Swagbucks.

Do you know about Swagbucks?

If not, I'm going to tell you.

It's basically a search engine, like Google. You type in what you want to search BUT you also get awarded for using their search engine. You are awarded with Swagbucks. Sometimes you get them when you search, sometimes not. But they add up.

Once you get 450 Swagbucks you can turn them in for a $5 Amazon gift card! You can "make money" by searching.

That's the very basic, that's what I do. You can also get other gift cards or products, but Amazon gift cards are the best deal. You can also earn Swagbucks by doing surveys or watching videos or playing games or signing up for stuff... the Swagbucks world is a whole online community of stuff. But all I do is use their search engine and I've probably earned $80 in Amazon gift cards since I started two years ago.

Okay, maybe that sounds a little anti-climatic. But $80 in Amazon money for just using a specific search engine? Easy.

You also get Swagbucks for referring people. So I refer you (click here or go to swagbucks.com/refer/grether) and then once you get rolling, you can refer other people and earn Swagbucks. How grand.

The easiest way to actually use the thing is to install their search toolbar. It's up there when I open a new window and I can just type in whatever I'm searching for. Usually about every five or ten times of searching, I'll get Swagbucks. You'll see it say "Congratulations, you've earned eight Swagbucks!" with a big dollar looking graphic. I usually have to enter in a three-digit code to prove I'm not a robot in order to have the Swagbucks entered into my account (which happens automatically, you don't have to do anything). You also get one Swagbuck (one measly little one) every day you use the toolbar. But hey, every one counts!

I'd like to mention that there seems to be no method to the madness of getting awarded Swagbucks. You could try some sort of algorithm (wow, I sort of know what that is) to figure out how they award them, or you could just search for a whole day and see what happens... but that would be a waste of a day and really, don't you have better things to do?

For those of you that randomly search for stuff on the Internet and are willing to install this toolbar, go for it. I feel it's worth it.

Plus, I will get Swagbucks for referring you as long as you click through this link: swagbucks.com/refer/grether. And that makes this post totally worth Eli's nap time.

-Heather