Friday, January 22, 2010

Nickels and Dimes

I don't know whether I'm an optimist or if I'm just easy to please. We've had little bits of "income" lately and I think I'm getting a bigger kick out of them than I would if one of the part-time jobs were to come through for me.

Yesterday I made the Internet rounds to all the companies who've hired me to mystery shop for them. There are about a dozen, but I haven't worked for some of them for several months. I was checking for completed jobs still pending payment, and for jobs to do in the future. There were three payments pending, but no jobs available that were close enough for me to do. So, I was surprised when just a couple hours later I got a call from one of these companies asking if I'd do a toy demo at a nearby Wal-Mart in February. (Yes, demos are sometimes part of mystery shopping.) The demo pays $10/hour and is for four hours, so I said yes to that.

Another company emailed me about "closing confirmation" job. All I have to do is drive to a fast-food store that has closed and take photos to prove that they really are closed and that all signage has been removed. That pays $10, so I said yes to that one, also.

Meanwhile, I've been listing things to sell on eBay. We looked around the house and found things that we no longer want or need. We've sold several video games, some books and some cross stitch supplies so far, and I'm happy to say that the auctions have been doing better than I expected this time around. It's fun to watch the bids increase at the end of the auctions. I haven't tallied it all up, but I estimate we've made close to $125 from eBay this week.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, this is all small change, but even nickels and dimes add up to a dollar eventually.

8 comments:

Frances said...

My husband signed up with a couple of mystery shopping companies and he is really enjoying it. He signed up with one and is now "spreading his wings".

Any extra money is good money!

Sheila said...

Every little penny counts--especially in times like these. I have thought of trying mystery shopping but I didn't know if it was a good thing or not. I'll have to do some research. Have a great weekend.

A.Marie said...

Any extra money is a good thing! :)

Wanda said...

I am thinking of getting into eBay selling. If you have PayPal, when someone pays you, you can't actually get cash from PayPal can you? I mean don't you have to use your PayPal money online to shop? That would work for me, because there are things I need that I could get online, but I'm just not sure if that is my only option or not.

Unknown said...

Watch the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves:) I sounds like you haven't had too bad a week so far.

Annie Jones said...

Frances: Glad your husband is enjoying it. It's a fun hobby and a good way to earn a little pocket money.

Sheila: So far every company I've looked into is legit. I guess there are scammers out there, but I haven't run into any of them.

Wanda: You can have your money from PayPal transferred to your regular bank account (which is what I do), or you can spend it most places online. There may be fees associated, depending on what type of PayPal account you have. I think mine is a Premiere account, and there are no fees to transfer funds.

Lisa B. said...

What kinds of things are you selling on Ebay?

I need to get some stuff listed too.

A friend is hosting a bloghop, the details are on my blog. I hope you and your readers will join us. It will be fun.

Sonya Ann said...

I'm so happy for you! It's great that you are getting little pennies from heaven or dollars.
When you are having money problems anything in the right direction can real help brighten your mood. I hope you have a fruitful week!