive a newsletter or something. You can use a junk email address when you do this so you won't get a bunch of spam in your main email inbox. But the junk email has to be a real address you have access to because sometimes you have to confirm the subscription by clicking on something in one of the emails they send to you.

If you have any questions about Swagbucks, please let me know - I am happy to help!

Now go sign up and start earning some goodies of your own!

The Bargainista

Get 5 Blockbuster Express (like Redbox) movies for just $2!

GROUPON is offering a HOT deal today in the Atlanta market! You can get FIVE Blockbuster Express movie rentals for just $2! (retail value $5) There is a limit of one per person, but you may give more as gifts! These deals are limited time offers and once they sell a set amount, it will be gone, so make sure you jump on it!

Here's how you can take advantage of this deal:

1. Log into your Groupon account (or create one here if you don't have one already)

2. At the top where it says "Get the Daily Deal for..." choose Atlanta (may have to choose "G" for Georgia first)

3. Click on the green "buy" button and then complete the check-out process.

4. The information for this deal will show up under the "My Groupons" tab on your account.

Limit 1 per person. Expires 5/1/2013. Valid only at any Blockbuster Express kiosks and for online reservation for pickup at kiosks. Not valid on Blu-ray or Hot List titles.

NOTE: If you have Swagbucks, click on "Special Offers" and then the "Trialpay" wall first and you'll get 315 Swagbucks!! If you don't have Swagbucks yet, what are you waiting for?!? 315 Swagbucks = about $3.50 in Amazon money so you're really making money on this deal! Here's how...

1. Click here to sign up for Swagbucks!

2. Then go to the "Earn" drop down menu and choose "Special Offers".

3. Click on the Trial Pay tab.

4. Find the one for Groupon (doesn't matter what Groupon deal it is) and click on the button on the right that says "315 Swagbucks". This will take you to the Groupon website and you can then complete the deal following the instructions above.

Note: Omaha does have several of these kiosks. I don't believe Lincoln has any. Click here to find a kiosk near you!

The Bargainista

Groupon - shoebuy.com & Swagbucks!

Is your daughter dying for Twinkle toes like mine? Todays Groupon for Lincoln is an online promotion and can get you a pair for about $10 (you pay $20 for the Groupon, but you'll end up with almost $10 Amazon giftcards, so $20-$10=$10, and a little bit of credit at shoebuy.com). Even if you don't live in Lincoln!!


The deal is you buy the groupon certificate for $20 and you get $40 off at shoebuy.com. But the deal gets even better when you combine it with Swagbucks! If you buy the groupon through Swagbucks, you should get $160 for that. Then if you go through Swagbucks again for your shoebuy.com purchase you will get 600 swagbucks! that's 760 swagbucks, which is almost $10 in Amazon giftcards!

Here's how:

1. Sign up with groupon here:
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu5085911

2. Sign up with swagbucks here:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/BetsyR

3. Now go to Swagbucks.com. Across the top is a toolbar, hover over "Ways to Earn" and then choose "Special Offers" from that toolbar. Try this link: http://www.swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-special-offers

4. Scroll down to where you see "Offer Wall" below and click on the "Trial Pay" tab.

5. Find the trialpay offer for Groupon, it will be for your current city. Click on it anyway by clicking on the "160 Swag Bucks" button. This will take you to the Groupon site.

6. Once you get to Groupon, log in and change your city to Lincoln by clicking on the "Visit More cities" link and then choose Lincoln.

7. You should see the offer for $20 for $40 at shoebuy.com. Click on the "Buy" button and complete your purchase with Groupon. Click on "My Groupon" to see your purchase and click on "print". You will get a warning popping up to tell you it's not valid until tomorrow, but don't worry, it will work today.

8. Now go back to the Special Offiers - Trial Pay section at Swagbucks and find the offer for 600 Swagbucks for shoebuy.com and click on the "600 Swagbucks" button. Shopping through Swagbucks will also get you 10% off!

9. Complete your purchase at shoebuy.com The certificate is good for anything on the site and can be used over multiple purchases! And most things have FREE shipping! If you enter the promotional code in the "gift certificates" section you will get 10% off your order! (If you enter it as a promotional code, you don't get the 10% off). You will get an error message saying you can't use a promotional code with a gift certificate, but the 10% off should still be there.

The Bargainista

SWAGBUCKS: $200 in Amazon giftcards!

Woo Hoo! I just ordered my 40th $5 Amazon gift card! This means I've earned $200 in Amazon money since I signed up with Swagbucks last fall. And it has all been earned by doing just what I would normally do everyday anyway - using the Internet and using a search engine.

You can earn Swagbucks too! Just go sign up here and start using their search engine as a means to get to where you're going. Yes, use the search engine for when you're trying to find something out, but also use it just to get to a website that you already know. For instance, when I'm going to go to Amazon, I just type "Amazon.com" in the search box, instead of typing it in the url spot. I have probably won most of my Swagbucks this way!

You can read some more tips here:

http://thebargainistablog.blogspot.com/2009/09/swagbucks.html

Something new since that September post is that you can install a plug-in for your browser so that Swagbucks will show up as an available search engine in your search bar (to the right of your URL bar). You can get that by clicking on the "Toolbars" button once you've signed up.

If you have any questions about Swagbucks, please let me know - I am happy to help!

Now go sign up and start earning some goodies of your own!

The Bargainista

Swagbucks 2nd Birthday TODAY

Today is Swagbuck's 2nd birthday, and that means lots of swagbucks will be given away today! If you are not yet signed up with Swagbucks today is a GREAT day to join! You can get an additional 3 points by entering this "bonus code" when signing up: MELISSASCODE3 (valid through 3/4/10) and use this link to sign up. Plus you get 3 points just for signing up, so you'll get 6 points total!

If you're not familiar with Swagbucks, you earn "Swagbucks" by searching online and your Swagbucks can then be redeemed for gift cards or other prizes and merchandise. I typically redeem mine for Amazon gift cards. I signed up last January (2009) and have redeemed over $150 in Amazon gift cards just by using their search engine (which is powered by google)!

If you are new to Swagbucks, you will want to check out this post on how to make the most of your Swagbucks account.

If you've been using Swagbucks for awhile, here are some of the changes that are coming: Starting today, you will notice that your Swag Bucks in your account will be multiplied by 10 (as will the prices in the store, so for example, if you had 45 bucks in your account you will now have 450 SB; The Amazon which was 45 SB will now be 450 SB). NO prices are being raised on prizes (it will all be proportional - so have no fear about that), but what this split will allow them to do is to award bucks to users in ways that were not before imaginable (such as being logged into the toolbar, and viewing our special offers). So with that said,the sign up code that is worth 6, it will actually be worth 60 SB. You can find more info on the split here. Here are the other changes:

1) More ways to earn SwagBucks every day: With Swagbucks.com 3.0, users will be able to earn by having their toolbar visible on their browser and also by simply viewing our "No Obligation" special offers. This means that in addition to all the regular ways to earn, the more you are engaged with Swagbucks.com, the more you will earn!

2) New look home page and Swag Store & rewards store: Swagbucks 3.0 will include a revamped, cleaner interface that will provide a better user esperience.

3) Launch of the Swagstakes Portal: As you may know, Swagbucks currently runs about a dozen on-going sweepstakes (called Swagstakes) at any given time. With the launch of 3.0, there will be a brand new, fully stocked Swagstakes portal in which there will be dozens of Swagstakes running at all times! Some contests will be limited entry (meaning a set number of entries will be offered ) so the odds for a user to win are greater. The tentative list of items that will be offered during initial launch should include: $100 Amazon Gift Cards, Sony Bravia 32" TV, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPod Touch, Flip Ultra HD Camera, Panasonic Blu Ray with Remote, Apple iPad, Sopranos Complete Series Box Set, Rachel Ray 10 piece cookware set, Playstation 3 system + games bundle, Canon Powershot Camera, Seinfeld Complete Series DVD box Set, Vizio 22" LDC TV and plenty more!
Have fun Swagging today!

The Bargainista

Swagbucks

Have you heard of Swagbucks? Maybe you've seen a post on Facebook talking about it but don't really know how it all works. Let me fill you in. Swagbucks is a website that will reward you with digital dollars (called "swagbucks") that you can then use to buy giftcards and other free fun things in the swag store. It's easy to earn bucks, just use their search engine like you normally would throughout the day, and when you win a buck it will show at the top of the search results. The best deal available for redemption right now is a $5 Amazon giftcard for 45 swagbucks. So far, I've redeemed $85 in Amazon giftcards! That's FREE MONEY right there for doing nothing that I wouldn't have done anyway! You can also redeem for $5 Paypal (70 swagbucks) and some other great stuff, but the best value is the Amazon giftcard.

Sign up is here: Swagbucks signup. And right now, you can earn an extra couple of bucks when you enter the following promotional code when signing up (promotion code valid through 9/10/09): phanscode1 (case sensitive). A non-member signing up with this promotional code will start off with 5 swagbucks in your account!

Tips for winning:

1. Download the swagbucks toolbar so it's easy to use and will always be at the top of your screen. Here's the toolbar to download: http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-plugins . The Swag Guy (otherwise known as TSG) will also randomly release free codes for bucks and the toolbar has a spot where you can see when he's notified you that there's a code. (More on this below.)
   
2. Search randomly, just like you normally would use a search engine. The more spread out your searches are (the more time inbetween each search), the more likely you will win bucks. So search a bit in the morning, a few at lunch, then some more in the evening.
   
3. Save regular websites that you visit as a swag search. For instance, I check our local Craigslist quite often, sometimes several times a day. So I did a swag search for "Omaha Craigslist" and then bookmarked the search results. Now, whenever I want to go to Craigslist, I just pick that swag search from my favorites list and then click through to Craigslist. It's one extra click that I have to do, but I've won several swagbucks just from that saved search. When you save the search, be sure to change the name so you know what it is! You can do this with so many websites, blogs, online stores, etc that you frequent and and it's just like a free search that you normally wouldn't make.
4. Invite your friends! When they sign up under you and win, you win also! You will get matching buck-for-buck for the first 100 swagbucks they win (not including codes posted by TSG). It's only one level deep, so you only get bucks for the people signed up directly underneath you.
5. Use multiple computers. I can't confirm this for sure, but from what I've read online, the searches you do are somehow tied to your actual computer you're using. So if I search from the laptop in the morning and win right away, I can then go to the desktop computer we have and do searches from there and also win bucks, even though I just won on the laptop!

The toolbar mentioned above is the latest new thing from Swagbucks, it was very recently introduced. It is compatible with Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, but also has some very handy quick links to different parts of the Swagbucks website. If you download the new toolbar, EVERYDAY this month (September) they will release a special code to earn an additional free buck, allowing the opportunity for you to get an addtional 30 bucks in September! These codes are exclusive to the toolbar, there is no other way to get them, and they are account specific, so they can't be shared. Using this new toolbar is the best way to search and earn swagbucks easily and quickly!

The Bargainista