So you may have noticed that I barely post on the blog anymore. That feels pretty weird after 10 years of regularly posting! But right now I have so much 'stuff' to keep up with that I haven't spent much time working on any fun crafts or new recipes. I decided to cut myself a break and not worry about forcing anything just to make sure I write something once a week or once a month, and just post whenever I have something I want to share! Next year my littlest one starts Pre-K, so in my fantasy world I'm instantly going to have oodles of time to work on everything I want. We'll see, haha.
Today I wanted to share my newest obsession with you ~ Swagbucks and InstaGC! I started with those sites 1 month ago and between the two I've already made over $160!! You can see why I'm hoooked. I've been using this for fun money and was able to buy a Instant Pot, a new printer, and more.
I'd heard the name thrown around a lot in the past, and even checked out the site before, but thought you mostly got a few measly points here & there for doing web searches & stuff, and so I wasn't very interested. Recently I was reading a post that talked about some of the rebate apps I use, as well as a few other money making sites, and when the author she said she was making $25 a month through Swagbucks I decided to give it another look.
There are tons of ways to get 'points' on the site (100 points = $1), but the best way I've found is through surveys. If you can do one survey you should be able to hit your 'daily goal' easily. (Some days that is easier than other!) You can also get some nice cash back from online shopping, just like eBates. Best of all, there are lots of nice bonuses that add up, like getting a few points for finishing the daily 'to-do list', for entering 'swag codes', special promos, or big bonuses if you meet your daily goal each day that month. This month I was expecting about $2.25 for meeting my daily goals, and somehow ended up with a $5 bonus! Gotta love that. By the end of the month I had made $55.
To cash out, they have tons of gift cards in stock like Amazon & eBay, some as low as $3 (they do take a couple of days to process). If you save up though, you can trade 2200 points for a $25 card once a month for a nice discount.
Tips -
♦ There are 2 daily goals, which will both give you a few bonus points. Your 1st goal will be around 40 points the first week, and then will go up to maybe 80 after that. I found that when I hit the 1st and 2nd goal every day, the amounts just kept getting higher & higher until it was hard to even meet the 1st one. When I started just meeting the 1st goal & staying below the 2nd, the amount stayed around 80 each day. Much more manageable!
♦ Most of the daily 'to-do list' items are super easy to knock out, other than finding a 'Discover' option that doesn't involve spending money. I usually go to Offer Toro and let an EngageMe video play until I hit a point, or choose the lowest paying offers from Peanut Labs and click through a slideshow or something for 1 point. The to-do list is completely optional anyway, you just get some bonus points for completing it.
♦ I downloaded the Swagbucks TV app and earn 10-40 points a day running some videos on my phone when I'm not using it. Go to the 'Home and Garden' section and favorite all of the "10 Sec Tip" videos, which are super short. Then you can watch just your 'favorites' and will quickly rack up the points until your videos max out of for the day. I have also tried the main Swagbucks app and their 'Answer' app, but those have been mostly useless.
♦ These sites change things up over time, so if you are looking for info on something, make sure to look for results no older than a year.
InstaGC ~
I'll admit, I was not a fan of InstaGC after the first day! It seemed like every offer wanted you to register on some site or spend money or give them your email address. I was able to make $2 the first day without doing any of those though, so I stuck around. I learned about the site from the same post I mentioned above, and the author's claim of easily making $5 a day seemed impossible. After a week or so I figured out my way around the site better and actually did start making about $5 a day! But only by doing as many surveys as I could. I was happy to keep plugging away though as I saw my points rising, and by the end of the month I'd made $108!!
The reason I make twice as much on InstaGC is simply because they have so many more surveys available. One of my favorite spots to look for them are under "All", click on the "InstaGC" button (they call them "walls"), and then look for Live Sample, Samplicio.us, and Your Surveys. You do need to give each of those survey groups your email address, but they are only used to track users (they won't send you emails or give out your address). My other favorite survey spot is under Earn > Surveys. New ones are added there throughout the day, so I check back frequently for well paying ones. If surveys are not your thing, I've seen many users who avoid them and still manage to make more than I do per day, but I'm guessing they are doing some offers I wouldn't be comfortable with.
Tips -
♦ After you earn $5 you will be able to see a chat window
running along the side of the page. It's a great place to get your
questions answered quick, and to see tips for good paying surveys and
deals.
♦ On the InstaGC wall I went through and hid all of the deals that wanted me to register or sign up for a free sample (250+ offers!) so that I can clearly see just surveys there. It takes a while to do, but if you hide a few here & there, they'll soon be all gone.
♦ Just like Swagbucks, you can earn points by letting videos run in the background. I go to Earn > Watch Videos, turn the volume almost all the way down on my computer, and keep them going on another tab as much as possible through the day. Since this is a slow season, details on the videos have changed quite a bit even during the month I've been here, but I've been able to make about 25-50 points a day from those. (100 points = $1) VideoLab on the Offer Toro wall is even better paying, when they are available, but you can't shrink down or hide those. Those are great to pull up when you are about to leave the house or just won't be using the computer for a while.
♦ InstaGC has a much larger collection of gift cards, for all different amounts, and you get the codes instantly! After you've cashed in $50 worth of cards you can even start doing Paypal deposits.
So have any of you tried Swagbucks or InstaGC? I know surveys are not for everyone, but I was already involved with two surveys sites with *much* lower results, so I was thrilled to find these! Even if you only aim to do one survey a day you could easily have $30 of fun-money by the end of the month, and it's so easy to work on them while you're watching TV & hanging out. Seeing my points climbing up, and knowing I can cash out any time, definitely keeps me motivated to try for another and another.
