Winner of Breakfast giveaway

Hello everyone, I'm just doing a quick post to announce the winner of the breakfast giveaway. Drumroll please.... Rasheeda! I have notified the winner via email and will get her goodies out to her in a snap. I love giving things away! How fun! I have a runner up in mind, too, in case I don't hear back from this winner. I plan on hosting another giveaway in the very near future, probably just after the holidays. Stick around for your chance to win some more good stuff!

Breakfast giveaway

Who doesn't like freebies? Here is your chance to grab something good. I recently tried out some Pillsbury Honey Butter Biscuits for free. I received two coupons for a free can of the biscuits as well as a butter dish and butter knife...the butter was my addition. The biscuits are flaky and sweet and make the perfect breakfast! You can't go wrong with these yummy biscuits, especially when you have the chance to get them for free. These coupons are valid only in the United States so for my readers from other countries, I apologize but these will not work for you. Here's the best part: myblogspark and Pillsbury have given me a prize pack to give away to one of my readers. Here is how you enter:

1. Subscribe to my blog with a valid email address. Make sure that you activate your subscription with the follow-up email. Sometimes the activation email goes to your spam folder so make sure to check there! If you already subscribe to my blog you are automatically entered.


2. If you want an additional opportunity to win, tweet about this on twitter and email me a link. My address is mysteryshoppingteacher@yahoo.com.

Number two is optional. You can do number one and number two (and have two chances to win) or you can just do number one (and have one chance to win). You must sign up for a subscription to be entered into the drawing.

Tell your friends about this and maybe one of you will win! I will draw one name to win this awesome breakfast pack on Sunday, December 20th. I will contact the winner via email to get a mailing address to ship the package. Thank you readers!

Jewelry auction site

I just wanted to share this site with my readers because I don't think a lot of people know about it. There is huge potential here to make cash on ebay with this site if you are into that kind of thing. I just shop occasionally on here to purchase things for myself and inexpensive gifts for others.

This site is an auction site that starts off with all auctions starting at $1.oo! I have to be careful that I don't get addicted to this site, especially during time when I'm off from work and have more free time to be online and buy things! You can get real gold, silver, and even platinum jewelry for a fraction of the price that you would pay in a jewelry store. You should always check this site before you spend your hard earned cash in a jewelry store. I haven't bought jewelry from a jewelry store since I've discovered this site.

Click here to sign up and start bidding. You might be able to buy some inexpensive but nice gifts to stock up. Check it out!

Yummy dinner shop for two + bonus

Hi there mystery shoppers! I don't know about you but to me, getting a free dinner for two is awesome. I got to eat at one of my favorite BBQ places with my husband for free. This shop usually becomes available about 0nce a month for me. However, sometimes they are reveal shops and I don't do reveal shops here because I live here and I want to remain anonymous in my small town!

Here was what we had to do. I say we, but I was the one doing the shop and my husband was just reaping the benefits! We had to order a meal off of the favorites menu and get two drinks. We went online ahead of time to look at the favorites menu to pick out what we would want so we would know when we got to the restaurant. The only catch was that we weren't allowed to order fried food (except french fries), because fried food takes longer to prepare and would not give an accurate food prep time. I ordered sliced porks, french fries, and green beans. My husband ordered sliced beef, french fries, and green beans. We just happened to want similar meals on this night! There were many more options.

Some of the things I had to check were the names of the hostess and waitress, what the salad bar looked like, if the bathroom was clean, if the waitress mentioned the special barbeque sauces, how long it took to get our drinks and food after ordering them, and a few other things. I find it is easier to make sure that I don't forget things if I take notes, especially for longer questionnaires.

We were in an out in about 45 minutes from beginning to end. The total time to do the shop and enter the report was about an hour and 15 minutes. Plus, we got enough pay to cover our meal and the tip. Oh, and did I mention earlier that I got paid a 20 dollar bonus to do the shop? No I don't think I did... but YES I got $40 bucks total for that shop. The shop normally only pays $20, but for me they paid 100 percent more. It pays to learn how to get more money for shops. To learn more about how I do that, click here and check out my book. You won't be sorry! You can make your money back from one shop once you know how to get more money to do the shops you are going to do anyway. Here is the link of the company to sign up with for the BBQ joint mystery shops, plus many others I'm sure. This company pays via paypal and boy are they fast! Happy shopping!

Free food!

This is a short and quick post because I didn't want any one to miss out on this freebie. About a week ago I signed up for $10 worth of free food from Schwan's, the company that delivers frozen food to your door. It is an offer for new customers only. Guess what? I got the burgers today without a sales pitch and without having to pay a dime. I gave the driver a tip. I figured a few dollars for 8 hamburgers was worth it. He didn't try to give us a sales pitch or anything. He just gave us a magazine and said that we could order any time, and then he told us which day he is in our area. And these were 90/10 frozen hamburger patties not the standard 70/30. I am actually eating one right now as I type this and it is really good. Anyway, without further ado, here is the link. If you are interested you might want to check it out now cause it is limited to the first 500,000 new customers. Happy eating! Oh, and let me know what you think of your food when it comes in! Gonna finish my burger now :)

Cash in during your summer!

Have you been able to cash in on your summer? I guess this really applies to me since I have much more time off from my "day job" during the summer. For me, mystery shopping during the summer is much easier to do. The weather is beautiful and it just seems that there are an abundance of shops available during the summer.


If you are brand new to the mystery shopping experience, first of all welcome, and second of all, it is a great idea to get a new email address set aside only for mystery shopping opportunities. I wish I had done that to begin with. Now all of my mystery shopping emails mix together with every other email that I get. Sometimes I might miss out on opportunities because I don't realize that I have an email from a mystery shopping company until it is already filled. If you are just starting out I highly recommend you sign up for a free, seperate email address to direct all your mystery shopping companies to.

The best way to make plenty of mystery shopping cash is to sign up for a lot of mystery shopping companies. If you only sign up for three or four companies you miss out on a lot of opportunities. I recommend signing up for at least ten, maybe more. Past posts have included links to mystery shopping companies to start you off. I recommend that you read up on some of the past posts and find some companies that you feel comfortable with shopping for and start applying! I try not to be long-winded so just pick a couple to start with and start reading. The benefit to starting off with companies that others have tried is that you know you're not getting scammed (who doesn't feel a little nervous about giving out their social security number?!?) and if I was successful than you know you can be also.

Here's another idea: I would apply to a lot of jobs and maybe not pick out only the best (those with $20 dollar fees for 15 minutes of work) because those tend to fill up the fastest. If you only pick one of your favorites then more than likely a few other people have applied for that one as well. If you apply for like your top 5 most wanted shops you have a better chance of getting at least one of them. Also, don't shy away from shops that require you to drive out of town if you can coincide a trip out of town with a shop, than it is a win-win situation. My book tells you how you can really capitalize on out of towner shops, among other things.

So apply to a lot of companies and vary your shops a little to cash in with your shopping. And if you are just starting out or have yet to start signing up for mystery shopping companies- make a seperate email address specifically for shopping. Have fun and good luck! Ahhh good to be back.

:)

I'm back! Well...semi-back

Whew, this past month has gone by in a flash with me having really no time to do what I love to do- blog. I haven't even had time to mystery shop. Egads! Now you didn't think that I'd gone and forgot 'bout y'all right? Readers, I want you to know that as soon as I can I will be back to my good ole' bloggin self helping you put money in your pocket. I have had a family emergency and have not been home except for about...7 days total in the last 30 days. I had to be on the road every three to four days driving to be with my family member and then having to drive back home and try to get in a day or two of work, only to have to get back on the road for a 4-6 hour drive. I'm home for about 4 days or so before I have to hit the road again. Oh, maybe I'll blog about some of the adventures and life lessons I've learned along the way too. This has given me a lot of ideas on things to blog about. Hopefully some of you will be interested.

Subscribers since you have been sticking with me through everything, I'll let you know what is going on when I send your newsletter. I'm just not really big on telling the whole world on a website that is in exsistence forever, ya know what I mean? But, among my circle of subscriber friends I think it would be okay. Yeah, life happens. In case you were unsure, this blog is from a real person and not some company churning out some posts. Anybody that has read more than one of my posts realizes that (I'm sure from the grammatical mistakes that I try not to make).

Yeah, it's been a little crazy this past month needless to say. I'm hoping that April turns out to be a much more normal month than Feburary and March have been. So subscribers, hang in there and I'll get the newsletter to you A.S.A.P. You don't want to miss out on this issue either because it is going to be all about how you can make extra money using ebay. Plus, I'll clue you in to a way that I've been saving money at the grocery store. It's really no big secret, but if you aren't doing this then you are probably spending more money than you have to. Okay, so after that rushed explanation, I'm hoping that you all are following me still when I return (hopefully) better than ever. Oh, and here is the link to my book if you are ready to make a commitment to mystery shopping and want more info.

Have you had any crazy, interesting, or life-altering things happen to you lately? Feel free to talk amongst yourselves while I'm away. Ta-ta for now.

How Much Would you Pay to Make More Money?

Howdy readers! I am about to give some links to freebies that I found but I also wanted to share a thought with my readers. Those that have been reading my blog for a few months know that I share little stories about my shops and include a link for readers to be able to sign themselves up. I hope this has given a lot of people searching for ways to make money an opportunity that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

I have recently created a book that lists many of my shopping experiences with links, along with all of the tips that I use to maximize profits on my shops. I haven't shared these tips anywhere else but I use them myself to get the most money that I can when I sign up for a shop. Here is where my initial title question comes in though. How much would you pay to make money? If you could pay less than $20 and in return with a little extra work earn back $400-$3000 a month as a mystery shopper is it worth it?

I think anyone with an ability to reason would be able to say YES. Of course there are shoppers that make much more but I want to be on the safe side. My book is all about helping out individuals who want to make money from home working as a mystery shopper. Many people have no idea what mystery shopping is but are intrigued by the idea that they can get paid to shop, eat out, go to the movies, or even do things that they have to do any way like get an oil change. If this describes you than my book is for you. I just finished my book and my subscribers are the only ones who have the opportunity to purchase the book right now for $10!

If you have not subscribed yet then you are missing out. I am only sending out the link to the book to my subscribers and when I think all my subscribers have had ample opportunity to make a purchasing decision the price of the book will go up closer to twenty bucks. In fact, if you want to start making money now and get the book at this special price, then you have to subscribe to get the link to this book because I haven't advertised this low price anywhere else. Plus when you subscribe you have access to bimonthly newsletters that offer tips for making money as a mystery shopper as well as other opportunities for those who want to make money at home. The next edition of the newsletter (coming out in March) will include tips on how to make money on Ebay and I will go into detail on how mystery shoppers can stand apart from other mystery shoppers. Past newsletters have discussed ways to make money online with surveys and cash back shopping. Plus I post free samples on my blog regularly and if you subscribe you are likely to be able to grab these samples quickly before supplies run out or the offer ends.

What more could you ask for in a subscription? What? Are you worried that I'm going to sell your information or email you seventy times a month? No, to both of those worries. I hate getting spam emails so I won't sell your email address or load your email up with spam. I usually only email once or twice a month. In fact I'm trying to remember a time when I've emailed my subscribers more than twice in a month and I'm drawing a blank.

To subscribe all you have to do is put in your email address and verify that you want to receive updates by checking your email and clicking the confirm link. You don't give out any more personal information than that and- Voila'! You're signed up. You won't get this combination of information anywhere else. I'm always updating my blog to keep subscribers up to date.

And, as I promised earlier, here are some free samples that I came across:

1. Click here to get a free sample of an energy bar.

2. Free sample of Scoop perfume.

3. Here is a great free sample of Just Like Sugar, a sugar substitute. I can't wait to try this one. This form has different categories for people from other countries to be able to order a sample.

4. I found this free scented bookmark. The only catch is that you are signing up for free catalogs. If it irritates you to get catalogs in the mail then skip this sample.

5. I came across another sample that is accessible from other countries as well. It is for O.B. tampons. Sorry guys, you might have to pass on this one! Or...you could get it for a wife or girlfriend...not the most romatic thing though.

If you haven't signed up yet you know you should. See you on the subscriber list!

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Keep up with your requirements

Well I'll keep this post short but I just wanted to share an idea with you. Have you ever been doing a shop and trying to keep up with all of the things you are supposed to be checking for and started to panic that you would forget something important and not get paid??? Or are you a new shopper who is nervous that you will forget what you need to be looking for when you perform your first shop?

Well I have so I came up with a remedy for that. It's simple but works for me when I have one of those shops that pays well but has more than 15 questions or things that I need to look for.What I usually do if I have a lot to remember for a shop is to take a teenie weensie piece of paper and write the information down that I need. Then I make sure that wherever I sit, my writing arm is facing the inside of the booth (Oh yeah, I always get a booth or else I guess I'd be writing in a gross bathroom or something).

So when the time is convenient I take out my little scrap of paper and write down what I need to keep track of. Then I'm super careful not to throw away my little scrap of paper. I would definitely read over the requirements of the shop super carefully whether I'm going with a reminder note or not. In other words, don't just print out the shop requirements and lug that with you to the shop without reviewing it first. You might miss out on something crucial and/or give away your identity as the secret shopper.

My strategy with the note paper just kind of helps me to feel secure with my shop. I hate second guessing myself worrying that I have forgotten something crucial. I don't write down every question, just the ones that I think I might forget. I will warn you though, you can mess up your shop if you are not careful to be discreet. It kind of gives it away when you have a big sheet of paper on the table and are looking around and furiously writing things down- so keep it on the d.l. (do people still use that phrase anymore? I'm so hopelessly uncool so I don't know...not that I ever even used it when it was cool! ). So if you are worried that you might be noticed, I would go into a bathroom stall, as gross as it could be. Hey most bathroom stalls aren't gross...and if you're lucky there will be no one else in the bathroom and you can scribble quick notes without going into a stall.

Anyway, I hope this tip is useful for those of you who like me like to have a little back-up plan and don't want to rely only on memory. And those of you hesistant to do that first shop, take a shot at it. So much for a short posting :) Happy shopping!

Yummy little lunch shop

Hey y'all (said in a Paula Deen Drawl)! I just recently did a yummy little lunch mystery shop. The restaurant was one of those barbeque places that smokes a lot of things. I actually like the place a lot but the only way I can get my husband to eat there is if it is free. My husband and I were able to both eat lunch, get a drink, and leave a 15 percent tip for the waitress. I was going to enlist him to help me with the mystery shop, but then I realized that I wanted to do it on my own so I could blog about how it turned out. I figured that most of my readers will not have a mystery shopper partner. I'm sure that anyone can find someone to treat to a free lunch, but most will have to do all the work alone.

I started off by going to the website of the restaurant that I was shopping to figure out what I wanted to eat. I had my husband pick out what he wanted as well. I do that so when it's time to go into the restaurant I'm not trying to keep track of timing as well as think about what I want to eat. Plus, I wanted us to get a free lunch by coming in under budget.

Well, being a teacher complicates things sometimes. I worry about being spotted by students and getting distracted at an inappropriate time. I've actually run into someone that I knew doing a fast-food shop when I was at the timing portion and so I had to try and politely tell them a quick hello without getting into a conversation. I had my eye on my watch pretty discreetly too though so in the end it turned out to be okay.



Where was I? Oh yes, we had already picked out what we wanted so our mind was free to focus on some of the other things that required attention: cleanliness, comfort, friendliness, timing. The usual suspects for a mystery shop. This shop had an interesting recommendation for keeping track of all of the requirements. One of the requirements was that I visit the restroom and check the cleanliness there. The suggestion was that I go into the bathroom and write down notes. I thought that was a good idea for most people. For me, however, I hate the thought of staying in a bathroom longer than I have to. They are unpleasant...just a personal issue of mine I guess. That is an interesting idea for shoppers starting out.

I went and evaluated the bathroom quickly and returned to the table. The food came and was great as usual. We both cleaned our plates and left. It was a pleasant lunch. It was one that I'd never done before because it had never been an option to. I don't know if the company had just started posting that kind of shop or if they had another shopper who just didn't come through for them. Anyway the way I usually judge things are whether I'd do them again. I would definitely do it again. The fee was enough to cover the food and tip. I would have liked a fee instead of just a reimbursement, but for a first time shopping the place it was acceptable. I guess on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best shop ever and one being the worst, this one falls somewhere around a 31/2 .

You can't really go wrong with free lunch in my book. Here is the link for you to check this company out for yourself. One thing I will tell you from my experience, they don't seem to have a lot of shops. They do, however, have surveys and other offers from time to time. They pay for their shops super quickly too. I got my shops money in less than a week. They did take a long time to pay for the survey though but I figure that was because they had to get paid before they paid me. Here is the link once again. Try it out!