Intro to Swaggin'

If you haven't done it yet, you need to sign up at Swagbucks.com before you do anything else! After all, we're swaggin' to Disney!

Ok, so what is Swagbucks.com? It is a search engine, that works just as well as any other search engine I've ever used, that gives you points (Swagbucks) for doing your usual, every day web searches. Now, you don't win Swagbucks on every search you do, but usually around every 10-12 searches. I've won as few as 3 and as many as 33 Swagbucks at a time, just by searching for something I needed the answer to anyway.

They have a toolbar you can download, do searches from, and supposedly earn even more than just going to their webpage, but I try to stay away from toolbars, so I don't have it.

Here's how I earn Swagbucks during the day:

I go to the Swagbucks.com homepage and on the left hand side of the page, you'll see the words Daily Poll. Click on that, answer the poll, and you'll earn 1 Swagbuck. You can also submit a poll, and if Swagbucks decides to use it, they'll give you bonus Swagbucks. When it tells you you've earned your Swagbuck, it usually comes up with an offer to earn so many Swagbucks for watching videos. I do that one, too, which is usually worth 3 Swagbucks.

Next, go back to the Swagbucks.com homepage. Right below the Daily Poll, you'll see the words Special Offers. This comes up with several offers that you can fill out if you want to. If you don't, just click Skip at the bottom of each screen. After about 4 Skips, the reward screen comes up and asks you to type in a Captcha to prove you're a human and not a robot. Then, you usually win 2 Swagbucks!

That's as far as I'll go today, which will be plenty, especially if you're new to Swagbucks! Do the poll, do (or skip) the special offers, and try a few web searches. Then, just look around a bit on the homepage. There are all kinds of free things you can do for 1-2 Swagbucks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our last Disney trip was the first time I used Swagbucks for Disney. When I first started Swaggin', I would cash in my points for a $5 Amazon card as soon as I had enough and then use them to get birthday/Christmas gifts for the boys. Then, I took a break from using Swagbucks and started again this spring. I wanted to find someway to use my Swagbucks for our September Disney trip. Swagbucks doesn't have Disney gift cards and, at the time, they didn't have gas cards (they do now!). Finally, I discovered that Target allows customers to use a Target gift card to pay for another type of gift card, so I earned 15,000 Swagbucks, redeemed them for Target gift cards, and bought $150 in Disney gift cards, which we used for souvenir money! Free money! As we were leaving Magic Kingdom on our last day, I told my husband that the vacation was worth every second I spent using swagbucks. He laughed because he thinks I'm nuts, but it was really true!

 

These moments and many, many others were so entirely worth it!

 

Many people don't understand why we love Disney so much and why we would want to go year after year--and it's hard to explain exactly--but it makes me feel like a child again (not that I'm far off!). You're completely immersed in the stories, in the magic, in a simpler, more beautiful world. Spending time with our family in a place like that--priceless! Well, obviously not pricessless, but definitely worth it!

Please, if you read, leave me a comment and let me know what you think--about Disney, Swagbucks, both, or just to say hi!

"All it takes is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust..." (and some hard work!)

Current swagbucks total: 4,360

 

 

So, I don't want to pretend like it's easy for us to save for a Disney vacation. We are not well off (though we have everything we need and many things we want) and my husband just started a new (commission based) career a year ago. Somehow, though, we always find a way to save for Disney.
I don't know if it's the feeling we get when we see this--

 

or this--

 

 

or see our children's faces look like this--

 

 

(haha. Ok, so that's one is a joke.)

 

 

Before I start giving you some tips on how to earn Swagbucks, let me give you some of our other saving tips--for going to Disney World and for saving in general.

 

1. Keep a cup on your dresser and drop all of your loose change and bills (if you can spare them) in the cup at the end of the day. You will be shocked at how the change adds up when you finally fill the cup!

2.  I am not a credit card fan, but if you have a ton of self control like I do--I got an offer for an interest free credit card a year ago.  After the first purchase (of any amount), they gave me enough reward points for a $50 gift card in their reward store. You also earn 1 point for every dollar spent.  I uses this card for most of the purchases I make during the week. However, the key (for me) is that every time I buy something with my credit card, as soon as I get home, I log onto my account and pay the card off (it helps that my credit card is connected with my checking account). For our last Disney trip, I had enough reward points to get a $60 gas card for our 12 hour trip to Florida.

3. At the end of everyday, I log on to our banking account and transfer the change to savings. So, if my balance at the end of the day is 753.85, I transfer 85 cents to our savings account. It adds up fast and we never miss it!

4. Another savings plan we just started is the 52 weeks savings plan. The first week, you save $1, the second week $2, third week $3, and so on and so on. At the end of the 52 weeks, you will have saved $1408! I'm only on week 5 and I'm sure it will be a little tougher near the end, so we'll see. Still, a good idea!

5.  Look for a discount on your Disney trip. Disney offers various discounts throughout the year. My favorite discount is the Free Dining discount that gives you free food for your entire vacation. I know that some people bring their own food to save money, but it just seems like a hassle for me with a 4 and 1 year old, and we like eating at Disney. So, we would spend money out of pocket on food at Disney, but free is even better! They also usually have a room discount that gives you a certain percentage off of your stay.

 

(Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney)

6.  Stay at a value resort if you stay on Disney property. Disney has 3 tiers of resorts--deluxe, moderate, and value. I don't think I could ever (unless I had a TON of extra money) stay at a deluxe resort in good conscience. It's the frugalist in me. We are in the parks all day, usually, except at nap time and bedtime.  Our value resort rooms have always been clean and cute. Plus, the value resorts (there are 5) themselves are much more child themed (in my opinion) than any of the other resorts. Our favorite value resort is All-Star Music.

 

 

7.  Earn points on Swagbucks that you can redeem for gift cards.  If you don't want to use Swagbucks for your actual vacation, they have gift cards for Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Starbucks, and many, many other places. You could always take the money you saved by using the gift cards instead of cash and put it in your Disney fund!

 

A trip to Disney is still expensive, but these tips can help you save the money you'll need AND pay less for your vacation!

 



 



 

The 5 W's

Hi! I'm always bad at introductions and I'll get to the details in just a minute, but you might be wondering what this blog is exactly and if you belong here.

If you love Disney World or would love to go there someday--you're in the right place!
If you like to save money and like FREE money--don't go anywhere! If you've used Swagbucks.com before and can't figure out what the big deal is, stick around!

Now, let's get down to the W's (Who, What, When, Where, and Why)--

WHO: I'm Leah, a 20-something stay-at-home wife and mom.  I taught high school choir and English before I had our oldest son and decided to "just" be a mom. I love (besides my family) music, writing and Disney World. Ok, ok, there are plenty of other things, too, but I've got to save some things for other blog posts. My first trip to Disney World was in 1995 and I didn't get to go back until 2000 for a high school choir trip. My next trip was as a high school choir teacher in 2008 and then I've been blessed to return in 2011, 2012, and 2013 with my own little family.  My husband made me price a 2014 trip the morning after we got home from this year's trip. I think we are officially a Disney family at this point!

 

 

WHAT: This blog will mostly be about Swagbucks and Disney World, and how to use Swagbucks to get you to the most magical place on earth! If you have no clue what Swagbucks even is, it is a search engine (and much more) that gives you points (called Swagbucks) just for doing your normal searches n the web. There are plenty of other ways (which I will discuss later) to earn points as well. When you're ready, you can redeem your points in their rewards store. They have gift cards for almost anything you can imagine!

 

 

WHEN: Whether you don't plan on going to Disney for 5 more years or your trip is in 2 months, this blog can help you earn at least a little extra spending money for your vacation. And let's face it, even a little extra money comes in handy when you're at Disney World.

 

 

WHERE: I've kind of confused myself by asking this one, but I guess swagbucks.com and this blog will pretty much be the only resources you need!  If you haven't signed up on swagbucks.com yet, you can use this LINK.

WHY: I started this blog mostly because I have a dream--a dream that I can help fund our next Disney vacation in a major way--by "swaggin'". And I want to invite you along as I rack up the points. I know there are plenty of other single income families out there who would love to go to Disney, but think they can't and I would love to help you get there.  Oh, and why Disney? Well, if you've ever been there, it goes without saying. If you haven't been there, let me assure you that you will never regret going.

So, without further ado, here we go!