Out of all of the survey sites I signed up for a month ago, Opinion Outpost is the only one that I feel comfortable writing an actual review. It has only been three weeks since I signed up for this site, but already I have received a handful of survey requests in my e-mail and have qualified for enough of them to get my first $5 Amazon.com gift code.
In the past three weeks, I have gotten just about 10 survey requests from them so while they don't flood your inbox, they are consistent enough to be worthwhile. I certainly did not qualify for every one of those but I was impressed at the value placed on their surveys. Most of those 10 surveys were valued at 20 points or more. 20 points equals $2, so as I said reaching the required $5 to cash out was no problem.
I had no problems at all in requesting my first payout, and received the code within minutes of requesting it which is very nice for those of us familiar with the 10-14 day waiting period of Swag bucks. I also wanted to note a nice feature of their payout process. The minimum required to cash out is $5, but you can cash out whatever amount you want. For instance, I currently have $8.80 in my account. Instead of having to wait to reach the $10 mark, I could go ahead and cash out right now and transfer all $8.80 to my Amazon account.
I will let you know if anything changes, but for now, Opinion Outpost has got my stamp of approval.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
MyPoints
In an earlier post, I mentioned signing up for a bunch of online survey websites. While some of those sites have yet to bear any fruit, I wanted to mention a site that I personally have been a member of since 2008. MyPoints is a website that has many ways for you to accumulate points which are redeemable for gift cards to tons of different places. I myself tend to opt for the Target gift cards, but have also gotten restaurant gift cards as a treat.
As I said, MyPoints has several different ways to accumulate points but the one method I use the most is reading their e-mails. I receive about 3-5 e-mails from them a day to check out companies and other special offers. Each e-mail has a link to click to visit the website, earning you 5 points. Every once in a while, a survey will show up in my e-mail as well and those are usually worth 50 points, with 10 points just for trying and not qualifying.
On top of the e-mails though, they have special offers you can complete and they partner with several companies to participate in shop & earn programs where if you go through the MyPoints website to make your purchase, you will get a certain amount of points per dollar.
I admit to not doing much on the website other than reading the e-mails, but by just doing that, I have recieved over $200 in gift cards in the past three years so I find that they are worth mentioning.
Click here to be directed to the MyPoints website.
As I said, MyPoints has several different ways to accumulate points but the one method I use the most is reading their e-mails. I receive about 3-5 e-mails from them a day to check out companies and other special offers. Each e-mail has a link to click to visit the website, earning you 5 points. Every once in a while, a survey will show up in my e-mail as well and those are usually worth 50 points, with 10 points just for trying and not qualifying.
On top of the e-mails though, they have special offers you can complete and they partner with several companies to participate in shop & earn programs where if you go through the MyPoints website to make your purchase, you will get a certain amount of points per dollar.
I admit to not doing much on the website other than reading the e-mails, but by just doing that, I have recieved over $200 in gift cards in the past three years so I find that they are worth mentioning.
Click here to be directed to the MyPoints website.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Snowball Debt Plan
I just have to share my little victory: I paid off one of my credit cards!
I fully believe in and support Dave Ramsey's Snowball Debt Plan. This article is from his website and goes into more depth about what the Snowball Debt Plan is and how you go about using it. Real quickly, it means listing your debts from smallest amount to largest amount not paying attention to interest rates. You simply then pay the minimum payments each month on every debt, throwing any extra penny you can at the smallest debt. Once that is paid off, you use that extra money to throw at the next smallest debt.
I am definitely the type of person that needs a little victory to keep me on the right track of paying off my debt. I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to pay off a credit card and know that I'm actually making progress!
I fully believe in and support Dave Ramsey's Snowball Debt Plan. This article is from his website and goes into more depth about what the Snowball Debt Plan is and how you go about using it. Real quickly, it means listing your debts from smallest amount to largest amount not paying attention to interest rates. You simply then pay the minimum payments each month on every debt, throwing any extra penny you can at the smallest debt. Once that is paid off, you use that extra money to throw at the next smallest debt.
I am definitely the type of person that needs a little victory to keep me on the right track of paying off my debt. I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to pay off a credit card and know that I'm actually making progress!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Time Management
I speak from my own experience when I tell you that you can go crazy with all of the online survey sites, product testing sites, freebie sites, etc. In fact, I will confess to you now that there have been days that I literally sat at the computer for eight hours straight, poring over these sites as well as my e-mail account.
This would not be a problem if I was making even minimum wage doing all of the above. The problem was that depending on what particular activity I was doing, I calculated that I was making about $0.67 an hour. Yikes! Also realize that by me spending eight hours online, the laundry didn't get done, the dishes didn't get done. Actually, there were very few dishes because I never made lunch or dinner. I snacked at my desk and my husband was on his own when he got home.
I will keep this short: Doing surveys online will not make you rich! Therefore your life outside of these websites needs to take top priority. Let me give you a few tips that work for me when it comes to managing this online hobby of mine:
That's all for now. Happy Friday!
This would not be a problem if I was making even minimum wage doing all of the above. The problem was that depending on what particular activity I was doing, I calculated that I was making about $0.67 an hour. Yikes! Also realize that by me spending eight hours online, the laundry didn't get done, the dishes didn't get done. Actually, there were very few dishes because I never made lunch or dinner. I snacked at my desk and my husband was on his own when he got home.
I will keep this short: Doing surveys online will not make you rich! Therefore your life outside of these websites needs to take top priority. Let me give you a few tips that work for me when it comes to managing this online hobby of mine:
- Set a Goal. My focus has been Swag Bucks lately so I set my goal at four $5 Amazon gift cards a month which equates to needing 1,800 swag bucks. Divide that number by 30 days, and I need 60 swag bucks per day to reach my goal. This means that if I complete a survey for 75 swag bucks today, I am done! Log off of swag bucks and move on!
- Use a Separate E-mail Account. You should be doing this for all of your survey and freebie sites anyway, but I am including it because if all of your survey offers are together in one account, it is much easier to just log off.
- Be Flexible. I mentioned my goal of 60 swag bucks a day. What I failed to mention is that aiming for four $5 gift cards a month is aiming high for me. If I spend a half hour "working" swag bucks and only end up with 20 swag bucks, it's okay to be done for the day! Some days will be better than others across all of the sites you participate in. The key is knowing when to call it quits so you still get everything done for the day.
That's all for now. Happy Friday!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Swagbucks
In my last post I told you I had been trying out some paid survey sites, and I am still learning the ropes on all of them so I will give you my review soon. The reason for this post however is a site that had been on my radar since last year but I had lost track of it.
I have found my fair share of scam websites promising you all of these great prizes for completing surveys or downloading their software, etc. and I hope you know my sincerity when I say that I would not promote a website I did fully stand behind and support.
So what is this amazing website and how do we score awesome swag? Simply by searching the web using Swagbucks! I personally have racked up enough "swag bucks" to redeem for a couple $5 Amazon.com gift codes, and can attest to fun and ease of accumulating the points to do so. With Swagbucks you earn points for things like voting in their daily poll, viewing (but not even buying) special offers, taking trusted surveys, and yes even searching the web!
Every time you search using their search bar, you have the chance to score swag bucks. Just yesterday morning, I searched for something and was rewarded with 50 swag bucks! And unlike some websites I've looked into, it doesn't take months to earn prizes. Those $5 Amazon.com gift codes I mentioned are priced at 450 swag bucks, and I was personally able to score one in a week and a half!
Don't just take my word for it, check it out! If you click here you will be directed to the website through my referral link. Yes, I do get swag bucks out of you signing up under my referral but that's part of the fun! You get swag bucks for your referrals search credits. So, if your sister signs up under you, searches and wins 20 swag bucks, you win too (up to 1,000 swag bucks)!
As a side note, along with the link in this post, you may visit the website using the banner on the side of this page or the widget at the bottom of the page. For full disclosure, all three links will take you to the site through my referral link.
Happy Searching!
I have found my fair share of scam websites promising you all of these great prizes for completing surveys or downloading their software, etc. and I hope you know my sincerity when I say that I would not promote a website I did fully stand behind and support.
So what is this amazing website and how do we score awesome swag? Simply by searching the web using Swagbucks! I personally have racked up enough "swag bucks" to redeem for a couple $5 Amazon.com gift codes, and can attest to fun and ease of accumulating the points to do so. With Swagbucks you earn points for things like voting in their daily poll, viewing (but not even buying) special offers, taking trusted surveys, and yes even searching the web!
Every time you search using their search bar, you have the chance to score swag bucks. Just yesterday morning, I searched for something and was rewarded with 50 swag bucks! And unlike some websites I've looked into, it doesn't take months to earn prizes. Those $5 Amazon.com gift codes I mentioned are priced at 450 swag bucks, and I was personally able to score one in a week and a half!
Don't just take my word for it, check it out! If you click here you will be directed to the website through my referral link. Yes, I do get swag bucks out of you signing up under my referral but that's part of the fun! You get swag bucks for your referrals search credits. So, if your sister signs up under you, searches and wins 20 swag bucks, you win too (up to 1,000 swag bucks)!
As a side note, along with the link in this post, you may visit the website using the banner on the side of this page or the widget at the bottom of the page. For full disclosure, all three links will take you to the site through my referral link.
Happy Searching!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)