Making Money as a Stay-At-Home-Mom!

Goal is a lost cause for the month

2010-02-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

I've hardly done any work at all this month. It's fine though. I fell behind on a lot of stuff like school and housecleaning. I felt like I wasn't paying enough attention to my baby. So I've spent the first part of February cleaning the house, catching up on school work, and spending quality time with my little guy.

The house is almost clean at a level that will be easily maintained for awhile even with work, but I still have a paper, project, and final exam coming up in my current class. (I'm in graduate school, in case I never mentioned.)

I think I'm going to scale back my goal for the month to $750 simply so I can give other elements of my life some much needed focus without feeling stressed about it. The baby is getting to a point where he's becoming more independent and soon won't need 24/7 attention, so I'll have a little more space to do work throughout the day instead of having to wait until 10 at night when he goes to bed.

kgb - Super Bowl

2010-02-07T23:29:00.000-05:00

I am highly disappointed in how the Super Bowl was handled while working with KGB. They experienced a ridiculous number of technical issues that basically wasted the entire two hours I scheduled from 8pm-10pm. I seriously could have better spent my time on other things. It was so bad that I was literally sitting next to the computer and folding laundry, because I really couldn't do anything on KGB. I made less in two hours with the .50/question than I usually make in one hour with the regular pay rate.

I apologize to anyone who I referred to them who chose to work during the Super Bowl. I received e-mails from several readers requesting a referral. If any of you made it through training and chose to work during the Super Bowl, the silver lining is that the $5 bonus for each of us will be honored.

I really hope that KGB gets their act together for the future, because I had a very good experience with them last October when I made over $250 with them. It just seems that they were not prepared for the influx of new agents and higher volume of texts.

General update

2010-02-07T00:14:00.000-05:00

I have a few new programs that I'm trying out, but I'm not prepared to unveil any information about them. Hopefully I'll have something up later in the month about them.

This week I have been incredibly lazy. I burned out pretty badly between school, working, house-cleaning, and watching the baby, so I took four days of needed rest and hardly did anything. I'm back with a vengeance though. I'm getting a lot more done and I don't feel so exhausted. I hope to be fully caught up within a week. Shrugging off four days of work is not easy to make up for, but I can do it!

I'm psyched about Super Bowl Sunday with the extra pay from kgb! I'm hoping I've still got my question answering skills so I can make some money!

January 2010 Totals

2010-02-01T01:54:00.002-05:00

My goal for the month was $1000. This was another month where I focused nearly all my attention onto one thing, but for February I'll be scouring for new programs to try out as well as working on KGB quite a bit more given the higher pay differential on Super Bowl Sunday.

I'm not supposed to say what my primary money-maker is due to my non-disclosure agreement, but if you do the math, I'm sure you can figure it out.

1.) Cash Pirate: $13.83
2.) CloudCrowd: $1.83
3.) iRazoo: $10.00
4.) kgb: $7.95
5.) Private: Cannot disclose.
6.) Opinion Outpost: $14.50
7.) PrizeLive: $12.71
8.) Surveyhead: $5.00
9.) SurveySaavy: $1.00
10.) Swagbucks: $5.00
11.) TrekPay: $5.76
12.) YouData: $0.68

My January total was:
$1282.06

My goal for February is $1200! Think I can do it?

Reference - Past Month Totals
December 2009: $778.18
November 2009: $670.30
October 2009: $446.25

Swagbucks Review

2010-02-01T01:07:00.001-05:00

How It Works
You can earn Swagbucks many ways, but I am going to focus on the easiest (and free) ways. First and foremost, install the Swagbucks Toolbar into your browser. If you're like me and hate toolbars, install it and then hide it when you're not using it. It's worth it. (Toolbar download link)

1.) You get Swagbucks dollars by performing searches through the Swagbucks web site and toolbar. These are awarded at random. Also, if you do too many searches in a row (trying to cheat the system), you'll get a rules page that pops up and you won't get any codes for awhile. My suggestion is to do some searches and wait a few seconds in between each until you get a code. Once you get a code, the chances are pretty low that you'll get another any time soon, so wait awhile and come back to it. I usually do searches in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

2.) Swagbucks codes are released at random times during the day, usually from 3pm-12pm PDT, but not always. The codes are then entered into the Swagbucks main page, which you can get to from your toolbar quite easily. When a new code is out, you have a specified period of time to enter it in, so be on the lookout. Where are these codes? Well, here's a handy widget that will tell you when a new one is out! All you have to do is click the "Swag Codes" button and it will tell you. (Bookmark this page for future reference.)

3.) Referrals. I don't really get a lot of Swagbucks for referrals because I don't like to spam people and annoy them about signing up under my name. You can receive up to 100 Swagbucks per referral from their searches (1 buck per search), so it's pretty nice when those come in. So while we're on the subject, if you'd like to sign up and help me get points, I won't mind--but no pressure. ;) Click the banner below.

Payment
So what do you do with all these bucks you collect? Well, you can use them for a variety of things, but the favorite for most is Amazon gift cards. You can buy almost anything on Amazon, and they are usually the most bang for your buck. A $5 Amazon card is 45 SB whereas $5 to your Paypal account is 70 SB. It's really just not worth it to hold out for anything else.

Once you request a gift card, you'll get an e-mail that you have to verify. Once it's verified, you'll receive your card on either the 15th or last of the month, whichever comes first for you.

Payment Proof

To date, I have received $25 in Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks (October 2009-January 2010).

Recommendation
RECOMMENDED. It's simple. Easy enough to do. Very minimal time requirement. All you have to do is remember to do a search occasionally. I normally use Google, but occasionally if it's time for a Swag search, I'll use my toolbar instead. I don't push myself too hard on this one though. If I forget to do it, whatever. I do aim to get at least two Swagbucks a day, if not more.

Last Revised: 2/1/2010
Created: 11/16/2009

TrekPay Review

2010-02-01T00:28:00.001-05:00

How It Works
Log in multiple times a day to click on advertisements. There are different ads to click on throughout the day. You accumulate points and each week TrekPay takes the points and converts them to some amount of money based on their revenue. It took me from the middle of October until the beginning of January to receive enough money to cash out ($5.50)-- and I clicked links multiple times a day EVERY single day without missing a day. Upon cashing out, you have to wait two weeks to receive the money via PayPal.

Payment
You can cash out once you have $5.50 in your account. Payment is sent to your PayPal account.

Payment Proof

Recommendation

IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO. Yes, I clicked the links in TrekPay almost religiously for over two and a half months. No, it wasn't worth it. I had considered taking it out of my daily rotation, but it does eventually pay out and I do occasionally have just a few minutes to throw out the window where it couldn't hurt to click on some stuff. I now do TrekPay only when I think about it and it's definitely not on my daily task list. I figure I'll eventually hit $5.50 again. One day.

Last Revised: 2/1/2010

Created 2/1/2010

A couple of rewards programs

2010-01-19T16:10:00.000-05:00

I'm all for making the most of any money I spend. My husband agrees I'm the master of rewards programs. I'd do frequent flier miles if I ever actually flew anywhere. (I normally drive, unless it's just really far away.) In case any of you were unaware of these two programs, I'm just putting it out there.

Pampers Gifts to Grow

With a 5-month old, we buy a lot of diapers and wipes. Every Pampers item has a code on it for Gifts to Grow. When you have enough points you can trade them in for toys, magazines, photos from Shutterfly, and other things. Some of the codes are pretty obvious-- When I buy a box of diapers, it's a sticker on the plastic packaging for the diapers inside. Some are not so easy to find. I've been ordering boxes of 6 refills of wipes from Diapers.com and only just realized the code is printed on the side of each refill package inside the box. I guess I expected all the codes to be on stickers. Anyhow, if you're already buying Pampers products, then there's no reason not to do this. If you aren't interested, but have codes... send them to me. ;)

My Coke Rewards

I am rather addicted to Diet Coke. I started this program a few years ago, got as many as 900 points, but then they expired because you have to put in a new code every 3 months.. unless they changed the rule since then. I was kind of irritated about that. I had intended to enter a new code, but due to an emergency I was away from a computer for several days and barely missed the 3 month deadline. What I do now is just save all the codes I find in a bowl. They're under the coke caps and on the cardboard piece of the 12-packs that you open to take the cans out. Anyway, get enough points and you can get all kinds of stuff. Again, if you don't want to participate, but have some codes, send them my way!

I don't get referral points from either program. I just thought you all might be interested in extra ways to get free stuff.

Cash Pirate Review

2010-01-16T14:53:00.002-05:00

I've had the button on the right in my blog layout for awhile now for Cash Pirate, but I had yet to cash out due to general laziness. I wish I had sooner. The reason for the laziness is that part of the verification process requires you to call them for phone verification and I tried it once and it didn't work. I tried one more time this week and was verified within a day, so I must have missed some piece of information in calling the first time.

How It Works
It works much like PrizeLive and other such web sites. You are paid for completing offers and clicking on links. Before the first of the year, daily they had at least a dollar's worth of links to click on per day which was fast and easy, but since it's gone down quite a bit. I guess it fluctuates, but I wish I hadn't been lazy since it would have been easy money. You also get 50 cents for each referral, but all money earned in my first payout was from stuff done on the site and included no referrals.

*Tip* I use a browser different than my primary browser for this site. I do this so I can clear browsing history and cookies prior to attempting to complete any offers. I've noticed that it increases the crediting rate of offers on sites like this. Ex. I generally use Firefox for every day use, so I switch to Internet Explorer when completing offers with Cash Pirate.

Payment
You are required to having $5.00 in your account before requesting to cash out, but once your account is verified and you have the $5.00 payment is instant to your PayPal account. It's pretty straightforward.

Payment Proof
I received my first payment instantly after I had verified my account. I recommend verifying your account shortly after you set it up. It will take a day or so for the phone verification to go through. Once you're verified, you're good to go.

How To Join
There are no special qualifications to join. I would appreciate it, however, if you signed up through my link so I'll get an extra 50 cents. Please click here to join!

Recommendation
RECOMMENDED due to its ease of use and fast payout times. I've noticed the offers credit more quickly than other such sites and I've had a higher rate of ones that actually do pay out. While it is by no means a high paying site, I spend 5-10 minutes on it a day when I only have a small amount of down time to maximize what I make across all the programs I participate in.

Last Revised: 1/16/10
Created: 1/16/10

Diapers.com

2010-01-13T14:53:00.000-05:00

This isn't really a way to make money, but I wanted to post about a way that I SAVE money. Having a 4 month old (almost 5 months!) we go through a lot of diapers. I've found that the most cost effective way to buy diapers without sacrificing quality is in really big boxes. I always buy diapers from Diapers.com because they do free two day shipping and I can always find online coupons from them. I remember I "tested" them before I had the baby and managed to get a box of 200+ diapers, a box of six packs of thick wipes, and a plastic box of wipes for just over $49 because I took advantage of all the coupons available. Per unit cost is always cheaper when you buy the biggest box possible instead of the plastic packs which are WAY overpriced.

Anyhow, I've been very satisfied with Diapers.com and would like to pass on a way that you can get $10 off your first order with them. If you use my code, you'll also be giving me an extra $5 credit towards my next order. And in case this feels spammy to you, I promise I would never post something like this unless it was legitimately the best deal I could find.

Diapers.com also has a variety of toys, gear, clothing, formula, etc. beyond just diapers and the pricing seems pretty comparable or better to most retailers, so please check it out!

Upon checking out, enter the referral code SAHM3102 and you will get $10 off your first order. Also, check around online because there are other coupons that are manufacturer-specific. I always manage to find additional Pampers or Huggies coupons.

Thanks!!

Surveyhead payment proof

2010-01-12T18:15:00.000-05:00

I requested my first payment from Surveyhead on 11/30/2009 and just received that payment of $26.25 today, 1/12/2010. Honestly, I'm pretty peeved that they say it could take up to 4 weeks to receive payment and it took practically a month and a half. As they did finally pay me and it's one of the higher paying survey programs, I will continue to stick with it.

kgb - Super Bowl Preparation!

2010-01-08T15:38:00.001-05:00

Anyone who hasn't signed up to be an agent with kgb and are interested in doing so, please let me know. If you can get me your e-mail address I can refer you and we'll both get an extra $5.00 when you complete training. They're preparing for the Super Bowl and the weeks following because they will have a commercial during it! Lots of work for everyone! Also, during the Super Bowl, they are paying $.50 per question instead of the usual $.10... Afterwards it's $.30/question and the hours leading up to it will be $.20/question.

The day of the Super Bowl I will be working exclusively with kgb instead of my usual Leapforce work because I will actually be able to earn more that day with kgb than anything else.

E-mail me at sahmjob.lary@gmail.com and I will send you a referral. You will not get the extra $5 by going through the site yourself.

Thanks!

December 2009 Totals

2010-01-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

For December 2009, these are my totals. Keep in mind, I put nearly all my focus on Leapforce, so I didn't make much with other programs.

1. Leapforce: Cannot disclose
2. Surveyhead: $16
3. kgb: $16.85
4. ChaCha: $0.12 (only did one question to keep my account active)
5. iRazoo: $10 (I missed a bunch of days due to traveling, etc.)
6. Swagbucks: $10
7. Opinion Outpost: $12.50
8. Neobux: $2.00
9. YouData: $2.10
10. PrizeLive: $22.18 (Missed pretty much the last half of the month on this one)
11. Greenfield Online: $1.00

I might have missed something. Last month was really hectic and pretty much a blur. Hopefully this month I will have a lot more useful updates now that I'm home again and getting back in the swing of things.

My December total was:
$778.30
My goal for January is $1000.00!!

One more update before I leave!

2009-12-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

The baby and I are going to visit my dad tomorrow! I'm a little ahead on my work and plan to do some more tonight when my husband gets home-- I'm at around $602. As I expected, I did have another record day on December 20-- I made $107.89. I was on my game! :D I hope to get another 4 hours or so in tonight and that will put me ahead enough that I can have four days for the remainder of the year that I don't have to do any work online at all.

For any of you that work for kgb, be on alert that this week they're paying double as long as you adhere to their quality standards and answer 150+ texts. I hope to get in most of my 150 tonight.

If time allows, I'll do extra work while I'm at my dad's, but I don't want to HAVE to do it, you know?

I've decided since I'm getting my time management stuff sorted out, my goal for January will be $1000.

I had a record day!

2009-12-20T00:42:00.000-05:00

On December 18, I had a record day of $93.05! I put in a lot of hours (about 8, I think). Thanks to my husband, because he watched the baby while I worked. It was a great help. I'm officially caught up to where I wanted to be by this time this month which is fantastic. I'm at $459.50 for the month! I still have a few hundred to go to my goal, but I'm fairly certain I'm on track to reach my goal for the first time! I'm staying up late tonight to work while things are quiet and will be doing more tomorrow since my husband's off for the day. I'm hoping to have another record day and get a jump on the work I would have to be doing while I'm on vacation.

I'd like to remind everyone to sign up for PrizeLive (and stay active on it) if you haven't already. I have 40 days in which I've logged onto the site and with a few minutes spent on it every day I've made a total of $35.34. It's not a lot per day, but you can get paid daily, it's fast, and it adds up quickly.

Short Update

2009-12-18T06:12:00.001-05:00

This is just a short update. It's been a very busy month so far and I've been trying to catch up and then get ahead on work, so that I won't have to do much or any while I'm at my dad's for a week with the baby.

I'm at $343.28 so far, which puts me a little less than 4 days behind on my goal for the month. My husband and I have an understanding though. I have five days before vacation starts. He needs to watch the baby as much as possible when he's home and I think I might be able to get close to having ALL my work done to reach my goal before I leave. I've finally got a good schedule going for working on Leapforce (10pm-2am). But for the next 5 days, I'm going to be going nuts on it. That said, I won't be working on much other than Leapforce for the remainder of the month. My total doesn't constitute only Leapforce. I've still worked on other things, but since time is of the essence... I'm focusing my attention!

Speaking of Leapforce, I don't think I can post payment proof without violating the non-disclosure agreement, but suffice it to say I did receive payment in full for my work in November yesterday. That made me a very happy lady!

November 2009 Totals

2009-12-01T11:54:00.000-05:00

1. Amazon Mechanical Turk: $25.12
2. kgb_: $50.15
3. Surveyhead: $22.50
4. CloudCrowd: $7.93
5. Greenfield Online: $9.00
6. Opinion Outpost: $9.30
7. PrizeLive: $15.37
8. AroundMe (one time): $25.00
9. iRazoo: $15.00
10. Swagbucks: $10.00
11. YouData: $1.43
12. Leapforce: Due to non-disclosure agreement, I can't say exactly. But this is the one I focused on the most for the month.

Total for the month: $670.30

NeoBux Review

2009-12-01T09:02:00.000-05:00

How It Works
I signed up for a Neobux account on 10/22/09. You basically get about .01 per advertisement you click on. The catch is that you can only click on about 4 to 6 per day. It takes about 30 seconds to view each one. You could also pay them to get referrals, thus getting money from your referrals' clicks, but I never participate in any program that I have to pay for. It sort of destroys the point of it for me.

Payment
Once you receive $2.00 worth of clicks, you can cash out. After you cash out the first time, the limit goes up to $3.00, etc. Once you reach the cash out limit, your payment is instant to PayPal or AlertPay. I had a .04 fee to receive it via PayPal.

Payment Proof

Recommendation: WASTE OF TIME, but it does work.
This does pay out, but it took me 39 days without missing a day to get $2.00. This just really seems like a waste of time for me when I have alternative options that pay better.

Link: Neobux

iRazoo Review

2009-11-25T10:15:00.002-05:00

How it Works
You do searches on the iRazoo search engine on anything you want. You are randomly awarded points for searches you perform. I have had very poor luck thus far. This is a change from their old system where it was easy to attain 300 points per day.

Payment
Once you receive 3000 points, you can redeem them for an Amazon gift card code. I've been a member since about 10/28/09 and have received enough points for seven $5 Amazon cards. Due to change in their point awarding system, however, it will no longer be easy to attain points and my results do not reflect the new system.

Payment Proof
After redeeming my first $5 Amazon Gift Card with iRazoo on 11/5/09, I received it via e-mail on 11/25/09. There was a 20 day wait to receive my code. I have redeemed it with Amazon and verified that it is a working code. See Payment Proof below.

How to Join
There are no special qualifications to join. Just sign up and start searching! Click here to join!

Recommendation
WASTE OF TIME due to a change in their point awarding system. Previously you could earn points with every search. Now they award points randomly and I have yet to be "randomly" awarded points. I'm hoping this is a temporary thing and they realize how this will impact their membership base, but as of now... Don't waste your time.

Created: 10/28/09

Last revised: 1/23/10

Make $25 with AroundMe writing reviews

2009-11-21T13:48:00.001-05:00

This is a one time $25 for writing reviews about local businesses. I found out about it from another work-at-home mom's blog. Click here for the site.

How It Works
E-mail them through their Facebook site with the area you would like to do reviews for regarding local businesses. Write ten 60+ word reviews on local businesses and they will give you $25 through PayPal.

This is a one time thing, but it's an easy $25. You just need a Facebook account!

I've heard that this is only available through November 24, so contact them soon!

Payment Proof

kgb_ Review

2009-11-19T05:27:00.002-05:00

I started training with kgb_ on October 9, 2009. First, I have to state that I am not an employee of kgb_. They require you to be an independent contractor. People text in random questions and you have to answer them. You are paid .05-.10 per question that you answer. This takes practice to get fast at it! I've gotten to the point where I can make $4-6 per hour, but it took about a week to get that good.

How It Works
You first have to pass the Agent Challenge. Once you pass it, it took one business day for me to get an e-mail to begin training. You are not paid for training. You have to spend a few hours going through PowerPoints and some quizzes that teach you how everything works, then you take a readiness test. After I passed that test, it took another business day and I was given access to the training simulator. Once the simulator was completed (it was in the morning), I received an e-mail that evening that I could begin shadowing. Shadowing means you answer real questions and are paid for them, but someone is reviewing every answer to ensure it meets their standards. After about 80 questions were reviewed, I became a full Agent! You can usually log in whenever you want to answer questions for as long as you want, but my understanding is that you must schedule at least 8 hours a month to remain active. For me, that's a piece of cake.

Time Spent Thus Far
So far, I've spent about 40 hours on it, which includes the training simulator questions. Keep in mind, a big part of why I haven't made more is due to the learning curve. Once I got past that, it became much easier to make money.

Payment
kgb_ pays by direct deposit to your bank account on the third week of the month AFTER you have worked. So far I've made $100.50 for the month of October. Now that I've gotten pretty good at it, I'm making more and able to spend less time on it.

Payment Proof (added 11/19/09)

Link: kgb_

Created 10/20/09
Last Revised 11/19/09

Maintenance

2009-11-19T02:29:00.000-05:00

I will be reworking some of the stuff on this blog today. My goal is to move some of the program info posts into more cohesive reviews. I also want to make it easier to navigate through the various programs and get summaries and recommendations without having to sift through everything.

Bare with me! Assuming the baby is cooperative, I hope to have it done today! Thanks!

Update: 11/19
Just want to let you guys know I'm still working the design (as you can see). This one is kind of complicated, but it's the only one I could find that I felt would easily keep all of the information sorted. Hopefully it will be done soon!

MyPoints Review

2009-11-16T12:42:00.014-05:00

I've been a member of MyPoints since 1999!

How It Works
You can make purchases through MyPoints sponsors and get points per dollar, but I would really only do this if I'm already planning on buying something anyway. That said, I always forget to go through MyPoints, so all the points I've made have been through free methods. To do this without spending any money, it can take a long time. It's not time-consuming, but it can take months to rack up enough points for a good reward.

The trick is to sign up for MyPoints Bonus Mail. You'll get a few e-mails a day and usually you get 5 points for clicking on a link in the e-mails. They also send surveys occasionally and you can get 10 points if you don't qualify for the survey or some varying amount if you do. I go in spurts of being consistent with clicking on these things, so since 1999 I've made 19372 points (as of October 20, 2009). I probably would have made quite a bit more if I'd been consistent with it.

Payment
I figure for just a few minutes clicking on stuff a day it eventually adds up to enough points to get a reward, which is usually in the form of a gift certificate. In 2008, I had saved up enough points for a $50 gift certificate to the Ritz-Carlton, which I used for my wedding night. That was convenient! Right now I have 4272 points in my account and am saving for a $50 Target gift card. It will come in handy for some stuff for the baby when I need it.

While it will take a long time for you to get anything out of it, you WILL eventually get something out of it. With a minimal time commitment, I absolutely recommend doing it. I have always gotten the rewards that I've chosen.

Payment Proof (Added 11/16/09)

To join:
I have to ask, please send me a message with your e-mail address and I'll send you an invitation. I get 250 points for referring someone and it would be great if you could help me out!

Reviewed on 10/20/09
Last revised 11/18/09

Important Note about PrizeLive

2009-11-14T03:16:00.002-05:00

There is something important that I realized about PrizeLive that I wanted to let you guys know about! Every day BEFORE you complete any offers or especially PTCs, make sure you clear your cookies. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't credited for them yesterday until I cleared them and tried again. That fixed the problem!

If you don't want to clear your cookies in your primary browser, use a different browser for PrizeLive and it will make the process a lot easier.

Big weekend!

2009-11-13T22:57:00.008-05:00

I'm going to be trying to get as much done tonight as possible, because Sunday is my birthday and I don't think I want to be working on all this too much when I should be having fun! I burned myself out a bit at the end of last month trying to meet my goal, so I fell behind a little bit for this month.

Given that I can make the most with Leapforce, I've been trying to put a lot of time into that. At the same time, I don't really want to put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. I haven't verified first-hand that they payout yet--Although I've heard from others that they do. I've been trying to keep everything balanced and have about half of my earnings from other programs like kgb, Mturk, and the various other programs that I'm trying.

After some reflection, I've decided to "retire" Neobux and TrekPay once I cashout with them. In all honesty, both require too much time and checking throughout the day... every single day that it's really not worth my time as I have other higher paying programs available to me that I could better spend my time on. On Neobux .04-.07 per day is just not worth it. I'm at 1.15 with them right now and will hopefully cash out with them at 2.00 by the end of the month. I'll confirm whether or not they pay out and will be done with them. TrekPay pays in the form of credits that they convert to cash every week. After one month I've only got 1.75 with them. I can cash out at 5.50, which I really hope happens by the end of next month. Again, once I get payment proof from them, I'm retiring it from my list.

For next week, be on the look out for layout updates to this blog. With the wealth of information that I have here, the current layout just isn't efficient in managing it all. I'm going to put some thought into alternative options and will hopefully come up with something easier to navigate. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment and I will happily consider it.

And for a shameless referral plug, those of you that haven't registered for iRazoo--Do it! If you do your searches every day, that's a $5 Amazon gift card every 10 days or so. Excellent for saving for birthday/Christmas presents!

Opinion Outpost Payment Proof

2009-11-12T01:32:00.003-05:00

I opted for an Amazon gift card instead of having them send me a check. The Amazon card is instant and I didn't feel like waiting 4-8 weeks for a $6 check. I need the Amazon stuff anyway for Christmas presents, so it works out! Here is payment proof for Opinion Outpost!

PrizeLive Payment Proof

2009-11-11T16:43:00.004-05:00

PrizeLive does work! Here is the payment proof! I'm so excited about this one!

Note: PrizeLive shows as Day Online Solutions, LLC on PayPal.

PrizeLive

2009-11-10T07:38:00.003-05:00

I might have found a new site that I'm in love with. I'm all about the instant gratification. I understand that most sites with low PayPal payouts take forever to earn enough to get much worthwhile... But PrizeLive appears different. You sign up for offers, do some PTCs, try a few surveys... Minimum payout is $1.00 and I hit that in 30 minutes on the site just messing around. Important advice: If you complete offers, sign up with an e-mail account that you don't mind getting spam at.

Anyhow. I cashed out $1.47 and supposedly it goes to PayPal pretty fast. It was about 15 minutes ago and still waiting. I'll post here with the Payment Proof as soon as I have it. In the meantime, here is where it was taken out of my account on the site:

A few more payment proof images

2009-11-09T05:18:00.007-05:00

I've been meaning to update with payment proof from a few sites.

Payment proof from Cloud Crowd:

Payment proof from Greenfield Online. Please note, payment from them shows as Toluna Delaware, Inc. on PayPal:

Amazon Mechanical Turk payment proof. Note that they pay to Amazon Payments then direct deposits to your bank account. This is proof that the money made it to my bank account:

October Totals

2009-11-03T15:35:00.001-05:00

I had a successful month in October, especially considering that I didn't really get going until about halfway through the month.

1. kgb_: The program I made the most month with was kgb. I made $224.15 for the month. Training took a few days. First the agent exam on the site, then the training slides and exam. Then, of course, I had to pass the simulation. I had to wait about one day between each to have my work evaluated by kgb, so the whole process took about three days before I was making any money. My first weekend, I won one of about 60 $20 prizes in a drawing. That's pretty good considering I didn't have more than 2 entries to the drawing. I'm supposed to receive payment from them on November 19, so I will post payment proof then.

2. ChaCha: ChaCha was not initially hiring, so I got started about a week after kgb. The training process was much quicker and I like the system a lot more than kgb; however the way they filter the questions means that even though you're paid more per question, they take longer to research. ChaCha was only worth my time when kgb was slow and I could do both at the same time. I made a total of $16.68 with them. I've decided not to do the "Pay Me Now" option with them, because it's $2 processing fee each time. They require a $100 minimum to receive payment, so I might have to ramp up my work with them a little bit to get to that minimum.

3. InboxDollars: InboxDollars is a great site, although it takes quite awhile to reach their $30 minimum. I've used them in the past, so I know they pay out. I made $7.85 with them for October, but given that the only way to make money is by clicking the limited number of e-mails they send you and qualifying for/completing surveys on their site, it will be awhile before I reach their payout minimum. I'm not counting this towards my October total, because I don't expect to be able to cash out for two or three months. It very easy with a minimal time commitment, so I will continue to do it. Just a few seconds a day to click on e-mails.

4. YouData: I love YouData! No, I didn't make much with them, but the referral program is good, they have no minimum payment, and they deposit any earnings to your Paypal account each week. I have received two payments thus far totaling $2.23, but given it only takes about a minute a day to log in to check if there are any ads available, I'll definitely take it!

5. TrekPay: There are things I really like about TrekPay, and some that irritate me. I log in several times a day to see if there are any links up for me to get credit for. Usually there are. They only convert the credits to cash once per week, and it's really not much. After two weeks, I made .56. They have a minimum cashout of 5.50. I' sure I'll get to 5.50 eventually, and I really only do this one when I have a couple minutes of downtime. It's a good filler. Not counting this one in my October total, because who knows when I'll make it to 5.50!!

6. Neobux: I sometimes wonder why I bother with Neobux. I mean, I only make about 4 or 5 cents a day with them. But then I remember that I only have to click on 5 ads a day and it doesn't really take much time. In October I made it to .41 with them. They have a minimum cashout of $2. I'm not including this in my October total.

7. CloudCrowd: I made a whopping .72 with CloudCrowd in October. I did receive payment via Paypal. They pay out at the end of each day with no minimum. I've only stuck with them because I heard great things about their first couple of weeks, but they've had a ton of maintenance issues, so there never seems to be any work available. I will continue to watch it through November, but I may not bother to stick with them longer than that unless they get their acts together. I keep getting e-mails saying there's work available, when there very clearly isn't. This program has mostly just irritated me. They pay, but you spend more time looking to see if they have work up than actually making any money.

8. Greenfield Online: I have about 8 surveys pending with Greenfield Online that actually had some dollar incentive to them. The incentives were only about $1-2 each though. HOWEVER, one survey did clear and I have already received payment for it. There does not appear to be a minimum cash out with them and I now have the $2.00 in my Paypal account from them. I don't spend much time on this one because 90% of their surveys have no cash value, but I definitely like having it to fill in some time when some of my higher paying programs are slow or I'm just burned out from them. I am only counting the money I have already received from them in my October total.

9. Surveyhead: Of all the survey sites, I love Surveyhead the most. They have new surveys multiple times throughout the day. I missed out on a $20 one by mere minutes. It's definitely a feasible program to add a few dollars to every day without spending too much time. At the end of October, I had $22.75 with them (minimum $25 cashout). This total is including my pending surveys, but I know I'll be able to cash out sometime in November. I absolutely recommend this site. I love it! Keep in mind, I registered with them mid-month, but didn't pay much attention to it until the last week of the month.

10. Amazon Mechanical Turk: Mturk definitely has the potential to be a money-maker, but you have to learn what jobs (HITs) are worth it and which aren't. It was my second biggest money maker at $158.40 for October. They pay through Amazon Payments which is linked to my bank account. I could transfer the money any time, but I haven't yet. I recommend them as long as you plan to take the time to learn what's worthwhile and sift through the spammy HITs.

11. PeopleString: I signed up for PeopleString early in the month. It took two weeks to receive my postcard to verify my address. They're supposed to send mail and then I'm supposed to go online and enter the codes to get credited for it, but I have yet to receive any mail. I'll keep an eye out, but the $1.53 I got for signing up will definitely not be counted in my October total.

12. Swagbucks: I definitely recommend SwagBucks. I installed their toolbar and occasionally use the search function throughout the day. This gets me SwagBucks. You can use the bucks on a ton of different prizes, but the most effective use of the points is for a $5 Amazon gift certificate. I signed up late in the month and already had 32 points without spending much time on it. I plan to use any gift certificates towards Christmas presents. I average about 4-6 Swagbucks per day.

13. iRazoo: At about 300 points per day allowed, that means you can get a $5 Amazon gift certificate with iRazoo about every 10 days. It's easy and takes a few minutes of my time to do searches every day. I definitely recommend them.

14. MyPoints: I've used MyPoints since 1999, so I know it pays out. I only do their occasional quick questions on their homepage and I click their links in BonusMail to get points. I had a lot of points accrued (from the past year), so I used them for a $25 Amazon card. It takes a long time to get enough points, but I just click on the links when I'm checking my e-mail anyway. Sometimes I let a week's worth of e-mails pile up, then I go through and click them all at once to get my points. It's worth it. I have a

October Total: $446.04 PLUS $25 Amazon Gift Certificate

First day of November!

2009-11-01T18:49:00.003-05:00

kgb picked up last night, so for today I've made $30.25 with them. For the contest for the weekend, I've managed over 750 questions answered which is about 25 entries! I need to stop and take a break so I can do my Leapforce test since that's due tomorrow. I was hoping to get to 1000 questions for the weekend on kgb, but I feel like my brain is about to fall out of my head, so I need a break!

I'll be posting my October totals later or tomorrow. For what I count in my total, I came up a couple dollars short of my goal... but that's not counting any of the Greenfield Online surveys that I have pending and I have about 8 of those pending. Also I'm not counting the $25 Amazon gift certificate from MyPoints in my total either. Maybe I should since that's going towards my husband's Christmas present.

My goal for the month is a much more ambitious $750. That means I need to make an average of $25 per day. Given all the pending stuff from October that I wasn't counting in my total plus the fact that I made nearly $450 last month and only really got going on it about halfway through the month, it's feasible. I'm also really hoping this Leapforce thing pans out, but not getting my hopes up quite yet.

More later!

Getting nervous

2009-10-31T17:17:00.003-04:00

I'm $22.50 away from my goal. I'm sort of nervous about reaching it because kgb is REALLY slow today. They usually are much busier on the weekend, but I've only made $13.50 from them since midnight and I've spent HOURS on it. I've been sitting in a coffee shop on my laptop for 3 hours and haven't even made $5 yet. :sigh: I hope it picks up this evening!

I also need to finish my Leapforce test, but I don't want to give up valuable money-making time on the last day of the month! I'm kind of hoping Surveyhead drops me a few surveys. I made quite a bit with them yesterday and they usually have a lot of surveys.

I may have to resort to some menial tasks on Mturk.

Update!

2009-10-30T18:06:00.002-04:00

I'm about $50 from my goal for the month. I still think it's feasible, because I'm staying with my grandmother this weekend. She's watching the baby so I can get some work done. kgb is having a contest this weekend where 400 winners get $10 and you can win more than once. The person that answers the most questions gets $100, second most $75, and third most $50.

I found out today that the contest kgb had on my first weekend (Columbus Day), I won $20! I am so excited! I had to answer 30 questions just to get an entry into the drawing. I got enough to be entered once in both drawings and I won one of them! That extra $20 came at a great time, because $70 was going to be harder to get in two days than $50. I'm behind because I made a choice to take yesterday off and do Halloween stuff with my husband and my son. We had so much fun! I still have time to make it up anyway. It's just important because I set this goal and I felt that $450 was a great amount for helping pay off towards my husband's car. With my help, we believe we can have it paid off by the end of the year.

Other news..
Last night one of my Greenfield Online surveys cleared. Finally. It turns out they don't have a minimum to cash out, so I went ahead and did so. I'll post payment proof once it posts to my PayPal account.

TrekPay is a pain in the butt. I made .45 last week, which seems a little low. I'll keep on trying and we'll see if it gets any better.

I finally decided to use some of my points at MyPoints and ordered my $25 gift certificate to Amazon. I know they pay out based on my past experience with them. I went ahead and got it because I'm using it towards my husband's Christmas present.

I have yet to receive my weekly payment from YouData. Last week I got it on Wednesday. It's not a lot, but I like that they were quick about it. I have a little bit in there from referrals.

ChaCha doesn't really seem worth it. I've gotten so fast at kgb that I only do ChaCha when kgb is slow. And I do both at the same time! It'll be awhile until I get a payout on that.

I'm in love with both SwagBucks and iRazoo. Given the average rate of point accumulation, it looks like an average of one $5 Amazon card every 10 days each.

Finally... They have a non-disclosure agreement, so I can't get into many details, but I'm in the final stages of qualifying to be a Leapforce agent. That company makes you an independent contractor and you basically evaluate search engine queries. Without getting into specifically what they pay, I will say that they pay higher than any other program I'm working on thus far.

That's all for now!

SwagBucks Part I

2009-10-25T05:45:00.002-04:00

I'm trying out SwagBucks. I don't know that it will be worth it much, considering I've only got 6 on day one. Ehh.. We'll see. It doesn't take much extra to use it as my search engine, so I'll keep trying. Good prizes from it! I'll post my progress.

General update

2009-10-24T03:08:00.002-04:00

My goal by the end of the month is to make it to $450. I'm working hard! kgb_ and Amazon Mturk continue to be the most profitable for me. I want to work on getting good at ChaCha, because I think it has the potential to earn more than kgb_.

Surveyhead is turning out better than I expected. I really like how they seem to have new surveys every day. Greenfield Online is disappointing. I don't want to spend 30 minutes on a survey just to get an entry to some sweepstakes that I know I'll never win. I also don't like that Greenfield Online doesn't give you a list of available surveys. They just pick one at random to give to you.

Surveys are still a nice break from the question answering routine of kgb, Amazon, and ChaCha. Sometimes those just make my brain hurt.

You Data Part II

2009-10-24T02:53:00.005-04:00

I just want to confirm that I received payment via PayPal from YouData today. I received $1.48. It's not a lot, but given that I only spent a couple of minutes on it a day at the most.. It was definitely worthwhile! See image below for payment pro

YouData Part I

2009-10-20T13:04:00.002-04:00

I just started this last night and it seems simple enough. I guess we'll see!

How It Works
For this site, you get paid to click on advertisements. It's a pretty nice site. It launches this little application for you to click on the ads. It's simple and straightforward. Doesn't seem to require much time. Maybe a few minutes a day.

Payment
They pay weekly to your Paypal account. Since I just started it last night, I can't really verify that yet. I made $1.03 last night just clicking on ads and no more are available today though. You get .01 for every ad someone you refer clicks on as well. I apparently referred one person and have made .15 from that bringing my total to $1.18. It's not much, but it's quick, easy, and better than nothing.

Link: YouData

TrekPay Part I

2009-10-20T12:59:00.002-04:00

Okay, I don't really understand TrekPay, so I can't really say much about it yet. I know you're supposed to go in and click on some links and you get credits. I'm not sure what the credit to dollar conversion rate is, but I have 24 credits since last night. I think it's maybe based on your ranking (how many credits you've accumulated).

I'll post more when I figure it out, but I know it requires a $5.50 minimum and they pay you via Paypal. It doesn't take much time to click on the links though, so I have no problem throwing a few minutes at it a day just to see how it plays out. I've been told by others that it's legitimate, but have yet to confirm that personally.

Link: TrekPay

InboxDollars Part I

2009-10-20T12:51:00.002-04:00

InboxDollars is a site that you CAN complete offers to earn money, but you don't have to. Honestly, I think that part is a waste and only gets you more spam. I have done this program before, a few years back, and did get paid from it.

How It Works
They send you e-mails and you confirm that you got them. You get paid for each e-mail you've read. You can also go to the site and complete a few surveys a day and you get .50 for each one that you qualify for and complete.

Payment
I have done this site before and gotten paid for it, so I know it's legitimate. It's been a long time though. It does take quite awhile to accumulate enough money in your account to receive payment, but you WILL receive it. There is a very minimal time commitment required, so there's no reason not to just spend a couple minutes a day clicking on your e-mails. I started this program again about a week ago and now have $7.10 in my account. Once you get to $30 you can request a check be mailed to you. If you want to speed things up, add an extra 30 minutes a day to do the surveys.

Link: InboxDollars

ChaCha Part I

2009-10-20T12:35:00.002-04:00

ChaCha is kgb's direct competition; however from what I can tell we're allowed to do both. ChaCha works very similarly to kgb, although I must say ChaCha has a much nicer system and pays more per question answered. That said, they filter their questions well, so it might take a little longer to answer questions. They weren't hiring until last week and so I only just made it through training and tried answering a few questions.

How It Works
Again, really similar to kgb. They have other positions that involve stuff like transcribing voicemails or expediting questions, but I'm not doing those. I'm not sure how much I can make per hour with them yet because I haven't adjusted to their system. Their site claims $3-8 an hour though.

Payment
ChaCha gives you the option to be paid immediately, or once monthly. I think the monthly one is by check, but I need to check on it. To be paid immediately, you get a debit card from them and they load money onto it. There is a processing fee though, which kind of sucks, but I guess is understandable for those who really need the money right away. After spending maybe 30 minutes on it, I made $1.33 and it was during a really slow time when not many questions were available. They pay .10-.20 per question depending on how it's categorized.

I'll keep you guys posted on how I'm doing with earning on this as I get better at it.

Link: ChaCha

CloudCrowd Part I

2009-10-20T12:27:00.004-04:00

CloudCrowd is an application on Facebook. You perform a variety of tasks for different payment amounts depending on the task.

How It Works
The gist of it is that CloudCrowd provides a service to Chinese companies that helps improve the English translations on their web sites. Your job is to find such sites, verify that their translations are poor, edit text, and/or proofread edited text. Currently, they have been undergoing maintenance, so there hasn't really been much work available. It's in beta, so they've been saying that once they get some bugs in their credibility system (quality control), there will be much more work.

Payment
As I said, there hasn't been much work available, but I wanted to give it a try and managed to get a few lower paying jobs at .03 each. I completed them and CloudCrowd approved them and gave me a pending balance of .12. They pay at the end of each day to your Paypal account. I can confirm that they did pay my .12 at the end of that day and that this is totally legitimate. Before they underwent maintenance, I've heard of people making $30-50 a day on it. It's a really new program, so expect some bugs though.

Link: CloudCrowd

Amazon Mechanical Turk Review

2009-10-20T12:05:00.003-04:00

Amazon Mechanical Turk was the first one I tried beginning on October 6, 2009. Basically, people post "HITS" (or jobs) for you to complete and you get paid a certain amount, determined by the poster, per HIT you complete. At first I didn't make too much. As I completed HITS, I found that there are a lot of scam ones where they want you to "test" their form with real information. Absolutely stay away from those!

My strategy is to sort them by most HITs available in a group. I've learned which ones pay the most and some of the posters that pay quickly and pay well. You can be given a bonus per HIT at the poster's discretion.

Payment: You are paid through Amazon Payments, which is kind of like Amazon's version of Paypal. I've verified my bank account. They made two small deposits to it and I had to confirm them. I suppose I could transfer my earnings to my bank account at any time. I just haven't yet. To date I've made $90.34. When I find a really good group of HITs, I do as many as possible, as quickly as possible. Some days if I find such a group, I can make $15-$20 in just a couple of hours. I'm still learning and getting better at which HITs are worth my time, so I'm hoping in the next month or two that I can substantially build on what I'm already making.

Link: Amazon Mechanical Turk

Welcome!

2009-10-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

I'm posting this for a couple of reasons. First, I want to be able to keep track of all of the sites I'm trying to make money on. There are a lot and it's getting a little overwhelming. Second, I'm hoping that others might benefit from this. I've been able to make quite a bit more than I expected and it's really helping out my family. It's tough because I made quite a bit before I had my baby in August, and now that I'm staying home we're really missing that income.

I'll try to keep this blog posted with sites that I'm trying out, how much I'm making, and when I get paid.