A Penny For Your Thoughts
When the financial realities of the COVID-flattened economy started to hit home last summer, I decided to look into easy ways to supplement my income. ‘Easy’ was the key, because my job is taxing on many levels (mental, emotional, physical) and I didn’t want to do anything that felt like a job. And ‘supplement’ was key, because it was more about cushioning the blow of reduced disposable income than about paying for basic necessities.
So: I wanted an easy avenue to extra cash.
And I found something that worked.
It’s simple, it’s portable (it can be done from any connected device), it’s not strenuous by any stretch of the imagination, and it pays.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about being a consumer panelist.
Here’s how it works:
- sign up for a panelist account (I will give you links below)
- log in if/when you feel like it
- answer questions
- questions are worth points
- points accumulate and can be exchanged for payouts
Easy, peasy.
These are the two I use:
Crowdtap
^referral link^
Crowdtap puts out thousands of questions a day on behalf of consumer research companies. Once you’ve signed up, the questions pop out in little squares on your Dashboard when you are logged in. Most single-question squares are worth three or five points; longer-form surveys that require you to look at an ad and give feedback or write a sentence about ‘what you understand’ about a topic run about 20; actual surveys that consist of 10 or more questions run between 30-300 points a piece.
I log in on my phone each morning and spend about five minutes answering questions. If I’m waiting for a client (or waiting with a client) (my job is taxing but it also involves long periods of waiting in between intense flurries of work), I will log in and answer during my wait.
(You could choose to log in more or less than that, as you please; there are no minimum requirements.)
For a few minutes out of my day (typically only on weekdays), I accumulate points. Points can be traded in for gift card payouts. I typically wait until I have $10 or more worth of points, then I redeem them. I go for Starbucks cards more than anything (we all know I have a coffee problem, right?) but also trade in for gift cards to restaurants like Panera or for online retailers like Ebay and Amazon.
Crowdtap is currently open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
Swagbucks
^referral link^
Swagbucks is a bit of a hodge-podge-of-everything site (I will get into that further down), but when I first signed up, I only took their surveys. Surveys are listed with the amount of points they are worth (think: 1 points = 1 penny) and how long they are expected to take you to complete.
So what I do when I’m waiting with/for a client is, I check how much time I have and pick the best available payout{s} based on that. If I know I have 15 minutes to kill, then based on what’s available in the example above, I’d click on the 15-minute survey at the bottom that’s worth 125 points.
Which means that while I’m already getting paid to do my regular job (which involves waiting), I pick up extra money while I wait.
Similar to Crowdtap, Swagbucks allows you to cash out points earned for payouts — via store gift cards, prepaid Visa cards, or Paypal — once you’ve earned enough to cash in (I think $3 is lowest card available). I typically cash out in $25 increments for Starbucks (of course) or for fast-casual restaurants (Applebee’s, Olive Garden), though I’ve also done retail store gift cards (Kohl’s, Marshall’s, Wal-mart) for increments between $10 and $50.
Sometimes the surveys you tap into are ones you won’t qualify for. (They give you between 1-20 points for DQ.) Other times the survey you tap into might be a pre-screen for a more focused panel or one-time Q&A event. I’ve been paid as high as $65 for these focused discussions and many of them pay via direct transfer to Paypal.
Because that is the case, it is important that you use your Paypal-registered email address when you sign up for Swagbucks and when you get recruited for larger projects.
I’m currently on two focused-panel groups that stemmed from Swagbucks pre-screen invites and they send me emails once every two weeks or so asking me to answer a question or look at a piece of potential advertising and give feedback about it. Between the two, I have about $45 available to cash out via Paypal if/when I choose; I’m just sitting on that money at the moment and will likely take the higher payouts when the projects end.
In addition to being a survey/consumer-panelist feed site, Swagbucks also offers a cashback shopping portal (you buy online at your favorite stores through their portal and they give you points based on your purchases — your points are redeemable for cash or gift cards), video games testing, ‘watch’ activities (think: YouTube stuff), and challenges/sweepstakes to help you earn points.
Swagbucks is international in scope; it is available in multiple locations around the world.
Others
There are a few others I’m aware of somewhat peripherally that I’d encourage you to check out if you’d like. Trendency and e-rewards are two that I’ve been invited to. (They might be invite-only sites; I’m not sure.) Shopee is a cash-back site my blogging friend Fondles told me about (the link to Shopee along with her referral code and the countries where it’s valid is here); The Barefoot Sub talked about her money-saving tips and shared a referral link for Quidco here (warning: links to a post about financial abuse).
Now, YOU
If you have time on your hands and/or have a tendency to scroll aimlessly, I’d encourage you to sign up for a consumer panelist site or look into cashback apps. Nobody is paying you to continuous-scroll through Facebook posts; people *will* pay you to kill your time answering questions.
Taken individually, each little activity on these sites gets your pennies.
But those pennies for your thoughts will add up to dollars for your wallet.
Any questions?
I love this post Mrs Fever.
I actually have a swagbucks account, but have struggled to stick with it. Your experience makes it sound like it’s worth persevering. I imagine it’s interesting, apart from anything else. To be part of the focus panels.
Thank you for linking up to my post too. N x
The barefoot sub recently posted…Special Delivery Service
I think it works for me because I use it as a kill-time/fill-time activity; DQs on surveys seem to bother a lot of people, but to me, I’m like “Okay. Free points. NEXT!” 🙂
The submit-receipt feature (for grocery and everyday purchases) is an easy-points opportunity, and the cash back portal is easy to use. So if you’re on the fence about sticking with it, maybe just play with one of those options until you build up your points bank? You already have something that’s working for you though, so also — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! 😉
Thank you for this. I had not heard of doing this before but it seems quite an interstitial way of making a little bit of extra money. Missy x
It’s perfect for me because it fits so easily into my schedule; it’s not “work” but it helps me put a bit extra in my pocket *while* I’m working, so for me, it’s a win.
I know Swagbucks is available in the UK, and the link at the end of the post to Barefoot Sub will hook you up with Quidco, which is also a UK app.
HI just a quick qualifier – shopee is really a shopping site… but it offers you coins back when you leave reviews etc. which you can then use to offset the next purchase (most sellers allow this, altho I have come across one or two merchants where you can’t use the shopee coins you’ve accumulated).
That said, I do often order necessities from there, like supplements (mum’s on glucosamine etc) and frozen foods so instead of paying for these at a store, I get them online and earn some coins back from leaving a review. In addition to these I’ve also bought clothes, undies, kitchen cleaning tools, soaps and shampoos, skincare, household stuff like cushion covers and storage containers for fridging food.
It might not work for everyone but since I prefer getting supplies delivered to me instead of hopping into 4 different shops at a crowded mall, this has been a most useful site for me.
Thanks — that’s a helpful explanation. 🙂
I wonder if these kind of platforms exist in the Netherlands, but am sure if I go looking for them, they do. Many years ago one of my cousins used to sign up for these kind of things, but it worked through email. She got hundreds of emails (sort of legitimate spam) and had to click on the links in them and go to a website, and that earned her money. Many times I had to help her with computer problems because malware slowed down everything. I think what you have above is much better than she did back then, but it did earn her a bit of extra cash in a time when she couldn’t work.
~ Marie
Oh goodness! No, not hundreds of emails, I promise!
Swagbucks works in the UK, so you could definitely check that platform out if you want. And a quick Google search for “cash back sites in the Netherlands” returned an article about something called “shop buddies” so that might be a place to start. 🙂
Cool ideas. I’ve signed up for a few things like this and they don’t ever seem to pay out. So my membership ends up being a fleeting thing.
I think it depends on which platform you use and also you have to find one that ‘fits” in terms of how you will use it and have realistic expectations about payouts. It’s not like a job; it’s just a bit of extra cash. It works well for me, but it’s not for everybody.