Tag Archives: Amazon

Daily Writing

My Advice for New (Swagbucks) Users

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Recently, I received a DM on Reddit asking about Swagbucks and how to get started with the service. As I was going through suggestions and advice I realized that others may benefit from what I had to say.

It looked quite long on a small screen but here it is nonetheless.

I’d be happy to offer some advice.

For a new person to Swagbucks, I would suggest strengthening your demographic profile.

The Swagbucks platform is wary of new accounts hitting big offers, cashing out, and then promptly disappearing.

You can show them that you are genuine in your intent to engage with the platform and its services by completing some Surveys. You can follow up with some of the smaller offers like Magic Receipts, or online shopping using the browser extension.

I’d also suggest bookmarking their Facebook page so you can collect the weekly codes. These are worth a few points but are especially useful when they run a Swago event (Bingo).

Game offers and Bank account bonuses have the best payouts. If you are looking at a bank bonus I would suggest comparing what Swagbucks is offering with the listings on “Doctor of Credit,” occasionally there is a better offer being made directly by the bank.

For cashing out, Amazon gift cards are a popular choice. PayPal is also a good option. If you are using PayPal, both your Swagbucks email address and the PayPal email address need to match. PayPal does allow you to list multiple email addresses on the same account. Just something to keep in mind. Also, once a month your first gift card redemption will be discounted.

Depending on the State/Region you reside in, you may have the option to purchase SB (points). Some US States do not allow this. The same can be true of receipt/shopping deals for Alcohol or offers for Gambling apps or services. If you see people talking about an offer like them, but you don’t see it, then, it is likely not allowed where you live.

Make sure you never connect to Swagbucks using a VPN. If you have one, make sure it is disabled when you are accessing the Swagbucks website. This is in their Terms of Service as a bannable offense. VPNs can be used to cheat the offers, so they are not allowed. Be especially careful if you decide to complete an offer that is selling a VPN service. Using said service to connect to Swagbucks can result in a ban. You can search the r/Swagbucks sub for examples of this happening to other users.

Searching the sub for the terms “ban” or “banned” may actually be a healthy decision. This can inform you as to the things you should avoid doing.

I should also mention that there are members of the sub that actively, and quite unashamedly, cheat the offers and abuse the system using various means. Unfortunately, their activities do harm the rest of the community. I do hope you keep clean and do not stray. Best of luck!

Errant Literary

Polaroid Cube+ Action Camera

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Way back in 2015, I received a Polaroid Cube+ camera as a bonus from opening a bank account with TD Bank. I found the deal on the Doctor of Credit website and quickly signed up.

The sporty little camera was valued at $100 (90£) at the time. Looking on Amazon, I can see it is now going for $150-180 as the little wonder has since been discontinued.

I actually didn’t use it after I received the gadget. It’s been sitting in its original packaging in a drawer for the past 8 years.

I had thought I might mount it on my helmet and zoom around town on my scooter, or maybe on my bicycle for slower trips. But neither option was really driving, and now the two scooters and a bicycle are collecting dust in my garage.

Today, though, I decided to finally open the package. I was cleaning out a mess of old USB A/B cords and AC adapters for unknown devices when I came across the camera.

I filmed some gardening with the Polaroid Cube+ for about an hour using a 32GB micro SD card. The video files are saved in MOV format, and the hour-long footage came in at 3.5 gigs of data. I tried editing the file with ClipChamp, but this little micro PC I am using doesn’t have the processing power to quickly prepare the video.

Luckily, now that I have my old gaming computer back up and running, it can handle the heavy lifting of video editing. One small problem with the old battleship is that the WiFi card is refusing to connect to anything. Drivers be damned!

So, I have had to use USB sticks to transfer data to the machine. ClipChamp doesn’t work without an internet connection, and Windows Video Editor is no longer available. I cannot get the Legacy Photo app without the internet either.

What I ended up doing was downloading some video editing software called VSDC. Hopefully, this will be able to handle the editing on the offline PC. If it works out, I will start using the Polaroid Cube+ for cooking and gardening activities, and maybe when I am driving. I still need to get a dash cam at some point.

Questions or comments, put them below. Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

Deals

Long Game

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I got an email from the Long Game debit card folks. They’ve decided to nerf the free accounts and add a monthly fee.

There will be two other tiers depending on card use, but the requirements are rather excessive. It might be worth it if they had a competitive cash-back program or other rewards.

I received my Robinhood Debit card today.

It looks great, though I likely won’t use it. Any money spent would be taken away from what I have available to invest.

I completed the Current card offer in Drop and got a 50-dollar Amazon gift card. I also got drowned in spam after trying to complete the Even Financial loan offer.

The darn thing kept sending me to different payday loan sites, and each one sent me junk texts and calls. It’s all going to my business email/phone and has become a real headache.

Errant Literary

Rice Wine 막걸리

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We are making the Korean rice wine, makgeolli. It’s a milky white alcohol with a bit of fizz.

It’s fairly easy to make. You need sweet rice, water, regular yeast, and nuruk.

I bought all of the ingredients on Amazon using gift cards I earned using the Drop app.

You wash the rice, steam it, and then spread it out to cool. Then mix the yeast and nuruk with water. Toss it all in a jar and stir it daily. Should be ready in about 9 days.