I've recently begun the journey of trying to earn some money from home. It's a hard task when you don't have a degree and your schedule is pretty much all over the place. I also had a few requirements I needed to meet.
1. I needed to be able to make my own schedule, work when the boys are sleeping, and walk away from it if they needed me.
2. I didn't want to work for an MLM (multilevel marketing company). I'm a homebody who doesn't do well trying to get people to buy something from me. Not to mention, the few good friends I have don't want to be sold to.
3. I didn't want to be on the phone. My home is far from quiet with the boys and two weeks of working for U-Haul taught me to never look back.
I had tried looking for similar jobs back when Matt and I first got married with little to no luck. Being 18 and a little naive, I fell for a scam or two. My phone was being attacked by "Work-At-Home-Mom Incredible Opportunities," get quick rich muck, and I'm pretty sure one company kept my $50 sign-up fee. A few years later and wiser, I knew better than to give anyone money and the number I gave out is one I never answer anyway. Not to mention double and triple checking a company's reputation before giving them this information to begin with. While my cell phone does occasionally silently ring to quickly be dismissed, I have yet to have anyone scam me. That's a plus anyway!
Here's what I've been up to for the past week and a half.
1. I needed to be able to make my own schedule, work when the boys are sleeping, and walk away from it if they needed me.
2. I didn't want to work for an MLM (multilevel marketing company). I'm a homebody who doesn't do well trying to get people to buy something from me. Not to mention, the few good friends I have don't want to be sold to.
3. I didn't want to be on the phone. My home is far from quiet with the boys and two weeks of working for U-Haul taught me to never look back.
I had tried looking for similar jobs back when Matt and I first got married with little to no luck. Being 18 and a little naive, I fell for a scam or two. My phone was being attacked by "Work-At-Home-Mom Incredible Opportunities," get quick rich muck, and I'm pretty sure one company kept my $50 sign-up fee. A few years later and wiser, I knew better than to give anyone money and the number I gave out is one I never answer anyway. Not to mention double and triple checking a company's reputation before giving them this information to begin with. While my cell phone does occasionally silently ring to quickly be dismissed, I have yet to have anyone scam me. That's a plus anyway!
Here's what I've been up to for the past week and a half.
SURVEYS
It turns out you can make a few bucks by answering surveys for different companies. There is a trick to it though. First, they have to have surveys for you to take, and second, you need to qualify to take them. Being an early twenties white girl who doesn't drink or smoke and who freelances online in her free time for work, I don't qualify for much. Nonetheless, I have found a few companies that have some surveys for me.
The very first thing I did before signing up for any website, was create an email address specifically for working at home. I highly recommend it as you can easily lose new survey notifications in the midst of your regular junk mail. This is an email address you are going to be checking every single day to get new opportunities.
The next thing I did was sign up for a website called GetPaidSurveys.com. It's free and very helpful. In the past 10 days I have gotten 8 emails from them. They send you new survey sites to sign up with (sign up with all of them, they are legitimate and you never know which ones will have surveys that match your demographic). They also send you hints, things like "sometimes you can get more money from your points if you get a gift card instead of going through PayPal." This one was particularly helpful as I discovered one of my websites had a fee if you went through PayPal, but not if you got their Amazon gift card. GetPaidSurveys isn't going to pay you anything, it's just plain helpful.
Next I started signing up for surveys sites. I recommend as you do this to use the same password with every single one of them. If you do this you won't be sitting there later trying to remember how to get into one particular site. With my narrow demographic, here are a few of the sites that have worked for me so far. I will do reviews for each of them individually as I actually get paid.
It turns out you can make a few bucks by answering surveys for different companies. There is a trick to it though. First, they have to have surveys for you to take, and second, you need to qualify to take them. Being an early twenties white girl who doesn't drink or smoke and who freelances online in her free time for work, I don't qualify for much. Nonetheless, I have found a few companies that have some surveys for me.
The very first thing I did before signing up for any website, was create an email address specifically for working at home. I highly recommend it as you can easily lose new survey notifications in the midst of your regular junk mail. This is an email address you are going to be checking every single day to get new opportunities.
The next thing I did was sign up for a website called GetPaidSurveys.com. It's free and very helpful. In the past 10 days I have gotten 8 emails from them. They send you new survey sites to sign up with (sign up with all of them, they are legitimate and you never know which ones will have surveys that match your demographic). They also send you hints, things like "sometimes you can get more money from your points if you get a gift card instead of going through PayPal." This one was particularly helpful as I discovered one of my websites had a fee if you went through PayPal, but not if you got their Amazon gift card. GetPaidSurveys isn't going to pay you anything, it's just plain helpful.
Next I started signing up for surveys sites. I recommend as you do this to use the same password with every single one of them. If you do this you won't be sitting there later trying to remember how to get into one particular site. With my narrow demographic, here are a few of the sites that have worked for me so far. I will do reviews for each of them individually as I actually get paid.
| | A few of these sites have referral programs. If you would like to support me in my endeavors please feel free to use my referral. The links to the left are all just general links. MySurvey: Contact me with your name and email address Univox: Contact me with your name and email address CashCrate: Referral Link |
And here are a few survey sites that are legitimate, but have not yet worked for me and my demographic. They may work for you!
| | Springboard America: Facebook Referral Link |
In doing surveys for all of these sites I've learned a few things. The most important of which, Don't Waste Your Time. Get an idea of how much money you would like to make an hour (think $5-$6, not minimum wage) and then only take surveys that pay that much. For example, If you see a survey with an estimated time of 8 minutes that pays $.75, that is totally worth it, but if you see a survey that is 40 minutes for $2, just walk away. Most of these sites make you take a pre-survey to make sure you fit the description they are looking for. If you don't they send you on to another survey. Univox is my favorite when this happens because they will pay you $.05 even though you don't qualify.
MICRO-JOBS
The next project I have been putting my time into has been micro-jobs. Micro-jobs can vary from transcription to typing other people's blog posts. They don't pay much, but most of them don't take very long either. I'm not fond of transcription as I can't type as fast as people talk and I have no interest trying to understand someone with a thick accent. I don't need that kind of frustration for so little pay.
The micro-jobs I spend most of my time on are what they call Search + Click. You look up websites in Google, then click on them and bring back proof that you actually went there (like a URL). Average pay doing this is $.20 for three searches. I try to sit down and plow through a bunch of them in one hour increments as I go a little crazy if I try to go any longer than that. The more your website is clicked on in a search engine, the more likely it is to show up the next time someone searches for it. This is why people pay to have their websites clicked on. In a one hour sitting I can usually earn a little over $4.00. It's not much, but considering I haven't made any money since having Big Brother, it's pretty good.
Here is my favorite website for this kind of work.
The next project I have been putting my time into has been micro-jobs. Micro-jobs can vary from transcription to typing other people's blog posts. They don't pay much, but most of them don't take very long either. I'm not fond of transcription as I can't type as fast as people talk and I have no interest trying to understand someone with a thick accent. I don't need that kind of frustration for so little pay.
The micro-jobs I spend most of my time on are what they call Search + Click. You look up websites in Google, then click on them and bring back proof that you actually went there (like a URL). Average pay doing this is $.20 for three searches. I try to sit down and plow through a bunch of them in one hour increments as I go a little crazy if I try to go any longer than that. The more your website is clicked on in a search engine, the more likely it is to show up the next time someone searches for it. This is why people pay to have their websites clicked on. In a one hour sitting I can usually earn a little over $4.00. It's not much, but considering I haven't made any money since having Big Brother, it's pretty good.
Here is my favorite website for this kind of work.
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Here are other similar websites that I am a part of, but not yet getting to work well for me.
| | Clickworker: Referral Link |
And finally, a few websites I am in the process of trying to get into.
| | *If you try to join these, I highly recommend applying for Lionbridge first and then Appen. Lionbridge does not like Appen. |
I think the thing that attracts me the most to these kinds of jobs is the fact that I don't have to talk to anyone to do them. Most phone jobs involve people screaming at you, and most MLMs involve selling things to people. These jobs fit my needs perfectly. I can work as much or as little as I want, they aren't MLMs and they don't involve phones.
MEDIA
Now for the most recent addition to my gamut of WAHM jobs, media. I discovered a few websites that will pay you to watch movies and ads. Then I discovered a few sites that will pay you to listen to music. These seemed like easy things I could do, some during the day while I take care of the kids, and others whenever I have time. I usually just have the movies/ads playing in the background on my computer, tablet, and husband's kindle with the sound off. Everything I watch brings in more points.
Here are my two movie/ad websites.
Now for the most recent addition to my gamut of WAHM jobs, media. I discovered a few websites that will pay you to watch movies and ads. Then I discovered a few sites that will pay you to listen to music. These seemed like easy things I could do, some during the day while I take care of the kids, and others whenever I have time. I usually just have the movies/ads playing in the background on my computer, tablet, and husband's kindle with the sound off. Everything I watch brings in more points.
Here are my two movie/ad websites.
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Now I haven't had the chance to use the websites for listening to music yet.
| | Slicethepie: Referral Link |
Musicxray has not given me anything to listen to and I'm losing hope for it. Slicethepie on the other hand is a very well known and loved music listening website. The trick to Slicethepie is that you have to review the music you listen to. The more descriptive and helpful your review is, the more you get paid. From what I understand, the most lucrative way to handle Slicethepie is to wait for a special email to arrive in your inbox. Apparently they periodically send out and email that says all reviews will pay $.20 or more depending on how good your review is. Those are the days you do a Bunch of reviews.
ONLINE JUROR
One last website that I have signed up for that meats my criteria is something else entirely. This website allows lawyers to submit cases they have to an online jury of 50 or so people. These online jurors read the case and then answer some questions on how they reacted to the information and what their first impressions are. It pays anywhere from $10-$50 a case depending on how complicated and time consuming the case is. I haven't had the chance to do this yet as you only get a case once every month or two. You can only look at cases submitted in your own county. I'm particularly looking forward to doing this one though.
One last website that I have signed up for that meats my criteria is something else entirely. This website allows lawyers to submit cases they have to an online jury of 50 or so people. These online jurors read the case and then answer some questions on how they reacted to the information and what their first impressions are. It pays anywhere from $10-$50 a case depending on how complicated and time consuming the case is. I haven't had the chance to do this yet as you only get a case once every month or two. You can only look at cases submitted in your own county. I'm particularly looking forward to doing this one though.
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It has been quite the adventure learning about all of the different ways you can earn money at home without doing sales or telecommuting. It will never make me rich, but it'll be great to have some extra cash. In just eight days of working anywhere from 1-3 hours I've been able to get $45 cumulatively ($60 if you add in sign-up bonuses). I will keep you all updated as I continue to learn more and I will talk more about each of the websites individually as I get better at using them and start to receive payments.
Let me know if you know of any more legitimate opportunities that meet my criteria. I'd love to hear about them!
Let me know if you know of any more legitimate opportunities that meet my criteria. I'd love to hear about them!
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