I know, Goat. You're shocked that easy money isn't so easy.
One suggestion of theirs that I did find somewhat beneficial was being an online writing tutor. Being an English teacher, I felt that I could make some extra cash this way and improve my in class writing instruction. Both of those did happen. However, you must work at least 9 hours per week and be prepared for drop calls or add calls depending on the demand of essays being submitted. It's all fairly straightforward except you have to also be prepared to do the corporate once a year training for things like team work or harassment or online security--much of which has very little to do with your online tutoring. You also do not receive regular pay increases with your evaluations. You get evaluated regularly, but even if you bust your butt, you don't get wage increases. You do get bonus pay during times of extreme traffic in the submission rate, but that's it. You also have to deal with the time pressure (30 minute average per essay according to the company's format) and you have to deal with knowing all forms of writing from paragraph to dissertations to business proposals. It's not easy, it's thankless, and you do it all for just over minimum wage. Lesson: the pay is not up to the challenge of the demands.
Yes, Mr. Cage; I do say.
At the same time I was tutoring, I also took up one of their other suggestions to check out freelance writing. The site they suggested, Odesk, gave me a chance to write informative articles according to their format for a period of 4-9 months. It sounded like a great way to get my foot in the door of freelance. However, the pay rate sucked. I committed to the minimum articles each week which was six. I always met that obligation despite being completely ill-prepared to write about some of the topics. I got paid roughly two bucks per article. Lame pay rate for the amount of energy required to produce the articles. Not only that, but once summer came around, I started to do more articles to increase my pay. I was doing about 10 articles per week that summer even though I really only had to do six. The contract got extended into fall, but near the end I had a wedding I had to attend. I had never missed my quota, and as far as I could tell, I had actually banked a few extras that should have bought me some wiggle room. When it came time for me to attend the wedding, I contacted one of the leads and informed her that due to this obligation, I would not meet my six articles that week. I got a nasty email back telling me that I agreed to a contract. I wrote back and informed her that I had exceeded my quota for several weeks; therefore, despite her reprimand/reminder of contract, I would not be submitting articles while I was gone. Period. Thankfully, the final articles were distributed after the wedding. Lesson: be sure the pay rate and obligation is worth the time and effort. Also, those sites often have scam listings.
Yes, Kitteh. They will try and take advantage of you.
On the sites recommended for finding freelance work, you also get a lot of fraud. I fell for one early on. Essentially, it was a system where this person would send me a check, I'd do some shopping, then I'd send the merchandise to the address, and finally, I'd get to keep what wasn't spent which would work out to as much as $400 a week. Nice gig, except it's a total scam. The check they send is fake. Then, if you deposit that check and make purchases, you're on the hook for the fraud, not them because they are so well hidden. Lesson: the platforms will not always be reliable and they won't always find the scams on their own. I had to report this one, and they did remove the listing from the site. Be on the look out for scams, but you could always do the passive income sites instead.
You're not fooling anyone, Homer.
Penny Hoarder is big on passive income and sells these ideas as being fantastic options. It's not that simple. I've tried several of their suggestions, but I'll only hit the highlights. One site they suggest is Checkout 51. You go shopping, take a pic of your receipt, and mark the items on their weekly listing that you bought. Unfortunately, unless you shop big box stores or shop according to the weekly listings rather than what you need, the money does not add up. I am not the type to buy something because it's on the list the same way I won't buy something just because I have a coupon. It's been three years and I don't even have $40 in my money back account. They don't give much for produce (.25 cents and you only get to claim one of the available veggies). Another one is to take online surveys. I have three of these sites. Ipsos is a big one that often gets cited for polls in the news. However, they have frequent errors and despite having a bunch of surveys available in the queue, you often get the "no surveys at the time" or "we can't find one that's right for you" messages. Sometimes you get a paltry 5 points for those, sometimes not. Mysurvey is the same way. Fewer errors, but often the survey is no longer available or they don't need your demographic. Personally, if they no longer need someone with my profile, then they should pull the survey from my queue so I don't waste my time. I have earned enough points to send $10 donations to UNICEF or Habitat for Humanity or $5 gift cards though. Lesson: try one and if you get more nay's than yea's, drop it and move on. because the pay out isn't worth it. Not like National Consumer Panel (NCP) though.
Sometimes you have to kick the idea to the curb.
How you do that is up to you.
The NCP is worth it. You don't get flooded with emails. I've never had a survey that I didn't qualify for. Their surveys are short unlike some of the other sites that can take 30-45 minutes. I've also received $25 dollar gift cards, earned $15 checks for completing surveys on my political and economic views, and even bought a new crock pot with the points I've earned. Furthermore, You can earn points by reporting your purchases at stores or gas stations. Not only do you earn points for this, you can earn bonus points as well for their games or for submitting every week in a month. The points add up quickly. It can be a bit of a hassle if your purchases are from a store that they don't have built into the system because you then have to enter the prices for everything, but it's one I'll keep doing because the pay out is much better than the other options. Lesson: some suggestions are worth it, so keep at it until you find one.
Well, that's an easy way to earn money,
but one has to worry about how to prove the poop for the pay.
Along with survey sites, Penny Hoarder also offers online banks that will give you more money in interest than regular banks. I set up one with Aspiration after checking online for reviews and warnings. There's a bit of a wait list and you need to be careful you aren't donating more than you're earning, but we'll see what happens. I put $100 in, so I'm going to watch it grow to see if it's really worth it. If it is, I may have found my new favorite way to save for retirement. Lesson: to be determined.
We'll see, Mulder.
Another favorite suggestion of theirs is to use apps to sell your stuff rather than just donate them. It's kind of like garage sale apps for everything. I've been using letgo for about two weeks. You take pictures of what you're selling, put in a price, and people message you through the app. You can negotiate prices if you want. I was excited that on my very first day, I got someone who really wanted to buy these weird old fashioned electric line insulators. We set a price, set a time and place, and when I arrived, he handed me a $5 and said not to worry about the change (we had agreed on $2). One thing they don't mention is that people will agree to buy and then not show up. I've had this happen a few times. It's annoying. You set a time and place to meet and then the other person can't even do the courtesy of letting you know they won't make it. You also have to be prepared for rude people who don't know how to communicate clearly in text format. You can try and clarify what they intend with their messages, but since it's text only, they can also get pissy. We have managed to sell my husband's old truck. That was a huge unexpected bonus for us. However, I've given the rest of the things until the end of September. If they don't sell, I'm donating them. Lesson: it can work, but people are rude. This is a constant of life. Also, shut off notifications because people really like to shop at night and the pings will wake you up.
That's right, Emoji. I actually responded this way in my head to one message.
Then I looked it up to make sure I was using the phrase correctly.
I'm not sure that Penny Hoarder is always worth it. I have benefited from some suggestions, but it's nothing that you can quit your day job and rely on. I'd still like to try the get paid for drinking beer, for losing weight, or for watching movie previews, but we'll see. Always keep your eyes open for scams and say goodbye when the attempt doesn't pan out. Making more money isn't always worth the time and energy you have to invest.
I'd say if that's how you feel about the experience, Moose, then it's not worth it.
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