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19 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Would you be open to doing surveys?  I have worked with a company that does online surveys that pay well.  Totally legit.   I got 7 emails on different surveys last week.   The lowest was for $100.

Yes, I would I have looked at that a little bit but it is hard to know what is and isn't worthwhile/rip off.

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I found a forgotten bin in the garage when we were cleaning this morning. Youngest has TWO coats now and a pair of snow pants to grow into (hers from last year still fit). Down to only one kid needing a coat, and Justice (she can wear size 20 or size 16/18 plus) has 50% off today. Ordered a coat for her as she did not want a "boring" grown-up coat.

Edited by historically accurate
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Set up interview for tomorrow for another ESL company. Continuing to open schedule for 7 days a week and nights on weekends. It makes more sense for me to work extra there if I want more money, since online teaching pays more than anything around here.

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1 hour ago, Soror said:

Set up interview for tomorrow for another ESL company. Continuing to open schedule for 7 days a week and nights on weekends. It makes more sense for me to work extra there if I want more money, since online teaching pays more than anything around here.

Have you thought of teaching on outschool?

Good for you for seeking more opportunities.   Fingers crossed. 

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26 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Have you thought of teaching on outschool?

Good for you for seeking more opportunities.   Fingers crossed. 

I know many are going for it but I don't have the mental energy to do my own lesson plans and market myself.

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22 hours ago, Soror said:

Yes, I would I have looked at that a little bit but it is hard to know what is and isn't worthwhile/rip off.

This a focus group place.   Legit.  The focus groups are well paying.  All online.  Usually pay 100 or more.  Some have been a lot more than that. 

Here is the website.    Https://join.2020panel.com/

The company's name name is 2020 research.  This is the one I was talking about that I got 7 invites to focus groups last week for all over $100.

 

Here are some ones

Product report card

You take little intro surveys for not much.  But they do have some high paying ones.  Legit.

 

Crowdtap.  Simple you can earn 10 bucks or so a week 

One opinion 

Survey junkie is another that I have heard of, that is ok.

User testing. each one pays 10 or so.

Edited by mommyoffive
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I got a rebate on Vitamin D today. It was a virtual visa card. So I bought 2 things I needed at Amazon (magnesium and face wipes for teens), and had $1.19 left on it. Found out CVS Caremark (where we get our maintenance prescriptions) allows payments of any amount toward your balance. So, $1.19 toward our last prescription. Cool, now I have a place I can use those 72 cents or so after I use up most of a prepaid card. 

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I made a meal plan for the week and I am 100% determined to stick to it! Eating out is not a part of that menu and that is the biggest reason I need to stick to it.  I really want to get to a point where eating out isn't an option for us. It is just a massive waste of money in my mind

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Finally got in contact with the company that we ordered things from in the start of August and just got the order last week.   Even though we contacted them repeatedly.   The order we finally got from them was wrong.   They said they will be shipping the right order to us and to just keep the old one.   Hopefully they do as it was going to be Christmas gifts for our kids.   

 

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On 10/26/2020 at 12:54 PM, hjffkj said:

I made a meal plan for the week and I am 100% determined to stick to it! Eating out is not a part of that menu and that is the biggest reason I need to stick to it.  I really want to get to a point where eating out isn't an option for us. It is just a massive waste of money in my mind

Best of luck, even if you falter some making a plan will certainly put you in a better place than if you didn't plan.

 

18 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Finally got in contact with the company that we ordered things from in the start of August and just got the order last week.   Even though we contacted them repeatedly.   The order we finally got from them was wrong.   They said they will be shipping the right order to us and to just keep the old one.   Hopefully they do as it was going to be Christmas gifts for our kids.   

 

Geez!!! That is ridiculous!

 

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I've spent $62 on groceries this week and only a couple more things to get, should be $5 or less.

I had another $40 or so to spend but wanted to conserve whatever I could as we had cost I didn't expect for the lawnmower maintenance. 

On the plus gas will be cheaper this week than we thought as he didn't have to commute today, so we might just make it in under the wire.

I've yet to hear back on my interview video I did yesterday. I thought I did fairly well, better than I did when I applied to VIPKID as I now have 2 yrs experience under my belt. Of course, I was still nervous and I'm sure that shown some and I generally teach older children, and am not as animated and playful as some teachers (I am for serious and warm) so if they are looking for that I'm not the right gal.

Very good news I got in the bill from the allergiest appointment and it is $55 and I looked online, all of my EOBs outstanding are $105. That doesn't count the 3 dental cleanings we just had, they are supposed to be covered but they ended up doing all these extra things I didn't ask for (thus why I'm not going back to them- my old dentist retired w/ COVID). 

Very bad news- I finally got ds in to the dentist. He had lost a filling and when I had got him in to a new dentist he was in quarantine. Now he has a raging infection and they say he needs a root canal and crown, bad, bad, bad on so many levels. This is the dentist that is rec. as not being one to do work willy nilly. Stupid Covid if it not for it we could avoided all of this crap I'm certain.

Now, we'll also have money for dh for tutoring but have less in gas bills and if dh manages to pass we'll save much more in not having to pay for that class again.

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I passed my interview with Gogokid- $8.60 per class base rate, current with VIPKID is $9 (that is after 2 raises- I started at $8). Both have complicated incentive structures. I've not figured it out with Gogokid yet. With VIPKID my rate increases as I teach more classes each month then resets every month, my lowest is 9.90 per class w/ $19.80 an hr up to $22 something.

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2 hours ago, Soror said:

I passed my interview with Gogokid- $8.60 per class base rate, current with VIPKID is $9 (that is after 2 raises- I started at $8). Both have complicated incentive structures. I've not figured it out with Gogokid yet. With VIPKID my rate increases as I teach more classes each month then resets every month, my lowest is 9.90 per class w/ $19.80 an hr up to $22 something.

Yay, Congratulations  

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Hi, ladies! Hoping to join you as I'm getting serious about reducing spending and saving money. I've created a budget with spending categories on a free app. I'm interested to see how things carry over next month with it to decide if it's gonna work for. So far though, I really like the clean layout and how user friendly it is.

This is day 2 for me, and I started spending November's budget money yesterday. 

I've went to town today and was much more reserved and thoughtful with spending. 

Something I learned that could help is that I probably shouldn't take kids to the stores with me. Ha! It's the little things that I find are adding up for us in all areas like the 1.99 fishy crackers I bought for DD. They would only have been $1, but I couldn't get signed up for the store app that had the digital coupon. It's a store I don't visit often, just when the other cheaper stores I visit frequently don't have what I need. Also I bought a  3.99 cute craft activity for DD there today. This doesn't sound like much, but I did feel pressured to buy these things rather than purposefully doing so. NOT by DD! She's a sweetie and doesn't demand, but I could see how much she would liked them. I have 5 kids, so you could see how this could add up. 😉

Here's a link to a post I made today about thinking through purchasing some home decor. I think I put $10 a month for that. That's low, and I'll probably adjust it up to $15-20.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to make the runner. I would be shortening a purchased one anyway because I don't want it to go edge to edge but give a eating space on the ends of the table. Still debating the table cloth, but it does make sense to get a cloth one for long term durability and not having to repurchase another later.

My really big and important task though is trying to curb eating out and spending way less to feed my family. That's where a lot of our money is blown.

Looking forward to reading your posts and getting inspiration from you!

Edited by IfIOnly
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@IfIOnly welcome!!  Not knowing your financials, goals, or spending habits much I can only tell you how I would handle your desire for a table runner and table cloth if I were you.  I always try to be  mindful of my purchases, especially home goods because ultimately they are rarely needs. Not saying that wants aren't ok but I weigh all my wants against each other.  So, using your want as an example this is what I'd do.

1.Is this purchase a need or want?  Table runner, in my opinion, is never a need.  Table cloth can be a need since it protects the table but do my current ones need to be replaced?

2. If the table cloth is a need then I determine if I have room for it in my budget this month or if I have to wait until next month.  If it is a want I lump it in with the table runner. 

3.  For wants, I think about the other things I currently want and decide where it falls on that list priority wise.  If it is high on the list then I usually just put it on my bday or christmas list and wait for then.  But on occasion, I will decide that I want it sooner then that and then I pull from my budget if there is money for it or I save up for it.

 

I know that seems like a long process but it really only take 30 seconds or less.  I don't always spend wisely but when I do the process looks like that

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13 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

 

@IfIOnly welcome!!  Not knowing your financials, goals, or spending habits much I can only tell you how I would handle your desire for a table runner and table cloth if I were you.  I always try to be  mindful of my purchases, especially home goods because ultimately they are rarely needs. Not saying that wants aren't ok but I weigh all my wants against each other.  So, using your want as an example this is what I'd do.

1.Is this purchase a need or want?  Table runner, in my opinion, is never a need.  Table cloth can be a need since it protects the table but do my current ones need to be replaced?

2. If the table cloth is a need then I determine if I have room for it in my budget this month or if I have to wait until next month.  If it is a want I lump it in with the table runner. 

3.  For wants, I think about the other things I currently want and decide where it falls on that list priority wise.  If it is high on the list then I usually just put it on my bday or christmas list and wait for then.  But on occasion, I will decide that I want it sooner then that and then I pull from my budget if there is money for it or I save up for it.

 

I know that seems like a long process but it really only take 30 seconds or less.  I don't always spend wisely but when I do the process looks like that

This is so good. Thanks for sharing with me/us.

I had to laugh because we're similar but reversed in the way we do wants and birthdays. I really don't want anything given to me for my birthday (although family sometimes doesn't listen-argh) except a big bag of bird seed (well either for Mom's day or my birthday-either is great), but instead like to buy some wants guilt-free throughout the year. Ha!

The table stuff is mostly because we're spending so much time at home because of COVID and wanting to make our dining area a little cozier and more inviting. It's also because I'm hoping to really cut out eating out, and it's just something to help motivate me to gather the family around the table more. Not a need, but a little reward (advanced though!) for all that I'll be saving eating at home. That's how I'm justifying it anyway. lol

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My food budget this month is $450-500. I'm planning $15 a day allocated for feeding my family and have spent the last few months off and on recording $5 or so meal ideas and am ready to go forward with execution. Even though we may not keep with this amount, I want to do it for at least a few months to see if it's workable and be prepared and not as stressed or overwhelmed for such a drastic food budget, if need be. Wish me luck.

A daily menu example:

Roast chicken (I buy a case of 10 that are not cooked for $50-they are  the huge rotisserie ones and such a great deal) and gravy, mashed potatoes, frozen green beans or other cheap veggie or roasted potatoes and carrots and onion. I'm counting the chicken as just 2.50 because we only eat half and the other is used the next day for making broth and soup or a chicken green salad)

Homemade yogurt (ridiculously easy in the IP and I make 1.5 gallons/a weeks work at a time) and frozen blueberries and granola for breakfast.

lentil soup for lunch

 

Edited by IfIOnly
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On 10/14/2020 at 3:00 PM, Ditto said:

Our Christmases have gotten considerably more simple in the last few years.  We don't buy gifts and it has worked out very well.   It has made all of us much happier.  We focus on time with each other and having fun together.  The relief I feel at having gotten us to this point is incredible.  No more dreading the holidays and what to buy (and how to afford it all sometimes).  

Same here. We get a new board game to play, make cookies, and go sledding. All about quality time together rather than gifts and, yes, less stress.

On 10/18/2020 at 5:23 PM, hjffkj said:

dd5 only wants one thing for Christmas, a specific Calico Critters house with furniture.  It was marked down to $72 today on Amazon so I put it in the cart. That is a little more than I'd usually spend on a single gift for a kid at Christmas at this point but since it is really the only thing she wants I decided she'll get it.  Well just before I was going to buy it I decided to check Ebay one last time, I've been looking for a few weeks, and someone had just posted the exact house plus a few additional families for $60 shipped so I got that instead!  She'll get the house for Christmas and the additional families for her birthday in Feb! I'm very excited

Aw, those sets are totally adorable. I didn't realize they were more on the spendy side but have just noticed them the last year or so. DD8 would have loved these when she was younger. 

On 10/19/2020 at 12:54 PM, mommyoffive said:

Finally found a place in my area that does the farmer to family free food box.  I missed the sign up for this week.   Boo.  Hopefully I can get on it for next week.    

I am thinking of going back to picking up the free school meals again. 

We do school lunches a few times a week as well, but now that I'm trying to really consider things, I'm not sure how much we're saving with gas money. It's about a 10 mile round trip to the nearest school doing it. I think we'll still do Fridays because they double up for the weekend here too. We had stopped all together this summer because my kids were tired if them. Since school has started though, they've gotten much better with more variety.

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2 hours ago, IfIOnly said:

This is so good. Thanks for sharing with me/us.

I had to laugh because we're similar but reversed in the way we do wants and birthdays. I really don't want anything given to me for my birthday (although family sometimes doesn't listen-argh) except a big bag of bird seed (well either for Mom's day or my birthday-either is great), but instead like to buy some wants guilt-free throughout the year. Ha!

The table stuff is mostly because we're spending so much time at home because of COVID and wanting to make our dining area a little cozier and more inviting. It's also because I'm hoping to really cut out eating out, and it's just something to help motivate me to gather the family around the table more. Not a need, but a little reward (advanced though!) for all that I'll be saving eating at home. That's how I'm justifying it anyway. lol

 

Oh we aren't reversed in regards to birthdays.  I just married into a family that are huge on gift giving.  Over the last 12 years I've learned to just accept that my in-laws will shower me with gifts and prefer it when I tell them exactly what I want.  So, I save my wants and nice to haves for christmas and my birthday.  This year I'm asking for, a french press, uniball pens, a new planner, a gardening book, noise cancelling headphones, and grow lights. I'll likely have more ideas within the next few weeks.  None of these things are things I need but they are things that I want and will make life easier.  I would buy some of them on my own but don't need to since it is almost Christmas.

 

I completely understand on the table stuff.  One of my wants right now is enough tea cups and saucers for the family so we can start an old tradition we used to do during home school days.  Tea time and reading.  The kids have started talking about it lately and I think it'd be a nice addition during Covid times.  So, I've been on the look out for a nice set I like. In the year of 2020 having those little things that make you smile is important.

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@IfIOnly The Calico Critters can be pricey but they do go on sale on amazon a lot around this time.  It is just this particular house she wants that I haven't seen on sale yet and thankfully found a great deal on it. She will get some of the families from her grandparents.

 

Your meal plan example sound awesome.  Very similar to a day I would have.  I love yogurt in the IP! So easy.   Where do you get chickens so cheap?  How much is it per pound?

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55 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

 

Oh we aren't reversed in regards to birthdays.  I just married into a family that are huge on gift giving.  Over the last 12 years I've learned to just accept that my in-laws will shower me with gifts and prefer it when I tell them exactly what I want.  So, I save my wants and nice to haves for christmas and my birthday.  This year I'm asking for, a french press, uniball pens, a new planner, a gardening book, noise cancelling headphones, and grow lights. I'll likely have more ideas within the next few weeks.  None of these things are things I need but they are things that I want and will make life easier.  I would buy some of them on my own but don't need to since it is almost Christmas.

 

I completely understand on the table stuff.  One of my wants right now is enough tea cups and saucers for the family so we can start an old tradition we used to do during home school days.  Tea time and reading.  The kids have started talking about it lately and I think it'd be a nice addition during Covid times.  So, I've been on the look out for a nice set I like. In the year of 2020 having those little things that make you smile is important.

That's a healthy take. I appreciate that.

This may get me kicked out of this group for enabling , but I've been looking at tea cups and saucers too and found several tempting sets on Amazon. Here's one, if you're interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I1UEZPQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hM5MFbC3MY0W7

🙃

Edited by IfIOnly
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3 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

@IfIOnly The Calico Critters can be pricey but they do go on sale on amazon a lot around this time.  It is just this particular house she wants that I haven't seen on sale yet and thankfully found a great deal on it. She will get some of the families from her grandparents.

 

Your meal plan example sound awesome.  Very similar to a day I would have.  I love yogurt in the IP! So easy.   Where do you get chickens so cheap?  How much is it per pound?

At our Costco. They're the rotisserie ones they serve hot in the deli. I'm not sure how it works out per pound, and prices go up and down (we're soo much cheaper before covid, boo!), but right now it's 48.99 for 10. They're really large chickens too. Awhile ago I did the math, and even at the higher Costco price now, I couldn't find them for less elsewhere. 

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One day to spare, and the car tire fund is full! Yay!

We're doing a "silly supper" tomorrow for Halloween. I've done it in the past, and my kids asked if we could do it this year too. https://www.thedatingdivas.com/draculas-diner/ I'm thinking spaghetti or macaroni and cheese (so very messy if you don't get a fork). 

 

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10 hours ago, IfIOnly said:

My food budget this month is $450-500. I'm planning $15 a day allocated for feeding my family and have spent the last few months off and on recording $5 or so meal ideas and am ready to go forward with execution. Even though we may not keep with this amount, I want to do it for at least a few months to see if it's workable and be prepared and not as stressed or overwhelmed for such a drastic food budget, if need be. Wish me luck.

A daily menu example:

Roast chicken (I buy a case of 10 that are not cooked for $50-they are  the huge rotisserie ones and such a great deal) and gravy, mashed potatoes, frozen green beans or other cheap veggie or roasted potatoes and carrots and onion. I'm counting the chicken as just 2.50 because we only eat half and the other is used the next day for making broth and soup or a chicken green salad)

Homemade yogurt (ridiculously easy in the IP and I make 1.5 gallons/a weeks work at a time) and frozen blueberries and granola for breakfast.

lentil soup for lunch

 

Welcome and the best of luck! We are a family of 6. I started the month with a grocery budget of $600. However, I had $100 on the CC from groceries last month (grocery pick up). So, that brought me to $500 for groceries this month. Then we had more than I expected in gas and a couple of other things and I ended the month spending $452 (plus the $100 for last month). I think I'm going back up to $600 this month. I would like to stock up on more things. I need to work on a pantry inventory to see what I need to replenish. I just ordered 15# of gf oats, half each of steel cut and half rolled.

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I did very well with food waste this week. The only thing thrown out was 1/2 of a beet, it got shoved in the basket and started to mold. Too bad as in the frig it would have lasted another month.

Yesterday I used the last pear and orange on their last legs to make a fruit salad for breakfast. 

I used the last of my purple cabbage with leftover sauce I saved from the Satay to make me a brown rice and cabbage salad, that will be my lunch for 4 days or so.

For dinner I made stew with leftover green beans, some celery at the edge of its prime, and various other veggies.

I divided 2# ground turkey- half for Asian meatballs to go with my salad and the other half made into Italian sausage, half for dinner tomorrow (stromboli) and half in the freezer for another dinner.

And a bit of good news-- I have a chance to get $300 with Gogokid, I have to finish orientation (not sure what all that entails yet ugh!) and teach 3 classes in 30 days. Now, I don't know hard it will be to get classes booked and of course I have so many that I teach for VIPKID but I'm going to do my best. $300 will go a good ways towards the root canal and crown that ds needs (mercy).

Dh was paid today$380 of OT, woot. That goes towards next months bills. He is paid bi-weekly but that first check covers most of our bills, nearly all of the second check will go to savings for the myriad of bills that are upcoming.

Edited by Soror
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Working on menu and grocery stock up list. I'm trying to decide how much I want to spend on stocking and prioritizing.

Kroger's has Boston Butts on sale for $1 a pound so I'll be getting one for sandwiches this week and buying butter there as it is 2/$5 and currently $2.89 at Aldi's.

I've already made lists for cleaning supplies and personal supplies needed for November and will verify I've not missed anything. Dollar General has $5 off $25 so I'll be shopping for cleaning supplies there, my list is currently $25-26 for cleaning supplies and tp. My personal supply(razors, deodrant) list is $11.

Dh is working again today, thankfully he is getting all the OT he would want. I'm hoping to feel much less stressed about everything by the end of the month, assuming nothing else comes up. Getting another $1500+ of bills dropped in our laps this week wasn't real great. There has been talk from the higher ups of a possible bonus, I really hope it comes, they were supposed to get one in August but that didn't happen with the bankruptcy.

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Menu done:

monday- Cajun chicken(chicken from freezer) pasta w/ broccoli and roasted zuc and peppers for me

tuesday: leftovers

wednesday: fried chicken, potatoes, green beans (was supposed to be this Sunday but Aldi's had lamb so we're doing gyros w/ homemade gf naan)

thursday- frozen pizza (we've only done homemade this month to save money) and homemade gf pizza

friday: bbq sandwiches baked beans and corn

saturday: leftover turkey(from freezer) chili 

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We got the order that we put in on early August.   Just got it a week ago and it was wrong.   They said keep it and we will send you the correct stuff.  Ok.  Only half the order was wrong,  but they sent us a whole new order.   Ok.  The original order was $200.  I am surprised it showed up.  We had to contact this company so many times to try and get our first order.  Happy about it, but also just glad to be done with this company  

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19 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

We just did the farmers to families food, oh my goodness it is so much great food.   Wow.  

Looking into refinancing our mortgage. 

Nice, ours was good when we could get it.

11 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

We got the order that we put in on early August.   Just got it a week ago and it was wrong.   They said keep it and we will send you the correct stuff.  Ok.  Only half the order was wrong,  but they sent us a whole new order.   Ok.  The original order was $200.  I am surprised it showed up.  We had to contact this company so many times to try and get our first order.  Happy about it, but also just glad to be done with this company  

Geez, that is crazy cakes, I'm glad it is finally settled.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/26/2020 at 10:10 AM, mommyoffive said:

This a focus group place.   Legit.  The focus groups are well paying.  All online.  Usually pay 100 or more.  Some have been a lot more than that. 

Here is the website.    Https://join.2020panel.com/

The company's name name is 2020 research.  This is the one I was talking about that I got 7 invites to focus groups last week for all over $100.

 

Here are some ones

Product report card

You take little intro surveys for not much.  But they do have some high paying ones.  Legit.

 

Crowdtap.  Simple you can earn 10 bucks or so a week 

One opinion 

Survey junkie is another that I have heard of, that is ok.

User testing. each one pays 10 or so.

Bumping this post.

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