I’m in this energized couponing, deal finding, help reduce our debt (student loans and mortgage) groove. A few friends do something called Swagbucks and I always thought it was a waste of time and just one more thing to have to do during the day. Turns out it’s really not that hard and kind of fun.

More or less it’s a search engine and you can earn “swag bucks” by using it (same as you would google). Results are pretty good but I do still use google for a lot of things. I’ve found your best chances of getting bucks is when you search once in the morning, afternoon and before bed. You can type in your search around 6 times during those periods and if no bucks appear it’s best to try again later.

You can also earn bucks by entering codes that periodically appear on their site. Also by referrals where people sign up through your swagbucks.com link and any bucks they earn, you also earn. Shameless self promotion, this is my swagbucks.com link ;-) I don’t have any referrals yet, have just been earning a few bucks doing my own thing. There are also surveys and videos you can “watch” to earn bucks. I might have a video ad playing on my laptop next to me while we’re watching tv at night, just to earn a few extra.

A lot of people are far more into it than I am, I just earn a few bucks here and there whenever I think about it. This site has been really helpful in learning how to play the game and earn extra bucks.

The point is, you earn these bucks and can redeem them for prizes…the best deal for me being $5 amazon gift cards for 450 bucks. Pretty cool for not really doing anything. Little disclaimer, I’m not trying to be sneaky and get you to sign up or anything (although hey if you want to, that’s great too)…just thought I’d share :)