So having had the great idea to earn money by working flexibly, the next step is finding out how to actually go about doing it. This post talks about different mummy money makers that I have used in the past, and new ones I will be exploring.

I started with Mystery Shopping

I have a little previous experience to go on as a couple of years ago I fancied giving mystery shopping a go in my spare time. It turned out to be one of my favourite money makers and was fun to do.

There are many mystery shopping companies available and the types of tasks vary widely. You could be pretending you want to buy a phone on one day, and test driving a car the next. A lot of tasks involve you actually making a purchase (these are normally reimbursed). Some just involve making a phone call or sending an email and giving feedback on the response. You can also find yourself secretly recording audio or video of your visit (this is often the case when you do mystery shops at banks or insurance firms). Take a look at the mystery shopping post to find out more about what it is like to go undercover!

And then I found more Money Makers

While I was searching the web for mystery shopping companies I came across some sites that opened my eyes to a whole load of other money makers:

• The Money Saving Expert guide to making money online, which has a good list of sites and apps to get you started.
• The Money Shed forum and blog which are my favourite sources of information and support. I would particularly recommend having a read of the Working from Home Toolkit on the blog. The Money Shed community have loads of experience and advice. The topics cover not only the list on Money Saving Expert, but lots of other opportunities as well. It is the best place to go for up to date info on these ever-changing work sources. Many of the users have their own blogs which you can follow alongside the Money Shed for extra inspiration.

Next came Money Making Apps

Following on from my discovery of the Money Saving Expert guide and The Money Shed, I went on to download some great phone app money makers. These allowed me to earn quick cash during my lunch break, or on my way to or from work. Roamler was (and still is) my favourite, but I also used others such as Streetspotr and StreetBees (if you would like to use my StreetBees referral code it is 7984KL). Take a look at the Money Making Apps post where I talk about using phone apps in much more detail.

I completed lots of Surveys

Surveys are good money makers for a bit of pocket money if you enjoy doing them. The earnings aren’t massive but with persistence you can build up to good payout levels. SurveySpotter is a good place to get started as it signs you up to all the main sites in one go (be aware that their claims for £5/survey and £300/month are somewhat exaggerated for most users).

The majority of survey sites give you reward points. You build up your points and cash them in for payouts or vouchers. I have limited the sites I use to the ones that pay the most and waste the least of my time through screenouts. This is where you get kicked out of the survey after a few questions because they already have enough responses from people like you. The sites I like to use are PopulusLive, Surveybods and Prolific Academic. Yougov is also worth joining as their surveys are interesting, but it takes a long time to reach the 5000 points threshold needed for the £50 payout.

I tried out Matched Betting

Another one of the great money makers I tried was matched betting. Initially this looked very much like a ‘too good to be true’ scam. I didn’t feel very comfortable ‘risking’ my money by what I thought would be gambling. However, after reading success stories on The Money Shed I decided to give it a go with the support of Profit Accumulator and a free £150 pot courtesy of switching an old unused current account to another bank.

The venture turned out to be a big success. My initial £150 turned into £1000 in a matter of weeks! The step by step instructions and videos from Profit Accumulator made everything very easy. There was mostly no risk or gambling involved (some of the opportunities available had small risks, but this was all made clear so you could see if you were comfortable with it). Profit Accumulator has a small monthly fee but they explain how this can be covered by your profits. They have a free trial if you want to try it for yourself.

Eventually, my journey with matched betting came to an end when I had exhausted the start up offers. Also, some of my main betting accounts were closed despite my best efforts to keep them going. Some people do manage to continue with matched betting long term though, especially if they are good at the accumulator bets on horse races. I personally found these too stressful and made a few mistakes leading to losses, so I decided to call it a day.

There is lots more to come

There are lots of other ways to earn money from home working online. Look out for future posts where I will be exploring new options including:

• website testing
• web search evaluation
• transcription
• writing content
• proofreading
• virtual assistance
• T shirt printing

Thank you for reading! 

 

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Money for Mummy – My Mum Conundrum: Solving the Work-Life Balance