A Nice Problem to Have!

There are four different gas stations that I shop or audit. Sometimes it is a combination of a mystery shop and an audit. At this point in time, I am only working shops for a certain gas station company where they reimburse for two gallons of gas. Now you may think that isn't a lot of gas, but when I have four or five gas stations on a weekend, it can add up fast. This is especially true with gas prices going up.

I have a friend who mystery shops too and she called me on Saturday asking if I wanted some free gas. She didn't have enough room in her tank to put two gallons of gas in the car. I was about 15 minutes from the gas station, so of course, I met her there. She gave me the gas and she completed the shop! I drive an SUV so I go through gas a little quicker than she does.

I have about ten of these shops left and then I'll have to wait for the next quarter to begin to get more of these shops. Two gas companies only pay for the audit to be done, no gas. Another gas company pays for $5.00 worth of gas, so the two gallon shop is SO much better! Having to leave room in my gas tank to put in more gas during my shops. What a nice problem to have!

Banks, Phone Shops, Fast Food and Gas Stations

I have spent the last week and all of today visiting shops. I have more shops tomorrow. The gas shops are really nice....2 gallons of gas! The bank shops can be pretty boring, but they pay well. I listened to the same information about credit cards four times today!! At least it is easy money, just boring. I also had four phone shops yesterday and two phone shops today. Those aren't too bad, but I don't like the paperwork. These phone shops are from a company that I don't use very often. They pay well, but don't have a large selection of shops and the shops are 21 pages! That is a lot to print.

I also woke up and went to an early shop to get breakfast and then later had lunch!! Tomorrow I have two more fast food shops and then a casual restaurant shop to buy dinner for everyone! I think Jacob may actually be getting tired of the french fries! I also have three gas shops and I just love those. I always need gas.

I do keep track of my mileage for these shops so that I can write it off on my income taxes. I did 108 miles today!!

Been Busy!

I had a very busy weekend with shops. I finished two different rounds of gas shops, but am still on one round. I get two gallons of gas for each of these gas shops and with gas at $3.49 a gallon right it is nice to get reimburse for those two gallons. I have about 30 shops total for this round of gas stations so that is 60 gallons of gas!! Not too bad! I also get paid $10 per shop!

However, the end of this month is starting to slow down. I have a few banks and gas stations to complete this weekend but not much more than that. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of gas stations left, but I am used to having many other shops too. Next months shops should start popping up around the 20th. My teaching job is keeping me pretty busy, so it may be nice to have a more laid back weekend.

I did pick up a grocery store for this Saturday and I have a take out dinner for Sunday, so no cooking dinner on Sunday night!

We are at 915 pages printed on the new printer too! WOO HOO!

New Printer and Shops

As I blogged about before, my stepmom and dad gave me a laser jet printer. The new drum and cartridge came in the mail and I got it all hooked up yesterday. I tested it and all was well. I started printing today and was having issues with some blank pages. I thought it might be the printer, but I decided to exit out of Goggle Chrome and just go through my Internet Explorer and print. Well, that fixed the problem.

I printed 21 shops that were 13 pages each, that made for almost 300 pages! I am going to try to keep track of how many pages I can get out of one cartridge. Each cartridge is only $18....thanks to my stepmom who sent me a link for a company that has inexpensive toner! I want to see how long the cartridge lasts me and then order either one or two for my next order! The website said it should last for 6,000 page so we shall see.

I should definitely save some money though, because I only got about 200 pages for a $16 HP inkjet cartridge! I don't really have to do the math to know I'll save some money. Even with $10 on shipping and handling, I am still paying a lot less per page!

I had a busy weekend with shops and got $15 worth of gas that I'll get reimbursed for. Tonight was the first night I have cooked dinner since last Tuesday. We had four nights of dinner shops and two of those fed all four of us. The other two nights fed two of us! We even got to go to a nice sit down restaurant last night and eat! Tomorrow night's dinner will be a mystery shop too and will feed all of us! I am going to enjoy that because I have doctor's appointments for both boys tomorrow afternoon and they can go three or four hours. The appointment is at 1:30 so hopefully we will be done by 4:30 at the latest and I won't want to cook!

Got a New Printer!

My step mom read my blog post about how much ink I used and gave me a call. She had a laser jet printer that she was no longer using and said I could have it! I went by and picked it up tonight and hooked it up to my laptop! IT WORKS! YEA! I need to order a new drum and toner cartridge which I just ordered! The two of them together cost me $53. The website said it should print me 6,000 pages which is a lot better than the 200 that I get on my ink jet printer with one cartridge!

The printer fit in nicely on a shelf next to my desk! I can't wait to get the drum and cartridge in so I can start using it! My poor HP printer was starting to sound like it was worn out. I still need it for the scanner because I have to scan receipts and other items for my shops. I also use it to make copies of other items I need!! Sometimes a color print out is needed on some shops, so I can use it then also!

Nicki and Dad....Thanks for the printer!

GAS!

One thing I really like about Mystery shopping is when the gas station shops come out. There are three different gas stations that I visit. One type of station is strictly an unrevealed mystery shop. I get $5.00 worth of gas, a $6.00 payment plus $1.00 towards a purchase in the store. I did two of these shops yesterday and have one today. Another station is strictly an audit with no reimbursement for gas, just for a small purchase inside the store. The third station type is a mix of a mystery shop and then a revealed audit. I get two gallons of gas that I am reimbursed for, which is almost $7.00 these days, plus $10 for doing the shop. I completed two of these yesterday and have two more today. I have a total of 27 of these kinds of shops between now and March.

These shops are not very difficult. The two with an audit require pictures to be taken. I have to be observant during all of these shops, but that isn't too difficult. The input is not too difficult either!

Now the one difficult thing about the gas shops is making sure I have enough room in my gas tank. I do a lot of driving during the week, so it isn't too hard, but I had to fuel up twice on Friday because I didn't put enough gas in before leaving for my shops yesterday. These shops come up quarterly so it will be the end of April before I get any more gas shops, but I do enjoy them while I can and I enjoy getting paid for them.

Ink, Ink and More Ink!

I have found that I go through a lot of ink with all of the printing I do for my shops. Some of the shops can be rather long!! They may be as long as 30 pages and if I have several of those, well it adds up fast. Other shops can be as short as two pages.

I have about 25 gas stations coming up in the next month. I have four to do this weekend and I was finally able to print them tonight. They are each 21 pages long, so that is 82 pages right there. I also have to print an authorization letter as well as a thank you letter for each shop! I printed those four and kept on printing, because I will need the other shops sooner or later. I had just changed my ink cartridge after starting my printing and after 45 minutes of printing I had to change the cartridge AGAIN! I now have no more black ink! I will have to stop tomorrow and buy at least one cartridge! I still have a LOT more printing to do and I'll do it a bit at a time! At least I am ready for this weekend!

I get a lot of my ink for free with reward dollars with Office Max and Staples! Right now, I don't have any though. I also go through a lot of paper, but I have learned to print on both sides to save on paper.