Swagbucks - Worth It!

There are a lot of "points" programs on the web that promise you prizes and benefits beyond your wildest dreams - and most of them never seem to pay off in reality.  Well, I can now officially say that swagbucks is actually worth the small amount of effort it takes to get setup and use it.

First, Sign Up (click this banner, note that I get bonus points for referring you):



Next, I highly recommend setting swagbucks as your homepage.  If you are a die-hard Google user like me, it might be very difficult for you to make something other than Google (or iGoogle) your home page, but I am telling you it's the best thing.  For one, their homepage has a search box at the top that you can use to do Google-ish searches.  Technically, it combines results from Google and some other search engines.  They present the results a little differently than Google, and in general I don't like the search engine as much as I like pure Google searches - but, it's worth it!  Even if you just do a few searches each time you open your browser, you will start winning a few Swagbucks here and there, and before you know it you will be able to cash them in!

The final thing you "need to do" (in my opinion), is add the swagbucks toolbar.  Now, I can tell you, I hate toolbars.  I generally use the Google Chrome Browser, and I love how simple the UI is.  I have sat down at other people's computers and literally cringed at the site of their Internet Explorer browser with 5+ toolbars that took up almost half of the screen! Aghhhh!  So, here is what I did: I installed the toolbar on Internet Explorer.   It's the only toolbar I have installed, and it's still not my primary browser, but just by having it, whenever I do happen to open IE, I usually get a few free swagbucks.  I'm not kidding, I just launch the program and there is a pop up telling me I got 3 Swagbucks.  And I'm like "Cool, thanks!"  Having the toolbar also gives you access to messages from "TSG" which are generally time-sensitive bonus codes that you input on swagbucks.com and receive more swagbucks.


How does it work?

Mainly, you just use their search engine and you will randomly win Swagbucks, which are points that you can accumulate and then cash in for real prizes.  My favorite thing to do is cash them in for Amazon.com gift cards.  A $5 gift card is 450 Swagbucks.  If you only use swagbucks rarely, like I do, it will take about 4-6 months to get to that level.  $5 in 4 months may not sound like much, but I try to look at it this way: how much time did I actually put in to this, 10 seconds here, 15 seconds there, if it's even 20 minutes total over the 4 months, I'd be shocked.  My point is, for almost no work at all, you are getting $5 free every few months.  And, if you really work at it: get referrals, take surveys, etc (there are a lot of ways to earn free points) then you can earn a lot more!

Watch for Codes!

One of the best ways to get extra swagbucks is to enter bonus codes on the swagbucks.com homepage.  The codes come from various sources: their twitter feed, facebook updates, blog posts, the toolbar, etc.  There are some other coupon bloggers who will also post when there is a new swagcode out and tell you where to find it, so the easiest way to get the codes is the just keep reading your usual blogs, assuming one of them is an active "swagernaut."  (Yes, the folks at swagbucks.com have about a million swag- terms, pretty silly, but it makes it a little fun :)


- Mister Deals

PS my swagbucks referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/misterdeals

Great Rolling at Walgreens this Week (4/25/2010 - 5/1/2010)

This is a great week to stock up on women's shaving cream and feminine products at Walgreens! There are two "Free after Register Reward" deals going on that create a very easy rolling scenario. In each case, the product is on sale for $2.99 and you receive a $3 register reward. So you basically go back and forth, buying one and then the other and paying with your register reward each time. Note that you also have to buy a cheap filler item (I suggest a Nestle candy bar, on sale for 39 cents this week), to bring the pre-tax total above $3. Your first transaction will cost $3.15, but each one after that you pay only 56 cents OOP per transaction.

Example:

Transaction 1
1 Skintimate Shaving Cream $2.99

Total = $3.15
+receive a $3 Register Reward

Transaction 2
1 Stayfree Maxi Pad $2.99
1 "100 Grand" candy bar $0.39
Use $3 Register Reward

Total = $0.56 OOP
+receive another $3 Register Reward

Transaction 3
1 Skintimate Shaving Cream $2.99
1 Butterfinger candy bar $0.39
Use $3 Register Reward

Total = $0.56 OOP
+receive another $3 Register Reward


Repeat transaction 2 & 3 as many times as you want (or until they run out of the product!). These are both items that are not going to "go bad" so stock up now, and never pay full price for shaving cream again! If you don't want to use candy bars as your filler items - check out the clearance racks, or grab some Ramen noodle which are also 39 cents.

- Mister Deals


PS Yes, my first post in almost a year is about feminine products. Does this triumphant return mean I will be blogging regularly? I don't know, but you know what they say: "A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step." and, as always "Be the change you want to see in the world." I'm going to be frugal - blogging or not :)

8 lb Fresh Fruit for about $1.50 @ Target

Mrs. Deals pointed out this deal to me at Target (also seen on Money Saving Mom ). For anyone who thinks that couponing only works for cereal and toilet paper, take a look at this (sorry for the poor quality camera phone pic - it's my only option right now!)

You can print off Target Web Coupons for $0.50 off Bananas (1 lb or more) and $1 off Apples (1 lb or more). If you are really lucky, you're local Super Target will have Apples on sale for 0.99 / lb, which would make it possible to get them free.

At my Target, the small Granny Smith apples were priced at $1.29 / lb, so with the coupon, they were only $0.29 for a pound of apples. Lucky for me, 3 of these little guys came out to exactly a pound. Literally, 2 of my receipts say "1.00 LBS" one was 1.02 and one was .99, but my cashier still happily took the coupon.

Bananas worked out pretty good, although it was a lot harder to hit the 1 lb mark dead on. I split up 2 bunches of six into my four transactions, and found that 3 bananas would weigh anywhere from 1.1 to 1.15 lbs, and 2 bananas rang up as only .68 lb. To my surprise, the cashier let that one fly too, so even though the 2 bananas only cost 38 cents, she still took off the whole $0.50 coupon (the overage came off of the 32 cents I should have paid for the apples) and I ended up having a total of only 20 cents for that transaction!

The total of all 4 transactions was:

.43 + .20 + .50 + .40 = $1.53

Total Haul:

• 4.01 lbs of Small Granny Smith Apples (12 apples)
• 4.20 lbs of Bananas (2 bunches = 12 bananas)

I hesitate to say "OOP" though, because I used a target gift card (one of many we received as wedding gifts), so as far as our weekly budget goes this was a completely free shopping trip.

I can't wait to try whatever Mrs. Deals makes with those apples... yum!

- Mister Deals

Shopping for basics at TJ Maxx

Almost out of vanilla & wanting some sesame oil, Mrs. Deals stopped at TJ Maxx today to scope some prices.

Since a 2oz bottle of McCourmick Vanilla costs around $5 at regular price, we decided to look for alternatives, especially with Thanksgiving time far away (Vanilla goes on sale around 50% off at this time of year). For us it is important to buy real vanilla versus imitation, and as a result we know it would take a good chunk out of our regular weekly budget.

This week we are starting with $30 for shopping & only plan on spending a little at Walgreens and Target, to make up for the cost of staples.

Anyway, onto the TJ Maxx shopping trip:

(2) 4oz bottles of Madagascar Vanilla 5.99 each

(1) 16.7oz bottle of Organic Sesame Oil $4.99

Total out of pocket: $16.97

Rainy Day Blog

It's been quite rainy here lately and by the looks of this weather map, we're not out of the woods yet:

I did get a little wet when I went out coupon hunting this morning, and I blame the weather for why I could only find a few extra inserts this week - apparently people don't go to Starbucks to read the Sunday paper when it's pouring outside!

Other than that, this was a pretty good week, and I did some nice rolling at Walgreens:

Transaction 1:

(8) Jiffy Peanut Butter on sale 2/$4 = $16 (+get $10 RR)
Used:

• (4) $0.75/2 coupons = $3 off total

OOP = $13

and received $10 RR for buying 8 Jiffy's

Transaction 2:

(1) 10 pack of #2 Pencils = 19 cents

(1) Gum Toothbrush = $3.49 (+3.50 RR)

(1) Walgreen's Children's Activity Book = 99 cents

(1) Vitamin Shampoo = $3.99 (+4 RR)

(4) Crest Expressions Toothpaste 4/$10 = $10 (+$5 RR)

Tax = 1.03

Used:

• (4) $0.75/1 coupons = $3 off total
• $10 RR from Transaction 1

OOP = 6.69

and received a total of $12.50 RR

Transaction 3 (a repeat of transaction 1 plus some fillers)

(8) Jiffy Peanut Butter on sale 2/$4 = $16 (+get $10 RR)
(4) 10 pack of #2 Pencils 19 cents each = $0.76

Used:

• (4) $0.75/2 coupons = $3 off total
• $12.50 RR

OOP = $1.30

and received $10 RR (again!) for buying 8 Jiffy's

Walgreen's Total OOP for the week = $20.99

Plus, we have a $10 RR to use this week!

The only other shopping I did this week was a very small trip to Copps:

(1) bunch of bananas $0.49/lb = 1.24

(2) Quaker Quick Oats on sale $1.28 ea = 2.56

OOP = $3.80

Total OOP for the Week = 24.79

(plus we have 1 remaining $10 RR)

We were hoping to stay more under budget, like $20 instead of $25, because we know we need to stock up on some kitchen basics, but it didn't happen this week. Last week, we did stay under $20, so that extra $5 savings will be used this coming week to give us a $30 budget. Mrs. Deals is already working on some deals to see just how far she can make that go... until then, stay dry! :)

- Mister Deals

July 25 to August 1st

So for this week Mrs. Deals & I finished up our remaining "Giving Honeymoon" with the purchases of some toiletry items at Target (Johnson & Johnson, Destin) and at Copps some Tuna Helper (27), 5 Mighty Dog Dog Foods, Snack Packs (4 for free), 6 Wet Ones, 10 Poptarts (They were cheap, so we went with it--usually we opt for cereals), and a few other small items (I don't have the full list in front of me, I've been visiting the in-laws this weekend and left my receipts behind).

For our personal shopping trip we remained under our $25 budget, but did spend right around $20.

We got:

2 Milks Free after two store coupons at Copps

15 Cans of Tuna .50 each after coupons at Target

2 Tide Stain Remover Bottles .99 each after coupons at Copps

6 Tide Single-Loads Free after coupons at Target

4 All 2-Load Detergents Free after coupons at Target

Grapes 1.29 at Copps

6 Back to Nature Mac & Cheeses Free after coupons at Whole Foods

2 Flintstone Vitamins $7 after coupons at Copps

2 Smart Waters Free after Coupons at Copps

in addition our earlier purchases of envelopes and candy at Walgreens came out to .72

All in all, our total came out to just under $20.00 (somewhere between $18.50-20.00)

We are hoping to save some extra money from this week and this coming week to stock up on some staples we are running low on (Vanilla, Flour, Sugar, Powdered Sugar). Since we don't want to dip into future grocery funds (and then end up spending $25 later on anyhow), we want to make sure we are staying a little bit below budget (~$5 for a few weeks) so we can have that money to spend already available.

So, despite my find of 16 copies of ads this week (Found an awesome truck stop at the in-laws) and the great deals at Walgreens, we are limiting ourselves to three transactions with around $18 out of pocket expense with a $10 RR to use next week and we are picking up around $3 of items at Copps--2 Oats and 1 bundle of bananas).

This post is rushed I'll admit, hopefully once Mrs. Deals school year begins we will have more of a structure established so fitting in posts won't be as difficult!

Mister Deals

Fiber One Yogurt

zero guilt snacking

• Make snack time a treat for your taste buds and your waistline
• 50 calories + 0 grams of fat + 5 grams of fiber = zero guilt
• Four delicious flavors — Strawberry, Vanilla, Peach, Key Lime Pie

Mrs. Deals is signed up for General Mills pssst Program to try out new products! Fiber One yogurt is our all-time favorite, so I was excited to learn we have a few coupons now for trying out their new yogurt with even fewer calories. Since we have both been trying to eat healthier, this will be a great snack to have around the apartment.

With this particular promotion we will be mailed coupons and also have access to share some online with friends and family--pretty awesome!

To sign up for this program just head over to pssst.generalmills.com and hopefully they match you up with a great deal soon!

-Mister Deals

(I will be updating about our weekly shopping today or tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that)