Reward, Rebates, Swagbucks, etc...

[Float On]

How do you organize your time and sites and passwords and all that other stuff that comes along with trying to earn gift cards on-line?
I love reading the daily frugal board and people report all their daily earnings. It just seems so time consuming....is it?

Years ago I daily went to a frugal message board where freebies were posted. It was easy to click through to sign up for things. I think the best freebie I got was a pair of Asics running shoes. Are there still message boards around like that?


Some people seem to have a really good rate of return on their time seeking out freebies - do you?

[ToomuchStuff]

I have an aunt (widowed uncles second wife) that was going on about how she used to do the freebies and contests things years ago (when I first met her). She could make it a full time job, with an eight hour day and did so for a while, after retiring from the post office. I don't remember what all she won, other then a couple of cars, but postage and all, that seemed like an expensive gamble to me. (odds are constantly changing)
I know on a board, about a hobby of mine, there used to be a frequent poster who would find all of these combine deals for places like Amazon, where you would end up with free stuff. People generally did it to get what they wanted and sold off the rest. Those deal type days are seemingly gone as companies don't see "easy money" nowdays.

So many of the freebie things are now for signing up (and giving them your email address, facebook like, marketing information and rights), that I just don't do it. It still costs money to get rid of some "free" stuff, so I would rather just buy what I needed.

[try2bfrugal]

Some of the things I do that I think are worth the time:

Sign up for store and restaurant newsletters that go to a spam email account: We get some free things this way like free birthday meals, special coupons, gift certificates, etc. Today I stockpiled loss leaders from Safeway's Just For U program. I go there and only buy the loss leaders and nothing else. The receipt said today's shopping came to 38% off regular prices, which at that rate is usually more discounted than Costco without having to buy enormous size packages of everything.

Staples ink recycling - they accept off brand ink cartridges and pay $2 a cartridge in rewards.

High yield checking account - I do the debits at self service stores when there is no one else in line to meet the 10 debits a month minimums. Today I got some croissants and muffins from the Fresh and Easy clearance rack and then paid for each item individually with the debit card. I like to do the debits on small purchases so I can save the big purchases for the cash back cards.

Take my own bags shopping - Some stores give a nickel back or so per bag and it is better for the environment.

Cash back rewards cards - I have the 2% back Fidelity card. I would like to get a 5% back grocery card but I am waiting until we are done downsizing to get any more credit cards. I want our FICO score to be high when we apply for the mortgage on the new house.

Checking account sign on bonuses: Last year we made a few hundred extra dollars for the household as a whole opening checking accounts between the four of us.

Focus groups: Some have been around $200 a pop.

I get a lot of these ideas from the slickdeals and fatwallet forums. But for a lot of the stuff that gets posted it is easier for me to just work more hours at the business. But these are the things that I think do not take up too much time and are worth the effort.

[happystuff]

I never in my life thought I would see "Swagbucks" in the subject line of a thread here at Simple Living - LOL!!!

I've been a swagbucks user for about 3+ years now. The first two years i feel it really helped significantly with Christmas. Now... lately... more and more I am coming to realize that it really is just a time-sucker for me. It is my addictive "go-to" avoidance website. I think the time/earnings ratio is less than .20 cents an hour.

I am truly desiring a more minimalist lifestyle and - while 'free' is great - I just don't need/want the "stuff" side of all these sites.

This is a very timely thread for me. Thanks for starting it!

[ToomuchStuff]

I didn't realize, until the above post that swagbucks, was an actual site, just just a term used for "free stuff", that you get for your actual money.

[try2bfrugal]

I have been doing the swagbucks daily poll and maybe I'll let a video play while I'm actually doing something else in another browser. 500 points gets a $5 gift card. I was up to 182 points and did something that I didn't realize took 30 points away. At this rate if I stop losing points I'm good for $10 in gift cards per year.

It takes about 20 seconds to do the poll and start a video so I guess I am earning a whopping $5 an hour.