Earn money using Swagbucks!

Early last year we posted a feature on using Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a great way to earn money simply by searching, which we all do every day anyway. The basic premise is that every search you do has the potential to earn you Swagbucks. 45 swagbucks can get you $5 in Amazon cash. You can also get swagbucks for shopping through the swagbucks site as well, but Ebates is a better site for that in my opinion.

Last year's post is here for those interested. It contains a technical guide for setting Swagbucks as your default search engine in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work in Safari.

How was everyone's new year?

Katharine

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Workin' Hard for the Money!

All of us, your two femme frugals included, seem to be working even harder lately in an effort to avoid being the unfortunate recipients of any of those pink slips that seem to be flying around these days. When it comes to extra work, however, there are ways of finding sources of extra income that won't add significant time to your 40hr+ work week! As a disclaimer, I borrowed the best ideas (in my opinion) from the MomsbyHeart site series "Skills to Pay the Bills". As I try some of these out, I hope some of you will join me--that being said, be sure to check up on any service, company, or website before giving out personal/sensitive information!

1) Virtual Customer Service - With a landline & a computer, you can choose your own hours and work at home as a customer service representative. Expect many of these companies to require a credit and background check, as well as call-in script reading. Some may have other qualifications as well, so read the job descriptions carefully. A few companies to look into:

* Arise
* Working Solutions
* LiveOps
* Accolade Support
* Overflow USA
* ADC Direct
* Alpine Access
* Customer Loyalty Concepts
* Staffing at Home
* VIP Desk
* Hirepoint
* Convergys
* West at Home

2) Verification Agent - Have you ever changed your long distance service, and been asked to hold for a 3rd party verification agent? Chances are, that agent was working from home. Visit VoiceLog for information on becoming an independent contractor.
3) Virtual Publicist - There are literally thousands of virtual public relations firms across the country who are looking for experienced PR people. If you have experience in writing, event planning, promotions, pitching or marketing, contact one of these companies for more information.
* Perkett PR
* Bisbee & Co.
* Orca Communications
* Google search for "virtual public relations firm"

4) Online Tutoring - Attention college graduates. Connect with students online as a tutor in a variety of subjects. Positions require you to take a competency test and some require previous teaching experience. Here is a list of sources:

* Tutor.com
* TutorVista
* Tutorzilla
* TutorNation
* Kaplan

5) Join SwagBucks to earn points that you can trade in for gift certificates for amazon.com and other great things! I use this and I just got my first $5 amazon gift card! Clearly, if I were more diligent about doing my searches through here I would have gotten it a lot soon, but it just goes to show that it works...





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Cash back for shopping, searching

There are a few websites that give you cash back or points for shopping, and some that give you points for searching. One of my personal favorites is Ebates(referral link). I got my first check from Ebates yesterday for $39.41... the best thing about it is that I got money back on things I would have bought anyway! You get $5 for each referral, and % cash back on many online stores (ie Old Navy, Victoria's Secret, Sears, Home Depot, Zappos). If you do any shopping online, its worth a look into.

There's also been a bit of a to-do about SwagBucks lately(referral link). Swagbucks has a similar shop for rewards strategy, but payment is in Gift Cards and such. You can also get exclusive swag codes to earn swagbucks for nothing! What really makes swagbucks appealing to me is the search for swagbucks functionality. To make it easier to search and earn, swagbucks has toolbars for internet explorer, firefox, and safari.

You can also change your default search engine on your internet browser to earn swagbucks without installing the toolbar. I'm including instructions below for IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari.

Internet Explorer - Navigate to Tools, Options. On the General Tab, click the Settings button under the Search header. Click on the link entitled "Find more providers..." which will take you here. For the URL, enter the following: http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?t=w&p=1&q=TEST and for the Name enter Swagbucks. Click Install. You should get a popup window. Select the checkbox for Make Default Provider and click "Add Provider". You are all set! If you don't get the popup window, make sure you are visiting the link in Internet Explorer. When you Navigate to the link via Tools > Options, it opens in your default browser.

Firefox - I recommend installing the toolbar . I can't figure this one out... and I'm pretty tech savvy.

Opera - Navigate to Tools > Preferences, and click on the Search tab. Click Add and fill in a Name and Keyword. In the Address field enter the following: http://swagbucks.com/?t=w&p=1&q=%s and select the Use as Default Search. And you are all set :)

Chrome - Click on the wrench in the upper right hand corner and select Options. On the Basics tab, under Default Search, click the Manage button. Click add and specify a name and keyword for this search engine (swag, swagbucks, sb, etc). In the URL field enter this url: http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?t=w&p=1&q=%s Hit OK. Scroll down to the bottom of the search list, and click on your new search engine. Click the Make Default button, and you are all set! Now anytime you search from the awesome bar you'll have the change to earn swagbucks!

Safari - I recommend using the toolbar.. Changing search engines in Safari for windows is kind of a hack .


So sign up for swagbucks, set up your browser, and earn yourselves some cash! If you have any problems setting up, comment here and I'll help you out. I can also be reached at gchat or aim as thefemmesfrugal.


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