Extra money making ideas

[LikeSeriously]

I mystery shop in addition to my full-time job.

I also do Amazon's Mechanical Turk, though that comes in waves.

I do MyPoints, Harris Polls and Swagbucks as well.

Could you send me some information about mystery shopping? I'd love to try this but want to make sure I have legit info.

 

[honeybunches]

I am interested in Freelance writing but I do not know where to start. I have a degree in elementary education with a special endorsement in early childhood and language arts. Right now I am currently a property manager for a large apartment complex.

Try textbroker.com , they have jobs that pay per word.

 

[crazelion]

Amazon mTurk? Is that like searching for certain items sort of like chacha was with answering questions? If someone stays-at-home and could possibly put between 2-3 hours per day at mTurk what is a realistic amount of money they could make? I see you said $10.00 per day but not sure how involved that $10/day would be to make - is that for less than 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, etc. Would love to know more about this possibility, so thank you in advance for any advice.

I do amazon mturk when I have the time. I like doing the surveys on there. Yes can make 10.00 a day. I am on a forum that tells about the good hits.

I also do mypoints, swagbucks, and others like that. But I do this in my spare time and when I am bored.

 

[bookluvingbabe]

Could you send me some information about mystery shopping? I'd love to try this but want to make sure I have legit info.

The best source for legit companies is the Volition. They have a list of companies, plus there is a forum where people can discuss which companies pay and which don't.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

I tried opinion outpost and after about 30 minutes, all I've done is answer questions and then get told I don't qualify. I've earned 0 points.

ETA: Went back for about another 30, finally got one on facial products and after 20 minutes and over half of the survey, got the "you don't qualify for this survey" message and 0 points. This is like every other survey company out there. You spend hours giving opinions and data to them and then magically no longer qualify so they don't have to pay out. Total waste of time.

I couldn't agree more! Same thing happened to me. No way that person is maki g $10 a day.

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

I couldn't agree more! Same thing happened to me. No way that person is maki g $10 a day.

"That person"? Seriously?

Hate to break it to you, but I absolutely am. And thanks to it, I get to bring my mom with us in January completely on my dime with that money I have earned. Just because it's not working for you doesn't mean it's not for others.

 

[SunkistJoy]

Amazon mTurk? Is that like searching for certain items sort of like chacha was with answering questions? If someone stays-at-home and could possibly put between 2-3 hours per day at mTurk what is a realistic amount of money they could make? I see you said $10.00 per day but not sure how involved that $10/day would be to make - is that for less than 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, etc. Would love to know more about this possibility, so thank you in advance for any advice.

I'm not familiar with chacha, so I can't answer that part of your question. It is difficult for me to describe mechanical turk (mTurk for short). Basically people post little jobs that they want done and attach a certain amount of payment. Workers browse the jobs and select those they want to do. All payment runs through Amazon, so you do not have to give any info to the people you are actually doing the jobs for.

Jobs can be anything. I do lots of surveys- academic surveys rather than marketing surveys. There are transcribing jobs, writing jobs, just a bit of everything. Unfortunately, there are some jobs that are not worth the pay, or that the requestor is simply trying to get the work done with out paying. If you search for a forum or board with hints you can avoid bad jobs and focus on good ones.

I think you could average $10 per day if you worked 2-3 hours solid. Probably more, actually. Some people do this like it is a full time job, they make quite a bit more. But I am a SAH-homeschooling mom of 5. So I have never worked for 2 uninterrupted hours at a time. So for me to make $10 I am working on and off from 8-3 or so.

It is certainly not going to make you rich, and if you can go out and get a part time job you would make more per hour. But, if you want or need to be at home, it might be just what you need. I find it fun.

Hope this helps!

 

[SunkistJoy]

What is Amazon mTurk?

Amazon Mechanical Turk- mTurk for short. I tried to explain it in another post- hope that helps. Would be happy to try to answer any other questions if you have them. The other posters who turk may have more experience and advice.

 

[3boymthr]

Thanks to the PP for the hint about mTurk. I'm going to give it a try. I figure if I can make $25 or $30 bucks a month then I'll make some good "fun" money to buy those little extras that always come up - like my son growing out of his shoes that he's only had for a month .

 

[NokOnHarts]

"That person"? Seriously?

Hate to break it to you, but I absolutely am. And thanks to it, I get to bring my mom with us in January completely on my dime with that money I have earned. Just because it's not working for you doesn't mean it's not for others.

Hmm... felt I had to come to your defense here. Absolutely you can make $10 a day if you invested enough time each day. I use 3-4 sites daily and am averaging close to that between all 3 sites, but my goal is more around $5 a day. The thing I have learned with surveys is you have to check them OFTEN, multiple times a day. The reason for this (as per my belief) is that you have to catch the survey early, as close to when it opens as possible. That is how you qualify. I was ready to give up on a few sites and then I started racking up the dollars/points and am so glad I didn't give up. My DH does them as well and he always has different ones than me, sometimes he has 15 in one day, and I only have 1 from the same site - it depends on your profile what you qualify for. Yes, some sites are better than others but $10 a day is not unheard of depending on the site and how often you're trying.

 

[Aliceacc]

Try textbroker.com , they have jobs that pay per word.

Thanks for the heads up. That's a site I hadn't heard of before.

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

Hmm... felt I had to come to your defense here. Absolutely you can make $10 a day if you invested enough time each day. I use 3-4 sites daily and am averaging close to that between all 3 sites, but my goal is more around $5 a day. The thing I have learned with surveys is you have to check them OFTEN, multiple times a day. The reason for this (as per my belief) is that you have to catch the survey early, as close to when it opens as possible. That is how you qualify. I was ready to give up on a few sites and then I started racking up the dollars/points and am so glad I didn't give up. My DH does them as well and he always has different ones than me, sometimes he has 15 in one day, and I only have 1 from the same site - it depends on your profile what you qualify for. Yes, some sites are better than others but $10 a day is not unheard of depending on the site and how often you're trying.

Yes, I should mention I don't use Opinion outpost EVERY day, so 2-3 times a week I do and I let them build up and then just sit down and fly through them and make around $10 each time I do. You definitely have to check often for the best results, I agree! I stopped using iPoll and Valued Opinions because they were constantly using my time for 5-10 minutes and then saying I didn't qualify...every time. I can handle that once in a while on Outpost but not everytime!

 

[Bethshaya]

Hands down selling Avon! All of my profits go into the Travel fund.

I still work full time, and it allows me to sell on my own time. Since it is such a recognized name, all I really need to do is leave brochures whever I go. I take three with me a day and my goal each day is to leave them somewhere to be taken. Was only $10 to start being a Representative and I don't need any inventory. Just take orders, place them and deliver. Family far away can even order online and have it shipped directly to them by Avon.

Made Presidents Club in my first year. I easily sell $400 or more per campaign, making about $300+ a month in earnings.

 

[bankgirl05]

Are these legit companies? I always see things like this but I, afraid it's a scam

I use Quick Rewards, I haven't made anything near what the other poster has, but I have earned about$75 in Disney Giftcards in about a month.(but I had a couple of large online purchases I got cash back for) If you shop online for anything at all, if you just link to your favorite stores from the QR website you earn cash back on all your purchases, as well as cash for taking surveys and watching videos, listening to Radio etc. But it really does take a LOT of time. Their customer Service has been wonderful to me, giving me tips and pointers to get me started!!!

I also use a SavingsStar ap on my Iphone that links coupons to my grocery store loyalty card. If I buy certain products I get cash back into my paypal or Amazon account. The trick with this is to ONLY download the savings coupons and buy products you will use, not just buy it because it tells you too, I also shop the sales for the items on my "list" I have earned $40 in that alone this month.

One to stay away from is Shop at Home . com it is supposedly a real site, but a search online warns repeatedly about a trojan virus and Malware/spyware viruses. I down loaded their toolbar, and had earned some money but had to go through A LOT (just today) to delete it, because it was taking over my computer, slowing it down and trashing it up with popups that couldn't be blocked!!! UUGH!!!

I have tried Swagbucks also, but I am not earning very quickly with them. And since you already have a full time job (I am a SAHM) you probably don't have HOURS of time to spend online doing a bunch of stuff that earns you change!!!

 

[honeybunches]

I definitely think it is possible to earn $10 a day on search and win or survey sites. The key is doing more than one for me. I haven't tried mturk but am going to check it out. I sit and do surveys while my husband is watching TV. I have a blog post about it with easy ways people can build up points. A favorite of mine is Pinecone research.....they pay $3 per survey. They don't make you answer 49 questions before closing you out either.

One to stay away from is Shop at Home . com it is supposedly a real site, but a search online warns repeatedly about a trojan virus and Malware/spyware viruses. I down loaded their toolbar, and had earned some money but had to go through A LOT (just today) to delete it, because it was taking over my computer, slowing it down and trashing it up with popups that couldn't be blocked!!!

Oh no! I use this all the time. We do have an issue with popup ads, too. We don't have the toolbar but I need to see if they somehow wormed into my computer....

 

[Eureka]

Thanks for the heads up. That's a site I hadn't heard of before.

Text broker is not going to earn you much. A few dollars for a 500+ word article, and that's only if you are a "4" or "5" star writer. If you want to write, I would suggest Demand Studios or Constant Content.

 

[Aliceacc]

YAY!!

I found this summer's freelance writing job More money for next summer's Disney fund!!

And, thanks, I agree that Text Broker probably isn't my best choice. As a math teacher, I can almost always find someone looking for a math content writer.

My first assignment is due in about a week and should earn me a few hundred dollars. I'm teaching summer school this week (4 hour sessions tomorrow, then a full day Friday-- then I'm all done.) So the timing is perfect. I'll eyeball it all tonight, then really get started Saturday.

 

[Krischaser]

Congrats!!!! Do you mind me asking what site you had luck with?

 

[militarymomto5]

The trick w swagbucks is making sure you shop through them. I got 180 swag bucks today (it took a month to credit) bc Walmart had 4 PTs per dollar spent. I developed some pics. Disney store
Online earns 2-4 swagbucks per dollar. That's where it adds up!!!!

I have tried Swagbucks also, but I am not earning very quickly with them. And since you already have a full time job (I am a SAHM) you probably don't have HOURS of time to spend online doing a bunch of stuff that earns you change!!![/QUOTE]

 

[Aliceacc]

To be honest, I don't remember. But it was most likely one of these, probably the first.

I PM'd you, but it occurred to me that others might be able to use the info as well.

This is a great site for education writing: http://educationwriting.blogspot.com/

There are always a variety of openings at www.shmoop.com .

And I've gotten some great jobs from www.sunoasis.com

Google can be your friend: google "freelance early childhood writer" or something similar.