Tuesday, February 26, 2013

When You Need to Earn Some Money from Home: Surveys

A Lady Writing at Her Desk
 
Some times a woman may feel she needs to earn some money.  Maybe her husband doesn't give her money or she finds herself widowed or divorced.  Let me first state that it is the husband's primary responsibility to provide for his household, even in hard economic times.  He should never pressure his wife to make money, for she is already an asset by being home preparing the household meals, taking care of the children, and making things that otherwise would have to be bought.  It is not a wife's job to also bring in an income.  However, at some point she might find herself in an emergency situation as mentioned above (widowhood, divorced, or abandoned).  A Christian woman's goal should always be to stay at home, keeping it.  But there are some ways she can bring in a little income without going out to get a job.  One of these ways is taking surveys.  You can take them right from your home on the computer.  This post will seek to inform you on how to take surveys from home and really get paid for it.

Scams

You should know that there are several scams out there about taking surveys.  You should never have to buy anything or pay anything to take a survey.  Companies actually should pay you, because you are helping them by giving them consumer opinion and insights.  Surveys will, however, often ask you for personal information, such as your name, email, age, ethnicity, income, and some times even birth date and/or address.  Don't let this alarm you, as this helps companies to group the information together properly.  Of course, you don't want to give this information out to just anybody, and later in this post I will tell you how to find legitimate survey companies.  Never give out your credit card number or social security number.

Payment

How do you get paid for taking surveys?  Well, there are several ways different companies pay.  Some have a set dollar amount that they pay for certain surveys.  Some pay with points.  With either dollars or points, some companies have you accumulate a certain amount in your account before you can "cash out" for either gift cards or cash.  Other companies send payment immediately after each survey taken.  Check the company's FAQ's for their policy on payment.  A lot of companies now pay via Paypal instead of sending a check in the mail.  Amazon gift cards are another popular option, but not the only one.  If you are a member of a survey company, you will probably need to check your survey account from time to time to see if you have enough to be paid yet, as many companies wait for you to tell them when you'd like payment.

Other companies send you free products to try, and you then let them know how you like their product after you've used it.  Some things I have gotten to try for free are trash bags, diapers, wipes, band aids, tissue, laundry detergent, soap, and more!  It is always great to get something you need for free.  With trying a free product, you may also get paid in points or cash, or you may not get paid since you are getting a free product.

Also, some companies "pay" you by entering you in a sweepstakes.  You will have to decide if these surveys are worth your time or not.

Portrait of a Woman, circa 1787

Qualifying

A great majority of survey companies will send you lots of surveys, but you won't qualify to complete them all.  For these you may get a small credit in your survey account for attempting the survey, or no payment at all.  Don't be discouraged.  Normally this "screening" to see if you qualify doesn't take long, and you will eventually find surveys you qualify to complete all the way to the end and get payment.

Other Helpful Tips

Some helpful things when you are taking surveys...It would be a good idea to set up a separate email account for your surveys, as companies will send you an email when they have a new survey for you to take.  Depending on how many companies you sign up with, you could have lots of email every day!

You will also need a Paypal account, which can either be the same email as your survey email or a different one.  Some companies ask you specifically for your Paypal email address; some just send payment to the email you signed up with.  But either way, you can add an additional email address to your Paypal account so you can accept payment from another email address if need be.

Another helpful tool that I use with surveys is Roboform.  You can create an "identity" in Roboform that has your name, address, phone number, date of birth, or whatever else you want to put in there for taking surveys.  Then when you come to a survey page that asks for that information (or when you're signing up), instead of typing all that information in, you just click one button on Roboform button and it fills it in for you.  Roboform is also a password manager that comes up with strong passwords for you and saves them for you.  Also you can use it to quickly go to a website you've saved a password for by just pushing a button instead of typing in the website address.  I can honestly not imagine taking surveys anymore without Roboform because it saves me so much time.

I would also recommend keeping a record of the surveys you take.  Most have a survey ID number that you will find in your email invitation, so if you have any problems getting credit for the survey, you will have the record of the date you took the survey, the name of the survey company, and the survey ID (along with the payment you were promised).

Where Do You Find Legitimate Survey Companies?

So where can you find survey companies that will really pay you for your time?  Well, I know of several.  I will be happy to send you referrals to the survey companies I take surveys with.  There are some that give me a small credit for referring you (thank you) and some that do not.  Just send your first and last name plus the email address you wish to take surveys from with the subject "Surveys", to blessedhomemaking (at) gmail (dot) com.  I will then start sending you referrals so you can get started.  You can join as many or as few as you please.  You can also check out my Earn at Home page to join a few other survey companies while you're waiting for your referrals.

I hope this post gives you a good idea of how to get paid to take surveys from home.  Please let me know if you have any other questions.
 

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8 comments:

  1. Homeschool Mom: I am not publishing your post because you left your email address and if I publish it the spam-bots will start sending you spam. Please comment or email me with your first and last name also for the referrals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. that is a very informative post, I would like to do surveys, but right now my family needs me more then the money I could make. It's so hard to balance family and finances sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post!It's really useful and helpful for seeking a job women. It's great when there is an opportunity for women to earn some money not even going out of their homes. Thank you for doing such a good job! God bless you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I clicked on the link in the recent blog I received today for Pinecone Research and it said it had expired.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm sorry about that. Pinecone Research is not always open and their spots for new participants fill up quickly so that's probably what happened. Hopefully you get in next time!

      Delete
  5. I'm very interested, but can you tell me how much you earn for doing the surveys? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well it's really hard to say. It all depends on what each survey pays, which surveys you qualify for, etc. I have taken surveys that pay $0.60 and I have taken some that paid $100!

      Delete

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