Hi, I'm Corinne, I'm moving states in about a month and am looking into mystery shopping while I go to settle into the area before I start school in January. I'm very excited reading all these posts on here! I will hopefully have a FT job while being a FT student (I have a family to help support). I'm a little anxious about being overwhelmed with shops on top of that - but for financial reasons am interested in doing it. Does anybody have an experience like that?

Welcome to the forum!

There are a number of folks who have tried to juggle family, school, work and shops. It is a challenge. Make sure you have your priorities straight because you won't make a lot of money with shops though both looking for them and writing them up may take more of your time than is appropriate for your priorities.

I started shopping in college. At the time, I had an almost full-time job, but still wasn't making ends meet well enough. I took on a part-time job on top of that, then the restaurant owner sold, and the employees were out of a job. Then I started mystery shopping!

I juggled going to school full-time, with an almost full-time job (30 hrs a week)... with shopping... That lasted about eight months. Shopping began to take on more and more of my time, and I realized that I could shop every other day, take on mini-routes on the weekend...and still make more than I did with my job. I started cutting down my hours at work, and focusing more on shopping. By a year in, I'd quit my job in favor of shopping.

What it meant for me.... I used downtime at fast-food shops, to study. I ate regularly, slept a little better, actually. I got more organized with schoolwork, because I'd gotten organized for shopping. I was able to use low reimbursement shopping to cover those little expenses that add up, like a gallon of milk, laundry detergent, school supplies. Higher reimbursement shops paid for my shoes, clothes, some groceries, and splurges for myself I'd have never dared before. Most importantly, I got to have a social life. Otherwise, for me, it'd have been school/work, work/school...sleep and eat somewhere in between. Because of shopping, I got to make friends and actually spend time with them, go to restaurants with friends, go to bars with friends, go to the movies with friends... and get reimbursed!

Wow! Thank you guys so much for the responses. I am very excited to start. Today is the first day of signing up with companies. I'm very optimistic about this. I've been using a couple apps that are kind of mystery shopping and have to say when I got Starbucks for free this weekend I felt really accomplished. I don't think I can explain why, haha. I'm very stoked to take my family along when I can and my better half is very supportive of the idea of shopping. I guess I'll see where this adventure leads me

Welcome to the forum! I started shopping doing just as you intend to do. Family responsibilities meant I needed to go to school full time and work two part time jobs. I got into mystery shopping to earn a few extra bucks here and there. The good thing about MS is the flexibility to pick and choose jobs as your schedule allows.

Welcome to the forum. Mystery shopping certainly will not make you rich, but it will allow you to work when you can. Some shops take longer and some don't take long at all. Trying different shops out will help you determine which ones you prefer and are willing to continue doing.

I work full time and am simply doing this to pay off some CC's and to put some extra $$ in the bank and to also finance some other things I am planning on doing. I could simply look for another higher paying job, work 60+ hours a week and have a cranky boss, but I chose the opposite. I work 35 hours a week, have a full benefit package, I like my boss and have no stress at work. I have had plenty of stressful jobs in the past and I am not willing to go back to that, there are too many out there.

Mystery shopping is work you can do independently, on your time.

Report back how you like it.

HI,
I've been shopping about 30 years but still have new things to learn.
I'm interested in who you shop for, do they pay well, how often do they pay?
I love it.
Thanks