Work to live and not to live to work.

Danilene

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I've been answering surveys for about 10 years now, on and off. I stop when I am without internet access, or when I am too busy with work. I have tried getting a second, part time job, but have been unsuccessful so far... and when I spend too much time commuting, I end up eating more, and eating out... and spending more money! Not to mention being too tired, and time-starved, to do anything with my evenings or my weekends!
I am trying to do surveys every day, and to use cashback apps more regularly. Right now, I manage to make £100 pm from surveys and a couple of quids every 6 months from cashback websites and apps. My objective for February onwards is to make £150 pm from surveys and £5 pm from cashback. My 'reward' if I meet the goal will be a small washing machine (the kind you use on a boat or in a caravan), which would save me a tiring and time consuming trip to the laundromat every 2 weeks.
 
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Jon

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I've been answering surveys for about 10 years now, on and off. I stop when I am without internet access, or when I am too busy with work. I have tried getting a second, part time job, but have been unsuccessful so far... and when I spend too much time commuting, I end up eating more, and eating out... and spending more money! Not to mention being too tired, and time-starved, to do anything with my evenings or my weekends!
I am trying to do surveys every day, and to use cashback apps more regularly. Right now, I manage to make £100 pm from surveys and a couple of quids every 6 months from cashback websites and apps. My objective for February onwards is to make £150 pm from surveys and £5 pm from cashback. My 'reward' if I meet the goal will be a small washing machine (the kind you use on a boat or in a caravan), which would save me a tiring and time consuming trip to the laundromat every 2 weeks.

Ok so my first question would be why are you making it all so hard on yourself?

You mention being over tired and having to work on the laptop in the evenings so why are you doing low paying surveys?

Is there a reason you’re not doing higher paying work like web search evaluator work with appen (£600+ a month) , utest/whatusersdo (£200+ a month), Risk Free Matched Betting (£500+ a month) and that’s just off the top of my head but that’s over £1000 a month there for a lot less time than you will spend trying to get to £150 a month via surveys

Somenting to think about anyway :)
 

Danilene

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Jan 15, 2019
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I am renting from a private sector landlord. He would blow a gasket if I started 'working from home'. He already disapproves of me having two laptops and the internet... It was even worse 10 years ago: the first 4 landlords I rented from, all pensioners, didn't want me to get the internet at all! Only last December, he rang my employers to double check I still had a job (because of Brexit).
Surveys are easy for me to squeeze in because they don't require me to set aside 1 hour or more at the end of the day. One issue I had in the first years was that I type and click very quickly (just like at work) so I would get kicked out of survey. I remember firing off a angry email to a survey provider who had accused me of being a bot!
Finally, I'd like to get a mortgage one day. It doesn't look very realistic now, because of my age, but who knows, in the future, maybe a provider will start offering mortgages to oldies like me. I've never been able to get a mortgage despite having permanent jobs (they didn't pay enough), I don't think I would stand a chance if I was self employed. I've enquired about running a B&B alongside a f/t job (as most houses have 2 or 3 bedrooms, and I only need one for myself), the bank didn't like the idea at all! They told me I would no longer be eligible to a residential mortgage, I might not get a mortgage at all...
I'll look into Whatusersdo this weekend, thanks for the tip :)
 
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domravioli

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I am renting from a private sector landlord. He would blow a gasket if I started 'working from home'. He already disapproves of me having two laptops and the internet... It was even worse 10 years ago: the first 4 landlords I rented from, all pensioners, didn't want me to get the internet at all! Only last December, he rang my employers to double check I still had a job (because of Brexit).
Surveys are easy for me to squeeze in because they don't require me to set aside 1 hour or more at the end of the day. One issue I had in the first years was that I type and click very quickly (just like at work) so I would get kicked out of survey. I remember firing off a angry email to a survey provider who had accused me of being a bot!
Finally, I'd like to get a mortgage one day. It doesn't look very realistic now, because of my age, but who knows, in the future, maybe a provider will start offering mortgages to oldies like me. I've never been able to get a mortgage despite having permanent jobs (they didn't pay enough), I don't think I would stand a chance if I was self employed. I've enquired about running a B&B alongside a f/t job (as most houses have 2 or 3 bedrooms, and I only need one for myself), the bank didn't like the idea at all! They told me I would no longer be eligible to a residential mortgage, I might not get a mortgage at all...
I'll look into Whatusersdo this weekend, thanks for the tip :)

Matched betting you can do from wherever (most have smartphone apps), and isnt technically self employment as it is gambling, not a job, ergo getting round the whole issue of working from home.

Your landlord isn't allowed to harrass you for installing internet. If that's happened, drop me a message.
 
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Cas

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wait hold up your landlord phones up your workplace to check up on you ?
 

Jon

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Why unearth does he disapprove of you having laptops and what's it got to do with him anyway!!!!
 

Danilene

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Jan 15, 2019
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wait hold up your landlord phones up your workplace to check up on you ?
Yes. He also recently checked my immigration station with... the police (I am not British). Where I come from, you avoid any contact with the police, or the authorities, as you can end up being imprisoned and ugly things can happen to you then. I have an immigration lawyer, but it is really expensive, so I'd rather keep a low profile and not get into any kind of trouble!
I don't think the Home Office would be very impressed if I was to tell them I am earning a living by doing matched betting and web search evaluator work…
 

Danilene

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Kinda reached my target. £10 from cashback and found out I still had some credit (below the £5 redemption amount) on my Checkoutsmart account.
Survey wise, made £140, however this includes a £5 Gifthulk Amazon voucher which I don't think I am ever going to receive... I was kicked out of several Peanut Labs and Opinion Outpost surveys at the very end, and missed out on a £5 Prolific survey (I was commuting home and didn't want to stop in a café to do the survey - it was full by the time I got home). I made nearly £25 from Qmee:)
 

Danilene

Money Making Megastar!
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
126
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178
Age
48
By the end of this week, I should get around £70 from various sites with a minimum £20 threshold. Then it should get a little quieter, so for the whole of March, I am aiming for £100 in surveys, £10 in mystery shopping (one of the assignments I was offered was at a pub where I had lunch with about 40 of my colleagues, years before Brexit... and where I was really given the worst service they could offer - the landlord supports UKIP - I doubt his attitude has changed so it's useless doing a mystery shop there, with his attitude towards foreigners, it would just skew the data!) and £10 in cashback. In February, I managed to save about £15 on my grocery shopping, by going to Asda and Lidl. However I really don't like these stores: I plan to use them mainly for discounted brand products and for veggies. I was also planning to cut down on heating, but with the current weather, it is a bit difficult!
 
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Danilene

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Completely missed my target for March, made less than £70. My landlord's boiler died (I have to heat water in a kettle) and the keyboard on the chromebook I used for surveys died... and I got a cold!
For 2018/2019, I made £738.39. The best payers were Swagbucks (£194), Global Test Markets (now Lifepoints, £115), Prolific (£111.03), Valued Opinions (£90), Ipsos I Say (£59) and Panelbase (£44.25).
 

Karonher

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Just found your post and wanted to comment on a few things. Firstly with the mystery shop I would think you should do it. If you are being given poor service because you are not English then it needs pointing out - as long as you don't think it would be distressing for you.

Secondly, I admit I don't know anything about how the Home Office works when it comes to employment, but as you mention your job and a lawyer I am taking it you are allowed to work here. Why would matched betting and web evaluation be a problem? Both are legal and is there a reason why they would have to be told?

Matched betting in particular should not be an issue as there is no need to pay tax on it. Just as an aside I don't make as much as some, but aim for £1500 a year.
 
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Danilene

Money Making Megastar!
Joined
Jan 15, 2019
Messages
126
Points
178
Age
48
Just found your post and wanted to comment on a few things. Firstly with the mystery shop I would think you should do it. If you are being given poor service because you are not English then it needs pointing out - as long as you don't think it would be distressing for you.

Secondly, I admit I don't know anything about how the Home Office works when it comes to employment, but as you mention your job and a lawyer I am taking it you are allowed to work here. Why would matched betting and web evaluation be a problem? Both are legal and is there a reason why they would have to be told?

Matched betting in particular should not be an issue as there is no need to pay tax on it. Just as an aside I don't make as much as some, but aim for £1500 a year.
Hi Karonher,
I definitely agree with your first point. It's what I'm always telling employers: at least, with me, 'foreign' clients (which include those who were born here... or those who are British but grew up overseas!) won't complain about how rudeness etc. It's something which is all too common I'm afraid. I even had a couple of British client who were deaf from birth (so were equipped with cochlear implants and had learnt to speak with an orthophonist) or hard of hearing (old age + rock'n roll concerts) who were treated horribly by other businesses, or by colleagues (very often, people will assume that someone who is hard of hearing is mentally retarded as well), and who insisted on talking to me and no one else! I did have an advantage over random people: my father became deaf as an adult (adverse reaction to an antibiotic), so I am used to communicating with deaf people!
Re your second point, the Home Office is notorious for being 'difficult'. Right now, many EU citizens who are trying to register for Settled Status are struggling. The head of Ofsted failed... The application forms for naturalisation do ask for your source of income, this is why so many retired people (especially women, who often have had gaps in their 'career') and housewives fail. Basically, if you want to qualify, you are better off being a cleaner with a permanent, full-time job, than a software developer who is self-employed... So my lawyer's advice is to wait until I'm 'safe'.
£1,500 sounds good to me. I'll have a look this weekend, but right now, I've been looking at 'political' stuff (alt economists, Zeynep Tufekci's book, and a series of scandals in my country of origin) so I've been very busy!
 

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