How to Get Paid $62/Year to Ditch Google Search

Think about how many times a day you type something into a search engine…

I probably make 50+ searches a day. “How do you spell ‘blank’? Where’s the closest ‘blank’? What the heck is that actresses name?”

We’re all addicted to search now and in a lot of ways it’s made life easier. So it’s no wonder that Google had more than $50 billion in income for 2013. $50 Billion! That’s quite a bit of searching.

And the competing search engines want a piece of that….

In fact, I’ve even found one that’s willing to pay you to switch. Seriously.

The company, InboxDollars, which became famous in the early 2000’s for paying people to read emails has now branched out to paying people to search.

Now, you’re not going to get rich by switching your search engine, but it could add up to an extra $62/year. Let me show you how it works:

1. Sign Up. First, if you don’t have one, you’ll need to signup for a free account at InboxDollars. The registration takes about 20 seconds (name, email address, zip code, etc.). You’ve just got to be 18 years or older.

Plus, they give you a free $5 just for signing up.

2. Search. Just navigate to the “Search” button on the toolbar near the top of the page.

3. Get Paid. From here, it’s just like a regular search engine, except for that InboxDollars will pay you 15 cents for every 30 searches you make, plus an extra 5 cents for every week where you search 4 days or more. Pocket change, I know. But, think of it this way – it’s something you’re already doing anyway. It’s not a job. You don’t have to change anything. Just keep doing what you’re already doing, except for this way you’re making up to an extra $62/year.

Note: It can take up to 24 hours for the cash to credit to your account.

4. Don’t forget. One way that I’ve kept myself from forgetting to use this was to set my homepage to InboxDollars.com/search. That way the search engine appears whenever I open a new browser. Another tip is to download the free InboxDollars toolbar that way the search box is always present at the top of your browser.

The Math

– Get a free $5 just for signing up.

– Make 30 searches in a day. You’ll end up with .15 day or $54.75/year.

– Get a .05 bonus each week for searching 4 days or more. You’ll end up with an extra $2.60/year.

All totaled up – you’re looking at extra $62.35.

Want Some Extra Motivation?

Use this extra money and invest it in an IRA for retirement. LendingClub happens to be my favorite (because I’m earning 14%/year), but anywhere will do.

If you can continue to add your InboxDollars earnings to this account for the next 30 years (at 14% interest), you’ll end up with $23,190.99! Can you imagine? 23 grand just for changing your search engine…

Your Turn: What do you think? Is sticking with Google worth losing an extra $62 to you this year?

Good luck Penny Hoarders!