In My Mind or Just Out of It

NickALive!: Nickelodeon USA Unveils SaturDanger! Contest

2015-04-12T16:27:00.001-06:00

NickALive!: Nickelodeon USA Unveils SaturDanger! Contest

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Working at Home for a Call Center

2010-04-30T19:37:00.001-06:00

If surveys aren't your thing and you are more interested in not just supplementing your income, but full time employment you may want to consider working for a call center. Companies will hire telemarketers, customer service representatives, assistants, and transcriptionists. These sorts of jobs are great if you need flexibility in your job. Unfortunately with a lot of these jobs there is a waiting list, but that should not discourage you from throwing your name in the hat.

Most of these companies will hire you as an independent contractor, which basically means you are responsible for handling the taxes. You are going to have to have high speed internet, a "traditional" phone line, and a place in your home where you can avoid any interruptions. To do this kind of work you must be self motivated and willing to deal with possible feelings of loneliness and isolation. If you can't work at least 15-20 hours a week, you probably shouldn't do this. Many of them will also require a drug and or background check. You can typically expect to make $8 - $15 an hour depending on the kind of work and who you work for. There will be training and possibly even a test and many companies will not pay you during this time.
Below is a list of companies you can check out. Each company has been run through the Better Business Bureau and has received a rating. Obviously there is no way I could personally try all of these sites, but let me give you some advice. First of all if there is something inside of you telling you not to do something or that it is too good to be true, LISTEN! Read all of the fine print before you agree to anything. Never sign up for anything based upon that websites promises. Always read reviews from credible sources and always run that company through the BBB.
Telemarketers and Customer Service

Accolade Support received a B- is accredited

Provides mostly inbound call center work such as sales, service, loyalty, and tech support

ACD Direct received an F not accredited

Mostly seasonal call center work

Alpine Access received an A is accredited

Inbound call center-offers benefits

Cloud 10 corp B+ not accredited

Inbound and outbound call center-paid training

Customer Loyalalty Concepts A+ is accredited

Outbound call center-paid training

eCallogy F not accredited

Inbound and outbound call center

LiveOps received an A is accredited

Inbound and outbound call center

O'Currance received an F not accredited

Inbound call center

SCI Live No BBB file

Inbound and outbound call center

Service800 received an A not accredited

Outbound call center conducting surveys

TeleReach Received an A+ is accredited

Outbound Call Center-paid training/vacation

TeleTech (Hire Point)Received an A not accreditedCall center- paid training-some benefits

Ver-A-Fast Corporation received an A not accredited
Outbound call center mostly quality control
VIP Desk Received an A+ is accredited
Inbound and outbound call centers
West At Home Received an A+ is accredited
Inbound and out bound call center-paid training
Working Solutions Is not rated nor is it accredited
Inbound call center
XAct TeleSolutions Is not rated nor is it accredited
Inbound and outbound call center

Coupon Clever

2010-04-29T22:47:00.001-06:00

In learning to control my spending and exploring ways to cut my costs, I found myself really looking at not only the ads but the coupons inside them. Now I had paid attention to clothing and electronics ads but never grocery stores. I started going to the stores that had the things I needed on sale. I used the coupons from their ads and started to see a real difference, but I needed to do even more. I opened up the fridge and cupboards and began writing everything down. I wrote the products, the brands, and the maker and then made a list of what I was willing to substitute with a generic. I would compare the coupons that came in the ads with my list and then started searching online.
Online, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before! Everywhere I looked there were coupons, but I discovered very quickly that not all of them were valid. Most of the coupon sites had the exact same things, and some were just flat out ridiculous. Where I got the best coupons though were from the manufactures website itself. General Mills, the maker of such names as Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and Green Giant was a GOLD MINE! Procter and Gamble was huge as well. Now I had to sign up for newsletters, but I also got great things like free samples, quick and easy meals, and the coupons were delivered directly to me.
Watch the stores for not only sales, but some will do a double coupon day, or a manufactures rebates as well. Some stores will also print coupons based upon buying habits on the back of you receipt or money off your next purchase. Don't throw your money away thinking it is just a receipt. The last thing I am going to tell you is don't chase all over town to try to save a dollar, your time and your gas have a price too.
I am going to post some links to some of my favorite sites that I think you should bookmark. I will also post very soon a complete list of reliable coupon sites. I decided to include grocery stores in there too for the people like me who don't actually subscribe to a paper to get ads; we use the TV or computer.

General Mill's

Kellogg's

Procter and Gamble

Way to many to list

Purina

Coupons.com

Grocery Shopping! Tips to Help save Money

2010-04-27T17:23:00.002-06:00

I have always been the kind of person who has gone to the store needing milk, bread, and eggs but somehow managed to spend $150-$200. Lately the purse strings have been forced to tighten and I have been forced to not only control my spending, but to come up with ways to save more. Over the months I have cut my grocery shopping significantly just by doing a couple of extra things.

Plan your menu out for the whole week.
Make your grocery list according to the menu.
Have a running list on the refrigerator of things to replace ie: soap, toothpaste, etc.
Look at the coupons and ads that come in your Sunday paper. Clip anything you think you can use. (I will revisit this topic soon)
Decide what name brands you are willing to substitute with generics. (condiments, peanut butter, and canned or frozen vegetables is a safe way to start)
If you are not willing to go generic on something and there is no coupon in the paper, visit the company's website and see what you can find.
Don't limit yourself to just one store. Watch what is on sale and know what the going rates are for your fresh meat and produce.
Consider taking only cash when you are shopping. This helps prevent the impulse buys.
When you get to the store get in and get out. Avoid displays that aren't what you came for, have tunnel vision.
If you see something you think you just have to have (a want), go and think about it for 24 hours.

When I first started doing this all I could think about is what an inconvenience it was going be however, once I got myself in a routine, not only am I saving money, but it has actually made things easier.

CashCrate.com

2010-04-21T18:53:00.010-06:00

As I have been doing all of this research a name keeps popping up, Cash Crate. I added it to the list of things I was going to look into, but it soon found its way to the top.
Now as far as the dollar amount of the payouts and the type of offers and surveys they had, they were pretty much on par with everyone else. What made them really stand out in my mind is how up front they were in their descriptions of what was going to be required (credit card, subscription, etc). There is nothing worse than spending fifteen or twenty minutes on something only to find out you have just wasted all that time. Cash Crate also has a pretty decent filtering system for the type of offer you are interested in. I found this site to have more legitimate offers than anyone else by far. This site could keep a person busy for weeks.
I worked on their offers for around six hours and made about thirty dollars. I hate doing anything for that long and only making that much, but considering I did it all while sitting in my living room, I can't complain too much. I know there are lots of people who will sign up for the free trial offer, lay down their credit card, collect their earnings and then cancel before any money is ever taken. If you choose to do that, just make sure you do cancel before the free trial is up and that you read any fine print about their cancelation terms. I did try this one time on a different site, it was very profitable, but I felt like a heel afterwards. Another really good way to make money here is through their referral program. For every person you refer you get 20% of all their earnings, and then for every person they refer you get 10% of their earnings.
What I do have an issue with is my submissions were not being approved as fast as I would have liked them to be. They also have the typical policy of only paying out on the 20^th of the month, but at least you can cash out when you hit twenty dollars.
Here are a few things I picked up that will hopefully save you some time:

Have a separate email address set up for all of these online opportunities.
Have a separate telephone number. I would recommend downloading something like
I-Call or getting a distinctive ring from you local carrier.
Make sure to know and check to see if there will be an email confirmation that must be done.
If it wants you to download anything (especially games), avoid it.
If it says you are going to win some wonderful prize, avoid it.
If it wants you to put in your cell number so they can send a PIN or results, scroll down and look for a "Skip" button.
When you get to the first page of your survey scroll down and click the "terms".
Most offers or surveys dealing with medication or prescription coverage are the fastest to complete.

If cashcrate.com is something you think you would like to try, please use this link to sign up.

Panda Research

2010-04-19T21:02:00.007-06:00

Three words…..Don't do it! This was a complete and utter waste of time. The money you could theoretically earn from this would be great, the only problem is you would have to spend more than you would make. They have multiple entries listed under "studies", "surveys", and "drawings". You have to get all the way to the confirmation page before you are halfway eligible to be paid, but you have to buy something to get there. Should you actually make it through, you have to do a survey on the survey that ninety nine times out of one hundred has magically disappeared. Oops, guess you don't get paid for that one. Another big problem I saw was that you had to have $50.00 to cash out (and they only pay in $50 increments), then it takes 30 days to get to you. I could rant and rave for hours about these guys, but I don't want to waste anymore time. Do yourself a favor and put it on your restricted list.

Click then Restrict

Fusion Cash

2010-04-19T15:02:00.006-06:00

So here is the deal with Fusion Cash, companies pay Fusion cash to either find people to take their surveys or people who are currently in the market for a product or service they provide. This is not something that can take the place of your current employment or feed your family. Can you make a little money though? The answer is Yes. I spent approximately six hours over the course of four days completing their tasks. I made $33.86, not including the $5.00 bonus they give you to sign up. You can make an extra $3.00 a month by posting a minimum of 30 times to their forum and there is a referral bonus that is pretty good. When a friend signs up through your refferal link and confirms their email address, you make a $1. When that friend completes their first survey, you make $2.00. (This one is my favorite part) Every time that friend cashes out, you make $5.00. There are a few other (less honest) ways to cheat the system and make some money, but if you want to do that you have to figure it out on your own.

With anything there are always some downsides, here are the ones that I have discovered:

You can only (or at least you are supposed to) accept offers that you have a true interest in. Unless otherwise stated, you can only complete each offer once. That one is the big one for me considering I have run out of things to do. There are a couple you can do daily and make a few dollars and they do have a couple of new offers almost every day.
You really have to pay attention to the requirements of each offer. Some will send you a confirmation email that if you fail to click means you don't get paid.
If you accept an offer, pay attention to the website it sends you to. A lot of times after you completed the initial offer it will redirect you to another site. You don't have to do the redirected surveys, in fact in could be a cause for you not getting paid for it, not to mention a big waste of your time.
If you feel you have completed all of the offer requirements and you don't get paid, unfortunately you have no recourse.
As long as you have $25 in your account you can "Cash Out", but they only send payments on the 20^th of every month. They take a few days to verify everything so if you hit "Cash Out" on the 19^th of April you will not get a check cut until the 20^th of May. It takes longer if you choose the old fashion pay check like I did, but I am just not ready to hand out my direct deposit or pay-pal information yet.

This is a good one to do in your down time. I did it when my husband wanted to watch the hunting shows and when my children wanted to watch the same movie they had already seen 15 times that week. If you decide to do this, let me recommend a few different things before you do.

Set up a different email address for these kinds of sites.
Consider setting up an alternate number. If you have a traditional home phone a lot of carriers will give you a distinctive ring for free in your home phone package. That one wasn't a good option for me because I already have one that is connected to my fax. I chose to download I-call which is a free VOIP service.
Avoid any offer that requires you to add your social security number.
If you decide to take an offer that requires a credit card make sure it is a company you know.
If you take an offer that involves a product or service make sure you read all of the terms associated with it.
Be careful about giving out too much personal information about you or your family.
Stay away from anything that wants you to confirm a PIN sent to your cell. If you let them send it more than likely you will get a recurring charge of $9.99 on your cell phone bill. If it asks you to enter your cell number, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see if there is a "Skip" button.
Avoid ones that say win $xxx.xx and then below it is says "must fulfill product requirements".

I plan to keep using this from time to time. If you decide to try it out, please use this link.

Amazon's Mechanical Turk

2010-04-14T09:55:00.008-06:00

Now I had already tried several other things before I had run across this. I had saw a lot of posts on this, and although it wasn’t going to make you rich, it was a good way to make a little extra cash.
My initial thoughts were that “Amazon is a very reputable company, I have bought several things from them, this could be a realistic, legit online opportunity”.

Let me start by explaining a little about what Mechanical Turk is and does. Businesses or individuals will post what is called a “HIT”. This is some sort of task they need done ranging from writing an article, proofreading, signing up for a website, taking a survey, and so on and so on. They will assign a set amount of money to be paid for each HIT done correctly. Then you have the workers who choose to take on these tasks by accepting the HIT. Amazon keeps track of what HITs you accepted, who they were from, how much they are worth, and if you are going to get paid for them or not. Here is my experience with Mechanical Turk.

I signed up for a “Worker Account” on a Friday evening. It was very easy and straight forward and took about five minutes. I immediately began looking at the available HITs. The largest paying hit when I got on wanted me to sign up for a credit reporting service that required a credit card and then once they could confirm I had an account they would pay me $10. I am trying to make money, not spend it.

They had a few hits from $2 - $5 to write 500 word, original articles on products, services, or experiences. Most of the things they wanted articles on I didn’t have a clue about the subject. If I have to write an article that long I don’t want to have to spend a couple of hours researching it only to make at most 5 bucks.
The majority of HITs were .01 - .50, most of which were proofreading, signing up for and or testing a website, or some survey. Now I am not going to do anything for one cent so I set my search criteria to .50 and above.
I spent close to fourteen hours over the weekend working on HITs and these were my results as of Wednesday the next week:

I took on endless surveys were I had to put my information on a dozen different sites. I checked listings for spam and pornography. I checked the functionality of sites and did data entry. What I found is that even though it says I accepted 47 HITs, I tried more than double that. A good portion of them were full of links, sites, and God forbid Submit buttons that did not work. Then to top it all off, almost half of the ones I did complete were rejected due to not being able to verify or not following instructions (I am not an idiot).

The places if did have luck in were the educational surveys and the proofreading. I hope if you choose to try this for yourself that you have better luck than I did. I intend to keep trying it, doing the things I know will work, but only when I have nothing else to do.

Online Scams and Frauds