It appears that the Swagbucks widget is no longer functional since they have been allowing us to share Swag Codes I will update this in the future if another widget becomes available.
Swagbucks widget
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Scam Free Paid to Search Sites
Making Money Online
I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to make a living entirely online. In the long run I hope to have my websites be very successful but in the short term there are a lot of options for supplemental income. I have found my iPhone to be an excellent tool for bringing in cash and gift cards with apps like Checkpoints and Field Agent but those are just the beginning. One other way I have found to generate income pretty easily is through sites which pay me to search. The two best paid to search sites right now are Swagbucks and Zoombucks.
Swagbucks Is Awesome
Swagbucks is currently the most successful and popular paid to search site. I’ve been able to earn about $15 in Amazon gift cards during my first month. I have done this without referrals, mostly from just searching, watching a few videos and voting in the daily poll. The amounts vary for most prizes but for a $5 Amazon gift card, 1 Swagbuck equals a little more than a penny. They will also pay you cash through Paypal but with a Paypal cashout, 1 Swagbuck is worth only a little more than half a penny. I don’t use Swagbucks for all my searches but I use it a good portion of the time. There are many other ways to earn Swagbucks such as their special offer walls, surveys and promo codes. I don’t think they give a particularly fair deal for trading in games or phones unless your other option is to throw them away. Swagbucks just recently started offering paid games where you can compete in tournaments for jackpots or be rewarded smaller amounts for playing for free. I had the games take my Swagbucks then not load twice but once I emailed them for support they credited them back within a couple of hours. The easiest way to earn Swagbucks, however, is with referrals. Each active referral gets you 1 Swagbuck for every one they earn up to 1000. I just installed the toolbar which gives 1 free Swagbuck every day. I cashed in my first 1350 Swagbucks a couple of days ago It takes about 10 days to receive payments and they come in like clockwork. My referral link is Swagbucks and, as always, I would really appreciate anyone using it.
Here is the Swagbucks App For iPhone
Here is the SBTV App For iPhone
Here is the Entertainnow App For iPhone:
Zoombucks Is Good
Zoombucks is the other paid search site that I recommend at the moment based on my research. I just joined yesterday and have made 342 Zbucks already. One Zbuck equals a penny. Where Swagbucks offers gift cards and physical prizes, Zoombucks only has gift cards. They do have a great selection of them including Amazon, Itunes, Disney, Chocolate.com and Borders. This probably isn’t the best time to get a Borders gift certificate though.
Zoombucks also has many ways to earn and is available in every country. Just like Swagbucks, you don’t earn with every search but one thing they do that I like is paid emails. My first one was a code worth 20 Zbucks! There is a section called Zdaily that seems to give Zbucks every day just for visiting. There are also paid games, GPT offers, surveys and most of the usual offerings such sites have. I have found this site to be the easiest, that I have tried so far, to qualify for surveys .
I think this site could be as big or bigger than Swagbucks when people catch on to it. The only nitpicks I have are the $20 minimum cash out and the captchas for every Zbuck you earn from searching. The referrals pay a little less than Swagbucks at 10% but there is no limit. Here is my referral link, Zoombucks My user name is sodaguy. I appreciate anyone using it.
Irazoo
Another paid to search site I tried is Irazoo. Irazoo is pretty good but the earnings are slower than Swagbucks and Zoombucks. So far I have only made $5 on Irazoo. You get paid for searches and filling out different offers just like the other two sites. The nice thing they do is have admins check out offers to tell you which ones credit quickly then they post them on their Facebook page. In my experience,when you cash out it takes at least 30 day to get paid. I definitely think this is a site worth using. My username is Sodaguy, here is my referral link, thanks for using it. Irazoo
Watch Out For Those Suspicious Packages Here in Spokane
You just never know when your going to run into a suspicious package in Spokane, they seem to be just about everywhere. I was watching TV tonight for the first time in since I figured everything is available online that I would want to watch. They interrupted the show I was watching to report that a large part of downtown Spokane was shut down because the bomb squad was investigating a suspicious coffee mug. Apparently someone saw this “coffee mug” in a parking lot and picked it up. He said it was heavier than he thought it should be so he called 911. They sent out the bomb squad who used the bomb robot to check the suspicious “coffee mug”. They showed footage of the robot knocking over the “coffee mug” and said it made a pinging noise when it fell over, then the reporter said they would keep us updated on the situation.
I couldn’t resist waiting for the regular news to come on at 11 to find out what they had to say after they got the “situation” under control. The reporter on KREM 2 news said to imagine a round cylindrical object similar to a thermos, it just so happened that it was a thermos. The funny thing about Thermoses is that they are all heavy for their size. The Spokane police department said they would much rather come out for false alarms than have suspicious packages not reported but I cant imagine how a thermos in a parking lot gets this kind of attention. At the end they said that the police did find a fluid in the coffee mug but they aren’t saying what it is. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s probably COFFEE, hello. Talk about a slow news day for KREM 2. I personally believe the media goes way too far to get ratings, the hysteria they induce is not productive or beneficial for anyone but them.
The term suspicious package has always made me chuckle and I have always wondered what exactly makes a package suspicious. Who decides what is a suspicious package and what is just a regular old package? Do we really need the bomb squad to investigate everything that someone accidentally leaves in a parking lot? What happens when the bomb squad is running around after all of the coffee containers instead of the real suspicious packages? All because there was a real bomb here the other day and the local media got everybody all overly excited about it. Maybe that’s why the whole industry is in trouble.
Hidden Animal By-products in Your Food
I have been a vegetarian for many years now and one thing that really bothers me is the amount of hidden animal by-products in food. It can be really hard to find food that is completely vegetarian. Here are a few of the extremely common animal by products, that really bother me, that most people don’t even realize are made from animals.
Rennet- this is a complex of enzymes used in cheese making that usually come from baby cow or pig stomachs. The animals have to be young enough to have not been weaned for the rennet to have the proper enzymes to make cheese. There are many great substitutes for animal rennet such as microbial rennet. Most commercial cheeses that don’t specify that they are made from microbial rennet or are made from animal rennet. If a cheese has chymosin on the label that is another word for animal rennet.
- Mooooo
Gelatin-this is one of the ingredients that many people are likely to know comes from animals but I am shocked at how many people don’t know until I tell them. Gelatin is the main ingredient in products like Jello or Gummy Bears and can be found in many other products such as yogurt. Gelatin is usually made by boiling the skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones of cows and pigs after the meat has been harvested. It can also be made from fish or other animals. One of the best alternatives to gelatin is agar agar which is made from seaweed so it does not contain any animal products.
Magnesium Stearate-this is found primarily in supplements and medications. It can also be in hard candies and baby formula. If the product doesn’t specify that the magnesium stearate is made from a vegetarian source it is probably made from animals.
Cochineal-also called Carmine this one is an especially big pet peeve of mine. This is a red coloring made by grinding up the cochineal beetle. This particular coloring can be found in yogurts, soft drinks, Juices and any other food product that is red or pink. There was recently a rule passed by the FDA requiring manufacturers to list this insect on food labels most likely because it can cause anaphylaxis. There are many great alternatives to using insects for coloring. Grape skins and beets are excellent natural vegetarian sources for red coloring.
I am not saying that nobody should consume these products. I do believe being a vegetarian or not is a very personal choice that everyone should be allowed to make for themselves. Everyone should also have the proper information about where the ingredients in their food comes from.
Field Agent, Another App That Pays You!
- Field Agent iPhone
Field Agent Pays You For Mystery Shopping
I have found that one of the easiest ways to make money online is with iPhone Apps. So far the most lucrative App that I have been using is Field Agent which is free in the App Store. This app pays very well for doing simple fun tasks like taking a picture of a display or entering the prices of certain items in a store. I have been using the Field Agent app for about 3 weeks and I have made $22.50 in cash from 4 jobs. Most jobs pay between $4.00 and $6.50 but i have seen them as high as $10.50 and as low as $1.00. The jobs I have done so far have been: an audit of a demo with a picture at a WalMart, A picture of a display and some questions at 2 different WalMart stores, and I entered in prices of 10 items at a Costco. Each job took a just few minutes and paid immediately. They pay by paypal with no fees. There have been many jobs I did not take because I didn’t have the ability to do them in time.
How Field Agent Works
Unfortunately if you don’t grab the jobs right away someone else usually will. Once you accept a job you have a set amount of time to complete it before it gets put back for someone else to do. Every job I have done so far gave me 2 hours total to complete. There is plenty of time to scan products with The Checkpoints app or the Shopkick app while you are doing the jobs. You are rated for your work on a point scale. Everybody starts at 85 points with the maximum being 100. When you accept a job and finish it you get a point. If you don’t finish it you lose a point. If you provide inaccurate or bad information you lose 3 points. The best jobs are supposed to go to the Field Agents with the most points first. So far I have 90 Points total and would like to get 100 soon.
More Field Agent Info
The only downsides to the Field Agent app are the relatively small amount of jobs compared to the amount of Field Agents and that it is only available on the iPhone and iPod Touch at this time. I guess it’s a good thing for those of us that have iPhones. There is no referral compensation yet but they claim it is coming. I just wish I had found the Field Agent app sooner. Here is the link to the app, go make some money 😉
The website for field agent is http://www.fieldagent.net/
For even more information about Fields Agent and other apps that pay you, check out AppsThatPayYou.com.
Dark Chocolate as a Natural Pain Reliever
Chocolate is a safe and natural pain reliever. In addition to increasing natural endorphins, Chocolate contains the bliss molecule anandamide , a cannabinoid neurotransmitter that is also naturally produced in the brain. Even though it is related to THC, the main chemical in marijuana, it’s not exactly the same so it doesn’t produce a “high”. It does have an effect on the brain’s pleasure centers which causes some mild euphoria and reduced pain.
Dark Chocolate that is at least 70% (the higher the better) cacao mixed with, or eaten at the same time as, chili peppers has the best effect. Here are a few Dark Chocolate with chili bars I really like and some I have not yet tried.
Apperang No Longer Pays You Cash to Install Apps on Your Apple Device
I just found this website Apperang that pays you to install apps on your Iphone, Ipad, or Ipod touch. You have to download the apps to your computer directly from the App Store then sync with your device. So far I have made $2.50 just downloading apps, it pays directly to a verified PayPal account with a $1.00 minimum cash out. I accidentally cashed out the first time at $1.50. The payment was made quickly and without any fees. You can download both paid and free apps through Apperang, the payment is .25 cents for the free apps and .25 cents plus the cost of the app for the paid apps.
The only downsides to Apperang are the limited number of apps and occasionally an app won’t verify. I have only had 1 app not verify for me so far. Also it’s only available for Iphone users at this time.
There is also a 5% referral commission. My referral id is http://apperang.com/s/7J and I would really appreciate anyone signing up with it. Thanks.
Update As of July 2011 Apperang no longer pays you to download apps.
The Food Of The Gods
How Many Shopko Employees Does it Take to Find a DVD That’s on Sale?
So yesterday my daughter was sick. Her mom asked me to go to Shopko to pick up a Rent DVD that was on sale for 6.99 that day only. I thought it sounded like a really simple task and besides I could fire up my new Checkpoints app and earn a few points while I was at it. After looking for awhile I asked an employee to help me find this Rent DVD that was prominently featured in the ad. He went to find the ad while I scanned a few items.
When he came back with the ad we looked some more and couldn’t find it so we went to the front of the store. He checked with 2 of the cashiers who of course didn’t know so he called the store manager. While we waited for the store manager he told me he didn’t understand why Shopko does “this” making it sound like “this” happens often. I told him that’s how they get people in the door. When the manager arrived he told us to check some of the front end displays we had already checked and then he called the pricing coordinator. The pricing coordinator called the electronics specialist and the 5 of us went searching for this item.
It took the store manager, the pricing coordinator, the electronics specialist, and the employee without a title about 30 minutes total to find this Rent DVD that was in their ad. So the answer is 4 if you don’t count the 2 cashiers who just said they didn’t know. When I brought it back, my daughter’s mother she said she would have given up without asking for help. Why does it take 4 Shopko employees to find a DVD that’s on sale? Good question I’m reminded of a certain “Polack” joke from the movie Raising Arizona:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093822/quotes?qt0437162
Checkpoints My New Favorite App!!
Make Money With Your Smartphone
For anyone that doesn’t know, I have been trying to make a living using the internet instead of a traditional job. I have been trying lots of different things and plan to share the ones that I like. So far the best thing I have found for a little extra spending cash is a cool little app available on iPhone or Android called Checkpoints. I love Checkpoints because it pays me for doing things I already do such as visit grocery stores. It’s like a scavenger hunt finding the products and scanning them. It takes only about 15- 20 minutes to find them all if you know the store you are using and can be done easily with your normal shopping.
As of July 30,2012, I have been using Checkpoints since 2010 and I have made a total of $290 worth of gift cards from it.
Get Paid To Scan Barcodes With Checkpoints
Generally there are about 10 or so products ranging from 10 to 50 points per store depending on the type of store . Each scan you do also gives you a coin to spin the slots for bonus points with the top prize being 150,000 points. At the time of this writing I have earned 2468 points with no referrals in 6 days (scanning on 5 days) between scans and their slot game. 300 points is the minimum cash out and is worth a dollar in Amazon gift certificates. There are many other prizes available including: iTunes gift cards, Hermes Birkin bags, Nintendo Wiis to name a few.
So far the only things that I don’t really like are that you have to wait 24 hours to scan a product again and some bar codes can be very difficult to scan. Sometimes it is very difficult to scan in stores where the phone reception is bad. After you scan some products an advertisement pops up for that item but you can close it at anytime.
Earning Checkpoints At Home
Scan At Home
Checkpoints has introduced several new ways to earn CheckPoints at home. They now allow a scan at home feature from inside the app where you scan selected products for a coin. Make sure the only scans you do from home are the ones approved in the app, scanning products from home that are supposed to be at the store will get you banned.
CheckPoints Mall
The CheckPoints Mall is an online marketplace that gives you a rebate in Checkpoints for buying products through their website, usually things are already discounted or have a coupon.
Checkpoints Toolbar
If you install the Checkpoints toolbar on your browser it will pay you 1 CheckPoint for each valid search. I have found this to be useful when I am close to cashing out but not quite there yet. I also prefer to install it on a browser that I’m not using so it’s there when I want it but not when I don’t.
Checkpoints Offers
Checkpoints has introduced an offer wall on their main site that features offers from Trialpay, Payment Wall, and Radium One. These are standard offers such as watching videos and signing up for product trials.
Is There A Referral Program
At this time there is a pretty good referral program that pays the referrer 150 points which is aboout 50 cents. The referral gets 300 points which is about a dollar.
If you decide to try the Checkpoints app my referral id is sodaguy. It will provide you with 300 points at sign up instead of 200 with no referral. Thanks for using my code. Here is the link to download CheckPoints in the Apple App Store:
Here is the link to download the CheckPoints Android App in the Google Play Store.
Checkpoints Updates
Jan 11th, 2011 – There is a new feature with the latest Checkpoints app update where you can get coins for the Checkpoints slot game by downloading free and paid apps from the app store so you don’t have to scan products to earn points. Also Kmart is no longer offering 100 points for check-ins it is now 50 points to check in to Kmart. There are many new items to scan, I am up to 5589 points as of today. I took a little time off from scanning with the holiday crowds being so big.
Another new Squidoo lens!
This one is about cool retro sodas that make great gifts almost just in time for Christmas:)
http://www.squidoo.com/vintage-sodas
First Post On The New Blog!
Here are my new Squidoo pages about some of my favorite sodas. Please check them out and let me know what you think.
http://www.squidoo.com/jolt-cola
http://www.squidoo.com/nehisoda
Thanks, Stan