Swagbucks 101 part 1

A few years ago, I heard of Swagbucks from another blog I read. I signed up and would do a search here or there. It wasn't much, but it slowly added up to $5 Amazon gift cards (my redemption of choice, there are many other retailers available but I will get to that later). Adding these up made for some very inexpensive birthday and holiday gifts.

I didn't redeem for a single gift card last year, as I was much busier after returning to working outside the home. Near Christmas, my dear friend mentioned how well her husband was doing with earning giftcards through his Swagbucks account. I decided to give it another shot. What a good choice on my part!

Since January 1, 2014 I have redeemed Swagbucks for $15 in Amazon gift cards, $20 in Target gift cards, $5 in Walmart gift cards, and $10 in CVS gift cards. That's $50 so far this month free money!

Want to start earning your own gift cards? Sign up here!

Here's a snapshot of my past earnings since I started

Super Savings Sunday!

Today I really remembered my love for saving money.

I brought my son to a friend's house for a playdate. On the way home, I stopped at CVS and got 3 newspapers. I had $5 ECB that I used, so it only cost me $4. Took the papers home and started sorting my coupon inserts. I was a bit bummed that there was only one insert, but it was larger than usual. I was most interested in the b1g1 Speed Stick coupon to use later at CVS for free deodorant.

I took the ads and matched up a few deals between CVS and Target that would give me back rewards to use at their stores later on. I also had earned gift cards to both stores via Swagbucks (I will post more about that in a later post), so I was taking that into consideration as well. My internet coupons were also printed via Swagbucks link.

I went to Target first. They showed in their ad that when you purchase 10 select items, you would get a $5 Target gift card in return. There was also a deal on L'oreal hair products that you would get a $5 gift card when you spent $20 on these hair products.

Here is what I purchased:

(3) cans Campbell's chunky soup $1.44 each
used (1) $1 off 3 coupon

(1) jar Ragu pizza sauce (no coupon used)$1.19 each

(6) boxes Barilla Plus pasta $2.09 each
used (3) $1 off 2 coupon - internet printable

(2) 25.4oz bottles L'oreal Total Repair conditioner $5.99 each
used (1) $5 off 2 coupon - internet printable

(1) 25.4oz bottle L'oreal Total Repair shampoo $5.99 each

(1) 12.6oz bottle L'oreal Total Repair shampoo $3.99 each

Total after coupons were $25.83
Used the above mentioned $10 gift card
New total $15.83 AND I received 2 more $5 gift cards for future use at Target

Here is what I got at CVS:

(4) Speed Stick for men $1.99 each
used (2)B1G1Free Speed Stick coupon

(2) Speed Stick for her $1.99 each
used (1)B1G1Free Speed Stick coupon

(1) gallon milk $3.39
no coupon used

(1) pack Trident gum $1.57
no coupon used
Total after coupons $10.96
Used $10ECB from last week's toilet paper deal
New total 96 cents and I got $6ECB from the deodorant, and $1ECB for the milk

Any questions? Post them in the comment section :)