Mystery Shopping For Fun and Profit

I'm not a shopaholic. Except for garage sales and grocery stores, I'd usually rather avoid shopping altogether. Yet I recently signed up to become a "mystery shopper".

I've wondered about mystery shopping for several years; finally, my curiosity won out and I decided to look into it. If nothing else, it would get me out of the house once in a while and give me something to blog about.

Let me say upfront that I'm not going to make a fortune, or even a living, from mystery shopping. What I will be able to do is score a few free meals for my family and make enough to pay for my gas for my own necessary errands.

Here's how it works for me:

I signed up for a sort of clearing house or job broker for many different mystery shopping companies. After the fact, I realized with a little deeper research, I could probably have located the companies on my own, but the investment was small ($20 for three months) and I earned that much back in the first week. I don't think it will be necessary to renew the subscription when the three months have passed.

I have picked two days out of the week to be my primary errand-running days. One is for local errands and the other coincides with my weekly vegetable pick-up which is in another part of the city. When searching for mystery shopping jobs, those days and locations are the only jobs I consider. I pick one or two "shops" for each of those days, and work them around my personal errands. That assures me that I'm making efficient use of gasoline, and it leaves the rest of my week free to do whatever else I need or want to do.

After just three weeks, I've earned $42 in cash commissions and received reimbursement for 2 free pizzas, 1 pizza buffet meal, 1 meal (up to $22) at a chain sports bar/grill, and 1 gallon of paint (we always need paint!). Because I'm working these into my other outings, the time involved is minimal. Reports are required to be submitted after each shop, but the are usually multiple choice and short answer forms to do online.

A typical "shop" will include going "under cover" to review a business' appearance, customer service, cleanliness, employee sincerity, etc. Sometimes a small purchase is required, then reimbursed. Occasionally, a purchase and return are both required. Sometimes, no purchase is required at all.

In fact, not all "shops" require shopping! One of my first assignments was simply to visit a chain fast food restaurant after dark, then document and photograph any of their lights or signs that weren't working properly. Another assignment paid an hourly wage for me to set up a table and hand out cheese samples for a few hours at one of the big box retailers.

Living in a major metro area, I believe I could put in as many hours mystery shopping as I'd like. For me, that's just a few a week, but there are many, many jobs available. There are even shops available in the more rural areas, including the small town where I grew up. I didn't take that job, but I might have, had I been planning a trip there at the right time.

I have to admit that I wondered if mystery shopping was a legitimate way to make money. It seems to be, albeit not a lot of money. Still, if you like to shop, and schedule your jobs carefully, you can wind up with some free food and a little cash in your pocket.

I'm not going to link to any of the companies I'm working for (only 3 at this point) because there may be some kind of rule against "going public", but if anyone is interested, contact me via email (in my profile), and I'll be glad to point you in the right direction.

I'm In The Mood For A Swim

So I think I'll be jumping the eBay ship soon.

As of yesterday, eBay sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for problem buyers. Yet buyers will be able to leave negatives for sellers, even if the buyer is the problem. Even if if the buyer doesn't pay for the item he/she bids on.

I've been selling (and buying occasionally) for about 4-1/2 years. I have a 100% Positive rating on 649 transactions. I'm far from being what eBay calls a PowerSeller. Still, I do my best to give good customer service and I'm proud of my 100% rating.

For the record, I've never left negative feedback for either a buyer or a seller, although there were times when it was probably warranted. I didn't leave negatives because I was afraid of jeopardizing my perfect feedback. Feedback for a buyer is of minimal importance, in my opinion. If they have enough negative feedback to be suspended from eBay, they can just sign up again under a new user name. However, feedback is a seller's very reputation. Just one negative for a low-volume seller like me can drastically change my percentages...and my reputation.

I'm wary of buyers demanding a refund for an item they claim they never received. I fear having a buyer refuse to pay for the item they bid on, then turning around and leaving me negative feedback if I dispute the non-payment. Simply put, as a seller, I now feel that I'm at the mercy of the buyer and run the risk of negative feedback any time I don't go along with the buyer's wishes.

I'm not saying that all buyers are out to scam sellers, or all sellers are above reproach. I'm simply saying that the new feedback policy adds a dynamic to the eBay scene that isn't setting well with me at all.

In addition, fee schedules for eBay recently changed and it seems that wherever there was a decrease in fees, there was an equal or greater increase in other fees. While price increases are the way of the world these days, eBay costs are beginning to hurt those of us who sell.

Craigslist works well for me for some items, but it's not ideal for everything. Small items seem to be overlooked a lot; I assume that rising fuel prices have a lot to do with it.

Anyone else in the same boat, trying to decide whether to sink in the eBay waters or swim somewhere else? If so, what alternatives are you considering?

Weekly Menu - 5/18 - 5/24

I'm keeping the menu very simple this week, and I'm listing just the main dishes and one side dish. Fruits and veggies will be determined by what we get from the farms and what we feel like having.

We're going camping over the Memorial Day weekend (Kat's first camping trip) and I'll be spending a lot of time this week getting all of our gear together. As it does at home, food plays a major role in our campouts. I plan to post about campground cooking after we return.


Sunday and Tuesday: Grilled Honey Bourbon Pork Loin (another idea from Cooking in Kansas City), Pasta Salad

Monday and Wednesday: Pinto Beans, Cornbread,

Thursday: Chicken Patty Sandwiches, Pasta Side Dish (Hamburger Helper w/o Meat)

Friday and Saturday: Camping. I'll post the menu, shortcuts and some photos next week.

Some Scenarios Worth Considering

Bear with me while I talk just a little more about our new mortgage.

Everyone's heard of ways to accelerate a mortgage by paying an extra payment each year or by adding a few extra dollars to the principal each month. A person could save a little money by doing that, couldn't they? But how much? And is it really worth it? I've decided to find out by plugging in some real life numbers...ours.

Being one to lay everything out on the table, I will tell you that our mortgage is for $104,361, with a payment of $703 a month (interest and principal only, not the taxes, PMI or insurance escrowed into it) . I plugged these amounts, as well as the interest rate and terms of the loan into this Bankrate calculator. According to the amortization table, over the life of the $30 year mortgage, we will pay $148,121 in interest over the life of the loan. The loan will pay off in July 2038.

Shane and I decided that we'd like to add an extra payment each year toward the principal. Instead of saving it up and paying it once a year, we'd like to spread it out over the 12 payments. That's $58.58 a month. If we do that, the total amount of interest will be reduced to $111,306 (a savings of $36,815) and the loan will pay off more than 6 years earlier.

What if we add $69.38 each month? First, let me explain that figure -- it's our principal, interest, taxes, insurance and PMI, rounded up to the next hundred. It makes for easy bookkeeping. If we were to add that much each month, over the life of the loan, our total interest would be $106,668. We'd save $41,453 and the mortgage would pay off more than 7 years earlier.

Even a very modest amount, say $10 extra each month toward the principal, is well worth it. The mortgage would pay off 15 months early, and we'd save almost $8300 in interest. Obviously, even the smallest amounts (in this case, just 33¢ a day!) can make a huge difference. It's most definitely worth the time and trouble to save back a few dollars to add to your mortgage principal each month. Or to the principal of any loan, for that matter.

Our focus right now is getting the van paid off as soon as we can. But we're also going to aim for adding a few extra dollars a month to our mortgage principal payment, about $70 when we can, but at least a few dollars if we can't swing the entire $70. It all adds up.

More Good News

Today we closed on the refinancing of our mortgage.

If you've read my early blog posts, you know that we bought our home a couple of years ago on our way out of some major financial problems. Perhaps not the only way to get into our home, but one of the only ways we were able to find, was to sign an adjustable rate mortgage. The initial rate was at 7.89%.

With an anticipated increase of about 2.5% with the first reset on June 1 of this year, we began looking in to refinancing a couple of months ago. We learned that qualifying for the new mortgage would not be a problem, but we'd have to wait until after May 10th to close to avoid hefty pre-payment fees.

What we have now is a fixed-rate FHA mortgage with an interest rate of 7.1%. Our new monthly payment is within $1 of our old payment.

I don't fully understand the ins and outs of the current sub-prime mortgage crisis, but I do think I know some of the reasons why refinancing was not a problem for us.

First, when we bought our home in 2006, we were told over and over by our lender that we would want to be sure to refinance as soon as our two year lock-in was over. The lender really drove that point home, so it's been on our minds for the last 24 months.

Second, for that reason and others, we've made sure to keep our credit clean and did what we could to improve it.

Third, we bought a modest home in an established and stable neighborhood, and our home's value has appreciated in the last 24 months. Had we bought a more extravagant home in an up-and-coming neighborhood, we may very well have found ourselves "upside down" in our home.

Fourth, we got lucky. When we signed the original mortgages, neither of us felt as if we were taking a huge risk, and we both felt that buying a home was a good investment and, done correctly, a huge step toward the repair of our credit rating. But it was a risk just the same, and smarter folks than us probably wouldn't have taken it at all. It worked out fine for us, but I certainly wouldn't want to do it again.

So, that's one more financial goal met and marked off our list. Our new immediate goals are to pay off the van as quickly as we can (which should happen much sooner than we first thought), while simultaneously adding funds to our savings and home improvement accounts. Stay tuned for further updates.

Lots of Leafy Greens

Here are the goods from this week's Rolling Prairie pickup (clockwise from lower left): Purple asparagus, kale, green leaf lettuce, spinach, turnips, radishes and salad mix.

I'm glad to get all of the salad greens, since tomorrow's dinner plan is for a huge entree salad. I was told the turnips are "salad" turnips which can be sliced and eaten raw. I'll probably end up cooking them instead and slicing the radishes onto the salad. I'll save the turnip greens and cook them next week. I don't think I've ever eaten kale, so I'll be looking for recipes soon.

Of Dog Bites and Law Suits

For those of you who don't know, around this time last year Shane was bitten by a neighbor's dog. The bite was quite serious. Because of its location (about 6 inches above the wrist, where there are many nerves, tendons and ligaments that operate the hand), and because of Shane's type of work (he's an ironworker), our doctor would not release him to return to work for nine days.

The neighbor in question is a ne'er-do-well sort, and true to her nature, she took no responsibility for her dog. She didn't even offer an apology, let alone offer to help with bills or provide us with the name and phone number of her insurance agent.

Our city does not require a vicious dog to be euthanized, and in fact, it took many conversations with our local police, animal control and city councilman to force her to get rid of the dog, which was a pit bull mix. But she finally did send the dog elsewhere.

However, there was still the issue of recovering our financial losses. In addition to the ambulance bill (which the EMTs insisted on), the emergency room bill and our primary care physician's bill, there were nine days of lost wages to consider. Shane also lost 72 hours worth of benefits that would have been paid into his retirement and pension accounts, had he been able to work. All together, it amounted to a few thousand dollars.

When we retained our attorney, that's exactly what we asked for, with just enough extra tacked on to cover the attorney's fees. We weren't asking for a "pain and suffering" amount. We simply wanted to regain what we'd lost.

Our attorney, however, was more aggressive, as I suppose a good attorney should be. He called today saying that a settlement had been offered. It was a good offer, yet he advised us to counter offer for a little more.

Shane and I took some time to consider the offer separately, then compared notes and had come to nearly the same decision. Call it superstition, or karma, "what goes around comes around" or maybe just doing the right thing, but we each had decided we didn't want to counter for more. The offer they were making was considerably more than we'd asked for or anticipated. Neither of us could see the point in being greedy. Things have been going very well for us lately, and I, especially, felt that to ask for more was tempting fate -- opening a door to negativity.

We also agreed on what we should do with the small windfall after the outstanding medical bills have been paid. After toying with the idea of using the money to building (or at least start) a detached garage, which we need badly, we decided instead to apply most of it to our auto loan. It won't pay it off, but it will put a very big dent in the balance. First we are going to take a portion of the money to put privacy gates up on either side of our house, effectively extending the privacy fence the neighbor installed after it was to late to keep her dog contained. Whatever is left will go toward the auto loan.

What do you think? Would you have countered for more? Would you have spent the money on things you needed or would you have done something fun with it, like take a vacation? Would you and your spouse have disagreed on these things? Shane and I were completely in tune with our decisions; I'm curious how others would have handled it.

Sausage Pinwheels

I think should call these Biscuits and Gravy Rolls or maybe just Addiction Rolls. They are definitely not healthy, not low in fat and (if you use brand name crescent rolls) not very frugal. But they are easy to make, have only three ingredients and they are very, very addicting.

This recipe is for a big batch, because I knew we'd be munching on these throughout the morning and lunch time. If it's more than you need, you can easily reduce the recipe by half.



Sausage Pinwheels

1 pound pork breakfast sausage
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese (or 1 cup of yogurt cheese), softened
2 tubes refrigerated crescent rolls


Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet, making sure to break sausage up into small bits. Drain; rinse if desired.

Combine sausage with cream cheese; set aside.

Heat oven to 375°F.



Open both cans of crescent rolls and press or roll into one large rectangle, sealing seams at perforations.







Spread sausage and cheese mixture over dough to within 1/2 inch of edges.







Starting on a long side, roll dough jelly-roll fashion. Cut roll into 24 even slices.







Place cut side down on ungreased baking sheets (I recommend parchment paper, but it's not absolutely necessary). Bake rolls until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes not enough 24 rolls.

Weekly Menu - 5/11 thru 5/17

I'm a day late with this again; our dinner plans for yesterday kept changing and I thought it best to wait until settled down.

This week I'll be making my first attempt at Buffalo Wings. They aren't my favorite food (the wings part, that is; I like the Buffalo part), but Shane likes them, so I thought I'd try making some at home.

I did better than I thought I would at posting complete meas at the beginning of the week. I wasn't sure I'd be able to, since we are now getting many of our veggies fresh from the farm at mid-week. This time, it worked out. We'll see how next week goes.


Sunday: Out to eat at Guicho's Mexican Cantina.

Monday and Thursday: Grilled Pork Loin with Orange Sauce (from Cooking in Kansas City), Buttered Noodles, Cole Slaw, Asparagus

Tuesday: Buffalo Hot Wings, Fries, Coleslaw, Sliced Tomatoes

Wednesday: Tofu, Bok Choy, Asparagus and Mushroom Stir Fry, Rice, Egg Rolls*

Friday: Large Garden Salad with diced leftover pork loin, Garlic Toast

Saturday: Family Dinner - Nephew's Graduation


* I have a great recipe for egg rolls, but they take more time than I expect to have on Tuesday, so I will probably buy some frozen or from a Chinese buffet.