Make Some Money On The Side. I Wouldn't Call It A Side Hustle

September 13, 2024

This post is a little different; it's not really website-related. I'm sharing some information on how I've made a few extra bucks for myself over the last six months. To be fully transparent, if you use the link I provide, I'll earn a small commission (10 percent) for getting people to sign up for this service. As of the date of this post, I haven't had anyone sign up yet, so all the money I've earned so far has come from filling out surveys myself.

For years I used a website called E-Rewards where I filled out surveys and earned rewards to cash in for various things. I used it mainly to get GameStop gift cards. The problem with that site was you had to earn 75 ''dollars'' or ''points'' to get a $25 gift card and it took forever to earn that 75. I did it while watching TV in the evenings so it was easy and sort of enjoyable at times.

Earlier this year, I left the job I started last year, so I was looking for ways to make some extra money while job hunting. I came across an ad for a site called FiveSurveys, where they claimed all you had to do was fill out 5 surveys to earn 5 dollars... real dollars, not some 'points' nonsense like E-Rewards. I didn't believe it, but I figured I'd give it a shot to see how it worked. Much to my surprise, it was true. Take 5 surveys, get 5 bucks, and you can cash out via Venmo, PayPal, ACH, or other methods. I wasn't sure if I'd actually receive the money, but it turns out it was legit. I received the money through Venmo in less than 10 minutes.

I've been doing this in my free time since around March of this year. I've earned over $1,100 in real money just by filling out surveys while I watch TV. It doesn't pay like a real job, but it's decent money for not doing much of anything.

So, you may be wondering why I've filled out 1,293 surveys to make $1,135. Well, about two months into this experiment, FiveSurveys made a change. You can opt out and still do the original 5 for 5, but they now offer 'half' surveys where you earn 50 cents per survey. These surveys are usually shorter than the regular ones, so they don't take as long to complete.

Are there any other drawbacks? Yes. My main complaint is that you can get screened out of surveys after starting them. It's pretty frustrating to spend a few minutes on a survey only to be screened out for some unexplained reason. There have also been times when I completed a survey, but a technical issue prevented me from receiving compensation. You can file a report with the FiveSurveys website, but that doesn't always result in getting credit. They may tell you that you were screened out or suspend that survey so no one else is affected. It's frustrating, but in my experience, it doesn't happen often. Just be aware.

If you want to make a couple of extra bucks while you're watching TV, or killing time on the train, Uber, airplane, or wherever, check it out at FiveSurveys.com