Mystery Shopping

In December 2006, I had a beautiful baby girl. It immediately became obvious to me that I did not want to return to work. However, I had bills to pay and after six weeks I was back at work.

I began searching for ways to make money and still be able to stay home with my daughter. I soon found a website on mystery shopping. Mystery shopping or shadow shopping is where someone goes into a business as a customer, makes a purchase or requests a service, and then reports back to the company who hired them concerning the service which they received. In return you are reimbursed for the money you spend (up to a certain amount) and paid a fee (anywhere between $6.00 to $30.00 per shop).

I registered with this site and by the next day I had an email requesting that I apply for a shop that was available. I applied for the shop and it was scheduled for the next day.

Within two days, I had scheduled seven shops. These shops were worth $117.00 and I was able to schedule them all for the same day. It took me six hours to do these shops, including driving time. I put $25.00 gas in my car. I cleared $92.00. This means that I made $15.00 per hour.

Can you make money as a mystery shopper? Yes, you can! However, you need to be selective about which shops you choose. For me fast food shops are not profitable. Most of the other shops are. You also need to schedule several shops for the same day and make sure that they are all in the same direction.

The most shops I have done in one day is eight. I print out the information for each shop and take it along with me. After the shop, I write down notes on the questionaire to help me remember what I need to.

So far I have made enough money with this to pay my bills each month. Already this month I have done enough in four days work to pay next month's bills. There is definately money in mystery shopping and it allows me to take my daughter with me.

Needless to say, I quit my job!