I have often said that I am not in survey-taking JUST for the money, however, none of us would deny that we definitely find the financial remunerations a massive incentive to continue to give our opinions to the companies who ask and are willing to pay us for these opinions.

I wanted to chat a little today about the potential earnings possible and how you can help yourself to help yourself!! If you are bionic, like me, you can join up to nearly 150 panels and spend your life on the computer and do very well, thank you. But to be fair, not all survey takers are quite so dedicated (or daft!!) as all that, and so you have to try to maximise your time and earnings in the best way you can. Anyone who has read my previous articles will probably know how to do this already. For those new to YSP and my little forays into imparting knowledge to anyone who cares to listen on the subject, I hope I can give you some insights into this subject.

Many of you may wonder just what sort of earnings we are talking about….and don’t get me wrong, no-one could possibly get rich on this hobby, nor could they quit their day jobs to do this on a regular basis, although I will say it is very handy to be able to be signed into your online email account and grab the survey invitations and take them very quickly as soon as you get them, so as not to be screened out due to the panel having a sufficient amount of completes in a short time. Depending on the survey panel involved, this can happen REALLY quickly. Take the CINT companies, for example…they regularly send out survey invitations for 32p, 40p, 75p…..and they are closed sometimes within the hour….because they pay instantly into your paypal account when you reach a figure as low as £4.00, they are a popular choice with almost all survey takers.

To talk about earnings though, I have been lucky enough for the past few years to hover around the £1000-£1200 mark per annum. That makes it around £100 a month, but don’t forget these include any prize draw wins I may have had and I also include in these earnings any cashback earnings I get too….for example, both Maximiles and Mutualpoints, who I earn cashback with primarily due to taking surveys which boosts my points earnings and subsequently my redemptions.

However, I have to say that for a couple of different reasons, I have both shocked and surprised myself this past year, so you see, it is not only looking in the mirror that shocks me!! LOL.

In March, my birthday month, I made £212.11 in survey earnings. That is more than double my average….however some of this was made up of winnings….I was lucky enough to win a few draws that month….and even some of you might remember I got a winning email on my birthday, 3rd March, to tell me I had won £50 Amazon vouchers. These are exceptions, but still all earnings, so they were added into my count for the year. This was my first shock/surprise.

In December, Christmas month of course, I made £320.78 – more than three times my monthly average! This is unprecedented, but then again, £125 of this was winnings…£100 and £25 in Amazon vouchers. This was my second shock/surprise.

My third and final shock came when I added up my total earnings for the year….I not only exceeded my averages for the past few years, but really surprised myself by earning nearly……….well, what do you think my total for the year was?

Of course, none of these earnings include any of the product tests I received, such as toilet cleaner, crisps, air freshener, bottle of wine, etc., etc. If I were to be strict about my earnings I would attach a value to these items and include them, however that is being pedantic.

Now, after all that talk about earnings, let me reiterate….I am not in this JUST for the money. Not only. Not just. It helps, it is good, it is useful and helps out when the budget is tight but some of the reasons I do surveys are as follows –

I love the thrill of discovering a new product….it is a great feeling to be asked how the packaging looks, what I think of this or that new idea and would I like to test it before it goes on general sale? Yes please…count me in…I love to be in on new things, it is exciting and great to be asked…..do I make a difference with my opinions? Do any of us? Well, yes, or we wouldn’t do it!! Of course we do. I have seen evidence of this in changed packaging, different prices, and adoption of new practices such as Morning Noon & Night now charging 2p for each carrier bag. So it does make a difference. I wouldn’t do it otherwise. Companies listen, they want to know, and I want to tell them!! Am I being naieve in thinking this? I don’t think so.

In the current economic climate you need to vote with your feet, your pennies have more value than you think and companies realize that they have to go that extra mile for you. I have said this many times before….it is true.

The other reason I do surveys is that I love to tell people what I think. I genuinely enjoy being asked if I get a closer shave with Gillette than Bic. It is good to look closely at the products and items we use in everyday life….they should be working hard for us, they should be giving us that little bit extra, and they should be worth the hard-earned money we pay for them….otherwise, why buy them?

Do you know what planned obsolescence is? I am sure you do, but for those of you who do not….it is simply a deliberate inbuilding of sub-standard components to an item so that it will not last very long. It is a way of making consumers buy more, sooner, than in the days when you used to buy say, a hoover, which would last fifty years….my mother-in-law’s hoover lasted 54 years before it gave up the ghost…why? Because it was built TO LAST…not to deliberately break down after 13 months (1 month into the non-warranty period)!!

I mourn the passing of quality workmanship in Britain and the advent of planned obsolescence, however, we still have a voice as consumers and we have to use it. That is really what survey taking is all about. Never stop shouting about the fact that you want quality and good service and good customer services. Never shut up about it, never give up telling companies what you think of them because they do listen. But do you want to keep telling them?