I did surveys for money (and I liked it!)

August 22, 2022

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So this is cool –> I’ve earned $80.00 worth of Amazon credit! Woo!

I started doing surveys for rewards last year when I was bored and trying to be more productive, haha, and then right before I was gonna quit ‘cuz I started getting busy again I decided to check and see what my points were worth…

And turns out, a lot more than nothing!

So I quickly cashed them in and released my finger from the “delete my account” button, and then my kids blew through the $$$ in about 15 minutes 😂

Still, worth the 5 hours total I probably spent on it over the months? And have actually come to enjoy giving my opinion over the money itself! The surveys are always so diverse and gets me to stop and *think* for a hot second which is great – at least after convincing my A.D.H.D. to pipe down, lol… (that’s probably the hardest part of all – sitting still for 15 mins straight and focusing!)

Here’s a snapshot of my history so far from the year:

You can see how diverse the surveys are in that right-hand column…

So far we’ve covered gaming, Covid, healthcare, climate issues, public affairs, financial items, and legal services. Pretty serious stuff, and all things most of us have opinions on! Or at least will LEARN you have opinions on after seeing the questions, lol…

I’ve actually been *learning* a ton of stuff along the way too – namely that a lot of people have it much worse out there than I realized 🙁 I like to think I have a good grasp on how “the other world” lives, but seeing some of the pointed questions asked throughout the surveys has def. helped put things in better perspective.

Here were some of the ones I copied down from the healthcare affordability survey, ugh…

Ever not seek treatment due to cost?
Ever not get medication because of cost?
Ever file bankruptcy or drop insurance or other equally as scary things because of not having money??
How confident are you that you could afford the health care you need if you, or a family member who is financially dependent on you, were to become seriously ill?
If you were to experience an unexpected medical event this year that left you with a bill for $1,000, how confident are you that you would have the money to pay the bill within 30 days?

Can you imagine answering “yes” to those top ones? Or not being able to cover $1,000 just in general??!

So heart wrenching, gosh… And perhaps there was a time I wouldn’t have been able to afford any of it myself, but no way I would have been left stranded with the family and support system I’ve been blessed with since birth. The biggest problem I had growing up was not being able to rock Nikes like all my friends 🙃

But I digress…

I’m now a survey monkey – did not see that coming! Haha…. especially since I’ve lasted over 14 years in this space without having been tempted! Just never assumed it was worth the trade off for time (and maybe it isn’t with other survey sites?!), but after being contacted by these guys and liking what they were about (seemed more serious and helpful than other silly surveys), I figured I’d give it a shot and see where I end up…

They are called AmeriSpeak, and even have a Wikipedia page so you know they’re legit 😂 Now unfortunately it looks like you have to be *invited* to participate in their surveys (“to ensure that it represents a cross-section of U.S. households”), but if you wanna check them out in case one day you are, you can learn more here: AmeriSpeak.org

They were created in 2014 by NORC at the University of Chicago, “whose studies inform government, business, and nonprofits to help them understand important topics related to society, education, employment, human development, and finance. Organizations such as Consumer Reports, the American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, Associated Press, Harvard University, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and many more, have asked NORC to conduct research for them.”

(And btw, I’m not getting compensated in the least to write about them… Though if I recall correctly, they did mail me a $5.00 bill to get my attention in hopes I signed up, and it worked! Haha… Good job, marketing team 😎)

While you can’t sign up to them though yet (maybe they’ll see this and let me invite some of you?!), here are other popular survey sites in the space in case you’re convinced to jump in and give it a shot too.

I haven’t tested any of them yet, but if this itch continues I just may have to cheat on AmeriSpeaks and hook up with others, haha… Would love to know which of these are worth it and which aren’t if you’ve tried any??!