Supplies You Will Need

I have written about the skills needed to be a mystery shopper, so now I am going to give you a list of supplies you may need to mystery shop.

• pens, pens and always another pen. I never seemed to have one in my car when I need one, so I bought a large box of pens and put them in my glove box.
• clipboard--truly a must have. When you are sitting in your car completing your input form you need it to write on. You also need it when walking around gas stations completing the form.
• pocket folder--it doesn't have to be a pocket folder, but something to keep all of your forms in for the day.
• something for receipts--I like to use a clear zip plastic envelope type thing. It's official name is a poly zip check envelope. Comes in handy!
• digital camera--truly a must have when doing audits. You can sometimes use your camera phone for small jobs, but you really need a camera for the larger ones.
• printer/scanner--again, a must have. I scan all of my receipts to send electronically in to verify my shops. I sometimes have to scan other forms. I got by with an ink jet printer for a while, but now use a laser jet printer for my shops.
• paper--well of course you need paper...duh! YOU NEED A LOT of paper! Take advantage of office supply stores that offer you rebates and/or rewards when buying paper.
• clips--paper clips to the large black clips that can hold a LARGE stack of paper...get clips.
• stapler--you need a good stapler and a LOT of staples. First you staple the input sheets together and then once you completed the shop you staple the receipt to your input sheets. This way if there is a problem you have the receipt and the input forms together.
• GPS--I wrote a whole blog on this, but I wanted to mention it again. A MUST HAVE!
• Stopwatch--most cell phones now have some kind of timing device or at least an app you can purchase to act as a stopwatch, but this is also a MUST HAVE.
• calendar--OK it doesn't have to be a calendar, but you better have some way of keeping up with your shops. I have shops scheduled through the middle of February right now. Before I even schedule a new shop, I look to see what is already on my calendar. I don't want to overbook myself, or be driving from one side of town to the other. I try to cluster my shops together by city when I can!
• Good computer--you need a good computer and good computer skills. Organize your documents on your hard drive into folders.
• File cabinet--again, it doesn't have to be a file cabinet. I use a drawer on my desk that holds files, but someway to organize the shops you have printed.

This should be a good start! I am sure something else will come to mind. Good luck, if you decide to become a mystery shopper. Keep a list of your expenses, you can write them off on your income taxes.

Death of a Printer!

If you remember, I posted back in February of this year that my step mom gave us a laser printer. We saved a great deal of money with this laser printer. We did at least 15,000 prints on this thing. I recently bought a new drum for it, because even with a new toner cartridge the print was very light. However, after only a few days with the new drum, the printer started making some funny noises. It finally just stopped printing. I wrote the company an email and they sent a new drum, but it also wouldn't work. My partner and I came to the conclusion that the printer had finally come to its end.  We did some research and decided that we would each by a new Brother laser printer that was on sale for $79. Whenever she had wanted to print using our other laser printer, she would have to bring her laptop into the den to print. Now we will each have our own laser printer and can print all we want!

I had thought about buying a HP Office jet inkjet printer, but decided I didn't need something like that. My little HP(knock on wood) scanner/printer is working just fine. I use it mostly to scan and sometimes to print things in color.

I can also write this new printer off on my income taxes! Before purchasing the new laser jet printer, we checked to see how much the toner cartridges and replacement drum would be. We found them for a good price on line and will order them online rather than purchase them at the store!

Taking Advantage of Office Supplies on Sale!

Part of being a mystery shopper is that you do a lot of printing. I have blogged about the new laser printer we got and the cost of toner. However, there is another cost to printing and that is PAPER! We go through at least a ream of paper(500 pages) a week and when new shops come out, we can go through two reams of paper in a day!

Last year, we found paper on sale during the summer school supply sales. Office Max, Staples and Office Depot all have some kind of reward program and they are having sales again this year. Last week we each bought two reams of paper that cost $5.99, but then got $5.98 in rewards! That means we really only paid ONE CENT for each ream. Now we do have to wait until our rewards come in come October, but I can do that. I can always buy something at an office supply store. Staples had their paper on sale and you apply for the rebate and again we will end up only paying ONE CENT for each ream. Today I went and got more paper and this time I will get all of my money back in rewards except ONE DOLLAR, so each ream only cost me a dollar. They also put batteries on sale a few times a year. I bought a large pack of batteries for $16.99 and am getting $16.98 back in rewards.

Now, the downside is, you have to pay quite a bit in the beginning and then wait for the rewards. However, it does add up. Last year I got me a nice blue tooth with all of my rewards. I still do some printing on my small ink jet printer for colored sheets for shops or to print things a bit darker than the laser jet, so I can use my rewards for ink! I also keep track of all of my expenses, so I can write them off on my income taxes!

Even if you just do a small amount of printing at home, this is the best time to purchase it and if you get a few reams, it might last you until next year!

Changed the Laser Toner Cartridge

Remember the laser printer that my dad and step mom gave us? Well, we finally had to change the toner cartridge for it today. I looked back in the blog and we started using it on Jan. 30th of this year. It is now four months later and we figure at least 6,000 copies. Not bad for $54 for the drum and cartridge. We spent $47 and got two more cartridges. My black ink cartridges for my ink jet printer usually averaged about 200 pages so that would have been 30 cartridges times $16 a cartridge. That would have been $480! Needless to say, the laser printer has saved us a lot of money!

Most people don't print 6,000 pages in three months at home, but we do! Mystery shopping is a good way to make money, but you do spend the money too! I started an excel document to keep track of my expenses and plan on adding my new computer to that list too!

Spoiled Myself

I have been mystery shopping for about 18 months now and using my laptop for input. It has been a good little machine. It has a 14 inch screen and was easy to use. However, I started wishing for a larger screen. I checked into laptops but the biggest screen you can get is 17 inches, so I decided I  needed a desktop. I started putting $10 away each week and saved the birthday money that I got. I found a 24 inch screen on sale for $139 and bought it a few weeks ago. I then found an HP 6 GB of RAM 1 TB of memory for the hard drive for $359.99. Well I didn't quite have all of the money saved up, but decided to get it. It was just too good a deal to pass up.

I am now typing to you on my desktop computer with the 24 inch screen. I have done a few shop inputs on this one, and find it quite fast and so much more convenient with the larger screen. The printers that I have, plus the scanner on one of those, installed quite nicely. I remember the days of having to have the disk for every component. Both printers installed quickly and easily. I also bought MS Office 2010 and got it installed last night. I got all of my websites favorited on Google Chrome for my mystery shops and the programs I use to rename and resize pictures.

I bought a new power strip off of Amazon and am waiting for it. I need to plug in my external hard drive to get all of my documents and pictures onto this new one, or at least have access to them on from this computer.

Four more days of school and then I really start hitting the shops, but I won't be doing as many as last summer!

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!

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!