Month: September 2010

August Income – $1445.82

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Here is a breakdown of my income for August.

Online Income

$1101.00

Interest

$22.50

Stock Dividends

$12.90

Mystery Shops

$192.23

Bank Bonuses

$7.76

Survey/Cashback

$9.23

Job

$100.20

Total

$1445.82

It was a good month for income.  My income was higher than my expenses which is one of my goals.  I need to get my income up to about $2000 a month or more though to make progress on building up my savings.

I was pleased that my online income was its highest ever and once again was over $1000.  It won’t likely be that high this month but it should still be pretty good if I receive the affiliate checks that are due me.

Mystery shop income will be up a little this month.  Since most of the payments lag about a month behind I already have a good idea of what I will make this month.  The mystery shop total is my the actual income I receive before expenses.  It does not include reimbursements which were about $100 in August.

Job income will be up a lot for this month.  Although  I have already quit the job I still have a couple of paychecks coming.

August Expenses – $1326.82

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for August.

Household

$374.48

Entertainment

$211.33

Transportation

 $454.13

Food

$121.24
Medical/Dental

$57.44

Utilities

$68.20
Debt $40

Total

$1326.82

My expenses for August were about the same as they were in July.  There were a couple of things that inflated my expenses for August.  I bought two new tires for my car and I registered for a marathon.  Even without the new tires my transportation expenses for August were too high.  I have been trying to cut back on that but I drive a lot to make money.  I put the marathon under entertainment expense.  My entertainment expense also needs to be seriously reduced.  Food also can be reduced a little.  Everything else will remain about the same. I’m hoping to get my expenses under $1000 this month not counting my bar exam registration fee.

Making More Money Mystery Shopping

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In August I decided to cut back on mystery shopping since I had a job. I did end up doing fewer shops in August than usual but it ended up being one of more my profitable months mystery shopping. This is because the mystery shopping companies contacted me and offered me high-paying and/or heavily bonused shops. I had previously been contacted for these shops once in a while but not as often as in August. It seems like my persistence is finally paying off.

I think that getting the workers at the mystery shopping companies on your side is one of the keys to making decent money mystery shopping. When you first start out the companies are unlikely to call you for any assignments. When they do call try to do the shop they are requesting if at all possible. If you can’t do the shop make sure to let them know that although you can’t do that shop you are interested in doing last minute shops if they come up in the future. I suppose it is somewhat like being nice to the dispatcher when you are a taxi driver. They have lots of power to affect your income so you better be nice to them.

That is my mystery shopping tip for today. Hope that all of you that are mystery shopping are able to use it.