Are online surveys worth the time?
I began doing online surveys about one year ago. So far I have made over $125 and I am always joining new sites. The average online survey pays anywhere between $3 to $5 dollars and takes about 20 minutes to complete. This comes out to $9 to $15 an hour. Although doing online surveys is not going to allow you to quit your day job, it can be a source of $20 to $30 a month. So are online surveys worth the time, here are my thoughts.
How much is 20 minutes worth to you? For me, time is very valuable. The way you spend your time will show what is really important in your life. Since I can do online surveys whenever I want, it makes it easy for me to find 20 minutes here or there where I can complete one. My main requirement is that if doing a survey ever steals time away from what is truly important in our lives (God and family), then they are not worth our time. Doing online surveys is definitely not a priority, just something to do when I can spare a few minutes.
How frugal can you be with $20 extra a month? With my frugal wife, we are pretty good at stretching $20. That's twenty CVS trips for us, since she is starting to perfect the Extra Care Bucks method (You will have to ask her about that but I am always amazed when she comes home paying less than $1 for a bag of items. Her last receipt was for only 0.22 cents!) If you are frugal, I think you will agree that you can stretch $20 pretty far.
A little at a time adds up to a lot. My Dad taught me this principle when I was younger. He used to save change from his pocket in a coffee can. On my birthday, he would give me the can and I would count the change and take it to the bank. He usually had at least $150-$200 in change saved every year. For my Dad it was a handful of coins a day, for me it's a $3 check from a survey company. Over the time span of a year, it can add up to a lot.
Conclusion
I think online surveys are worth the time and I want to help you find the best survey sites to use. This weekend I am going to post reviews of all the online survey companies that I belong to with all the information you need to decide if you want to join.
If you would like to read reviews of all the online survey sites that I belong to, click here.
Roger is the Frugal Husband who authors Ourfrugallife. He and his wife explore the art of spending money wisely for the glory of God.
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11 Responses to “Are online surveys worth the time?”
August 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I have been doing online surveys for over 10 years. I have NEVER used a site that paid $2-3/survey on average, if you count every survey invite. Even with those that I complete (IE, you get to take the whole survey not just the intro questions), I don’t get that much money day in and day out. Occasionally, sure! But not every day. I’m in on at least 5 survey sites, and have tried others off and on. The only one that actually “pays” this much is eRewards, and their rewards are rather skimpy (for instance, you can only get a reward from each company once a calendar year and never get cash).
I’ve seen this same thing said over and over again, and I think those who say it are just trying to get folks to sign up as referrals. Plus if you use this author’s math–one year, $125, is only $10/month, not $20-30. And he never says how many surveys he actually attempts every month. I’m lucky to get $25/month from all the surveys AND click for points sites I’m on, probably more like an average of $10/month. And it’s mostly NOT the survey sites. Some of them just enter you in sweepstakes–never won any of those.
Maybe I’m just not who they are looking for. My DH does it, too, (and his profile is quite different from mine except where we live) and we get about the same number of completed surveys.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
How in the world are you making $20 (or even $10)/month from surveys? I think I’ve probably made about that much in the last eight YEARS of taking surveys. I’d love to know what I’m missing!
August 14th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I’ve been asked by friends and family about the online surveys and have a couple of questions about them.
Do you receive junk mail for providing your home address? Many of the surveys require a physical address in addition to an email address. I realize you create a unique email address, but what about the home address? I hope people don’t give out a neighbors or friend they don’t like:)
Similar to the address, what about phone numbers? I would hate for my parents to give out a home phone number and have people worldwide calling all hours of the night.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:33 am
A very good article in my oppinion. Time is indeed very precios for all of us:D
August 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I found that the one’s I tried are not worth my time. MySurvey sent a lot of surveys my way, but most were for 10 points, which is equal to 10 cents. You had to earn 1,000 points ($10) before you could redeem them. while they only took between 3 to 5 minutes to complete, That is a lot of time for such little money. PineCone Research paid $3 per survey, but I was only ever sent one. I filled out more household profile surveys without getting paid. I guess if you otherwise are doing nothing with your time it is worth it.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I personally love doing surveys for money. So far this year I have made $277 on them. As long as you stick to the legitimate sites and not the ones that ask you to sign up for offers and advertisements, you don’t get junk mail at home or spam in your e-mail account. I am very choosy about which surveys I complete (I don’t have a lot of free time). I probably only complete about 15% of the surveys that come into my mailbox. If it’s a long survey that only offers a “chance” to win or not a lot of points, I skip it. If it is a survey that straight out tells you how much you will be paid and the $ amount per time I will be spending makes sense, then I go for it. So, over all, I think this article is a good one and I think it is perfectly realistic to make $500 per year or more, especially since I will do it this year with minimal time put into it.
August 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am
My wife and I do online surveys and at first they were kinda fun to do and we made a little money but the it took just too long to get anywhere.
Now, I find myself completing surveys when I am in two situations.
1. Sitting on the couch watching T.V – laptop required.
2. While traveling for business – sitting in airports is horrible and you have to spend the time there anyway.
3. The 3rd is a combo; typically while in a hotel on a trip and/or watching t.v.
Otherwise, the process takes too long to complete for the amount your making.
Tropper
August 21st, 2008 at 1:22 am
2 Years ago, I started to earn some money via Surveys and it make me more curious about it so i started some other internet work at home activities. You know, I have left my full day job and i am a full time internet junkie now with a lot of money in hands.
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
One of the things these survey folks want from you is your friend’s names and numbers.
So, please be nice and don’t share those unless your friends have agreed to it prior.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I love MySurvey too: the longer you are with them, the more surveys you qualify for, the more points/money you can earn. I request a check for $20-$30 from them each month
August 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
For those who want to know how I make $20 a month from surveys, you can view my recent post where I state how much I have made from each survey site in August:
http://ourfrugallife.com/?p=146
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