It's been a long time since I posted here, eh? I had a baby and in general my whole life changed in the last few months. Now she's an adorable 4 1/2 months (she was born October 30, 2006) and not quite as much work as she was at first. We named her Gislaine.
For the first few months, I didn't even think about earning money. I just did what I had to do, and didn't even go out shopping (my husband became the chief grocery shopper for a while).
But once I got my baby on somewhat of a schedule, and especially after my husband bought a new car and gave me his old one, I have been more interested in finding ways to earn money for myself--not a lot, either of money or of time invested, but just something I could do. And here is what I found.
I can sew, which means I earn a bit of money on the side by sewing for people--neighbors, church members, etc. I am taking a course in dressmaking and design by correspondence and am learning how to make custom fitted patterns--so nice for hard-to-fit people. So if you need help with that, and live in the Rio Grande Valley, drop me a line.
The other thing I discovered is mystery shopping. I paid about $34.95 to get a directory of paid surveys and mystery shopping companies from Maximum Paid Surveys. I can't vouch for the survey companies, but they have a great list of mystery shopping companies. I've already been paid more than I invested in this company from mystery shopping, and come the end of this month, I expect to get even more, and more next month.
But you may want to know which ones are really legit. So from time to time I will post their names and sites. I will only include posts of those I actually got paid from--three so far.
Corporate Research International
They tend to have a decent number of sites--especially gas stations--but they don't pay a whole lot--the most for one shop is $8 so far. But they do pay. I have done 3 shops for them and got $21.
Shopper's Critique
I have done two jobs for them, and one has been paid, $12, and the other says payment pending, which means I'll probably get paid soon.
ICCDS
These people have given me the most jobs of any company so far, I think. I've completed 6 assignments and been paid for the one I did for them last month--my first job, actually. They paid $12. I also have 3 more due within the next couple of weeks.
If you decide to try mystery shopping, my suggestion is that you limit how far you are willing to go. If you are going to drive more than 10 miles, make sure you have at least two shops (or one that pays more than $15), or another reason to go to that town that day, to make the trip worth it. Also, if you have to make a purchase and cannot return it (ie, they are going to reimburse you), make sure that either you can get something small that will be fully reimbursed, or else make sure you are getting something you really want or need. I went to Eddie Bauer and got something that cost more than the reimbursement, but it was something I've been wanting to get anyway, and considering that it was on sale already, it was worth it.
Hope you enjoy this!
Lisa