Mystery Shopping – An Overview

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mystery shopping

The vast majority of the ways I earn extra money are done online. However, you can also make extra cash whilst you’re out and about. One way in which you can make good money is through mystery shopping.

What is mystery shopping?

Mystery shoppers or secret shoppers are paid to pose as regular customers to test out shops, bars, pubs, restaurants etc. Usually, the company itself will ask mystery shoppers to check that high levels of customer service are maintained and that staff members are demonstrating a knowledge of their products and the company regulations.

Often, the tasks set by companies for mystery shoppers will be very detailed and specific. A mystery shopper may need to arrive at a specific time, ask particular questions and gather evidence.

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A Savings Goal

Posted on By My Money Cottage
a savings goal

I’ve always got a number of savings goals constantly on the go. Alongside the big ones, there are always smaller ones running alongside. After a rough few months, we’re starting to thing about a new savings goal – a holiday somewhere hot and sunny!

Big Goals

Our biggest savings goal is to save enough money to buy our own home. We should be in a position to do this in about 4 years time if we keep going the way we have been doing. We should, by then, have enough money paid off the mortgage of the house we rent out cleared and enough savings to do this comfortably. The house we buy needs to be a forever home so we’re not rushing to buy now and then have to move again as the kids get older. As much as I hate renting, this is the way it needs to be.

Alongside this big saving challenge, I’m always looking to increase our Emergency Fund, this started out as a goal of £1,000 but we’ve now exceeded that comfortably enough for me to relax a little and consider enjoying life a bit more.

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Matched Betting – Making Money after the Gubbings

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Those of us who Matched Bet to make extra cash will be well aware of the fear of being “gubbed”. But for those just starting out I’ll give a brief explanation!

Being “gubbed” means having your bookie accounts restricted. You may find that you can only place low stakes bets or that your account is completely restricted from receiving any promotions at all.

This is inevitably a worry when you’re relying on free bet promotions to make a profit.

However, there are ways to keep your accounts in good shape in order to try to prevent gubbings from happening in the first place. There are dedicated threads on the forum about this – http://bit.ly/2nuvYbc.

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Matched Betting – Coping when the Football Season Ends

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Most of the money I make online comes from Matched Betting, it’s fair to say that football bets play a huge part in my income. The bulk of my ongoing income from Matched Betting comes from accumulator refunds which rely heavily on popular football markets.

All is not lost during the summer though, there are still plenty of ways to make cash Matched Betting.

Is there any footy on?

Although the Premier League will soon come to an end for the season, there are still other competitions taking place and there will still be some big matches to bet on (although nowhere near as much as we grow accustomed to during the main football season. There’ll still be World Cup Qualifiers and International Friendlies which may be helpful for our ongoing accas.

What else can we do?

There are regularly new signups posted on the PA site. I’ve got a couple I’ve not had chance to do yet. These will certainly help towards bulking up my summer income.

There will be big horse racing meetings such as Royal Ascot and Goodwood. Bookies tend to put good offers on for big festivals and you can make risk-free cash from some of these.

Invite-only offers. Keep checking your emails as bookies will send you exclusive offers you can cash in on.

Casino & Bingo offers. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to give these a whirl. There are lots of risk-free ones and I’ve made a fortune from these over the last couple of years. There have been some great new ones added recently and I know of one that’ll be appearing soon that just made me £157!

Learn something new – take some time out to get your head round acca refunds if you haven’t already. Of all the things on offer via matched betting, acca refunds are my main constant and source of regular income.

Snatch – Frustrations and Cash

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Over the last few months I’ve become increasingly addicted to the app Snatch. You can find out more about the app here:

Snatch

I’ve had about £20 in cash so far. I’ve also received various Now TV passes, some of which have been given away in our recent competitions.

I love the app and the suspense of waiting to see what’s in my parcels, but I am finding various frustrations with it along the way too.

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The perks of earning from home.

Posted on By My Money Cottage

They may seem obvious, but I wanted to remind us all of some of the benefits of earning cash online and working from home.

Being there for the kids.

This is a big one for me. I work from home which means I’m always there when my children are off school. I’m home when they’re poorly and need to stay home, it’s me that picks them up from school.

I’m not for one minute berating anyone who goes out to work, and I completely get that for some people going out to work benefits the whole family. It means you’re out of the house, mixing with other adults, and can be a really healthy thing.

For me though, I like the fact that I’m here. It works for us and is definitely a perk in my eyes.

No child-care costs.

There are times when I think that we could really use childcare. Busy work days can be hard with three children! 99% of the time though it all slots into place. I’m fortunate to have my parents helping out with my youngest and I usually wait for my husband to get home before I start work again in the evenings.

Childcare can be extortionate and it can make you question whether going out to work is really worth it! Working from home can be a massive help.

No commute.

I used to work 9 miles away from home, not far I know but the M60 in rush hour was not fun! It would regularly take me an hour to get to work and another hour to get home. The days were long and then there was all the faffing around to do once I got in, sorting washing, preparing meals etc etc. That extra time I gain working from home really comes in useful sometimes!

Working from home isn’t for everyone but it works for us.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Going back to basics…

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Sometimes, no matter how dedicated we are to making extra cash, life gets in the way.

Recently I’ll admit that I’ve slacked off in a lot of areas. I’ve been working extra hours, the kids have been having friends over, I’ve been spending time with friends and family, and generally the money-making has come to a bit of a halt.

I’m sure I’m not the only one to hit these spells from time to time. I figured it might be useful to have a handy guide on how to claw it back when life gets in the way!

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No Better Time to Start Matched Betting

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Matched Betting

I’ve banged on and on about Matched Betting repeatedly since I started My Money Cottage. That’s because it really has changed our financial lives for the better. We would not be able to treat the kids and do the things we do without it.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you can find out more about what Matched Betting actually is here – Matched Betting.

I joined Profit Accumulator almost two years ago. I’ll admit that I put it off initially and scraped through a couple of offers on my own. I’d googled Matched Betting lots and thought I knew what I was doing. I did make money this way but quickly realised that I needed more support in order to keep the profit coming in long-term.

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