Over the last 10 years, there have been all sorts of “browse and win”, “search and win”, and “simply be alive and win” sites and I’ve sampled most of them.  A few actually paid out, but many were duds from day one.  Generally, I’ve stopped looking for these deals since most aren’t worth the time and risk the system will go under.   But about a month ago, I came across the SwagBucks search engine for the first time.

How Does SwagBucks Work?

SwagBucks is different than many of the other systems I’ve tried because they didn’t try to roll their own search engine.  Instead, when you search through SwagBucks, you’re actually pulling results from Google and Ask.com with a few sponsored links mixed in.  Every time you search using the SwagBucks search engine, you have a chance to win.

How Do I Win?

Winning with SwagBucks is pretty easy:  All you have to do is search using their website.  If you’re logged in, you have the possibility of randomly winning anywhere from one to 100 “Swag Bucks” that can be redeemed for gift certificates and merchandise.  (Right now 45 Swag Bucks is good for a $5 gift certificate from Amazon.com).  Since you’re already searching the internet for something, you might as well get paid for it.

Not only can you win Swag Bucks by searching, you can also earn by shopping.  By using their “Shop & Earn” interface before shopping online, you can earn 1 Swag Buck for every $5 you spend at an affiliated online retailer.  This isn’t nearly as great of a payout, but it’s free money if you were going to buy something anyway.

How Do I Join?

Joining is easy, all you have to do is sign up at swagbucks.com with your email address and start searching.  Just by signing up, you’ll be credited 3 Swag Bucks right away.  I would appreciate if you joined using my links, but you’re free to also sign up on your own.  And once you’ve joined, you can refer your friends and win when they win.

Make SwagBucks Easy to Use

Once you’ve joined, you can make it even eaiser to use the SwagBucks search engine.  They have a number of pre-built toolbars and search addins for your browser to automatically search using the SwagBucks engine.  Just look for the “Toolbars” link at the top of the page.

Let the Snowflakes Pile Up

Now search!  Before long, you’ll have won enough Swag Bucks to cash out your first gift certificate that you earned doing something you already do.  Talk about an easy return on your efforts!

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Over the last ten years, I amassed a sizable DVD collection. I collected everything from TV series to classic movies. But after these years of pointless purchases, I realized that what I’m sitting on is not a collection of DVDs, but of worthless dust. In the last three years, we haven’t watched a single DVD from our collection (aside from DVDs of my daughter’s favorite shows). What value is there in owning something that you never use and only is noticed when it comes time to dust the shelves?

About this time last year, I realized the “obvious”: I should sell my collection, or at least parts of it.

After getting burned many times by scammers on eBay, I chose to sign up for an Amazon.com Sellers account. It didn’t take much effort to set up the account and soon I was listing DVDs for sale publicly. Amazon.com, like eBay and PayPal, charges you for the convenience of listing your items and having them accept payment, but for that fee you get access to a large, engaged buying community and decent protection from fraudsters.

With an Amazon.com Sellers account, you list your items for a fixed price and they sit out there in the wild until they sell. I’ve found it best to research the prices others are selling the item for and listing mine at a competitive (but not bargain-basement) price. Within a week, Amazon emailed me to let me know I made my first sale.

You are required to ship the item within two business days of receiving payment and Amazon does give you a modest allowance for shipping. I’ve found it’s easiest to keep the boxes and shipping filler you received from other Amazon.com and online purchases for shipping your own product. My most recent sale gave me a shipping allowance of $2.98, of which I only needed $2.85 (to ship via USPS Media Mail).

To date, I’ve made nearly $125 from selling DVDs that no longer held value to me. I probably paid more than that when I first purchased them, but cash now is always better than junk on a shelf! If you have a collection that is collecting dust, it may be that your collection would be more valuable to someone else. You can easily boost your savings account by selling your stuff and stashing that money away for when you need it most.

Photo by: dearsomeone

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Man, snowflakes can really pile up fast if you’re not paying attention! When I started squirreling money away from surveys, “found money”, and side income, I didn’t think it would ever amount to much – and that’s why snowflaking is so successful.  Little by little, your snowflakes grow into a full-blown snowstorm to freeze away your debt.

Snowflakes don’t have to start as much.  By definition, many snowflakes will be just a few dollars, but the size of the snowflakes isn’t what matters – it’s their impact on your debt over time.

Since January, here are the snowflakes I’ve tallied up so far:

• Side Business – $500
• Ad Revenue – $180
• Surveys – $82.93
• Selling Stuff on Amazon – $53.54
• ING Direct Referrals – $40
• Product Rebate – $29.95
• ING Direct Sign-Up Bonus – $25
• Product Referrals – $15.34

In all, I’ve earned $926.76 extra so far this year that will go to paying down debt.

Just late last week, my wife sent off an extra car payment of $800 (taken from the snowflake money) which will be followed soon by the “regular” car payment of $300.  By the end of the month, we should owe less than $3,000 on the car loan and by the end of the year it should be paid off entirely! Next, we’ll work on knocking out the student loan debt as my snowflakes grow through overtime at work and more side business and ad revenue.

What snowflake sources have you found?  I’m curious to hear some other snowflake success stories.

Photo credit: wvs

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

I didn’t know it, but apparently ING cancels referral links if they’re not used within 30 days. That means I have 10 new links to share with you today!

So you’re wondering what’s the deal with ING Direct? I wondered the same thing, too. That is, until I signed up myself.

With ING Direct’s special referral codes, you get a free $25 by opening an account with an initial deposit of $250. That means you immediately realize a 10% gain that is yours free to download after 30 days. Not only that, when you sign up with $250, they give me $10 and makes me very grateful to you and helps me build my snowflake account.

As of the time of this post, they’re offering 3% interest, compounded monthly. This is about 6 times better than my bank’s savings interest rate. Add that to the fact that ING Direct was recently recognized as one of the most secure banks and you have yourself one great deal.

There are many more benefits that what I just listed here, so don’t hesitate to sign up now to claim your free $25 and see what else they have to offer for you!

Referral Links:

• Please visit my ING page for links

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

When planning your emergency fund, it’s important to store a good percentage of the funds in an easily-accessible, higher-interest savings account.  I have our current emergency fund savings split between a credit union savings account and an ING Direct savings account.  This allows me to gain a high interest rate on the credit union savings, but have easier access to the other half of the money through the ING savings linked to my checking account.

ING recently awarded me with 50 referrals to share with my friends.   These referrals earn you an instant $25 if your initial deposit is at least $250. This is a huge snowflake at an unbelievable effective interest rate of 10%.  On top of that, I’ll earn $10, so it will help with my snowflaking efforts, too.

I’ve set up 10 of my referrals on my new ING $25 Bonus Referrals page. As those are used up, I will replace them with more until all 50 are exhausted.  And, in the spirit of the generosity of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… I will post referral codes for other people, too.   All you have to do is e-mail me and we’ll get it set up!

Happy savings!

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Today a very welcome e-mail arrived in my inbox. It said “$1.00 price drop!” Those three words (four if you count pronouncing the dollar amount) made me very happy.

You see, about three days after purchasing some of my Christmas gifts on Amazon.com this year, I heard about a service called Price Protectr. It’s a pretty simple idea: it helps you capitalize on the price matching rules many retailers have set up for price drops in their own sales. Every day, the site checks up on the items I purchased and lets me know if the price has dropped from the time I purchased it. If and when that happens, it sends out an email alerting you not only that it dropped but how to request your refund.

I promptly logged into my Amazon.com account and requested the amount refunded to me. Now as soon as I go home, I can “snowflake” that amount into my savings for use either in my emergency fund or in investments. Yay! Thanks, Price Protectr!

I have received no compensation or consideration from this post. I do not intend to ever do any paid endorsements – that way you can always trust that my word is my own. I just occasionally want to share some neat services I find with you so you can benefit as well.

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com