This year I decided to try and save up my points from various sources all year and cash in now for some extra Christmas "money". I don't get a ton of points, for a couple of reasons. I don't have referrals to add to my points and I don't buy very much online (and half the time I do, I forget to go through the points portal first!). But, I at least try to get the minimum by opening the emails and doing the searches.
This year I was able to get $40 in gift cards (I chose $25 in Amazon and $15 in Target) from Swagbucks. (If you aren't familiar with Swagbucks - you can check them out from my link on the right). I have a search toolbar and every day I do several searches until I hit upon some points. Then I answer the daily poll, good for one point. Just doing this every day you can easily earn enough points for $30 in Amazon gift cards (450 point for $5). I also occasionally remember to check out www.sbcodez.com, which lists any current codes available for more points.
The other points site I use is MyPoints. This year I was able to get a $25 Kohl's gift card. I didn't get near as many points as I could have this year. There were weeks at a time where I didn't open my yahoo email, so that I could click on the emails and earn the 5 points (if offered - not all the emails offer points just by clicking on the offer), so I lost out on quite a bit I could have earned, but hey - I'll take the $25 gift card :-). MyPoints also just added a new tool, that I downloaded, which automatically credits you the points if you shop in one of their partner stores and forget to open the MyPoints portal first. I see they now offer points for Amazon (probably the place I shop online the most), and I don't think they offered that before.
Every little bit helps and I only spend a few minutes a day "working my points". I'm going to try and be more diligent about opening my yahoo email (the email address I use specifically for coupons, online shopping and such) and getting the MyPoints taken care of.
I use swagbucks too (do the poll and noso every day for 3 pts, search until I get some points then play games to keep the brain fresh when I have time - 2 pts per game to a max 10 per day). I bought hubby a couple books for Christmas with my amazon gcs and am now saving to buy some travel books for our trip in the Spring. I have a $60 redemption at Shoppers Drug Mart (Canadian Company) that I am going to use in early December to buy all the chocolate goodies for our family as part of their gifts. As you said, every little bit helps!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check more into the NOSO points and games on days when I have some free time
DeleteI had the same plan for my Swagbucks gift cards, but ended up using the Amazon $ to buy myself books for a trip. I would have spent the money either way, & I was trying to save my travel funds. Now that it's almost Christmas, I sure wish I would have saved them. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI did cash in some points a month or so ago when they were having a "sale" on Target gift cards, so I got 2 and was able to use them to save on things I normally buy there (pet food and treats, cleaning supplies, etc)
DeleteI use both too. This year I cashed in $25 for Amazon from Swagbucks and $50 Walmart gift card from My points (will be a Christmas gift for my sister). I like to do searches with My points because I know exactly how many points I'll get every month if I reach my goal. By the end of November I will have enough points already for a $10 gc but I'll roll it into next year.
ReplyDeleteIf you download the swagbucks toolbar you'll get an extra SB when you open your browser. Also, you can then just click "Check for Swag Code" to see if any are available.
ReplyDelete