Sidetick and Swagbucks -- An Easy $25 a Month

*To see an update on this post, click here.*

My husband has gotten jilted for his last two birthdays and the last two Christmases. Between weddings, family visiting, and burglars, he's been shafted for four major holidays.

This year I'm determined to get him something nice without taking the money to purchase it out of his bank account. I've searched, in earnest, for ways to pick up a few extra dollars.

Yes, this post is going to sound like a commercial, but I'm honestly trying to share my joy and research with y'all.

I've discovered two websites that actually work! They will not make you rich, it's not a "get-rich-quick scheme," but it will give you some extra spending cash each month for very little effort. I research like the FBI and I don't recommend anything until I've actually signed up for it myself, and I can safely recommend these two places now.

Sidetick
Earnings: $15 a month + $1 for each referral + $0.25 for 5 tiers of each referral's referral +pay per click
Time it takes each day: About one minute.
How it pays: Via PayPal (which can be linked to your bank account for deposit).
When it pays: After you accrue $25 (50,000 "Tickbucks" or approximately every 50 days).



The first, easier, and more lucrative site is "Sidetick." It's a social networking site along the lines of Facebook. They generate money from the ads on the site, and they give a percentage of the ad revenue to their users.

It's "guaranteed" $0.50 a day ($15 a month) if you do two things each day (you can't just do one and get $0.25... you have to do both).

Is it as easy at it looks? I'll walk you through it.

First, log in and check your messages.

Then open up the message. You don't even have to read it, just open it up.

Halfway done.

Next go back to the homepage.

Scroll down and look for "Jenny's Blog." Click that link.

Then click the day's post.

Each day she has a question you answer in the comments. Yesterday was "Is it true that all is fair in love and war? Give a reason for your answer."

Type up a quick answer, and you've just earned yourself $0.50.

It takes me about one minute a day, and that's if I really think about the answer to the blog question.

If you spend any appreciable amount of time on the site your potential income would be greatly increased: you get paid for any content, photos or videos you post, everytime anyone views the content, photos or videos, 1/20th of a cent for every time you click on any link on the site. Well, I wouldn't mind some extra cash, but I'm not actually going to do any of that stuff. I don't want to be a full-time Sideticker.

However, referring is something I wouldn't mind doing. Why not share an easy $15 a month with others? For each person you refer that signs up, you get $1. For each person they refer (and their references referrals down 5 levels) you get $0.25. Share the wealth.

So get started here.



Swagbucks
Earnings: About $10 per month in gift cards (assuming 30 points per day)
Time it takes each day: The time you would normally spend doing internet searching.
How it pays: Via giftcards (most notably through Amazon.com gift cards).
When it pays: After you accrue $5 worth of "Swagbucks." (450 points, or about every 15 days)




The second "easy money maker" is Swagbucks. It's a search engine that uses Ask.com, Google.com. Again, they pay their users some of their ad revenue.

Unlike Sidetick you won't get cold hard cash, you get paid in "prizes." One of the prizes is a $5 Amazon.com gift card. I shop so often on Amazon that to me it's just as good as cash.

Another use for Swagbucks: DATE NIGHT!!! For 400 "Swagbucks" (about every two weeks) you can get a $25 Restaurant.com giftcard. Not bad.

So how do you use Swagbucks?

It's all about points, called "Swagbucks." You earn them in various ways.

Searching (6-50 points a few times per day, about 24 points average each day)
You don't get points every time you search. If you do online searches in the morning, afternoon and in the evening you'll probably get 7-10 points about three times per day.
How is the search engine itself? Well, if you're looking for something easy ("City Wife, Country Life," say?) then it's fine. If you're doing a more complicated search ("What is the tax assessment vs. market value of a home in Hoboken, NJ?") then go with Google.

NOSO (1 swagbuck per day, takes about 30 seconds)
No Obligation Special Offers. Just click "skip" on about 5 pages to reject the lame-o offers, and at the end you're rewarded with 1 swagbuck.

Daily Polls (1 swagbuck per day, takes less than 10 seconds)
Take part in the daily poll (e.g. "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?") and you get a swagbuck. (And if you suggest a poll and they use it, you get 100 swagbucks!)

Using the Search Toolbar (1 swagbuck per day, use to do a normal search)
If you download the search toolbar and use it each day you've got another swagbuck. Don't search a lot? Well, just use it to type in your e-mail server (like "yahoo"), and with one extra click you've just gotten a swagbuck for using the searchbar and checking your e-mail.

Swagcodes (about 5-10 points, several times a day)

It's a total gimmick to get you to use their site more, but it does pay rather well if you do it. Swagcodes are random strings of words and numbers that are hidden around the site (or searchbar, Twitter feed, or Facebook page) and expire a few hours after they are posted. You could waste your whole day looking for swagcodes, or you can sign up for free e-mails (or tweets or texts) from activeswagcodes.com and get alerted to the location of swagcodes whenever they are available.

Add your swagcode on the right side of the main page.

Trusted Surveys (1 point just for checking, 10-200 swagbucks for a complete survey)
After you've been a member of Swagbucks for one week, you have an opportunity to participate in 2-10 minute surveys (worth anywhere from 10-200 points). These (like everything else) are completely optional. I've yet to qualify for a survey, but I visit the page every day just to get a free swagbuck.

Shopping (2 swagbucks per $1)
If you do your online shopping through Swagbucks (iTunes, Walmart, Macy's, Overstock, etc.) you get 2 points for every dollar spent. You can probably make more kickback money from other online e-tail programs, but there it is.

Trade-Ins (5-1000's)
Got an old iPod, cell phone, gaming console or video games lying around? You can trade them into Swagbucks (they'll pay shipping) for points. If you're thinking about selling them, by all means sell them, but if they're just collecting dust why not trade them in? My 2 year old Razr is worth all of about 9 points (two cents), but if you're always upgrading cell phones (hey, I know people like that) and have some nicer phones or video games, you could trade 'em in.

Referrals (up to 1000 points per active referral)
Everytime someone you've referred to Swagbucks wins swagbucks on a search, you'll get the same amount of points they've gotten, up to 1000 points. If they get points for NOSO, Trade-Ins, Surveys, whatever... goose-egg for you. You only get points when they "win" in searching.
But considering you can get around 30 points a day by searching, if you referred 15 people who actively used Swagbucks you'd get 450 points (a $5 Amazon gift card) every day for a month (that's $150 smackers in a month... hello KitchenAid Pasta Extruder)!
Of course that's a big assumption and I dare say "results not typical." Finding 15 people to do anything is hard, much less something like this, but if you're a natural salesperson you just might be able to work this system.

If you want to sign up for Swagbucks, do so here!

So there you have it. By using these two sites for a few minutes a day (and searching like I normally would), I'm well on my way to getting my husband something nice for Christmas.