Chasing the Bull

I am always on the lookout for ways to earn extra money online. I will pretty much try anything once and if I hate it, I will never do it again. Most of the time I end up disappointed. I did, however, want to tell you one easy way I found to earn extra money online.

A month ago, I registered to become a member of SwagBucks. As a registered member, each time you perform an internet search via their search engine, you can win swagbucks (think digital dollars). The search results are pretty relevant and are derived from Google and Ask.com. You do not win dollars each time you search, but I usually win about 5 times a day. You can win additional dollars by referring your family and friends. I cannot remember who I signed up under, but now they are winning each time I win.

Once you have accumulated a few dollars you can redeem them for some pretty nice prizes (gift cards, books, gaming systems, rare baseball cards, etc). Earn 50 swagbucks and you can redeem them for a $5 Starbucks card. Win 45 swagbucks can get you a $5 Amazon gift card. You can even save up for a really nice 19 inch HD Flat Screen TV. Like I said the prizes are really worth your time.

Here are a few tips that I use to help “win” more swagbucks:

• When I visit my favorite blogs, I usually type the URL directly into the swagbucks toolbar. This results my desired website showing up first in the search results AND gives me a chance to win.
• Clear your cookies if you have not won after 10 searches. I find that this helps tremendously.
• Use Long-tail keywords in your search. I have found that I can win multiple swagbucks at once if I search for something like “personal finance and budgeting” vs “finance”.
• Realize that you will win about 3 to 5 swagbucks per day. I have never won more than that in one day.
• Save your swagbucks for really good prizes. Do not waste them on small items.

Ready to earn extra money online? Click the banner below and sign up now! When you sign up you will automatically earn 3 swagbucks. Let me know if you sign up so I can thank you!

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With so much information available on the internet, it pays to do your research BEFORE buying anything. I prefer to find review sites as my starting point.

While stumbling around the other day I found a pretty decent site that reviews Phentermine.  According to this site, research has proven that you can lose 10 - 15% more weight when using this product versus using a placebo.

My main problem with these types of products is safety. What is the risk-to-benefit ratio? I prefer to make my errors on the safety side. Again, I tend to use the internet the starting point for my research.  This review does a decent job of explaining the weight-loss benefits and the associated risks. If you are thinking of using weight-loss products, do your research first.

If you do not have time to do your research, do not buy or use the product.

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It seems to me that we live in a country that allows ridiculous things to continue to happen. We meander along with our lives, never questioning things that are wrong or seem out of place. Why do we do this?

According to Yahoo, crude oil dipped below $100 a barrel today for the first time in 5 months. A few months ago, it was at $147. Does this mean that gas prices will be dropping by approximately 50%? Will we be paying $2 a gallon again?

 Of course not, and guess what, most people will not even care.

Instead of doing anything about it, we will continue to drive our SUVs, 30 miles each way to work (in the snow - grandpa reference), while drinking our $1.75 20 oz. cola or our $5 Starbucks coffee. We will visit the local gas station once a week and merely shake our heads that it now cost $70 to fill up the Ford Explorer.

Sometimes our refusal to care is so bad that we do not even ask for what should rightfully be ours.

Did you know that the IRS has increased their fuel reimbursement recommendations to $0.585 cents per mile? For every mile that you drive your personal car for your employer, you should be receiving 58.5 cents. Are you getting this? Or is your company still paying 48.5 cents (the rate from 6 months ago)?

Why do we let the prices of items go up faster than we demand them to come down? Why is it OK for the consumer to continue to pay for gas as if a barrel of crude still cost $147? I am not sure why we allow this, but we do?

What do you think? Why is it so easy to raise prices but so difficult to reduce them once the price of the underlying commodity comes back down? I would love to hear your opinion on this.

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Popularity: 59% [?]