How I Use Swagbucks for Free Gift Cards

A couple of years ago, I came across a rewards site called Swagbucks. I was skeptical at first, as every reward site I had tried thus far had been a bust. It was simply too hard to earn rewards! In comes Swagbucks - a reward program that I am actually 100% confident that works! It can be intimidating to start a rewards program, as the websites are often bogged down with so many features, you don't know where to begin! So I've put together a little guide on how I best use Swagbucks. As you get used to the site, you'll find your own groove that works best for you to earn those gift cards!

Swagbucks is a pretty simple website even if it looks a little complicated. They have a lot of good prizes but the best deal is the $5 Amazon Gift Card for 450 Swagbucks (I'll call them "SB" from here on out to save my fingers some time and energy!). All other gift cards are a little pricier, but not by much! Any other $5 gift card is 500 SB. I usually try to stick to Amazon gift cards because they are the better buy, but sometimes I'll go for another if I know I'm going to use it (hello, restaurants!). You can also cash out with Paypal starting at $25, which is great if you just want cold hard cash!

The daily things you want to do on this site are the Daily Poll on the left sidebar and the NOSO button on the left sidebar. The Daily Poll will give you 1 SB. The NOSO is like 5 pages of ads but you don't fill any of them out and just click "skip" on each page. Once you get to the end, you get 2 SB. In your Inbox each day, there will often be opportunities to earn extra SB (usually an ad/series of ads that you can quickly view), that can earn you another 3+ SB. Installing the toolbar will give you an extra 1 SB a day, which adds up nicely over time.

Swagbucks is also a search engine, and you can win more SB by randomly searching. Sometimes I sit at the computer and just type random things into the search box until I win!. You can win like 2-3 times a day. I've gotten as little as 7 SB for a win and as much as 50 SB! So they do add up rather quickly. I'll admit, I don't use this function as much as I should. Often I'll get one "win" and won't try again for the rest of the day. If you are patient and willing, give it a go a couple of times through the day. You may score more than once! Also, Fridays are known as "Mega Swagbucks Day" - search those days! Often the wins are higher than any other day (that's when I earned my 50 SB for one search!).

The BEST way to earn SB faster is to do the surveys. On the top toolbar there is a button labeled "Answer" and in the drop down menu from there, you will see "Surveys". That's where you go. They change constantly through the day. Sometimes you will get disqualified from them (which sucks, but you at least get 1 consolation SB from it) but if you can get one or two a day, consider it a success! It will tell you how many SB you can get from each survey beforehand and roughly how long it will take (so you can decide if you want to commit to completing it).

Another way I earn SB is through Special Offers found under the "Discover" tab at the top of the Homepage. Often you will find easy offers that take a short time to complete and earn you easy SB! There are some offers that require you to make purchases (they are often worth 100+ SB) but I will tell you that I never do those and I still earn a good amount of SB. It's your call if you choose to complete offers that require you to spend money. But know that earning SB CAN be done without having to buy anything!

If you have the time (and interest!) Swagbucks TV is an easy way to earn some SB. I try to watch some videos a day to pick up a few extra SB. Often the videos aren't that long, and you can choose topics to watch that fit your interests. For every 5 videos you watch, you get 2 bucks. There's a little meter in the top corner that will increase by 10% for every video. Get to 100% and you get 2 bucks. You can keep doing it too (I believe the cap is 50 SB a day).

If you notice in the top left section on the home page, there is a Daily Goal meter. It changes every day, and is the daily goal of SB to meet to earn bonus bucks. Please note, you don't HAVE to meet this goal. However, if you do, it provides a nice bonus at the end of the month! Not only do you earn the daily bonus for the days you meet the goal, but you will also earn even more SB if you manage to complete the goal 7, 14, or 21 days in a row. If you complete the goal every day in a month's time, you get a bonus 300 SB! While the bonuses are nice, don't kill yourself over trying to meet the goal every day if you simply don't have the time or patience. Swagbucks should be fun and if you aren't having fun earning, take a break. (* I should note that I have only successfully completed a full month of daily goal earnings once. I simply don't have the patience all the time, and that's okay!).

So to sum it up, I'll give you an example of a typical day using Swagbucks for me:

• 1 SB from the Daily Poll
• 1 SB from the Toolbar
• 2 SB from NOSO
• 8 SB (average, will vary) from Searching
• 10 SB (varies) from Swagbucks TV
• 75 SB (varies) from completing Trusted Surveys
• 50 SB (varies) from completing Special Offers

If you total that, that's an average of about 147 SB a day! 

If a $5 Amazon gift card is only 450 SB, you can see that you I can typically earn one in about 4 days if I keep on top of it. Or I can save up your bucks for other prizes or gift cards. It is ultimately up to you on what you do with your bucks!

So that's Swagbucks! I want to stress that those calculations above are my average. Some days it's higher, some days it's lower. It will highly vary from person to person. The more time you spend on it, the more you should earn! So don't get discouraged when you have low days. We all have them!

Do you have any tips on how you best earn your Swagbucks? Leave a comment! 

Not on Swagbucks yet? What are you waiting for?! 
Join here: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/NicM87

DIY Monster's Inc. Mike Wizowski Shirt

Anybody who's somebody knows that Monster's Inc. is coming out with a new movie, Monster's University, next month. I'm excited. I may be an adult but I can't help but love a good animated movie. I have a feeling this one is going to be great.

Living so close to Orlando has its perks. It means that I get to visit the local theme parks when time (and finances!) permit. Can you guess where I'll be headed for the day next week? I'll give you one hint - Mickey Mouse! As I'm sure everyone has seen around the internet, it's quite popular to make/buy themed shirts to wear when visiting the parks. I hopped on Etsy looking for a great shirt and I was shocked. $25 for a shirt?! Craziness. So I decided to make my own.

A quick Google search led me to this image and I decided to use it as my inspiration.

Now I'll be honest. I've just recently taught myself to sew so I am still a major beginner. But I decided to give this project a shot anyway. Guess what? It worked! Let me tell you how I did it.

I went on over to Hobby Lobby (love!) and bought the following supplies:
- 1 lime green t-shirt (30% off!)
- White fabric (I believe I went with 1/4 of a yard to be safe)
- 1 sheet of each: light blue, and black felt (found in the craft aisle)
- 1 package of Heat N Bond (have you tried this stuff? <3!)

I really should have taken more detailed pictures of the process but I didn't think of it.

1. First, I traced a large round bowl right onto the Heat N Bond. Make sure it's proportionate to the shirt size you are using! I cut out that circle.
2. Using an iron and following the Heat N Bond directions, I ironed the circle I created right onto the white fabric (this will create the white of Mike's eye).
3. Once bonded to the fabric, I cut it out. If you are following along, you should have a white circle of fabric with the Heat N Bond on the backside. Peel off the backing of that Heat N Bond, position it where you want the "eye" to be on the shirt. Then go ahead and iron that down.
4. Using white thread and my sewing machine, I did a quick sew around the eye. Look at the picture below for reference. If you look closely, you'll see my sewing skills weren't perfect. But hey, I'm not looking for perfection. It got the job done.

5. Next, traced a smaller bowl directly onto the blue fabric (you can use the Heat N Bond method above for this, I just got lazy and decided to just sew it directly onto the shirt). I did the same for the black iris of Mike's eye. Once I was happy with the positioning, I sewed them onto the shirt (I changed out the thread to match the blue and black felt. You don't have to, I just get a little OCD).
6. Now comes the part where you get a bit creative. Looking at the image I used for my inspiration, I free-handed a drawing of Mike's mouth. I again used the Heat N Bond method, drawing it directly onto the adhesive, cutting it out, ironing it onto the black felt, cutting it out. It's not as hard as it sounds, as the shape isn't too complicated if you look at it.
7. Once I was happy with it, I drew some teeth onto the same white fabric I used to make the eye. I cut them out and pinned the strip of teeth directly onto the black felt "mouth". Out came the sewing machine and white thread, as I sewed the two together.

Again, not perfect, but it got the job done. I'm happy with it.

8. Now all that's left to do is sew the complete mouth onto the shirt. Remember that the Heat N Bond is on the back of the mouth. Peel away the paper and  find the place on the shirt you think the mouth looks best. Then iron away. After I ironed it on, I sewed through the teeth part using white thread and the mouth part using black thread. You don't have to be as particular about that as you want. One thread color all around won't ruin the shirt.

Here is my completed shirt:

Again, not perfect, but I wasn't looking for perfection. For a beginner, I think it looks pretty good! The best part? It only cost me about $5! Much better than the pricier shirts I saw online.

If you give this project a shot, please link up to me and share your link with me! I'd love to see how yours came out! In the meantime, I'm excited to wear mine to Disney World next week!