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.

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.

Woohoo! Payday!

Yesterday was payday. I got my check from CashCrate $40.36 . Nice, my total since I joined in November is $64.61 for just spending a few minutes a day doing offers and surveys. I'm on my way to a pretty decent January payday too- so far I have $24.84 in earnings just at CashCrate.

I've also done several "Invokes" from Greenfield Online which have made me $30.00. Invokes are neat- there's really no rhyme or reason why you get invited to do them. When you do surveys on Greenfield, due to your answers in any given survey you may qualify for an Invoke. You'll get an email inviting you to the session at a set date/time etc and it's interactive. Almost like your in a chat room. Very cool. I've made $45.75 from Greenfield since I joined in November.


Now, let's talk about Inbox Dollars I really have a love/hate relationship with them. It's such an easy site to deal with- they send you emails you read them, you get paid. It's very slow since you only get .02 cents for every email- but they have other stuff too- shopping, surveys, free offers (like CashCrate). The part I hate- I haven't gotten credited some of the free offers yet so Im hesitant to even do anymore of them. Current Earnings since I joined in January $14.69 (cashout is $30)

Surveyhead is also frustrating me- I dont seem to be qualifying for any of their surveys lately. I joined in November have $14.50 earnings in that account (cashout is $20.00).

Opinion Outpost has been pretty good lately- I've been qualifying here and there for the surveys on there. I joined this site in November, and I ignored it, thinking who wants to rack up points. Then on another blog I was reading that Opinion Outpost was one of the best survey sites with every point = $$$, so in January I started paying attention to the survey invites. So, I have $9.70 in that account (I can cashout, but I dont want to).

So, for those of you keeping track since November (when I started joining these sites) I've earned: $174.00 just by spending a few minutes every day doing surveys and offers.

Survey Sites- The Experiment

So out of complete boredom yesterday afternoon I decided to check out some survey sites and see what they were paying vs CashCrate.

I signed up for several sites ranging from stuff like inbox dollars to survey spot. Some offered $5 incentives to join, which I gladly took (hey, if you saw $5 laying on the ground, you'd pick it up right?) others would "contact me" when a survey/study became available.

So throughout the evening and into this morning, my email was filled with several survey offers, so I bit. After doing about 30 surveys between 4 different sites over the course of several hours I made exactly $2. Talk about not getting rich anytime soon! Most of the surveys offered me entries into sweepstakes, which Im sure only Bob from Chicago wins.

This morning on CashCrate, in less than 15 minutes I made $1.50, within the past 3 days I've made $5.76 and thats with spending minutes a day. CashCrate is so much easier and so much more reliable than these survey sites that you spend hours and hours on to make $1 if you even qualify. CashCrate doesn't have "qualifiers" for their offers, you just simply visit websites and fill out the forms.

CashCrate does have surveys- which pay .80 cents for each completed one- guaranteed. You can take these surveys every 24 hours, and keep trying to qualify (I believe you can keep trying to qualify for up to a 1/2 hour) if you do CashCrate's surveys..thats $24 a month JUST for doing one of their daily surveys.

So, I urge you to check out CashCrate, sign up, poke around, check it out.