Can you believe that June is almost over? Where have the last six months gone? Better yet, how have I managed to make it this far? I have discovered something over the past six months. Trying to earn a living without a "real" job takes work! And focus! And work! And a plan.
All of which leads me to the sad realization that I haven't put in enough time, focus, or planning to be successful. Am I paying my bills? Not without the help of my sister, who moved in with me a few years ago. Up until this year, I was able to pay all of my bills on my own, but this year it's been impossible. I mean, she does live with me so she should have to pay something, but at the same time, I can't save any money if I'm not making any money, and for the first time in a long time, I have a credit card with a few thousand dollars on it, which is not getting paid off.
All is not lost however; there are still six months left in the year. If I can get myself focused and come up with a plan and then work that plan, I just might be able to start making money. I'll keep you posted.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Do I really know what I'm doing?
That's the question and I'm not sure if I know the answer yet. I'm afraid that I'm piddling around making lots of "little" money and not concentrating on one or two tasks that can net me more income. OK, for instance, I wanted to see if I could make $50.00 on Amazon Mechanical Turk. I did, but then I got bored, and now, I haven't even made it to $60.00. It's not a dependable way to pay my bills, but it will come in handy at some point.
Everything else I'm doing is just nickel and dime stuff too. I mean it's almost April and, although I've managed to get my bills paid, I'm just scraping by. There's no extra money for Starbucks or Wendy's or new socks. At this rate, I'm going to earn less money than I did last year.
Obviously, pet sitting is my main paycheck. I can increase my paycheck by helping the company that I contract with to get more clients or I can get private clients, which my boss doesn't have a problem with - weird, right?
I've dipped my toes into a couple of more ways to make money that I'm not ready to talk about right now; I need a little more time. Anyways, I've got to figure this out, because if I can't answer the question, I might be in trouble.
Everything else I'm doing is just nickel and dime stuff too. I mean it's almost April and, although I've managed to get my bills paid, I'm just scraping by. There's no extra money for Starbucks or Wendy's or new socks. At this rate, I'm going to earn less money than I did last year.
Obviously, pet sitting is my main paycheck. I can increase my paycheck by helping the company that I contract with to get more clients or I can get private clients, which my boss doesn't have a problem with - weird, right?
I've dipped my toes into a couple of more ways to make money that I'm not ready to talk about right now; I need a little more time. Anyways, I've got to figure this out, because if I can't answer the question, I might be in trouble.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Before I begin talking about Amazon's Mechanical Turk, I want to let everyone know that I updated my first post by creating a table which makes it easier to track my progress and frankly, looks a bit more polished.
So, what is Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's an online market place where individuals and businesses (Requesters) can post jobs, aka Hits, for workers (Providers) to perform. These jobs range from finding email addresses to surveys to classifying receipts. Requesters set the payment terms, which can be $0.01 to a couple of dollars. It sounds simple enough, right? And the Hits are pretty easy to do.
I wanted to know if a person could make serious money on Mechanical Turk. I had signed up a couple of years ago, but got discouraged when I only made $0.05/Hit. This time, I decided to get serious. I've set a goal for the month of February to make $50.00; so far I've earned $44.21, so I think I'll make my goal. I have a couple of favorite Requesters that I like to work for, but they only pay $0.05/Hit. At that rate, I'd have to do 1000 hits, which is turning out to be pretty easy to do. But I try to look for hits that pay at least $0.25/hit and I work everyday. I can do hits while I'm watching TV or doing other tasks on my computer.
It remains to be seen if this becomes a permanent part of my economy.
**February 23, 2016 - I made my goal of $50.00; I'll see where I end up on February 29th.**
So, what is Amazon Mechanical Turk? It's an online market place where individuals and businesses (Requesters) can post jobs, aka Hits, for workers (Providers) to perform. These jobs range from finding email addresses to surveys to classifying receipts. Requesters set the payment terms, which can be $0.01 to a couple of dollars. It sounds simple enough, right? And the Hits are pretty easy to do.
I wanted to know if a person could make serious money on Mechanical Turk. I had signed up a couple of years ago, but got discouraged when I only made $0.05/Hit. This time, I decided to get serious. I've set a goal for the month of February to make $50.00; so far I've earned $44.21, so I think I'll make my goal. I have a couple of favorite Requesters that I like to work for, but they only pay $0.05/Hit. At that rate, I'd have to do 1000 hits, which is turning out to be pretty easy to do. But I try to look for hits that pay at least $0.25/hit and I work everyday. I can do hits while I'm watching TV or doing other tasks on my computer.
It remains to be seen if this becomes a permanent part of my economy.
**February 23, 2016 - I made my goal of $50.00; I'll see where I end up on February 29th.**
Monday, January 25, 2016
It All Began When ...
It's hard to believe that I went from a job where I made $31,000 plus an additional $7,800 for "benefits" to being unemployed. The worst part? I was working at a church as an administrative assistant and one day, without any warning, I was told that my job was being cut back to part time and that I would lose my "benefits" pay. Well, I panicked and left the church to take a full time job as a Human Resources Specialist. Six months later, on the day that I was leaving for vacation, I was told to turn in my key and not come back - OUCH! That was in October 2014.
In November 2014, I found a job as a pet sitter, which I absolutely love! I get to work with some great animals and what's even more important, is the owners are great too. I hardly ever see my boss, but she's there if I need her. Needless to say, my experience with the church and as a Human Resources Specialist left me feeling hurt and angry and I just don't want to work in an office situation anymore. On a side note, I did reconcile with the Elders at my church and I still attend there.
2015 was an interesting year for me; I'm guessing that I made between $20,000 to $25,000. I made most of my income as a pet sitter. Mystery shopping brought in another $1,000; a Craigslist gig netted me around $2300 and some side work at an attorney's office earned me about $2,200. I had to take out money for taxes, medicare, and social security. I'll find out when I file my taxes if I set enough aside.
Now, here we are, almost a month into the new year, and I want to see if I can earn more than last year. I want to try and keep a record of how much I earn from all the options available online and see what's worth it and what's not. I want to try and focus on those options that will earn me the most so that I don't have to nickel and dime my way to paying my bills.
Thus, this blog - it's an experiment of sorts, to see if an ordinary person like me can really earn a decent living without having to go out and get a "real" job.
In November 2014, I found a job as a pet sitter, which I absolutely love! I get to work with some great animals and what's even more important, is the owners are great too. I hardly ever see my boss, but she's there if I need her. Needless to say, my experience with the church and as a Human Resources Specialist left me feeling hurt and angry and I just don't want to work in an office situation anymore. On a side note, I did reconcile with the Elders at my church and I still attend there.
2015 was an interesting year for me; I'm guessing that I made between $20,000 to $25,000. I made most of my income as a pet sitter. Mystery shopping brought in another $1,000; a Craigslist gig netted me around $2300 and some side work at an attorney's office earned me about $2,200. I had to take out money for taxes, medicare, and social security. I'll find out when I file my taxes if I set enough aside.
Now, here we are, almost a month into the new year, and I want to see if I can earn more than last year. I want to try and keep a record of how much I earn from all the options available online and see what's worth it and what's not. I want to try and focus on those options that will earn me the most so that I don't have to nickel and dime my way to paying my bills.
Thus, this blog - it's an experiment of sorts, to see if an ordinary person like me can really earn a decent living without having to go out and get a "real" job.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Where I'm Starting Out
This is just a brief overview of the websites and IPhone apps that I use on a regular basis and my starting point in 2016.
www.mycokerewards.com
www.swagbucks.com
www.mypoints.com
Survey Sites:
www.pinecone research.com
www.zoompanel.com
Mystery Shopping:
www.trendsource.com/msi
www.marketforce.com
www.intellishop.com
Other Websites:
www.usertesting.com
www.textbroker.com
IPhone Apps:
Checkpoints
Shopkick
Panel App
Ibotta
Walmart Savings Catcher
Field Agent
Receipt Hog
SBTV (swagbucks TV)
www.mycokerewards.com
www.swagbucks.com
www.mypoints.com
Survey Sites:
www.pinecone research.com
www.zoompanel.com
Mystery Shopping:
www.trendsource.com/msi
www.marketforce.com
www.intellishop.com
Other Websites:
www.usertesting.com
www.textbroker.com
IPhone Apps:
Checkpoints
Shopkick
Panel App
Ibotta
Walmart Savings Catcher
Field Agent
Receipt Hog
SBTV (swagbucks TV)
January 1st
|
February 1st
|
March 1st
|
April 1st
|
May 1st
|
June 1st
|
July 1st
|
August 1st
|
September 1st
|
October 1st
|
November 1st
|
December 1st
|
|
Coke Rewards
|
213
|
282
|
327
|
|||||||||
Swagbucks
|
1901*
|
339
|
719
|
|||||||||
My Points
|
915
|
1045
|
1160
|
|||||||||
Pinecone
Research
|
5109
|
6009
|
6909
|
|||||||||
Zoom Panel
|
2429
|
2674
|
2994
|
|||||||||
Checkpoints
|
13427
|
13749
|
14081
|
|||||||||
Shopkick
|
4252
|
4362
|
4362
|
|||||||||
Panel App
|
4154
|
5054
|
5996
|
|||||||||
Ibotta
|
$13.10
|
$16.10
|
18.35
|
|||||||||
Savings Catcher
|
$1.52
|
$5.75
|
8.90
|
|||||||||
Field Agent
|
$0.00
|
$16.77
|
0.00
|
|||||||||
Receipt Hog
|
**
|
608
|
1145
|
*$25 Walmart Gift Card
** $10 Amazaon Gift Card
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