Spring  is here.  Warmer weather means you can start being more creative with finding ways to make extra money.  One of those ways is using Spring cleaning to get cash.

Here’s Three Things You Can Do To Make Extra Money Via Spring Cleaning

1.  Clean out your closet and garage, and sale the unwanted items.

This dreaded task could bring you some extra cash. I’m sure you have tons of stuff that you don’t want just sitting around collecting dust.  Get rid of it.

Whether it be shoes, clothes, or that treadmill you have yet to use since you bought it, someone needs what you don’t want.  I know its a duanting task, but you will fell less cluttered and more organized afterward.  Trust me, I did this recently, and I feel like a weight was lifted.

Once you have your pile of unwanted items, you can sale them to someone else several ways:

You can auction off some items on Ebay. Even a large item, such as a treadmill sells well on Ebay.  Just list it as a pick-up only item so that you don’t have to worry about shipping.

Check out my previous posts about making extra money on Ebay.

Have a garage sale.  This is your best option if you have a lot of items to sell.  Plan it for an upcoming weekend, and advertise your sale frequently leading up to the date.  Craigslist is a good advertising avenue, but you can also announce your sale in your local newspaper, or by posting flyers around your community.

You can also list individual items to sale on Craigslist.  You can save yourself auction fees by doing this.  Or find a consignment store in your area, and sale some items there.

2.  Help other people do their Spring cleaning.

This is an easy way to make some money quickly.  Many senior citizens need help like this.  Advertise your cleaning services at a retirement community or senior apartment building. Or, post an ad on Craigslist, or any other online classified ads site.

Offer assistance with sorting through closets, washing windows, and cleaning out and organizing kitchen cabinets and shelves.  Once you help one person, word of mouth may lead you to more customers that need you to help them clean too.

3.  Acquire Other People’s Junk For Free and Sell It.

This actually ties into number too.  If your help other people do their Spring cleaning, you’ll be the first one with access to items they don’t want.  You can find some really good stuff this way.

People throw out tons of stuff that could make you some extra money.  For instance, some recycle centers and technology stores like Best Buy, will purchase old electronics, such as cell phones, computers, televisions.  The items don’t have to be working at all because these places usually just want the parts out of them.

So, if you decide to help someone with Spring cleaning, keep your eye out for random items that can be recycled or sold.  Ask to take the items instead of throwing them out.

Final Note

The weather is getting better, and Spring cleaning is starting.  Use this time to cash in and make extra money by trying some of the tips listed above.

Do you know of any other ways to cash in on Spring Cleaning?

How Does Task Rabbit Work?

• 1.  People post tasks on the site, specifically errands they need done right away.
• 2.  You register and browse the list of errands that need to be done in your area.
• 3.  Choose an errand you want to help with, and post the amount you want to get paid for doing the errand.
• 4. Task Rabbit assigns you the errand if your pay request is the lowest of anyone else that is bidding to do the errand.
• 5.  Complete the errand, and Task Rabbit pays you directly.

What Are Some of the Errands You Have to Complete?

It’s amazing what people are either too lazy, or too busy to do themselves.  Check out some of the errands people need you to do.

Here are some examples of errands that are posted on the site right now:

• Pick up a payment receipt for dry cleaning at an apartment building near Porter square, go to the cleaners and pick up the clothes, then return to apartment. The dry cleaning has been pre-paid, and is just up the street from the apartment building.
• I’ve got about a year’s worth of stuff built up in boxes (my so-called digital life means I accidentally ignore paper), and have no time to go through it. I’m looking for someone to open the mail, weed out books, and sort things into piles.
• Surprise me by baking cookies or brownies or what ever you think will put a smile on my face. Once you have baked your goodies and have taste tested then yourself (and they passed), please box up your sweetness and mail them to me.

These are actual errands listed on Task Rabbit right now.  It’s amazing what you can do for extra money!

How Much Extra Money Can You Make Running Errands?

The amount of money you can make running errands depends on the task, the person’s budgeted amount, and how many tasks you actually get assigned for.  For instance, picking up dry cleaning and dropping it off may only pay $20.00, but helping someone unpack moving boxes may pay $50.00 or more.

The amount will greatly depend on the time involved and how much you actually place your bid for.  If you take on several higher paying errands, you could make some really good cash.

What’s The Bad News About Task Rabbit?

The bad news about Task Rabbit is that it’s ony available to people in a few cities.  Currently, errands are only listed in:

1. Austin
2. Chicago
3. New York City
4. San Antonio
5. San Francisco
6. Boston
7. Los Angeless
8. Orange County
9. Portland
10. Seattle

The site is expanding to accommodate more cities in the future.  So, if you don’t see your city listed, keep an eye on this site.  They will be in your city soon.

If you know someone that lives in any of these cities, and needs to make extra money, pass this post along to them.

Final Note

If you have tried  Task Rabbit, or ran errands for money in the past, please share your experiences below.  I want to know all about it, and so does the community!

Most companies want to know how their customers feel about shopping with them.  To find out the details of a typcial customer’s experience, some businesses hire market research companies and mystery shopping companies to do customer exit interviews.

Exit Interviews are basically surveys given to customers as they are leaving a business.  The customer answers a few questions about her shopping experience, and the answers are recorded in a report.

How Do I Sign Up to Do  Customer Exit Interviews?

Market research companies hire people like you to go out and do exit interviews.  During the interview process, your job is to stand inside or outside of a business and ask customers to fill out a short survey.  You record the answers directly into a smartphone or notepad, or you can record them on a paper form, and submit them later online.

Specifically, Measure Consumer Perspectives, a mystery shopping company, currently has several exit interview assignments available.  This company has assignments in several states, so you must register on their website to see if your area has any assignments available.

How Much Do Exit Interviews Pay?

The pay for completing customer exit interviews varies.  The assignments currently offered through Measure Consumer Perspectives pay $20.00 per hour.

You only have to stay at the specified business for an hour.  Within that time you are only expected to survey 7 customers.

More than likely you will not have time to interview seven customers in an hour, but that is the maximum amount of people you can interview.  After the hour is up, you can leave the business.

Whether you interview one person or seven, you still get $20.00 for the hour.  That’s not a bad deal, especially since many of the people that have done these assignments report that they only had time to interview three or less customers.  This is mainly because many customers decline when you ask them to take a survey.

Can You Earn Extra Money Doing Exit Interviews?

You could do exit interviews as a part-time, or even full-time job, but you must find companies with steady assignments available.  Right now, the only company I know of with available assignments is Measure Consumer Perspectives.

There are other companies, but not all of them have readily available assignments on a regular basis.  This is something I will research more, and report on in a future post.

For now you can try some assignments with Measure Consumer Perspectives to start.  They are a reputable company with a good reputation among mystery shoppers.

If you have any questions at all about this, feel free to comment, and I will respond.  I can give you any further details about MCP, and customer exit interviews in general.

You can earn extra money by sitting at home and making mystery shop phone calls.  This sounds too good to be true, but you can do it, because I’ve done it within the last few months.  Mystery shopping can be fun and quite lucrative, but with gas prices at sky-is-the-limit rates, driving around to complete mystery shop assignments can be costly.

Doing phone mystery shops is a way to reduce your gas expenses.  Shoppers’ View and Measure Consumer Perspectives, are just  two of several reputable mystery shopping companies that offer various types of  phone shop assignments every week.  There are more companies that I will reveal in future posts.

Types of Phone Shops Available

Every week Shoppers’ View send various types of phone shops to my email inbox.  Most of them require you to call a specific business and ask a few questions to inquire about specific services.  You do this mainly to rate the company’s customer service over the phone.   The actual call itself usually only takes about three to five minutes.

Completing The Phone Shop Assignment

After calling a company, you must fill out a form on Shopper Views’ website  to document the results of your call.  The form is a summary of the details of your shop.  You must provide specific information, such as how long it took for an agent to answer,  if the agent followed protocol, and if  the agent was knowledgeable enough to answer your questions.   The form usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete, depending on how fast you type.

The Pay For Mystery Phone Shops

Don’t expect to get rich just doing mystery phone shops.  Although I’ve done phone shops that paid $20.00 or more, most of them pay between a range of $2.00 to $12.00 dollars.   This is not a lot of money, but if you sign up and request a few shops a week, you can make extra money by doing much of nothing.   And if you calculate the cost by the actual time it takes to complete a shop — around 15 minutes — you may see the benefits.

For instance if you do three phone shops for $4.00 dollars each and it takes you 20 minutes to complete each one, you’ve actually made $12.00 dollars in one hour.  That’s not bad for sitting at home, making a few phone calls and filling out a few short questionnaires.  Of course there are shops that pay more than $4.00, allowing you to make more in less time.

Final Note

If you want to do phone shops, Shoppers’ View and Measure Consumer Perspectives are two mystery shopping companies that  offer them regularly.  These companies are reputable, and they pay on time.  If you want to earn extra money for upcoming Summer outings, this is one way to do it.

If you know of any other great companies that offer mystery shone shops, please comment below and share with the community.

How does Relay Rides work?

1.  Register on the website for free, and a representative from Relay Rides will contact you to enroll your vehicle.

2.  Relay rides will schedule a mechanic to install a special device in your car that allows renters to start it without having to obtain your keys.  The device is not harmful to your car, and it can be removed without any problems. 

3.  Set the rental price for your vehicle, list the availability times, and where it will be available for pick up (home or work).  You decide what you want to charge for renting, but Relay Rides has a basic fee structure you can use to make sure your price is reasonable. 

The following table is a sample of the best pricing for your vehicle.

4.  Renters will reserve and rent your vehicle during the time that you make it available. 

Will your vehicle be safe?

Relay Rides does several things to make sure you don’t have to worry about your vehicle.

• Relay Rides screens the driving record of every driver that rents your vehicle
• Relay Rides offers comprehensive insurance coverage for your vehicle
• Relay Rides will take care of you and your vehicle in the case of a loss or an accident

How much money can you make by renting out your car?

Your earning potential varies depending on what type of car you own, and how often you actually rent it out. 

The table below shows an example of the yearly earning potential for different types of vehicles.

Final Word On Relay Rides

The Relay Rides program is new, and it is currently only established in Boston, Massachusetts.  The program is expanding and may be coming to your town. 

You can register for the program through this link:  Rent Out Your Car Through Relay Rides And Make Money

I wanted to inform everyone of the program to make you aware of the possibilities of earning extra money through various opportunities. 

Please comment on this opportunity.  Let me know what you think.  Would you ever consider joining a program like this?  I think I would, especially if I was not using my car a lot.

How To Start Working With Guru.com

1. Register on the site, and complete a profile page that shows your skills and areas of expertise.
2. Actively search for projects that require the skills that you have, or wait to receive project notifications in your email box.
3. Pick a project and submit a proposal.
4. Complete the project and get paid.

What is a proposal?

When you choose a project you want to work on, you must place a bid that shows how much pay you expect to receive for your work.  Your bid is called a proposal.  Other freelancers will have the chance to submit proposals for the same projects you choose, and the employer for a given project will pick the person that has the best price and qualifications.

What types of jobs does Guru.com have to offer?

There are jobs available in three categories: technology, creative arts, and business.  The categories include projects for writers, web developers, virtual assistants, etc.

Here are some examples of projects that are posted right now on the site:

• I need to jump up some conversations on my health-related website and therefore need forum posts/answers. I will educate the person who’s willing to make posts on the forum on the nature of …
• We are looking for writers to rewrite articles on a regular basis. We will need a minimum of 35 articles submitted for approval PER DAY in a zip file or txt (notepad) format, with a minimum of 200 a…
• I need a virtual assistant who has great skills and can take a task and run with it. I need someone who can be in communication via yahoo IM and can give me a fast turnaround.

These are just a few of the jobs posted.  There are thousands of other projects that are available on the site. 

How much is the pay?

The pay will really depend on what projects you sign up for, and the final accepted bid for a project.  Some projects average about $1.00 to $10.00, while others range from $25.00 to $500.00.   Technology and business projects tend to pay more.

How much does it cost to join Guru.com?

The basic membership is free, but the project database is limited with free memberships.  You can upgrade to other  membership levels that offer more perks, but it will cost you to do so. 

I have the basic membership and its fine for me.  You can start with the basic and move up if you need to.

Here is the link to register for Guru.com:  Make Money Completing Projects On Guru

Final Note

If you want to start working online right now, then Guru.com provides the opportunity to do just that.  There are so many different assignments available on the website, so you have lots of assignment options to choose from.  

If you have experiences with Guru.com, please share with the community.  Also, feel free to ask any questions or share your views. 

The Meijer shops vary. Some involve visiting the actual store departments, some involve visiting the pharmacy, and others involve assessing the outside garden department.  Also, ICCDS has mystery shops available for businesses other than Meijer.

ICCDS pays about $10.00 for each shop.  Some shops requires a purchase, but your cost is reimbursed up to the maximum allotment. 

If you want to sign up for ICCDS to do Meijer mystery shops, then apply here:  Apply To Be A Shopper For ICCDS

If you are looking for more reputable mystery shopping companies to sign up with, be sure to check out my Mystery Shopping Company List.  All the companies on the list are completely free to sign up with.

As a demonstrator you will be scheduled to do any of the following:

• prepare and pass out samples of a specified food brand
• show off new electronics and participate in live demonstrations of them
• handle all aspects of a demonstration event, from set-up to clean-up

As a retail merchandiser you will do any of the following:

• set-up and maintain product displays
• manage inventory and shelf stock
• remove expired product and organize shelves

These are just a few of the duties that these positions require.  Working as a demonstrator or merchandiser involves many more duties than the one I listed.  The work you have to perform will greatly depend on what assignments you receive after you are accepted as a worker for Advantage Sales.

Advantage Sales is a reputable company, and it is completely free to apply for a position with this company.  If you are wondering about the pay, you will have to contact the company directly for this information since it was not readily available.

You can apply for a position with the company here:  Be A Demonstrator Or Merchandiser For Advantage Sales & Marketing.

If you have any questions or comments about demo and merchandising jobs that are available through Advantage Sales and Marketing, please feel free to ask or share.

Live Operator Independent Contractor 

As a live operator, you will receive verification calls from phone companies and other businesses looking to combat sales fraud.

The pay for this position is a minimum of $8.50 per hour for agents that speak English only, and $9.00 for those who are bi-lingual.  Pay increases with experience. 

You can choose to work any hours Monday-Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight.  Also, you can choose to work 2 hour to 6  hour shifts.

Some of the requirements for this position are:

• A second phone line for accepting inbound calls (no VOIP, no digital phone, no call waiting, voicemail etc.)

• At least 1 year of customer service experience (inbound or outbound call center)

Third-Party Verification Agent

As a verification agent, you will listen to sales call recordings to determine if a sale is valid, or if fraud is involved.

You are paid according to the number of calls you listen to.  The hours will depend on your availability.

Some of the requirements for this position are:

•  High-speed Internet access – DSL, ISDN, cable or satellite (regular dial-up not acceptable)
• Able to type/transcribe with accuracy

Voice log will provide all training, and necessary software for free.  It is completely free to apply.

Final Note

If you are looking for an opportunity to work at home as a customer service agent, then the two positions offered by Voice Log provide options for you.  You can set your own hours, and make extra money on your own terms.

You can apply for both positions here:  Apply To Be A Work At Home Customer Service Agent For Voice Log

If you currently work for Voice Log, please share your experiences with the community.  Also, if you have questions or comments about Voice Log and the positions offered, feel free to ask or share.

Recently I wrote a few posts that covered getting paid to be an online juror for mock jury sites.  Two sites I reviewed so far are Ejury.com and JuryTest.com.  I found another site that pays you to submit online verdicts for lawyer’s test cases.  The site is called OnlineVerdict.com.

OnlineVerdict is about the same as Ejury.com and JuryTest.com as far as the online jury process.  The following are the steps that you will encounter once you sign up for OnlineVerdict.com:

1.  Attorneys submit their cases on OnlineVerdict.com.

2.  If you live within the area that a lawyer’s case is filed in, then you will receive an email from OnlineVerdict, inviting you to be a mock juror for that case.

3.  If you accept the invitation, then you can log into the website, review the case, answer the questions for the case, and submit your verdict.

4.  After you submit your verdict, you are paid for your time.

What are the requirement to join OnlineVerdict.com?

You must be a U.S. citizen, and you must be at least 18 years of age to join. 

How much does OnlineVerdict.com pay?

The pay for submitted verdicts starts at $20.00, and goes up to $60.00 per case, depending on how complex the case is.  Checks are mailed out once a month to whatever address you have on file in your account.

How many cases can you expect to receive?

The number of cases available for you to review will depend on the number of attorneys that have submitted cases in your area through OnlineVerdict.

How long does each case take to complete?

The average time for completion of each case is 20 minutes to 1 hour.  Less complex cases usually take about twenty minutes to complete.

Where do I sign up?

You can sign up here: Be An Online Mock Juror With OnlineVerdict.com.  It is completely free to sign up.