I received my 2nd $50 check from Global Test Market today. 4 days past the 6 weeks it was supposed to come in, but better late than never.

That will go to the EF fund. I am going to town tomorrow so I will make the deposit then and shoot it off to ING. I'll use the main account so I don't have to wait the week for the check to clear at podunk CU before I transfer it.

I need to earn between 100 and 150 points to cash out again for another $50. Some surveys don't credit immediately, though most do, so I think I have 50 points floating around out there in limbo still.

Well, I found a new research panel to sign up with tonight. It looks legitimate. It pays in gift certificates, but they are to places I would use, so I decided to give it a whirl. You have to build up $20 credit before you can cash out though. Hopefully it is one with some frequency. I could use some Amazon GC's for Christmas.

I'll keep you updated as to the legitimacy of this one when I am able to cash out.

Things are going slow in the survey world this week. I've finally got my points level to 752 at Global Test Market. Just 248 points to go and I can cash out again with them for a $50 check. It has been forever since I've qualified for a survey with them. Okay, maybe a week, but I was so used to qualifying for several in a week. I should be receiving my most recent check from them on the 8th. They do get every single bit of their 6 weeks in before the send that check out!

I was hoping I'd be able to cash out again with them by the time the check came as normally it takes me six weeks to build up enough points to cash out. Oh, well. At least GTM gives you 5 points for the surveys you don't qualify for, unlike so many others.

ACOP has been super slow, though they have sent out a couple qualifiers that looked like I should qualify, so hopefully I'll be getting something from them.

Still nothing from Pinecone. I haven't qualified for any of the lately rare Lightspeed ones. Your2Cents is MIA and so is NFOMySurvey. Feels like a regular drought in survey land.

Greenfield keeps sending ones that don't pay anything. Yeah, if I wanted that I'd have stayed with SurveySpot.

SurveySavvy is sending them out once a week, but I've only ever qualified for one of theirs and it takes like 8 weeks before they even credit the money to your account and then you have to cash it out and then you have to wait for it to arrive.

Zoomerang I haven't qualified for anything in a long time. They don't pay in cash anyway, they pay in merchandise. But there is something I want, so hopefully that will change soon.

That's surveys in a nutshell.

So a long while back I was thinking about doing plasma donation to earn a little extra money. I kind of looked at it but never really went into it deep enough to see what it was about.

So I've been researching it some more and specifically the company that has a branch in my county. They pay $25 per donation and you can donate twice a week. It takes about 1.5 hours to donate plasma and it is different from regular blood donation because they put everything but the plasma back into you. It takes the body 48 hours to replace what is lost from donation.

So they are paying $16 an hour basically. Not bad for lying on your back and reading a book or taking a nap. I'm not sure if they take money out for taxes or not, that wasn't listed on their website. But they do require a social so I'm betting they probably do, which knocks it down a bit. Of course, they may just require it because you might have to be a U.S. citizen. You also have to bring a photo I.D. and a current utility bill for proof of permanent residence. They don't want homeless people or drug addicts coming in off the streets for health issues.

I can donate if my high blood pressure is under control with medication, which it is, and with my thyroid medication, as well. I have to not be currently sick and if I've been on antibiotics they have to be out of my system for a set number of days. So I qualify if I wanted to set up an appointment any time soon. My past illness does not disqualify me from donating as it has been 2 years.

I'm still not 100% sure, but I keep thinking about it. If I donated twice a week for a whole year I'd earn $2600. But I know of coures, that I will get sick or have weeks where the kids are too sick for me to go or we go on a trip or whatever. But I reckon I could still make $2000 a year.

The only thing that might be an issue is it is 23 minutes from my house. Which means gas. Gas is currently $2.55 a gallon and it takes about 2.8 gallons to do a round trip from my house. At best that is about $7.50 per trip. So subtract that from the $25 and its $17.50. I figure I can combine it on Friday's with my regular trip to town for grocery shopping and banking, so one day I wouldn't be coming in for just that, which means one donation at $17.50 and one at $25, or a net gain of $42.50 per week. Still worthwhile I think.

I'm not one who is afraid of needles or having things sticking out of my veins. I had that going on for a good portion of 3 years of my life, so it isn't a problem. But I am still a tad hesitant. It just seems kind of creepy. I think I'm probably blowing it all out of proportion. I just keep thinking how nice it would be to have regular $50 donations going into the EF every week. Or finally open a spousal IRA.

I received a $4 check from ACOP today. It will go into savings on Tuesday and then I will send it off to the EF at ING with the regular deposit on Thursday.

I just checked my accounts and I should be receiving my $50 check from Global Test Market on the 8th of September. I wish it didn't take six weeks for them to send out a check. They're in California for Pete's sake! But I shouldn't complain as they are the best paying survey site I use. (Real surveys, none of this paid to try business). As for points I am currently at 577, so a bit past the halfway mark to being able to cash out again. So far I've cashed out again right around when the check comes, so hopefully they'll send out a bunch of surveys in the next two weeks.

Lightspeed has been slow, ACOP has been slow, Pinecone after spitting out one survey in my direction this month has gone dormant again, NFO has been slow, though I did do a free product test with a 100 point follow up survey for them. I've done a $1 and a $2 survey with Your2Cents (but have to hit $5 to cash out there), and SurveySavvy has been hit or miss. I haven't heard from Mindfield in months! Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

I wish the paid to clicks hadn't gone down after that earthquake in the Asian islands. I was making a good amount with those just clicking while I watched something. Can't have everything I suppose. I'm saving up my MyPoints for Christmas time. I've got over 3000 at this point.

The money from paypal from Pinecone showed up in my CU today. I added it to the Safety Net portion of my EF.

$83.31 Beginning balance
$ 5.00 Pinecone money
-------
$88.31 Total Safety Net balance

This brings the total in the full EF to $1052.31.

I received $5 from Pinecone into my paypal account last night and transferred it to my CU. It should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday and it will go into the Safety Net portion of my EF.

I peaked at my interest at ING last night and it is already at $1.51. Every little bit helps.

To my coin jar last night I added:

$ 9.00 in ones
$ 1.50 in quarters
$ .10 in dimes
-------
$10.60 total

DH still hasn't emptied out his pockets from the fair, so I'll probably be adding some more in.

I finally got a Pinecone Survey today. It's been close to 2 months! So that $5 should show up in my paypal account tomorrow or Monday. After a very slow week with GTM I got 8 surveys from them today. I qualified for a 35 and a 50 pointer and then got 5 points on 5 and the other one was already closed. So 110 points from them today. And 10 points from NFO. I missed a Survey Savvy because I forgot to do it yesterday. It was a $2 one, too. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some, and apparently you ignore some.

Hopefully tomorrow is a slow survey invite day for me, as we are going to the county fair up in Lynden. Mucho dinero, but it's once a year. Looking forward to the funnel cake with powdered sugar, whipped cream and strawberries. We split it between the four of us. I can't even imagine trying to eat one of those things on my own. Maybe one that was just powdered sugar, but definitely not a loaded one.

I just have to restrain myself from buying any of the nifty do-dads they always have in the commercial building...it slices, it dices, it curls your hair and folds your laundry... Hmm...actually...LOL

Nope. It just didn't post right last night and when I went to fix it I lost my network and I wasn't at my computer today to fix it.

It was supposed to say in the body:

On that topic.

As in, that's it, then, on that topic. Not that's it on my blog. I decided the topic was way too touchy and removed it. Simple as that. Moving on.

My Lightspeed payment made it out of paypal and into my CU today. So that $10 is added into the Safety Net. That makes the Safety Net at $61.81 and the grand total of my EF at $1015.81.

I took a survey from ACOP today, the first one in months and instead of the usual $5, they were only paying $4 this time. It's supposed to take up to 4 weeks for the check to arrive.

Waiting for the loan deposit to go through.

I just redeemed points at Lightspeed today after doing a very large points survey. So that $10 should hit paypal either tomorrow or Wednesday, and my CU either Friday or Monday. Then it goes off to the EF.

I received a product to test Saturday from NFO so I am testing that for the next two weeks. I believe when I originally was chosen for it about six weeks ago, they said it would pay $5. But considering the product and how much there is of it, I'm happy if all I get out of it is the free product. Surveys from them have been very slow since I last cashed out.

Still nothing from ACOP or Pinecone. Nothing new from Y2C. And I'm up to 187 points at GTM after this morning's survey with them. Oh, I should say because of the high number of points for the last survey at Lightspeed, I still have 235 points in my account there.

Oh, I did do a $5 SurveySavvy survey today. It is the first one I have qualified for with them. They say it takes 2 weeks for it to be credited to my account and then when it is I'm not sure what I do. Probably send for a check or else it has to build to a certain amount before I can send for a check. I signed up with them over a year ago and this is the first time I've actually got the invitation early enough to even try to qualify. I'll keep you all updated on how this process goes and whether or not it is a legitimate company, though I've heard good things about them so I assume they are.

Paep, I sent you your referral link for GTM today. Everyone else, I sent them out a few days ago, the day I posted about it, so hopefully you all got them this time.

Okay, ladies, I sent out referral links from the GTM survey site today to everyone that requested them. Please check your spam filters and your junk mail boxes.

Paep, I sent you an email from my yahoo account to get your alternative email addy.

Ima (Julie), do you want me to try again to send you a link with your yahoo address or do you have an alternative one?

Today was a good GTM day. They sent out six surveys and I qualified for three. Makes up for nothing yesterday or the day before.

I am a very happy camper. I just received my first $50 check from that survey company I've been talking about. And it's written on a BoA account, too. Yay!

I just cashed out with them again two days ago. They do take the full six weeks to get it to you, but it comes. Oh, and they are open to people in Canada, Australia, and the U.K., as well as the states.

Now, as for the folks that I have sent invites to who haven't seemed to have received them: It appears that AOL and Yahoo consider it to be spam and don't let them through, so if you have a different email addy, leave me a message here. I will use your linked account to send a message back to you that you can then use to send me an alternative email address.

If you don't have AOL or Yahoo and still aren't getting the invites then chances are its getting caught in your spam filter as well or your junk mail or bulk mail folders.

So, if you still haven't received the referral link I'll try again.

Oh, and the $50 goes into the EF just as soon as I cash it tomorrow.

It's good to be back and in my own bed after a week away. My vacation was pretty good. The rest of the family had a better time than I did. I got sick so bad that I thought I had pneumonia and ended up staying in bed for 2 days straight, except to go to London Drug and pick out cold medicine. They happened to be selling the Harry Potter book, and of course it had the British cover art, so that was neat.

So I was dizzy and just totally coughing down in my lungs and we almost went to a walk in clinic, despite the cost of it, but after two days in bed I woke up feeling better (still pretty bad though). So I didn't go to Craig Darroch or the Titanic exhibit or the Undersea Garden, but everyone else did.

I did however go on the carriage ride through Beacon Hill Park, which is similar to Central Park in New York, only safer. We really liked that and it was $90 well spent because we learned a lot about the city and the park and of course Tobias got a kick out of the horse because it kept passing gas. He's at that age.

Despite that it was a lovely ride and we saw people parasurfing. They had special surf boards attatched to their feet and parachutes on and the wind would pick up the parachutes and they would fly into the air. It was amazing. We also saw the world's tallest totem pole at 156 feet. I have a picture of my kids in front of it and the scale is just mind-blowing. I'll try to post it. I haven't done pictures before on here but DH is home to help me figure it out.

I did get to see Hatley castle, but I was not impressed. It was way overblown. By the time I was marginally well enough to do Centre of the Universe the kids were down with it so we didn't go.

I spent a lot of time in bed sleeping and a lot of time in bed reading Harry, which I finished Tuesday night. I spent time in the hot tub to help break up my congestion and it helped a lot. And the kids were out with DH for long stretches of time, which was really nice. So even though my vacation did not turn out quite the way I planned, and even though I still have a cough, ears that crack when I swallow and a bit of gunky stuff, I had a lot of me time, a lot of rest and a pretty good read.

I was actually disappointed in a few things in the book, but for the most part after the first 200 pages it went fast and was exciting. One thing I had predicted came true, so I was happy to be right about it. But that's all I will say about it because I know so many people don't want to know anything at all until they are done reading it and I know how careful I was to avoid any spoilers until I finished it.

I came back with a $20 bill and a couple dollars in change, so not bad. I'll put the Canadian money in a jar until we go to the zoo next. We're really close to the one in Langley and it is so much nicer a zoo then the one in Seattle is.

I'm looking forward to having my mail all delivered tomorrow. I hope that $50 check came. It's been six weeks so it better have. I just hit 1000 points again with them so I need to cash out again, too. I did a few surveys while I was sick in bed.

I guess that about covers everything. Oh, I probably have money to move to ING. I should do that, too.

Okay, I'm about to set off on my vacation. Victoria is pretty wired so hopefully I'll be able to do a couple posts while I'm up there.

For those who asked for the survey link, I put some more comments on the previous post here. A couple of you asked for links that I had sent links to last month. Go read my comments on the last entry and if you still haven't gotten the link let me now and I'll try to send them again, but it may be a few days depending on internet availability where I am.

I'm not sure what is up with GMT today but they are shooting out surveys like nobody's business. I am now up to 912 points, which means I am 88 points from cashing out for another $50 check. All I need is a 50 and a 40 point survey and I'm there. Last time I cashed out was June 14th, which means I'll have earned this $50 in 5 weeks time. Not bad at all. Still waiting on that first check to come. It has 13 days left in the expected arrival time.

As soon as I know it is completely legitimate I'll post it here. If anyone else wants to sign up now before I get that check besides the three people who already have, leave me a message here and I'll send you a referral email through your email linked to the SA site.

Everything I've read about them has been positive so I really, really hope they are legit, because this is quite the money maker if it is.

I spent the morning doing surveys. From GTM I did a 30, a 40, a 50, a 75, and a 100 point survey today and I qualified for all of them, that's a rarity. I cashed out last from them on June 14th and I'm already over 700 points, just 300 to go to cash out again. Still have 2 weeks left in the 2 to 6 weeks for the last check to arrive.

I also did a 150 point survey from Lightspeed.

Still no invitations from Pinecone. I've done 2 screeners from ACOP but it has been months since I've gotten a real one from them.

Y2C sent a qualifier finally last week but of course, I didn't qualify on that one. It was a $5 one, too, so I was annoyed.

NFO MySurvey has been exceedingly slow. I've done one 10 point survey from them in the past 2 weeks. I've found them to be quite hit or miss recently. Either a bunch come in one week or it dribs and drabs the whole month through.

I am anxious to receive the check from GTM since it is for $50 and it is the first time I cashed out with them. Everything I have read says they are legitimate, but I want to know by my own first hand experience. They are the most enjoyable survey company I'm signed up with. And the most frequent to send out surveys.

Tomorrow is the last day I'll receive any mail before vacation. On the bright side, the 6 weeks will be up by the time we get home from the trip, so it should be here by then, if it doesn't come before.

I added 23 cents in coins and $3 in ones to the change jar today.

I got a reimbursement check for $42.89 that will go to the EF.

Lightspeed survey money didn't show up in paypal today. I was surprised as they said next business day, and that was today. They are usually that fast.

I am over the halfway point ($25) to cashing out with GTM again.

DH was told the job vacancy announcement has gone up and that they hope to have the paperwork for him to sign Wednesday before he flies home, which would mean he would start the new job when he goes back after our vacation. I still don't believe them. Not until it is in writing. Not after last time. Or the time before that. I almost wish DH didn't tell me this stuff until it was a done deal. I don't need to obsess about it.

I added $1.15 in change to the change jar and $14 in ones to the change jar today. I received a refund check of $5.33 from Comcast left over from the old phone system. The check is made out to my DH even though the account was in my name, not sure why they did that. The new system is in his name, maybe that is why?

I have a twenty for miscellaneous weekend spending, so I shouldn't need to dip into the ones.

DH comes home on Thursday so I will deposit the check and any ones to the CU and then ship them off along with the weekly $10 to ING for the EF.

I have one more transfer I can make before I hit the limit. Curious, there is a legal limit of 6 unsigned transfers per month. Does that mean I can only transfer six into ING in a month or does that mean I can only transfer six from each CU, which would be a total of 12. Anyone know?

Tonight I did two 150 point surveys and one 75 point survey at Lightspeed. That brought my account up high enough to cash out for a $10 paypal payment, with 35 points left in the account.

Lightspeed is usually very fast (no way to avoid the pun, sorry) and it will most likely be in the account by morning. That $10 will go into the EF.

I also did 4 non-qualifying surveys with GTM today, so that was 20 points. I am almost to the halfway point ($25) to cash out with them.

Pinecone has been really slow lately. So has NFO. Did get a screener from ACOP today and haven't heard anything from Y2C in awhile, either.

I received a survey check in the mail yesterday and I rolled up the coin in my coin jar today. I had:

$10.00 quarters
$10.00 dimes
$ 4.00 nickles
$ 1.50 pennies
-------
$25.50 total rolled coin
$10.00 check from NFO MySurvey
-------
$35.50 total to be deposited
$ 1.05 interest
-------
$36.55

So when that has all gone through my EF will then have a total of $436.05.

And there is the $700 from my vacation fund in there at the moment as well, all interest generated going to the EF. $500 here I come. I am hoping to hit that this month. There will be the four weekly deposits of $10.00, so I only have to come up with $23.95 to hit that goal.

If my other survey checks come this month or I get some Pinecone surveys to do I should hit that. If not, I'll try to squeeze it out of some other place in the budget.

I did another survey with Your2Cents and cashed out today, so will have a $5.00 check coming. They say 6 to 8 weeks but they have never taken more than 3 to get here.

I took a 75 point survey with Lightspeed and a 50 point survey with GTM. I also caught up on my backlog of MyPoints. I'm close to getting a $20 gift card, though I'm thinking of saving my points up for longer and aiming for a $50 gift card that I can use at Christmas. I just need to cash out well before December so I don't face one of the card out of stock shortages like last year.

NFO sent me a 50 point survey today so I hit my 1000 points and cashed out for a $10 check to be mailed. It should arrive in 3 to 6 weeks.

The $5 payment for the Pinecone survey I took last night showed up in my paypal account this morning. I have to love how fast they are with payment. At first it seemed like they were very slow to send out surveys but now I am getting them at a pretty rapid fire rate. Well, one a week or so. Pretty good compared to some of the slow poke companies out there.

I transferred that to the CU so it should show up and be ready to be bumped into the vacation fund on Wednesday.

Today I cashed out with one of my survey companies and should be receiving a $50 check in the next 2 to 6 weeks.

I did another survey with Pinecone today, which should arrive in my paypal account tomorrow or Monday.

I am 35 points from cashing out for a $10 check with NFO, so that should happen within a week or so.

The $5 from the last Pinecone survey that I transferred from paypal has shown up in my CU.

I am on track for a very good survey month this month. This is the first time I am being paid by the first company I talked about. I have read very good things about them and have had a very good experience with them. They have lots of surveys, usually 2 to 5 daily of which I qualify for at least one or two. Once in awhile I may go a day or two without any survey offers from them, usually over a long weekend or something.

They tend to run 50 points, with an occassional one at 35 and maybe 10% at 75 points. Rarely there will be one for more. Generally you get 5 points if you don't qualify. So if you have five non-qualifying surveys in a day, you'd still most likely get 25 points that day. It has taken me about 3 months to reach 1000 points. Points are cashed out at 5 cents per point, but you can't cash out until you reach 1000 points.

I'll update when (and if) I get the check, but if anyone wants to sign up with them before that knowledge comes through, drop me a note and I can refer you now. Otherwise I'll offer referrals when I get the check. I had researched them thoroughly online before I signed up with them and everything I've read says they do pay out on time and are a good company.

Now I'm off to see what's up with Lightspeed. No surveys from them for awhile.

I recieved $5.00 in my paypal account today from a survey I took yesterday. I transferred it to my CU and it will end up in the vacation account when it arrives there.

I received payment in my paypal account today of $5 for a Pinecone survey I did on Friday night. I transferred it to my CU and when it shows up I will send it to ING to the emergency fund, where all survey checks go until it is up to at least $500. Then I will figure out what to do with survey checks from there.

I did another survey at Your2Cents yesterday and sent for the $5 check, so that should show up in 3 weeks time. They say 3 to 5 weeks but it has never taken more than 3.

Today in the mail I received two checks, one a $6 survey check from Your2Cents and the other a refund from the orthodontist of $246.80. It is all going into the vacation fund.

$134.47 beginning balance
246.89 orthodontist refund
+ 6.00 survey money
--------
$387.27 Ending balance for vacation fund

Today I received:

$10.00 check from NFO MySurvey
$ 5.00 paypal deposit from PineCone
-------
$15.00 total to vacation fund

I also received notification from half.com that I will be getting $5.76 some time in the near future for the book I sold. The postage to mail it was $2.55 and they already took out the commission, so the net profit from that will be $3.21.

Can I just say I love PineCone. I took my first survey with them yesterday and the money for it was in my paypal account today. I don't know how prompt they are about sending out checks, but they are fast with the paypal option. So I transferred that to my vacation savings account.

I am still waiting on, but don't expect to actually see:

$ 9.00 from ReadRevenue
5.00 from Green-Cash
5.00 from DaysLook
5.00 from TinklyCash
-------
$24.00 total owed from PTR's