Income Earning Idea: Earn Gift Cards Through Swagbucks

I am always looking for simple ways to save or earn money.  Over the years, through trial and error, I have discovered a few methods that consistently (and painlessly) work.  I’ll be sharing these in my series “Income Earning Ideas.”  I have tried and fully endorse each of these methods.  If you have any income earning ideas that work for you, feel free to submit a tip or guest post to me at TheOrthodoxMama@gmail.com.

Three years ago I had no idea how we were going to get our children gifts for Christmas.  Our budget was incredibly tight, and there was very little left over for Christmas.  That was when I discovered Swagbucks.

Swagbucks is a site through which you can earn gift cards by doing online tasks such as searching, watching videos, and shopping.  Each task earns you “swagbucks” that you can redeem for gift cards once you’ve reached a certain threshold.  For example, a $5 Amazon gift card is 500 swagbucks.  They also have gift cards for Starbucks, Target, Walmart, and more.

Free money?  That was exactly what I needed!  I began using my down time in the evenings to earn gift cards and ended up with $60 to spend on Amazon.  That $60 allowed us to buy a few gifts and have a simple, yet absolutely lovely, Christmas.

Even though our Christmas budget is no longer that tight, I still use Swagbucks to earn gift cards for presents or splurges.

If you would like to do the same, follow these steps:

Getting Started

1. Click HERE to go to the Swagbucks site.
2. Set up an account. You will create an account, password, and profile. You even earn swagbucks just for creating your profile!
3. Explore the site for awhile. I found that there was a fairly steep learning curve at first. I wasn’t quite sure what to do in order to earn, but through trial and error I found the options that I liked best.

My Personal Tips

1. Time Management

I typically will get on the Swagbucks site when I’m watching TV, waiting for something, or just killing a little time.  Many of the videos that you can watch to earn money are not particularly thrilling.  I keep my computer on mute and play them while I’m watching my favorite television shows!

2. Check Your Swagbucks Inbox

Every day special deals will come to your Swagbucks inbox (not your e-mail).  Many of them are short videos to watch or articles about your health to read.  Again, you don’t actually have to watch the video to get the bucks.  And, for many of the articles, if you just click on the first page, you will get the credit.  By checking your inbox daily, you can earn at least 10 swagbucks.

3. Use the Search Engine

Swagbucks has its own search engine (like Google).  It will randomly reward you with swagbucks a couple of times a day if you use their search engine.  I will often go to the site and type in the names of blogs that I follow until I get rewarded.  If you do this twice a day, you can earn 14-20 swagbucks.

4. Surveys Can Be Goldmines

You can also do surveys through Swagbucks.  They can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes and are compensated accordingly.  In seasons where I am trying to earn many gift cards (usually from October-December in preparation for Christmas), I try to complete one survey a day.  Many of the surveys are looking for a specific type of person (new moms, business people, etc.), so you may not qualify for every survey.  You can earn 35-200 swagbucks per survey, though, so I believe they are worth pursuing.

Earnings Potential

If you spend 10 minutes a day on Swagbucks checking your inbox, searching, and doing one or two short tasks, you can easily earn 20 swagbucks a day.  That means you can earn 18 Amazon gift cards per year—a total of $90.

If you dedicate a little more time, say 15-30 minutes a day and include a survey, that number could increase.  I generally earn 3 gift cards a month from October-December ($45 of Amazon credit for our Christmas budget).

In conclusion, if you are in a season of life where you have more time than money, Swagbucks can be a good way to supplement your budget.

Have you ever tried Swagbucks?

(This post contains affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy.)

(Linked to Tips and Tricks, Small Victories Sunday, Thrifty Thursday.)