Friday, May 29, 2009

the cold hard cash.

So May is almost over, and while paying surveys haven't been abundant, I've been doing pretty well. I've pretty much finished up my product trials. I'm currently doing a daily journal on cold/allergy meds.

I signed up with a few new sites.

My Opinion Now - not too bad. I don't qualify for their surveys very often. They pay in "points" , so far I have 750 with the rewards starting at 2000, the site says you can redeem for rewards or cash. I don't know if the points translate to exact dollar amount (i.e. 1oo pts = $1), but for 2000 points you get 20 iTunes songs.

Lightspeed Consumer Panel is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites. Not only have I already received a product trial for a new Dove shampoo/conditioner, their surveys are abundant and the points add up fairly quickly. I've already cashed out for a $10 Amazon, and just today cashed out for a $25.00 Amazon.

There are several other sites that I'm on the verge of cashing out with and it seems just when you get right there, you stop getting stuff. SurveyHead for example- I'm like $1.00 away from cash out and I can't seem to qualify for anything to save my life. Oh well- I'm sure something will come through soon.

Ok- the earnings for May:
$15.00 from Pinecone Research (god I LOVE them!)
$33.77 from CashCrate (see my proof below that they REALLY PAY!)
$3 from UCLA
$15 Amazon from Avon Communispace
$25 Amazon from Lightspeed
$1.00 from another survey company (forget who they are)
$13.30 from Opinion Outpost
$14.50 from Greenfield Online

May's Total: $120.37

I haven't really shopped at all this month, except for the Tulle's Day sale in early May. I ended up returning several of the items due to fit. Nice thing was that they have free return shipping.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Proof

Just a quick post today- Here's my check from CashCrate :

Friday, May 8, 2009

Inbox Dollars Really Pisses Me Off! and other bargains

So I requested a check from Inbox Dollars awhile back- it was almost 2 months from when I requested it till when they told me I'd receive it- so it said May.

I haven't gotten any paid emails from Inbox Dollars in about a week- so I was like hrm, what's going on here? I go and log in to my account and it says "your account is inactive, please click here to send a conformation email" I'm thinking great- so lemme guess what's going to happen now- either my money that I earned is going to be all missing or they haven't sent a check.

Well, luckily for me, it's the latter. So guess what, NOW I have to wait until July. Totally fucked up. After I receive my check, I'm cancelling my account, but I'm sure they are going to do something again come July. I'm filing a complaint with survey police to get this resolved. I'm also going to email Inbox Dollars and WTF at them big time.

In other news, "product trials" have been abundant for me this month! I have 3 of them going on! One is super secret and I can't tell you about it- but the other 2 I can. One is for a new kind of "nighttime" toothpaste and another is for granola bars. The toothpaste is good stuff, but it doesn't do what it claims- your supposed to use it at night so you don't wake up with furry teeth/dragon breath in the morning. My teeth aren't furry but my breath isn't minty either. Plus my husband thinks the "stripper glitter" in it is weird (it has mini breath strips in it).

Bargain Shopping has been abundant for me this month- Tulle tulle4us.com had a ridiculous sale this week- many items under $7 , I scored 6 really nice pieces for under $30 . Their shipping was a bit high at $13.00. I also scored a really nice 19" wide screen LCD monitor for $70 from Staples, plus I got a casio label maker for free. Clinique.com also had a nice deal- I spent $40 , got free shipping PLUS a ton of freebies- 9 of them total -

I should be getting some survey payments in for this month- So far I've gotten paid $9 in surveys via paypal and a $5 Amazon. Not bad for the first week.

Monday, April 27, 2009

I heart Pinecone Research- and other updates!

I am so thrilled I googled that Pinecone Research site and found a banner- I've already gotten paid $6 (and they are FAST to pay my first check came within 3 days of taking the survey!) and I am currently in the middle of product trial for them as well. I can't tell you what the product is, it's top secret! I know several seasoned surveyers are annoyed that Pinecone lowered their payouts, but heck $3 is better than $0 if you ask me.

I started getting "back into" CashCrate this month, so far I've earned $32.47 this month, hopefully I'll add a few more bucks to that before payout(last day of the month). I've started qualifying for their surveys again and doing a few of the offers. I'm doing pretty good with referrals also, I just wish some of them would do enough to make payout ($20) so they could see it's not a scam! CashCrate is definitely one of the easiest paid sites I've ever used- frustrating at times, but an easy few bucks.

I haven't really joined any new sites- just playing with the whole bunch I have. I'm still waiting for payment from Inbox Dollars , they said to expect payment around May ( I requested payment in April) so I'm not doing anything big on that site until I actually receive payment. Never mind that I'm still bent on the "check fee".

Surveyhead I'm doing fairly well on, I've accumulated $17 already since last cash out.

Greenfield, Opinion Outpost and SurveySpot have been kinda stale for me on the paid surveys. I seem to disqualify a lot on the paid ones or get a lot of non-paying ones. I'll do a few non-paying ones here and there but I don't waste too much of my time on it.

I cashed out for a $10 Amazon.com gift card from Lightspeed. Ipsos Isay sent me $25, I don't really remember what the survey was for- but uh ok! I also got a few other Amazon.com gift cards from various places, I now have $50 in my Amazon "bank" . Christmas here I come.

A lot of these sites have slowed down with the paying surveys, I'm guessing the recession has hit them as well.

And the recession fashionista strikes again- I got a super cute spring jacket from Old Navy for $3.40, originally $34.99. I also got another cute corduroy jacket at Tulle for $12 (with shipping). I believe tomorrow is "Tullesday" at Tulle- hopefully they have some more super cute deals.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Some New Stuff- Sites, Payments, and Nirvana. A little bargain shopping too.

I've gotten a bunch of new GPT sites from various people. Some really suck, some kinda suck and I found a few new survey sites that are pretty cool.


The Bad:
Harvesting Emails- this site was sent to me by a fellow GPT fan, and let me tell ya- it's a totally sucky site. I'm not even going to include the link because it's such a wreck. The site is poorly constructed. Basically you sign up and they email you a bunch of poorly constructed unknown "search" sites. The "note" on the top of the search site claims you'll be paid 0.25 cents for viewing this site for 30 seconds. I thought, OK .25 cents isn't too bad, seeing as how the first day the sent me about 20 sites, that's $5.50 just for viewing a (crappy site) for 30 seconds. Well........... I go and check my account later in the day and notice that my account claims I have 0.50 in my account. uh? what? So I email the "contact us" link and 2 weeks later still don't have an answer. The person who referred me to the site said, "Yeah, I asked them about that too and never got an answer." Gee, thanks for the time waster. Another craptastic thing about this site, there's only about 200 "search" sites they have available for you to view- and somehow they send the same ones over and over and you get a message "You've already been credited for this site." Plus I'm not sure I really understand it. There's credits you can earn and other stuff, it's not a very clear site. Needless to say, I deleted my account, they can keep their .50 cents, maybe they can use it to make a better site.


The Not So Bad (yet)
Freeride.com - my verdict is still out on this one. I received an invite to join from the same person as harvesting emails- Freeride is okish. You earn "tokens" for shopping and filling out offers. It takes a lot of tokens to cash in. I'd rather do surveys.

Your 2 cents- I haven't actually done any surveys for them yet so I can't tell you how they are. I did fill out a bunch of profile stuff which earned me "$7 in bonus cash" when I take and qualify for my first survey, whatever that means.

The Pretty Cool:

SayNation: this is a straight up survey site. I'm really digging it. You earn points which you can later redeem for cash (paypal transfer) or gift cards to many retailers including Amazon and Walmart. Even if you get disqualified on a survey, they give you 25 points just for attempting it. Most surveys are about 1200 points each, minimum cash out is approximately 22,000 points. I just joined earlier in the week and I've already accumulated 3500 points. Very well made site, easy to follow. They will email you surveys but you can check their site and you'll find a bunch in your list. There's also a teen survey site connected with them. I'll have to have my nephew check it out and let me know what he thinks.



And the Cashola:

Well, it's been a slow month for me. I haven't done very much on CashCrate , just a few dollars. I have $13.35 currently earned. Their surveys haven't been good for me lately, so I've only been doing a few offers here and there. I've been playing more with the new sites.

I finally cashed out on Inbox Dollars for $27.01 (they charge a $3 check processing fee which is bull, they don't have an alternative payment method- so it's not like oh you want a manual check vs x , you have to pay. Really ticks me off.)

I also cashed out at SurveyHead for $28.00 in paypal. It took about 2 weeks for it to show up, but it did. I haven't qualified for a survey from them in awhile as they are mostly using OTX surveys which I've come to despise (as many survey junkies have). I see OTX and I usually just close it and move on.

I also cashed out and received a $7.20 check from Opinion Outpost. I haven't been qualifying for their surveys lately either- another site that's fallen victim to mostly OTX surveys. gah.

I did receive $48.50 from Greenfield Online - the check came surprisingly quick. I may have mentioned that before though. I have an additional $7 in earnings on that site.

I got $10 in Amazon gift certs plus a free eyeshadow compact to review from an Avon "communispace" site I'm a member of. Free makeup, love it! I also got $10 in Amazon from Harvard Psych for study I completed on shopping.

A bunch of survey sites are doing the Amazon certs, they are really cool- you enter it into your Amazon account and can save them up. I'm going to save a bunch up for next year's Christmas shopping.



I FINALLY figure out what happened with ACOP. Apparently comcast.net email addresses are a real problem for them. I joined with my work email and actually got a $4 survey invite the other day, which I qualified for an completed. woo hooo!

I hit nirvana- I found a banner for Pinecone Research. I received my final questionnaire today and I'm waiting for my welcome email. I'm so excited, I don't know why. I hope it's not disappointing. They are supposedly the most sought after survey site on the Internet. I feel special.

And in total Recession-Chic fashion, I scored myself a kickin' pair of Old Navy Sweetheart Trouser Jeans, originally $32.50 for $6.99. They were on sale for $29.99 , I had $20 off plus 30% off. I'm a Silver card holder so I get free shipping on all my orders. Score!

In the mail free:
Rachel Ray's Nutrish dog food sample (nothing "nutrish" about it- it's junk)- I'd never feed this to my dogs, but my chickens loved it. A free sample of Nature Made vitamin C capsules, just in time for cold season! And, a Selsun Blue dry scalp shampoo sample.

My $5.99 coat from Tulle came today- It's not cheap looking and actually is quite well-made. It is wrinkly and does need a quick pressing. I wouldn't pay retail of $160, or even 1/2 that, but for $5.99 a total steal. The red color is very pretty too.


Well, that's it kiddies till next time.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Pay Day! Again!

I got my check from CashCrate $34.16 this month! Nice!

I'm like thisclose to cashing out at Inbox Dollars , I'm at $29.31 , cash out is $30.00

I also cashed out my Greenfield online at $48.50 and SurveyHead at $28.00

Not a bad month. I've had better ones!

I've slowed down on surveys for now, I think I need a break. I've been doing pretty well but I'm getting burnt out a bit! Plus I don' t know if anyone else has noticed, but paid surveys have been getting scarce.

I've been hanging out on www.slickdeals.net checking out their forums and "online shopping" for freebies- I've gotten some pretty cool stuff in the mail already- a full sized Dove Cream Oil Lotion, several nail polishes, some great coupons and food items- I'm a shop-a-holic and I have to satiate my shopping habit somehow in this recession! I've now declared myself a FREEBIE shop-a-holic!

Someone actually posted an outrageous deal today on slickdeals, and being the shopper I am, I had to buy- $5.99 for a Wool Pea Coat from a company called Tulle. Yep, $5.99 you read that right. I ordered one in red, shipping was $4.95 so even with that it was an outrageous deal. Let's see if it actually comes and if it's not a huge piece of junk. Retail on that coat was $120.00 .

I'm such a Recession Fashionista.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Makin' Money in February

Ok - I've signed up for several new sites. Some I like, others I don't. But before I get into all that, let's post my current earnings- some are "to date" since I haven't cashed them out yet:

  • CashCrate : $98.77 (paid to me since Nov)
  • CashCrate: $5.90 ( so far in Feb.)
  • Survey Spot : $10.00 (check in hand)
  • Ipsos I-Say $25.00 (check in hand)
  • Op. Outpost $11.20 (to date since Nov)
  • Greenfield $48.50 (to date since Nov)
  • SurveyHead $17.50 (to date since Nov)
  • Opinon Place $1.00 (via paypal)
  • Global Test 130 points (not sure what they translate to)
  • Inbox Dollars $23.96 (to date since Jan)
  • hotspex 320 "bux" these convert to prizes- kinda cool.
  • snapdollars $5.06 (we will discuss this site shortly)
  • Heartburn Study $200.00 (yep you read that right)

Total earned since November: $446.89

Not too bad for sitting in front of a screen minutes a day huh? Cashcrate is still by far the best site I use to earn money on- it's reliable, consistant, has great customer support, their forums are full of great advice and most of all they pay. It takes a bit of patience to figure out the site- if you need help figuring things out let me know.

For those of you curious about the heartburn study- I sort of ran into that by accident- I was browsing the slickdeals.net forums and reading the survey posts for new sites I could try out, and came upon a "heads up" for this. I'm still doing the study- the doctor who is running it is very cool. Basically I take some drugs in exchange for $200 and record my heartburn episodes (buuurrrrrpppppppp). So far so good, I haven't grown any extra limbs or anything. It's not really a "drug" they are testing fiber supplements to see if they help reduce heartburn. I don't know if I have the fiber or the placebo, either way my heartburn isn't cured.

Ok, lets move on here- These new sites I joined-

Hotspex - I joined this site last week. I have 320 points so far. Upside: really progressive type of site, flashy surveys, fun stuff. Downside: they "pay" in points. You can "cash in" the points for drawings, donations and "trade them" for stuff on points.com (airline miles, gift cards etc). I haven't gotten any survey invites in my email yet, but they have "quickies" on their sites for 1-5 points. I think I'll definitly be sticking around this site as it seems fun.

SnapDollars - I had high hopes for this site, but honestly it sucks. It's a lame imitation of CashCrate and Inbox Dollars squished together. They "claim" their email reads pay "up to" $.20 cents each- so far the 6 I've read pay $.01 cents each and I know there are more than 6 that I've read- they are VERY slow on the crediting. They also have "offers" like CashCrate - but I'm hesitant to do them because I don't want to waste my time if I'm not going to get paid.

ACOP - my friend had me join ACOP. I'd love to give you my opinion on this site, but I haven't gotten any surveys yet and the site doesn't even recognize my email when I try to sign in. I emailed them and mentioned this and have yet to hear back from them.

Well, that's it for now. I'm dying to get into Pinecone research- I've heard they pay well but I've yet to come across a banner or invite for it yet.