I have talked about Swagbucks a little in the past but you should sign up now if you haven't yet! When you sign up now you will get 30 free points and then if you use the code AUGUSTBONUS you will get 50 free points additionally! This is only good through August 15!
Swagbucks is just a search engine like Google, Bing, etc, except you can turn your Swagbucks into Paypal cash, Amazon gift cards, and TONS of other stuff. I cash mine out every month - usually about $5 but last month I got $30 from Swagbucks! Purely from searching on the Internet!
You should seriously check it out. It doesn't get any easier than that!
Showing posts with label swagbucks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swagbucks. Show all posts
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Financial Goals
I think that a lot of people would consider me to be very frugal, and probably a lot of people would even call me cheap! But I wasn't always this way.
All my life, if I had money, I pretty much preferred to spend it rather than save it. Stephen was kind of the same way, so when we got married we certainly didn't budget. I remember buying a set of sheets because they were on sale for $60. I never used coupons. We had a Blockbuster subscription, we were regulars at Gamestop where we made weekly purchases of movies and new games, we ate out whenever we wanted to, we went to the movies at least once a week.... in other words we didn't worry about budgeting or being frugal. One thing that really got us was the furniture we bought. When we lived in Charleston, we just had a two bedroom apartment. But we knew that eventually we'd be in a house in North Carolina, so we went ahead and bought living room furniture and bedroom furniture. I don't even remember how much it cost but we put all of it on our credit card. Also on that credit card were honeymoon expenses, anniversary trip expenses, and to be honest, any random purchases we made - like the $60 sheets. We just had the one card and we always paid on time, so our credit kept being raised... and we kept using the card since our limit kept being raised.
Fast forward to five years later. Now I'm a stay-at-home-mom working only a few hours a week. We really need to budget and be frugal in order for me to be able to stay at home with our kids for the next few years.
Unfortunately, we have those purchases from five years ago looming over us. When we purchased our house is the first time I found out how much credit card debt we had accumulated. I was absolutely stunned. The crazy thing is, we still both had excellent credit because we had always made payments on time. But it just made me sick to my stomach to think we had both made it all the way through college without student loans (thank you mom and dad, and US Air Force!!) only to create this debt for crazy things!
We made a commitment to not use our credit card anymore. We only ever had one card anyway, so it wasn't really an issue for us to use it on anything frivolous. But we (mainly I) were determined to not buy anything we couldn't pay cash for, and pay off that debt. My parents have always set an incredible example of being debt-free and I would love to follow in their footsteps and set a good example for our children. It's so unfortunate that the "sins" of your past can affect your future so much!
In May 2010 I was reading my All You magazine and found a website I was interested in. It's called Smartypig. It's an online bank account specifically designed for you to reach financial goals (for a wedding, college, anything you want). I was looking at this time for a high-interest bank account and could not find one. I have a bank account at a credit union and even those rates are falling because of the economy. So when I found this bank account at Smartypig that had over 2% interest (it has now dropped to 1.75% but is still higher than any money market or CD account at most banks) I wanted to jump on it. I did a LOT of research because of all the information they would need from us. After weeks of research we decided to start an account.
On May 31, 2010 we made our first deposit of $25.00. Our goal? Make $1,000 by December 31, 2010. The cool thing about Smartypig is that once you set a goal, it suggests how much you need to deposit monthly in order to reach that goal. I can't remember how much it told us but it was too much to be taken out at one time - maybe $150 or something? Instead I set our own monthly deposit of $50 - totally manageable. Then, I would randomly deposit money as I got it. I deposited all rebate checks, survey checks, Paypal money earned from Swagbucks, and change that I came across. I started paying cash for everything, depositing the change in a big mason jar, and then depositing the change in the bank as soon as it was full. In September I decided to up our monthly deposit to $75.00.
I chose for my monthly payments to come out on the 5th of each month. Since this month the 5th was on a Sunday, my payment came through today. Know what??
All my life, if I had money, I pretty much preferred to spend it rather than save it. Stephen was kind of the same way, so when we got married we certainly didn't budget. I remember buying a set of sheets because they were on sale for $60. I never used coupons. We had a Blockbuster subscription, we were regulars at Gamestop where we made weekly purchases of movies and new games, we ate out whenever we wanted to, we went to the movies at least once a week.... in other words we didn't worry about budgeting or being frugal. One thing that really got us was the furniture we bought. When we lived in Charleston, we just had a two bedroom apartment. But we knew that eventually we'd be in a house in North Carolina, so we went ahead and bought living room furniture and bedroom furniture. I don't even remember how much it cost but we put all of it on our credit card. Also on that credit card were honeymoon expenses, anniversary trip expenses, and to be honest, any random purchases we made - like the $60 sheets. We just had the one card and we always paid on time, so our credit kept being raised... and we kept using the card since our limit kept being raised.
Fast forward to five years later. Now I'm a stay-at-home-mom working only a few hours a week. We really need to budget and be frugal in order for me to be able to stay at home with our kids for the next few years.
Unfortunately, we have those purchases from five years ago looming over us. When we purchased our house is the first time I found out how much credit card debt we had accumulated. I was absolutely stunned. The crazy thing is, we still both had excellent credit because we had always made payments on time. But it just made me sick to my stomach to think we had both made it all the way through college without student loans (thank you mom and dad, and US Air Force!!) only to create this debt for crazy things!
We made a commitment to not use our credit card anymore. We only ever had one card anyway, so it wasn't really an issue for us to use it on anything frivolous. But we (mainly I) were determined to not buy anything we couldn't pay cash for, and pay off that debt. My parents have always set an incredible example of being debt-free and I would love to follow in their footsteps and set a good example for our children. It's so unfortunate that the "sins" of your past can affect your future so much!
In May 2010 I was reading my All You magazine and found a website I was interested in. It's called Smartypig. It's an online bank account specifically designed for you to reach financial goals (for a wedding, college, anything you want). I was looking at this time for a high-interest bank account and could not find one. I have a bank account at a credit union and even those rates are falling because of the economy. So when I found this bank account at Smartypig that had over 2% interest (it has now dropped to 1.75% but is still higher than any money market or CD account at most banks) I wanted to jump on it. I did a LOT of research because of all the information they would need from us. After weeks of research we decided to start an account.
On May 31, 2010 we made our first deposit of $25.00. Our goal? Make $1,000 by December 31, 2010. The cool thing about Smartypig is that once you set a goal, it suggests how much you need to deposit monthly in order to reach that goal. I can't remember how much it told us but it was too much to be taken out at one time - maybe $150 or something? Instead I set our own monthly deposit of $50 - totally manageable. Then, I would randomly deposit money as I got it. I deposited all rebate checks, survey checks, Paypal money earned from Swagbucks, and change that I came across. I started paying cash for everything, depositing the change in a big mason jar, and then depositing the change in the bank as soon as it was full. In September I decided to up our monthly deposit to $75.00.
I chose for my monthly payments to come out on the 5th of each month. Since this month the 5th was on a Sunday, my payment came through today. Know what??
Can you read it?? 100%+ of our goal! $1,016.76 saved as of today!! Wahoo!
I highly recommend Smartypig. It is so easy to transfer money to and from your bank account. It's completely secure. If you don't want to cash out your money you can put it on gift cards to TONS of retailers like Amazon, Travelocity, Chili's, Borders... tons more. Obviously I want to transfer to our bank account so we can write a check to our credit card company.
My personal goal is to pay off $2,000 more dollars in the next three years. I honestly think this is doable. I am so proud that we were able to do this in only seven months!! It's going to be very exciting to write a huge check to USAA. :)
I would love to answer any questions about Smartypig or refer you. If you would like me to refer you just let me know! I will send you an email link that you can sign up through.
This is also a testament to the money you can earn from online surveys and Swagbucks. I strongly urge you to use these resources I have given you to earn extra money. I would not be surprised to find that 50-75% of the money we earned for Smartypig came from online surveys and Swagbucks.
I know this is a very long post but I am so excited to share this with you! In the past I have been ashamed at the credit card debt we have, and I know it's kind of a no-no to talk about finances anyway, but I know we aren't the only ones who have made bad decisions in the past. And the important thing is we are taking steps to make up for those bad decisions.
Does anyone else have a story like this to share?? I'd love to hear it!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Swagbucks
I forgot to mention this - I received my first reward from Swagbucks. A long, long time ago I blogged about Swagbucks. I don't know if you guys think it's a scam, or too good to be true, or you just don't want to search through something other than Google, but I just want to make sure you know this website is for real. Go check out the blog I wrote the first time if you don't remember, and then sign up!
I have a couple of thousand Swagbucks right now in my account that I could redeem, I just haven't. But a few weeks ago I decided to redeem 700 SB to get $5 through Paypal. I mean, I realize $5 isn't winning the lottery or anything but also keep in mind the only thing I did to earn that was search for stuff on the Internet. I made Swagbucks my homepage so I don't forget to use it. Anyway, my point is the money came through Paypal within just a couple of business days, so if you were curious to see if this search engine is legit, it is. And I definitely recommend using it!
I have a couple of thousand Swagbucks right now in my account that I could redeem, I just haven't. But a few weeks ago I decided to redeem 700 SB to get $5 through Paypal. I mean, I realize $5 isn't winning the lottery or anything but also keep in mind the only thing I did to earn that was search for stuff on the Internet. I made Swagbucks my homepage so I don't forget to use it. Anyway, my point is the money came through Paypal within just a couple of business days, so if you were curious to see if this search engine is legit, it is. And I definitely recommend using it!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Swagbucks
I had put off blogging about this website because I wasn't really sure about it. Some of you may have heard of Swagbucks before. If not, here is your Swagbucks 101 blog.
What is it?
Swagbucks is a search engine. It actually combines search results from Google and Ask.com. Every time you search for something you could earn Swagbucks. Usually it is 1 but I have actually won 4 Swagbucks one time. Pretty much the more you search there, the better chances you have of getting them. You can also earn SB by shopping online and other things that I won't do because it isn't free.
How do I start?
Go to the website and register. You will get 3 SB immediately. Then just start searching. Also, find new ways to earn SB by clicking on "Ways to Earn". Then you can click on "Prizes" at the top of the website to see what prizes you can earn. I'm not sure you can see this immediately or not - I never looked for it until tonight.
I signed up last Saturday and I've earned 28 SB now. I set it as my homepage, otherwise I'd never remember to go to it. Please note - the search results are not great, but the prizes are worth it, I think. (Besides, you can always search for Google and then Google whatever you are searching for...)
Prizes
28 SB doesn't sound like a lot to me, but right now I could trade those in for a few low prizes - mainly posters, trading cards, and a few $5 online gift cards. But you don't need any SB to earn some cool stuff, in my opinion:
The Office season - 60 SB
Baby clothes - 70 SB
Paypal $5 cash - 70 SB
Barnes & Noble $10 gift card - 125 SB
Target $20 gift card - 235 SB
Well, you get the picture. The crazy thing is you really don't have to do anything to earn SB except search. If you already do a lot of online shopping I think you can earn lots more SB but I'm not into that so I'm not sure.
If you want to join, feel free to use my referral code. I think I get SB for you joining under my name or something, but I'm really not sure.
Let me know how many SB you earn! If I can keep earning almost 30 a week, I can get some good prizes fairly quickly!
What is it?
Swagbucks is a search engine. It actually combines search results from Google and Ask.com. Every time you search for something you could earn Swagbucks. Usually it is 1 but I have actually won 4 Swagbucks one time. Pretty much the more you search there, the better chances you have of getting them. You can also earn SB by shopping online and other things that I won't do because it isn't free.
How do I start?
Go to the website and register. You will get 3 SB immediately. Then just start searching. Also, find new ways to earn SB by clicking on "Ways to Earn". Then you can click on "Prizes" at the top of the website to see what prizes you can earn. I'm not sure you can see this immediately or not - I never looked for it until tonight.
I signed up last Saturday and I've earned 28 SB now. I set it as my homepage, otherwise I'd never remember to go to it. Please note - the search results are not great, but the prizes are worth it, I think. (Besides, you can always search for Google and then Google whatever you are searching for...)
Prizes
28 SB doesn't sound like a lot to me, but right now I could trade those in for a few low prizes - mainly posters, trading cards, and a few $5 online gift cards. But you don't need any SB to earn some cool stuff, in my opinion:
The Office season - 60 SB
Baby clothes - 70 SB
Paypal $5 cash - 70 SB
Barnes & Noble $10 gift card - 125 SB
Target $20 gift card - 235 SB
Well, you get the picture. The crazy thing is you really don't have to do anything to earn SB except search. If you already do a lot of online shopping I think you can earn lots more SB but I'm not into that so I'm not sure.
If you want to join, feel free to use my referral code. I think I get SB for you joining under my name or something, but I'm really not sure.
Let me know how many SB you earn! If I can keep earning almost 30 a week, I can get some good prizes fairly quickly!
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