Online surveys and mystery shopping get a bad rap. Many people think that they are just scams but there are really some great (and legitimate) companies out there that will pay you for your time and effort. And to prove it, here’s what I earned from online surveys and mystery shopping last month, among other endeavors. I completed these mystery shops and surveys in the previous month (or earlier) and received the payment this month. Some of these mystery shops required me to pay something out of pocket to purchase a good or service (which I get to keep) but I was reimbursed for my purchase and was usually paid an additional fee. The amount I earned from mystery shops includes the reimbursement for my purchases.
Mystery shopping usually requires that you purchase something specific from the store you are evaluating for which you are then reimbursed. I usually charge those purchases onto my credit card so that I get rewards points and so that it does not use up my grocery budget for that month. When I am paid for mystery shopping I pay myself back and transfer the amount of money I spent on those mystery shopping purchases back to the credit card. The remainder is my profit.
May 2014
Freelance Writing- $135.00
Blogging/ Ad Revenue- $15.00
BARE International– $16.85
Trendsource/MSI Services– $11.53
Intellishop– $38.19
Corporate Research International/Stericycle– $62.40
Beyond Hello– $20.00
Service Sleuth/HS Brands International– $37.68
Bestmark– $3.00
Sinclair Customer Metrics– $30.00
Valued Opinions– $20 visa gift card
Saving Star– $5.48
Pact– $11.86
Ibotta– $10.00
Shopmium– $4.78 (use referral code HGCCMKWQ for a free Lindt chocolate bar when you sign up!)
Gigwalk– $5.00
Usertesting.com– $10.00
Total: $436.77
What did I do with this extra income?
So I have skipped posting this for a few months but I have keep hustling over those months, rest assured. With this money I earned in May I made payments to my sister and my mother toward housing costs for our upcoming family trip to England for my sister’s wedding. We have been paying at least $748.94 every month month just to debts! I throw more at debt when I can too. What a crazy number considering that’s about a quarter of our monthly income (not counting the side hustles, thank goodness for side hustles). The good thing is that we have been making progress and hopefully we will have some of these things paid off and can keep the debt snowball rolling!
Did you make any extra income last month? What are you using your side hustle money for?
Congrats! I used to mystery shop all the time and it was a lot of fun!
Wow good job! Yes, too many people think that all surveys and mystery shops out there are scams, but I used to do them and I made a lot of extra money that way.
Thanks guy! It really is a great way to make some extra cash.
I made just over 400 in May (paid in JUne) on Mystery shops and have a freelance writing job just over 300 that I should finish within the week. I hope to get two more of those done in JUly to catch up to my budget needs (one job put me behind 20 days!). thanks for you site and info. So far I just shop with Sinclaire and Marketforce and June was slower so I should start trying to get work at one of the others as well.
That's great Sydney! Do you have any recommendations for finding freelance writing gigs? I am looking for more
Wow, congratulations for getting paid! I almost got stuck last month because I got sick and I really need to take a rest for almost 2 weeks, hopefully I will get back to the right track this month.
Good luck getting back on track! Hope you feel better
thanks for posting this! What an inspiration for making extra $$. I signed up with a few mystery shopping companies and put your name as a referral. Hopefully you get something from that! 🙂 So, if you see a random reward for a referral from someone named Stephanie, it was me!
Thanks Stephanie! Good luck mystery shopping!