I’ve been keeping busy with money making ventures, some more lucrative than others, and am excited to report that I’m back on track to meet my goals once I receive the payments! I wanted to post an update on what I’ve done so far to make extra money. I’m open to more legitimate, legal options for making money at home if you have more ideas!
Cloud Crowd: I did about a half hour of work and made a measly $.76. I don’t know if it will get better as my skill level increases, and their site doesn’t have a whole lot of work so I don’t know when I will get the chance to find out. I’m going to try again, since they pay within a day or two on PayPal and I can do it from home while the kids play.
Surveyhead: I’m awaiting my payment of $26.50 and have earned another $3.50 by doing two surveys this week. I’m going to try to do one survey per day, which should add about $60.00 a month to my goal. I haven’t tried other survey sites. Do you have any favorites?
Swagbucks: I’m up to $15.00 in gift certificates for amazon.com, just for searching the ‘net!
Ebates: I’m expecting a check for $11.29 from E-bates.
MyPoints: I cashed out 1,600 points for a $10 CVS gift card. I got all these points for pay-per-click e-mails and online surveys, which I do while watching TV at night. Not bad! You also get points for any E-bay purchases if you sign in through MyPoints first. If you want to sign up, please leave a message in the comments and I’ll send you a referral e-mail!
Focus Groups: I’m signed up for two this week, which will bring in $100.00 for about 3 hours of work. I’m finding them in the Odd Jobs section of Craigslist.
Babysitting: I made $30 babysitting in January and will make another $30 this week.
Mystery Shopping: This is doing really well for me! I am expecting almost $200, not including reimbursements, for mystery shops completed last week and this week. I’ve also gotten for free (after reimbursement): 2 meals, a brake check, oil change, $25 in children’s clothes, beauty products, Valentine’s cards, and a date night of bowling with Mr. Penny. I’ve done almost all of them evenings and weekends when Mr. Penny is home with the kids.
Rebates: I am now awaiting $27.00 in mail in rebates. I added a $10.00 for buying 10 bottles of Naked juice; I found the juice for $.99 each at the Grocery Outlet, so the rebate will make them free.
To see what’s working for other moms, head over to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.
That is quite a list of ways you have made money. Very impressive. I will have to look into some of them.
sounds like you are doing quite well good for you
Wow, you’re doing really well! Congratulations!
I really need to look into mystery shopping, though without a car, it might be difficult.
Thanks for the Surveyhead recommendation. I signed up with them and I like them pretty well so far. As for other survey companies, I really love Pinecone Research, and Toluna is all right.
Thanks for the great websites!
It’s nice to learn about things people are actually using.
Great job! MyPoints is one of my favorite sites as well. As far as surveys go, Opinion Outpost is working for me. I don’t get as many opportunities from them as from some other companies, but I’ve found the surveys to be relatively simple and after completing just a few, I received my check for $5.50.
Great job! I really like Pinecone for surveys, but they can be hard to sign up with as they are not always accepting new applicants.
Great list! Swagbucks is my all time favorite, they rock!
sara http://myfrugalfunlife.blogspot.com/
I just signed up for Mind Field Online this morning (very similar to Pine Cone Research)-I love that they offer payout via Paypal OR by check-works great for me since I do not have a PP account anymore
I did my first survey this afternoon and have already made $2 so this one has potential!
sara http://myfrugalfunlife.blogspot.com/
Mystery shopping seems to either be overblown or underestimated. It seems like you’re experiences with it are right on. You can make money, good money, and plan your own schedule. It has more perks than most jobs, but it is some work.
Is there not much you can do to monetize this blog? I know you can’t put Adsense up, but I think you can put up a swagbucks banner and Amazon referral links.
Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone! I’ll give Opinion Outpost and Pinecone Surveys a try.
I’m hoping to move to my own hosting in the next month or so, and I’ll try to monetize then.
I have a decent-sized list of survey sites that I get paid from, and I’ve weeded out some that mostly offer sweepstakes. If you are interested, email me at: lainey (at) canada (dot) com. I second the Pinecone suggestion, though.
I put Infolinks on my blog, and while hardly anyone reads it so far, the words I write that they use for links does amuse me.
I am also trying to earn money online, and only having mild success. Good luck, and I will keep checking back to see if you’ve found anything else that will help!