Over time I have had some comments expressing interest in mystery shopping. I put a link in my sidebar. This is for the Mystery Shop Forum and the link goes to the new member area. If you are interested in getting started, I suggest thoroughly reading that area of the forum. You will learn quite a bit. The forum also links to legitimate companies. My recommendation if you are first starting out is to start with the following companies:

Marketforce.com (mostly groceries, fast food, and cell phone shops) They pay monthly by direct deposit (or you can get a check but it will take an extra week or so)

Bestmark.com (My referral is NH2490). Lots of car related shops (reimbursed oil changes!) and electronics shops. They pay bi-weekly by check.

Maritzmysteryshopping.com (gas station audits, banks, home improvement) I recommend starting with the home improvement shops. The gas station shops are great, but get some experience first.

There are over 200 companies available. I highly suggest if you are serious to do a great deal of reading. You can also find more reliable information and sign up for companies at: http://www.mspa-na.org/member-companies.

Good luck!

I am sure some of you probably use this app already, but for those who don't, I thought I would mention it. I tried Receipt Hog a year or so ago and uninstalled it. It would never credit my receipts. The app was clunky for lack of a better description. As I was going through my micro earning programs today, I saw it and tried again. I just uploaded 5 receipts and connected my email and I am at 250 points. You can cash out with as little as 1000 points for $5 Amazon or Paypal. If you save up and get 4500, it is $30.

You have 14 days to upload your receipts and you can send yourself a weekly reminder. Since I mystery shop, this should be a great "double dipper" for me. I am getting reimbursed anyhow and I can also upload the receipts to earn points from Receipt Hog. Of course you are under no obligation, but if you are interested my referral is KEZ87274. Whether you use it or not, I am truly happy to share an app that can benefit someone! If you do use the app, let me know how it works out for you. I will let you know when I reach 4500 points (there is a maximum upload of 20 receipts per week).

I have only gone out in the last week to do mystery shops and do the final paperwork for substitute teaching. Any money spent is being reimbursed other than business cards for subbing. Thank goodness I have a Publix shop today because I need a few groceries. I may have to spend a few dollars out of pocket.

Things are still tight on the money front, but I now have my badge and can sub. It was recommended I get business cards to hand out, so I ordered 100 from Vistaprint. They came to $17.79 including shipping. I used Swagbucks when I ordered, so I will get 8 swagbucks per dollar spent.

I also received an invitation for an interview from Upwork (formerly Odesk) to write ACT and SAT articles. It is an ongoing project. Hopefully that will pan out as well.

Things have not improved on the marriage front even after my talk. As a matter of fact, most days DH isn't out of bed until noon or so. I think I may call his son, but I am not sure. He has his hands full with his own family. I honestly do not know what to do. I consider DH more of a friend than a partner at this point and don't want him to be homeless. He has nowhere to go, but I cannot afford to support him any longer.

I have not kept up with my 15 minutes of organizing per day. I have done it on average two days a week. However, I have been working an awful lot. I have been good about not working after 9pm. I have only done so twice and have not worked past 10pm at all.

I did okay on my goals the first week of January. I was busy and did not get to the 15 minutes of cleaning/organizing on two days. I took a vitamin most day and hit 5,000 steps four days. One day my Nabu tracker didn't track properly, but I am confident I got enough steps in that day.

I did well on the grocery category. I spent $9.99 out of pocket and 5.99 was on cough medicine for DH. I bought an additional $38 dollars in groceries, but that was all covered with mystery shopping.

I have to spend some money this week for subbing. They are charging $55 for a certified sub certificate. This seems ridiculous to me, as the only thing I had to do was get fingerprinted and take an ethics class. I have a degree and have been a regular teacher so this just is a fee that is meaningless in my opinion. However, it is the last step and I should be able to sub after this next week. It's exams this week anyhow, so doubtful I would have had work. In the meantime, I am picking up all the extra work I can with my editing job.

I also had a talk with DH about his lack of working and its effect on our marriage. I tried to do it in a caring way, and I hope it sunk in. I guess we shall see in the coming weeks.

Time to go out in the pouring rain. I have to go do some trailer checks at the movie theater. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.