Mystery Shopping Has Made The Difference For My Budget

I read an article online not long ago about how many people just need to earn an extra $100 or $200 a month to make it through the month. That that little amount of money can make the difference between meeting your budget and going further into the hole. Well, I have been doing mystery shopping for three months now, and I just added up the checks I have received thus far. Total: a little over $600, or $200 a month. That has made the difference for me. It has plugged up some of the holes between paychecks and helped me not overdraft. It has been a godsend actually. I can't wait until after the bar exam, when I can go whole hog on it again.

Target Was Like A Ghosttown Tonight

I went to Target tonight to pick up a few things after work, and it was like a ghosttown. Usually, this Target at that time of night is humming. It was almost scary. I bought a slipcover for my sofa and felt like a spendthrift. Everyone else just had food and essentials in their carts.

Maxed Out: The Film

I joined Netflix for the free two-week trial period, and the first movie I watched is Maxed Out. Its prescience in the debt and credit sphere is unbelievable. The movie was made in 2006 and totally foreshadows the mortgage and credit meltdown we are experiencing today. The most memorable moment from the movie is when it is mentioned (to no one's surprise) that the banks make money from those with bad credit and the subprime products. No wonder they kept pushing the products. The saddest moments are when you realize two college students killed themselves because they didn't see anyway to get out of their debt, and an older mother went missing, presumably also a suicide victim for the same reason. So sad. Makes you want to hold them and say, "It is not worth that." Good movie.

Another Tweak To Mystery Shopping

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday about another tweak I am making to my mystery shopping gig: I am not going to take any shops where I have to shell out money first. Unless---they are very interesting or well paying, and they hit me at the right time of the month. The problem is for those kind of shops, you may have to buy a product or a service. In some cases, you return the product and the store gives your money back. That is usually not such a problem because you normally get the credits back in a few days. But the other kind of shop is where you have to pay for something and you get reimbursed by the mystery shopping company. In this type of scenario, it can be 30 days before you are reimbursed. And that can play havoc with a checking account as tight as mine.

Narrowing My Focus in Mystery Shopping

I am now at the end of my third month of mystery shopping. I have to say overall I like it. What I like is the money and that some of the shops are outside my ordinary routine and pathway. I get to go to other parts of the city and try things that I ordinarily wouldn't try.

Like test driving the sportscar. Now that was fun! It was a little hot roadster, and boy did I look good in it, and was it fun to drive! I have enjoyed the apartment shops and also the bank shop I did the other day.

But now that I am three months in, it is time to take stock. I am also starting to study for the bar exam again, and I have to be aware of my time. What I am going to do is not take anymore low paying mystery shops, which means no more fast food ones. That is OK, since I don't need fast food anyway. I am not going to repeat some of the time consuming ones, like the dry cleaning one I recently did. Not that it really was so bad, but I had to drive a long way, and they kept not having my clothes ready. So I had to make multiple trips.

Basically, I am going to make $15 the bottom fee that I will accept. And I will only accept that if the shop sounds interesting or is extremely easy. I really don't want to do anything under $20. My bar exam study time won't allow for it.

Credit Cards That Go The Extra Mile

There are many credit cards out there that pay you back for using them. For example, I am a big traveler, and I have gotten many miles--literally--from my Citicard. To Spain and back, to be precise. I saved up enough points (with some help from their triple miles program in effect for a while) to obtain a roundtrip ticket for me and a friend to fly to Madrid. And to rent a car free for three days to boot. That was pretty darn good.

There are also credit cards that give you reward points toward sports merchandise, free hotel stays, and automobile products and services. Some of the more practical cards in my opinion are the ones that offer rewards for buying groceries at certain stores, or rewards and cash back programs for gas purchases. There are dining rewards programs (good for those of us who love to go out and eat), but the most intriguing are the credit cards that not only offer discounts on home improvement products but allow you to accumulate unlimited points to put towards mortgage payments or the purchase of a new home! That would be especially valuable in today's economy.

There are sites you can go to to compare credit cards, and they are a useful tool.

Work At Home Scams

Since I am trying to make money on the Internet, I am cautious about work at home opportunities. How do you know which ones are legit and which ones are scams? I don't know what it is about the Internet that still makes me a little cautious. I guess it is because you really don't know who these people are, unlike brick and mortar places, where at least you can walk in the door and eyeball someone. I found an article on AOL today that had some good tips to keep in mind when considering work at home opportunities:

http://jobs.aol.com/quiz/hoax?ncid=AOLCOMMjobsDYNLprim0001&icid=100214839x1211593361x1200746144