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swagbucks newbie

June 16th, 2013 at 07:27 pm

I'm missing my dad today - he died 13 years ago.

I joined swag bucks back in February, but haven’t taken the time to participate until Friday night. Oh my, it is quite addictive. I first read creditcardfree’s recent “tutorial” posts and then dove in. I can see that this will be a major time suck if I’m not careful! And, while the rewards are fun, they are not big enough to spend TOO much time pursuing them. Like CCF illustrated, I think a strategy is the way to go.

The videos and tv clips are an easy way to get a few points here and there. I downloaded the tool bar and am using the search feature, which seems to generate points a few times a day. I tried a few of the surveys, but I don’t think I will qualify for many of them since I don’t have a family and I don’t purchase many mainstream products. I’m not sure if it’s worth the time to keep trying. I just did one of the “tasks” – WTF? Very odd search engine comparison exercise. I ended up not finishing because it got too tedious, but I did receive 20 points, which I wasn’t expecting. Still, I don’t think the time investment will be worth doing future tasks.

The first night I became obsessed and ended up accumulating 192 points. But, that was over the course of at least 4 hours! It might be best to shoot for the goal amount each day and stop there.
I’m thinking of using the points for Amazon gift cards to put towards a digital camera that I want to purchase. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold out long enough to get it for free using points since it will cost $600 or more, but I could see earning some money towards it. Every little bit helps! I’m starting with a $10 Amazon gift card that I earned a few months ago by downloading my credit union’s iPad app and trying it out. I currently have 432 sbs, so when I get to 450, I will redeem them for a $5 Amazon gift card. I’m assuming it makes most sense to redeem the points as I accumulate them for the $5 gift cards, since the higher denominations seem to cost 500 points for each $5 rather than 450? Not sure how that makes sense.

I still don’t understand how to get points playing the games. For some of them, you have to sign up for a tournament and use real money? Is there a way to play something during a bit of downtime for some points?

I’m bummed that I didn’t try this right after I sprained my ankle. I had to spend a lot of time lying down with my foot elevated and I could have been racking up points without feeling like I was wasting time!

Update – I decided to try another survey and it worked. I just got 50 points for doing it (I should have timed it – was probably 10 – 15 minutes?) So, now I have 487 points. I guess I will now learn how to redeem points for a gift card!

9 Responses to “swagbucks newbie”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1371411639

    Sorry you are missing your Dad.

    I don't do tasks...just not quite patient enough for those. The best deal is the $5 Amazon.com gift cards, which you can redeem five in a month, up to two per day. I decided this year just redeem for PayPal, since I like the cash better. I play Crusher. No money needed, no tournament. I play two rounds of games and receive two SB's...so 10 games played each day.

    Yes, it can be a time suck....I try to let people know that. Glad you got a survey, they help rack up the SB's that much faster, so I think they are worth trying for at least a few a day. There are surveys on Peanut Labs.

  2. starfishy Says:
    1371411900

    ccf - good to know that there are limits on how many gift cards can be redeemed per month - i hadn't thought about that. i'll check out crusher! i'm so glad i read your SB posts before starting - they helped me to orient myself to the site quickly and understand what might work best. thanks!! Smile

  3. nhgirl1970 Says:
    1371415765

    I recently downloaded their video app on my phone and just let them play. It works out well most of the time (sometimes it gets "stuck"). It's two points for every four or five videos, but I just set it and forget it. It has helped me reach my daily goal lately Smile

  4. My English Castle Says:
    1371418007

    Yeah, it can be a big time suck. And I've also found the tasks are impossible. Surveys do seem the best, and I often run SBTV in the background while I'm doing other things. Check your inbox; there are often good things there.

  5. starfishy Says:
    1371418671

    nhgirl - that's a great idea! i just tried to download the sbtv app on my ipad, but it doesn't have the correct operating system and i don't have a smartphone. Frown it sounds like on the phone, the videos are playing one after another. does anyone know if it is possible to make that happen for sbtv on the computer? i'm manually starting them each time and would love to automate if possible.

  6. creditcardfree Says:
    1371425315

    Unfortunately, SBTV is not automated on the computer...which is what I have to do when I use it for SB's. I don't have a smartphone either!

  7. maryadavies Says:
    1371425869

    Me, I started with making a very modest goal; 21 or more swagbucks a day. I mostly do Swagbucks mobile now on my new-to-me kindle fire. (Oh and the EntertaiNow app). Those take time to max, but they auto change the videos for you. You have to keep half a eye on it however; sometimes the ads screw up and you have this annoying..X..in..the..corner that you must hit. I also do some searches and Swagbucks TV if those don't quite make it.

    Haven't missed a goal this month yet. But yeah, if you don't look out it can be a time sucker.

    As of this month, I've ordered 4 amazon gift cards and I'm over halfway to a fifth. I do like amazon but I like my books and Amazon's got almost everything. ^^

  8. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1371433548

    If you can, updated your iOS on the iPad so the SBTV app can run. It doesn't always run smoothly, so you do sometimes have to kind of babysit it. Then there are times where it runs *very* smoothly and you can pretty much set it and forget it. Smile
    When I play games, I usually do Drop 3. Mainly because I can start the game and go off to another tab while it's running ... Smile
    Do be sure to check your inbox periodically, even if it doesn't show that there is any mail. The mail indicator doesn't always work well.

  9. My English Castle Says:
    1371446311

    Starfishy: Did you sign up for the Dads v Grads challenge? Nothing extra is required and there's prizes for both teams. I've been super diligent about my goals there, probably to the detriment of real-life goals!

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