In a previous life, before I made it a mission to take saving money seriously, I dabbled in various online offerings that promised to put cash in my pocket. Almost invariably, I was disappointed and disillusioned immediately upon beginning. There is a way of thinking that everyone is familiar with, if it is easy (and actually makes money) everyone would be doing it. However, this is not totally accurate. Let me explain.
There aren’t very many opportunities out there that are easy and pay money, but they do exist. The problem is that they may not be heavily advertised, and many people simply do not know about them. This is the first in a series of reviews that attempts to share what we have researched, tested, and approved as viable money stretching pursuits that will pay you. All of the opportunities that we will share with you have one thing in common… they work.
Almost 6000 years ago, the idea of a survey was first introduced by the Babylonians. While mostly dealing with census and other official information gathering, the idea slowly evolved into a crucial method for researching almost anything. Fast forward to 1834, door to door surveys were born in England. As time went on, the survey was proven to be an effective tool for governments and businesses alike, gathering the opinions of the population in an attempt to point products and services in the right direction, stay relevant, and test marketing campaigns before the investment of large amounts of capital. One thing that became clear was that although people were capable of donating their time, most of the time they weren’t willing, and compensation was required. That compensation is notorious for being small, however.
This isn’t a mystery, really. You can’t spend large amounts of money trying to save large amounts of money before you spend large amounts of money. Yep, that’s correct, read it again. The problem is that those who conducted surveys were trying to get as much information for as little as possible, often for nothing. It’s not surprising when what is being advertised as easy money turns out to be either more work than it is worth, or the promised compensation never materializes. That’s why when I ran into Survey Junkie back in 2019, I was intrigued.
Their model is quite simple, choose a survey to do and get paid to do it, based on the value of the survey. This is all given to you up front, including the time required, type of survey, and how much you will get paid. They operate on a point system, where, say an individual survey is worth 150 points. Each point is $.01, so a survey worth 150 points will pay you $1.50. They have a $5.00 minimum payout, which is quite low, and reached easily in very little time.
The surveys themselves can vary in type. Some consist of simply answering questions about brands and services, and others can be far more entertaining. You may find yourself watching a commercial and getting paid for your reaction. This brings up another point that we wanted to make.
Getting paid for your opinion and impression is nice, but it’s important to know that your time is not wasted. Companies depend on your input to develop their advertising, products, and services, so what you are doing to help out is actually quite important. I think that Survey Junkie is spot on with the quality control, as well. Without being intrusive, they will occasionally test to see if you are a human, and not a machine. This is sometimes humorous, and like almost anything with Survey Junkie, you will get paid to prove you are a live person.
Another thing that sets Survey Junkie aside is that they put allot of effort into matching the right people with the right surveys. Afterall, if you do not own any pets, your opinion on various pet foods would not be as “valuable”. We did notice sometimes, at the beginning of a survey there is a series of qualifying questions. They determine pretty early on if you do not meet the criteria and politely direct you to take a different survey. No worries though, you still get paid for that time.
In our research, one thing that seems to be common among survey providers is the actual lack of available surveys. It’s pretty hard to make any extra money to stretch if there are no surveys to take. This has not been a problem for me on Survey Junkie in the past, and I recently logged back in to see if they still excel in this regard….and they do!
Getting paid is very simple as well. You can request a payout at any time after reaching the $5.00 minimum, and it goes straight into your PayPal account. And for me, it was fast. Really fast. As in mere minutes. I remember one day at work in particular. It was very slow. In my spare time I not only made gas money for the trip home, but it was in my bank account (transferred from PayPal) before I left. It doesn’t get any easier than that. Be on the lookout for promotions that can give you a small boost as well.
As with any technology, annoying things can and do still happen. Once I remember completing a survey and not receiving my points. However, a quick message to customer support resulted in getting my points after all. Their customer service is quite good. Another thing that you will notice quickly is that for some people, taking surveys can become rather boring after a while. But then again, many repetitive things do. At least with Survey Junkie, there is variety. Some surveys I really enjoy, especially the ones where you watch ads and press buttons depending on your feelings at that very moment in time.
The goal here at Moneystretching.com is to help you get more from your money, as well as finding new ways to pick up extra money to stretch. We feel pretty confident in recommending Survey Junkie, as long as you realize that you will not likely be able to quit your job by taking surveys. That being said, you could easily pick up enough extra cash to make a difference, depending on your commitment level. One thing is certain, Survey Junkie is absolutely legit, you will make money, and there is really no reason not to head over and give it a try. If you do, tell us what you think.
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