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Why I Shop at Aldi

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

Yes, I know that you think that I have given up on blogging, considering how infrequently I have been updating this, but the website has taken precedence over blogging these days.

I have had many projects in the works for the past few months and one of them has been creating a menu plan just made from ingredients purchased at Aldi’s. I had decided to make it my goal to create a month’s worth of meals, complete with a price book, of dishes you could make from this supermarket. You will see this up on our website at some point, but it is going to take awhile since it is 25 pages of information for my husband to post for me. I could see him visibly cringe as I revealed that I had finally completed my masterpiece, and oh by the way, it is 25 pages that need to be broken down by meal, by tip, by item, by grocery list, etc… Considering his busy schedule it might be a little while before it is up, but in the meantime I did write an article on Aldi so make sure you check that out too. You can also show your appreciation to me by clicking our Google advertisements, on our site, so I can continue wasting time on the internet and claiming it is research for all of you.

Now the main question that people have been asking me since I wrote this article has been if I have been endorsed by the company in any way, shape or form. I never approached the company about my idea, but considering their “no frills” approach to the grocery experience, I doubt if I could get anything for my efforts anyway. I would love some money, of course, but would settle for a few other perks from them. VIP parking, no deposit on my cart, free bags, a small discount….well, that is just to name a few. For all the business that I have been bringing them, a small spokesperson position would be lovely too.

We shop at Aldi once every two weeks, in an effort to save our family some money, and I usually take my son with me to do the shopping there. Now my son can be a real handful, at times, but he is also is about the friendliest child you will ever meet. He is very persistent in getting to know every single person around us whether we are at the grocery store, the gas station, a public restroom, a restaurant. You see his love for people just has absolutely no boundaries.

Now, not to characterize the average Aldi shopper, but just like any other grocery store, there are some interesting people shopping at the store while we are there. Ethan does not seem to mind if these people have absolutely no interest in him or if they are particularly weird, he just prevails on…”Look! Look! LOOK! Look at my dinosaurs!” or “Hi! Hi! HI! HI!” until he receives an acceptable response. If no response is given he will continue on until he, at the very least, gets a nod from the person who could care less about the engaging conversation that he has to offer.

Now in spirit of the interesting shoppers, I have been meaning to blog about my particular experience that I had as I was shopping at the store one day with my son. We were just beginning our shopping and we were headed towards the milk, when we overheard (I use this term loosely since she was shouting at the top of her lungs) a young woman on her cell phone. Always a people-watcher, I pretended to browse the milk section (believable isn’t it considering there are only three types of milk there) as she was talking, just to get a closer look at her. Here is how her conversation went…

“No, you will NOT be moving back to my f*?%$#$@ house and sleeping on my f*&^%$#@@@ floor and I will NOT put up with your f%$#@$% s%$#@ anymore you, f$#@$% piece of s%$#%. NO, NO, NO, F&^%$ Y&^%#! Mother @#%###@”

As the woman hung up the phone, she then repeated exactly what she said to her girlfriend who was standing next to her. I then wondered if she had no idea how loud she was or if she had any idea that every single person in the store had stopped to watch her in disgust and/or amazement. Apparently oblivious to us, she continued repeating word for word what she had told this guy on the phone as though we all had not witnessed her nasty vocabulary.

Now this, in and of itself, was a classic moment in supermarket visit history for me, but I haven’t gotten to the good part yet….are you ready?

So then her phone starts to ring and I begin to unconsciously hum along to the ringer tone. Was her ringer tone hard core gangster rap? Well, considering her language that is exactly what I had expected….but no….that would not be very funny, now would it?

Are you ready????

Her ringer tone was, “Our God Is an Awesome God.” (this is a popular Christian hymn, for all of you heathens out there!)

When it finally registered what I was humming along with, I had to run away from the milk section so that I would not bust up laughing and become the new target of this woman’s anger.

Apparently, I caught her in a fallen moment from her Lord, but it certainly brought some irony to the situation.

I just don’t think you can have an experience like that at any other supermarket and that is just one, of many reasons, why I shop Aldi Supermarket.

Posted in Aldi, Frugal, Money & Finance | 1 Comment »

Raising Financially Responsible Teens

Wednesday, April 27th, 2005

In today’s money-driven society, teens are constantly bombarded by magazines, television ads, and peer pressure which make them feel less than ideal if they do not wear the latest clothing style and drive a “cool” car. Briefly visit your local mall and you will observe multitudes of young people who shop as if credit cards have no maximum spending limit. With all this push for extravagance, is it even possible to raise your teens with money sense and save them from making serious financial mistakes?

Although I have yet to have teenagers of my own, I was blessed to be raised by parents who taught me from a young age to be a wise steward of money. Let me share some things my parents did to instill in me that money is a limited resource and must be spent with care.

1. Start Early

Just because your child is too young to have a real job, does not mean it is too early to start teaching basic financial principles. From the time we were little, we always received an “allowance” from our parents. We only received this money if we had done all of our daily/weekly chores. This taught us that money is not free; it is earned.

2. Set An Example

You cannot expect your teens to wisely spend money if you do not set a good example for them. Do your children see you buying things on credit because you want them now and do not have the patience to wait until you are able to save up enough money? My dad was an excellent example in this area. Before making any large purchase (such as a car), he first decided what he could afford. Then, he began shopping around. Sometimes it would take him close to a year to find what he was looking for, for the price he wanted to pay. His patience always paid off and it left an indelible impression upon me.

3. Don’t Buy Everything For Them

It is easy for many parents to want to “help teens out” by buying most everything for them. But, is this truly “helping”? When your teenager enters the real world on their own, they are going to have some hard lessons to learn if you always bought everything they needed and wanted for them. As soon as we were able to begin earning money, my dad had us start paying for some of our own things such as clothes, gifts for other people, things we wanted, and so on. Because my parents did not buy everything for us, it taught me the value of hard work, to think before I spend, and to look for the best buy.

4. Teach Your Teens the Value of Hard Work

In a day when laziness is rampant, teach your teens instead the importance of being a hard worker. What you work for, you usually appreciate more. If your teenager has worked hard to buy themselves a car, it can be almost guaranteed that they will appreciate it more and take better care of it.

5. Train Your Teens to Think Before They Spend

This might seem like a no-brainer, but learning to think before I spend has literally saved me hundreds of dollars over the years. Teach your teens to ask themselves at least three questions before making any purchase:

  • Do I have the money on hand to pay for this?
  • Do I need this?
  • Can I buy this somewhere else for less?

Oftentimes, in asking these questions, I will talk myself out of making the purchase! I will realize I don’t really have the money to pay for it or I don’t need the item. Other times, I will think of a way I can purchase this item for less.

6. Encourage Your Teens to Get the Best Buy

In addition to asking these questions, also train your teens to look for the best deal. It is amazing what variation in prices you will find out there. For instance, the water pump burst on one of our vehicles recently. When we took it into auto shop for repair, they said that we would have to take it to a more specialized shop, since the engine would need to be taken out in order to replace the water pump. The first price we were quoted was $775. Knowing that was out of our current budget, my husband began calling around to different body shops. One place quoted him around $500 another quoted him a little over $300. By calling around to find the best deal, we are going to be saving hundreds of dollars on this repair job.

Posted in Money & Finance, Teenagers | No Comments »

Price Books 101

Sunday, January 23rd, 2005

Several months ago, I thought I knew it all on how to save money when grocery shopping.  I have found, however, that there is always more to learn as months later I am beginning to address this topic again.  I know I am not the only one who thinks that we are playing a game when we go to the grocery store.  Educated consumers walk away with loads of goodies for minimal money and others of us fork over the big bucks for the same exact thing. What sets one shopper apart from another? How do you beat the grocery game?  Is it really all about coupons and rebates?

Let’s begin by discussing the fliers that you receive in your mailbox each week which outline the stores deals and steals for that week’s particular campaign.  These items are called the store’s loss leaders. Loss leader simply means that the store is losing money by offering these items to you at a lower price in hopes that you are going to do the rest of your grocery shopping with them.  Will you, an educated consumer, necessarily put all of your money down into one store? Absolutely not! An educated consumer walks away with the loss leaders and adds nothing more to her basket unless the prices are unbeatable elsewhere. How does this educated consumer know that these prices cannot be beaten? They know this because they keep a price book.

A price book will make you the smartest consumer in the store because you will actually know whether or not an item really is on sale or not.  Begin by setting your price book up in a way that makes it easy for you to use.  There are two common ways that price books are set up- alphabetically or categorically. I find my price book is easier to use when it is set up by category because it is easier for me to locate milk under the category of dairy rather then the letter M.

Each page in your price book should contain the date, name of your grocery store (use a code that is easy for you to remember), the brand of the item, the size of the item, the price of the item, and then the unit price of the item. The unit price can be discovered by dividing- size/price. The unit price can also usually be found on the actual grocery sticker below the item which can save you some time in the math department.

Here is a sample of what a price book entry would look like for Peanut Butter:

Date
Store
Brand
Size/Price
Unit Price
10/14
Jim’s
Store Brand
18 oz/.99
.88 lb

The first couple of months of filling your price book is very tedious, but after you have logged this information in for awhile the best deals will emerge and you will also see a pattern in the store’s timing of these sales. For example, you will know that John Doe’s Supermarket runs their special on pasta at 25 cents a box every July and January.

Begin filling your price book by writing in all of the items that appear in your local fliers and the unit prices on them. After filling in these, you can then begin logging in all of the receipts that you have from your past visits to the grocery store. Doing this the first time was rather sickening when I wrote all of it in for our family because this is when I realized my steal of a deal was actually a dud. Don’t kick yourself when discovering this; pat yourself on the back instead because you know you will be saving money from this moment on.

Write in your price book items that you purchase on a regular basis: bread, milk, eggs, cheese, etc… Your job this month will be to fill this price book with this information on your next grocery trip.

One good strategy that I found when reading The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn was to shop at different stores each week of the first month so that within a thirty day cycle you can hit all of the stores and begin filling your price book with each of the store’s information. By the end of the thirty days you will have a clearer picture on the great sales each of the stores run.

As time goes on your entries will slow down and your price book will now be a great reference to you.  The real question is what do you do with this information and how do you make it work to your advantage? I find that the best thing you can do is that when you see a particular item on sale at a great price then stock up! And up and up and up! The last thing you want to do is have to buy that item when you run out of it because chances are there will be no sale in site and you will be stuck paying full price for that peanut butter that you are now scraping the bottom of. Buy as much as your budget allows, but be smart about how much you buy and how much you can use between now and the next sale. The last thing you want to do is to stock up on bologna and then end up throwing half of it out because it has gone bad before you could eat it.  I tend to stock up the most on items that I can freeze, staples, and pantry items.

I hope that this month you can make it your goal to discover the best deals in your local market. There is definitely something empowering about having your own price book.  More empowering though is knowing that your wallet is just a little bit fatter then it would have been had you not been armed with this information.

Posted in Frugal, Grocery Lists, Saving | No Comments »

Work at Home Ideas

Wednesday, June 9th, 2004

Start a Business

Right now the opportunities are endless for creating unique work-at-home positions along with some tried and true ideas for selling established products, hosting parties, or selling online.

Childcare Services

Since you are already at home with your own children, you could offer childcare for others in your area. Take out an advertisement in your local newspaper or offer to your friends, folks in your playgroup, or at your church. Make sure that you look into your state laws on how many children you can have in your care without being licensed. This is an especially profitable thing to offer around the holidays when parent’s need to get out to do a little Christmas shopping. They will be happy to know that their child is safe with an experienced mother and you can make a little extra cash when you probably need it the most.

Baking/Catering

If cooking is your strong point, then maybe doing some baking or catering on the side might be a good option for you. They offer wonderful classes on cake decoration, candy making, and other baking courses for a relatively low fee at many of your local craft stores. Check into these and see if you can acquire a new skill. As mentioned under childcare services you will need to check into your local laws for what you can do within your own kitchen. If you are required to meet certain commercial kitchen standards, you could always go to the person’s home to prepare the baked goods, meals, or whatever type of food you might be offering.

Scrapbooking

This is a very hot and exciting time for people who are in the scrapbooking business. There are so many people who are enthralled with the hobby, but few who actually have the time to do it. You could start a business offering your expertise in scrapbooking to create the scrapbook of their dreams. Many people who do not have the time would pay for someone to put these together for them. They make wonderful anniversary, birthday, and wedding gifts as well. You would need to pay for start-up costs, but with enough people interested you could recover these costs quickly.

Errand Services

You have to run errands yourself, right? Might as well see if someone else might need errand services as well. Many elderly people or those without vehicles would benefit from these types of services and you could earn a little money doing what you were planning to do anyway.

Crafts/Floral

Do you make beautiful wreaths? Are you creative with making holiday ornaments, gifts, or knick knacks? Maybe you could earn money selling these at craft shows, garage sales, or to friends/relatives.

Mystery Shop

Be sure to check out my mystery shopping section for more information. This is where you are sent out by a company to different shops in your location and you are responsible for completing a survey on behalf of the company. The mystery is that no one knows that you are working for a company; therefore they act as they normally would with their regular customers. Upon completing the survey the company either reimburses you for a purchase made or you receive a cash payment for your services. These can range from five bucks on up depending on the lengthiness of the survey and the effort that is involved. I have been doing mystery shopping for the past several months and have been very successful at it. It is important to know that you DO NOT have to pay anyone to become a mystery shopper- you do not need an e-book to explain how to do it and you do not necessarily need to be a member to any organization in order to do it.

Gift Baskets

There are many inexpensive ways to create beautiful gift baskets and many people pay top dollar to have gifts put together for them. You can find beautiful vintage baskets at garage sales and antique stores. Using these baskets you can fill them with gifts that all center around the same theme. For example, center a bridal shower gift all around pampering the bride. Fill the basket with pretty bath soaps, a cooling eye mask, pretty nail polishes, lotion, and a pretty loofah scrubber. Contact local businesses around the holidays and ask if they need help in creating unique gifts for their employees. Many higher ups don’t have time to devote towards making unique gifts, but they are looking for something special for their employees and your basket could be the ticket.

Selling on eBay

This is a very hot time for selling on eBay, and even Oprah is doing it for her charity. As the old saying goes, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” Begin by checking out books at the library on selling on eBay. Also think about a specific type of thing you might like to focus your selling on- fine china, old maps, dolls, or wherever your interest may lie. It is easier to begin with a passion you have already had because you won’t have to start from scratch with your knowledge. Once you have picked your item start watching the listings on eBay. I would suggest starting small when you are first starting out. The worst thing in the world would be to buy something at a huge cost, try to resell it, and then no one have an interest in your item. There are many great books that you can get at your local library that will provide the beginning tools you need to start on this business venture. People make incredible amounts on eBay- why can’t you?

Join a Business

Along with creating your own business, you could begin taking part in a business that has already been established. This can really work to your advantage because the products that you will be selling or the parties you will be hosting will already be recognized by individuals. Immediately an individual can tell you whether or not they like certain products or if they are too overpriced. The problem you run into is that people already have these preconceived notions and the market is very saturated with lots of people selling the same thing. Every market is competitive though, but with the right mindset and drive you can make your dreams possible in any of these home businesses.

Avon

Ding-Dong, Avon calling. See, all I said was the word and you are already thinking about a positive or a negative experience that you have had with the company. Let me begin by saying that Avon sells in over a hundred countries and they have over three million sale representatives all over the world. They are the world’s leading direct seller of beauty products and their line doesn’t stop at just make-up. Avon sells everything from jewelry to clothing to children’s toys- there really isn’t anything that you won’t find in an Avon catalog. Your income is determined by how much money in products you sell and it is completely commissioned based. The beauty of Avon, in my opinion, is that there really is no huge investment other than your time. You can begin selling Avon with only a ten dollar investment. These ten dollars get you started with your first two campaigns of catalogs, a training manual, and a bag full of goodies which include samples for customers, ordering booklets, and information on embarking on your career in Avon. If you are interested in selling Avon click here and I can get you started or answer any questions you might have.

Mary Kay

This is also one of the largest direct sellers of beauty products. Mary Kay offers a large line of face care products and make-up along with health supplements. Mary Kay was founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash. Consultants sell products by organizing home parties, selling door to door, and selling through their internet Mary Kay approved web sites. The starter costs for this company is a bit higher in that you need to invest a hundred dollars to get your starter kit. This kit includes all the sales materials and products you would need in order to get started. As an Independent Consultant you are also eligible for a fifty percent discount on your products. The company offers wonderful incentives to its top sellers including the ever famous pink Cadillac for the company high-rollers. If you are interested in selling Mary Kay products please call 800.MARY.KAY for more information on how to get started.

Pampered Chef

Pampered Chef is a direct seller of guaranteed, professional-quality kitchen tools and pantry items. These include cookware, preparations tools and gadgets like ice shavers and apple corers. The company was founded in 1980 by Doris Christopher and the majority of the money made by the company is made through the Kitchen Shows which are hosted by the Pampered Chef consultants. There are many different sizes of starter kits you can obtain to being as a consultant and there is a price to fit the range of each individual. The Pampered Chef’s Kitchen Consultants host shows or parties in homes to sell products. The company provides various incentives to their consultants including jewelry and vacation rewards for good sales. Call 800.266.5562 if you are interested in obtaining more information about Pampered Chef.

Southern Living

Southern Living magazine has been around for decades, but the latest and greatest addition to the Southern Living family is their home parties where you can buy and sell products that are featured in the Southern Living magazine. The products include food products, cookbooks, pottery, and other accessories. As a Southern Living at Home consultant, you will sell products primarily through home parties and catalog distribution. Southern Living at Home offers a basic starter kit, which includes business supplies and 20 products, for an investment of $199, plus sales tax. Consultants get a commission of 25 percent on each product sold and can buy company merchandise at a 25 to 40 percent discount. Most products in the Southern Living at Home catalog range in price from $7 to $100. The company also provides incentives such as free merchandise and annual trips. To get information in the mail, send a $10 check to receive the Fast Track Opportunity Pack (includes an informational video, application form, product previews and a current catalog) to:

Southern Living at Home
Fast Track Opportunity Pack Request
P.O. Box 830951
Birmingham, Alabama 35283-0951

Posted in Money & Finance, Work | No Comments »

Taking the Mystery Out of Mystery Shopping

Wednesday, June 9th, 2004

Introduction

I have been doing mystery shopping for almost a year now and have found it to be a rewarding job for me to do financially. I remember the first time I heard the term mystery shopping, I thought immediately that it was a scam. Most people do, simply because there are people out there who are trying to charge others for information on mystery shopping. I am here to provide the information to you free of charge; of course I will not refuse any clicks on our advertisements as a way to help the site to continue growing strong!

Let’s begin with the information on what is involved as a mystery shopper and then I will provide the link to where you can begin to sign up for these types of jobs:

What is mystery shopping?

Mystery shopping is when you pose as a customer of a store and observe the employees, the premises, and the quality of the goods offered. Most mystery shopping jobs require that you keep your identity to yourself, thus it is a mystery that you are even there. Obviously, if employees knew that you were critiquing them, they would be on their best behavior and be performing for you rather than performing their normal day-to-day routine. Most companies will provide a scenario for you to use when posing as a customer. For example, if you went to a pet store, then they would tell you that you have a dog that is overweight and you are looking for the appropriate type of food to give to him. Some scenarios are very detailed, others lack detail, and some ask that you come prepared with a scenario that you have imagined yourself. You are usually given a window of time to complete the job. Some jobs will give you a week to complete, while others are more rushed and need to be completed within the next day or two. You are usually given a time to shop and many of these are performed during the daytime hours- perfect for stay-at-home moms. Each mystery job is different in what they expect from you. I have done a lot of different types of shops such as film development, food, checking promotional materials at stores, department stores and retail shopping, bowling alleys, cellular companies, and pizza delivery. There are lots of different jobs out there that you can do and once you become a more experienced shopper and are known for completing jobs in a timely fashion, then the companies will begin to contact you for more jobs and you will have to do less searching for them.

What am I reporting to the company?

Usually the company requires that you complete a questionnaire on the service that you received. Each company is different on the length of these and the amount of details you are expected to provide. I usually weigh the length of the questionnaire against the amount paid to me if I really want to spend the time filling out a particularly long one. It is important that you read the questionnaire BEFORE you complete your assignment otherwise you will have no way of knowing what to be looking for. You can’t bring the questionnaire into the store because this usually alerts employees that you are performing a mystery shopping job so you either have to write a few discreet notes to yourself or have extremely good memory. Sometimes you are asked in these questionnaires to observe one particular thing. For example, I mystery shop a particular restaurant in our food court pretty regularly and I am usually looking for the exact same things- the quality of the food, the customer service, and the cleanliness factors. I do not have to memorize a large amount of information so I sign up pretty frequently for this one. If I got a job to survey the entire food court though, then I would have a lot more to memorize and this would create many more categories for me to have to observe and there is a greater chance of error. This is where good memory and note-taking would be needed. Most questionnaires can be completed online although I have mystery shopped for companies in the past that required that I mail in the questionnaire.

Costs and Payments

What’s this going to cost me?

This is important to know especially if you are on a budget like I am. Some of the jobs require that you make purchases and it is important to know the dollar amount associated with these purchases since it will be awhile before you are reimbursed. I usually pick jobs that don’t require me to spend anything over twenty dollars. There are always exceptions though depending on our finances, but I try to pick jobs were no purchase is required, or where the purchase is minimal.

How much do I get paid?

This is a tough question to answer because some jobs pay nothing except for reimbursement, while others pay anywhere between five and a hundred dollars depending upon the assignment. You are probably wondering why anyone would take these jobs and not get paid. Well, you are still getting paid, but it is going towards a purchase that you are required to make on behalf of the company. I have taken a few of these where I have wanted to eat dinner at a particular restaurant or wanted a particular item, but could not justify the cost for it. It is much easier to justify when the mystery shopping company is footing the bill for dinner or my retail purchase. Jobs that pay very little usually have shorter questionnaires, while the jobs that pay more offer up several departments to be checking or require much more detail.

When do I get paid?

This also depends on the company, but the earliest that I usually see is three weeks. Most companies take six to eight weeks to process your checks so this is also a factor that you need to weigh very carefully if you are on a budget. It is going to be awhile before you see any profit from this business venture and if the budget is tight in our family, then I chose jobs that require little or no cost.

Tips for Successful Shopping

Any tips for a novice mystery shopper?

Although this sounds like a particularly easy job, in actuality it is not. I have had friends accompany me on these jobs and they can’t believe some of the work that goes into preparing this information for the companies. This is a job even though it doesn’t sound like one and much is required from you as a shopper. They want people who can shop and accurately portray the service they receive. I would like to share with you a few of the things that I wish someone would have disclosed to me when I was mystery shopping.

You might not be able to bring your children with you on some of the assignments. Some companies do not want you bringing your children because children can be very distracting when you are supposed to be completing an assignment. Be clear about the terms of the company and the terms of each job because this is an important thing to know. Some of the jobs will allow children, but if it is a lengthy survey that needs to be completed or requires you to do a lot of interacting with the salespeople you may want to choose to leave your child at home so you can do a good job on your assignment. Quick surveys that require little detail or restaurants where you can bring your family are ideal for bringing your children.

You need to keep very good records especially if you are completing a lot of assignments for various companies. One of the files I keep has all of my passwords and user identifications for the mystery shop companies. I also include within this file a few other items that are frequently asked on applications for mystery shop assignments. When you apply to hundreds of companies, I find it easier to have the information typed up and saved in a file rather than trying to come up with a unique answer for each company. Some of the information I keep is what companies I have shopped for in the past (be sure to update this as you gain new assignments), zip codes and area codes where you are willing to shop, a description of your best shopping experience, and a description of your worst shopping experience. Almost every company requests this type of information so it is good to have all of this ready to go when filling out the applications.

The other file I keep is a spreadsheet of the jobs that I have completed. The information I plug into this is the name of the company I shopped, the date the shop was completed, the date I should be paid (based on their pay system), a brief description of what I did at the job (good to have if this is requested on a future application), the amount that I need to be reimbursed, the pay for the assignment, the contact person’s email/phone number (if this is applicable), and finally a field that requires a yes or no answer on whether this has been paid. By keeping good records, you can save yourself the time of having to track down the long forgotten email that had the information in it about the job. If this system does not work for you, you can devise your own system of record-keeping. This record is also handy if you need to report this information for tax-purposes.

Your answers could affect another person’s job. I realize that if the person is not performing well at their job that this is through no fault of your own, however, I would be very careful with the criticism that you offer. Everyone has bad days at work and their bad day may be the day that you walk in and assess their performance. If you are between the ages of 21-25, you may be asked to go into various restaurants and request an alcoholic beverage. Should the waiter not ask for your identification, they will be immediately be terminated from their job. Personally, I think that I would feel pretty lousy if I caused someone to lose their job just so I could get a free meal. I realize that this is important to know for the company, but in the past I have turned these assignments down, my conscience just will not allow it. I think it is important to be careful, but accurate in your criticism. Keep in mind that this is a person who makes mistakes on the job just like you and unfortunately you are there to critique. If someone makes a mistake on something that I ordered, for example, I always try to note how well they handled repairing the mistake they made. Did they apologize and immediately try to correct it? Did they offer the meal to me for free? Did they check to make sure that it was correct and that I was happy the second time? These are the types of things to look for, not that they made the original mistake.

You are not a critic, you are a reporter. Mystery shop companies are usually not looking for a detailed description of how you didn’t think the décor was that great in the restaurant, they are usually looking for factors like cleanliness, if you are greeted when you walk in, and if you receive service in a timely manner. Good reporters tell the accurate details of a newsworthy story, not their own feelings on it. Try to keep that in mind when you are doing your reporting.

Read the directions for completing the paperwork and then read them again. I know that this is time consuming, but if you do not report the exact way the company specifies then they can refuse to pay you for not completing everything the way that they requested.

Where to Start

The best place I have found to sign up for mystery shopping is Volition. Remember that this is the most time-consuming part of beginning your career in mystery shopping, but the more companies you sign-up with the more assignments you will have to choose from. Make sure that you have them notify you if they have jobs in your area through your email and then make sure you check your email frequently. If you live in an area where the shops are fewer and far between, they go very quickly so you want to be the first one to answer the email, and not the last.

I hope that this information will help you become more acquainted with the whole world of mystery shopping, and that you have lots of mystery shopping jobs in the horizon filled with free lunches and money to begin doing your own shopping.

Posted in Frugal, Work | No Comments »

Spotting Work at Home Scams

Wednesday, June 9th, 2004

Spotting Work at Home Scams

Where to Start

It would be wonderful if I could honestly tell you that I had not fallen victim to a work at home scam myself, but that would be untrue. When I was very desperate to find a job where I could make money from home I lost money in a couple of different work at home schemes which caused us both a small financial loss as well as being a disappointment that rather than making money for our family, I was losing money.

There is a variety of work at home scams that are listed on papers, sent to you through email, and posted on job boards. They claim that you can earn hundreds of dollars a day doing simple things like stuffing envelopes or data entry. Let’s face it folks, if it sounds too good to be true, you better believe it is.

Here are just a few of the scenarios you may run across and be tempted, in a moment of weakness, to respond to:

Nigerian Money Email

I have received emails and faxes for this scam countless times. The Better Business Bureau reports that this scam has been around for ages, however, with the dawn of email it has taken on a whole new life. The fund fraud transfers scams can come to you through email, fax, or even by personal mail. The sender, who claims to be a government official or member of a royal family, requests assistance in transferring millions of dollars of excess money out of Nigeria and promises to pay the person for his or her help. The message is always of an urgent, private nature. Although the country primarily listed is Nigeria, I have seen other countries listed with the same urgent news.

Those willing to assist are asked to provide their banking account number, Social Security number, birth date, and often times other personal information. Or they are asked to send money to the letter-sender for taxes and various fees. Victims will never see their money again and the con artist pockets the money.

You may think that there is no way that people could fall for such a ridiculous scam, but the FBI reports annual losses of millions of dollars to just these types of schemes. In fact, some victims have actually been lured to Nigeria, where they were imprisoned or much worse.

If you should receive an email of this nature, forward it to spam@uce.gov, then immediately delete the correspondence. If you have already, however, responded to this scam or know someone who has, please contact the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible by phone (202.406.5572).

Assembly Work

This type of scheme is where you send a company money to send you supplies to put together different types of crafts, bows, or other type of small project. You send hundreds of dollars to the company for supplies who have claimed they will pay you “x” amount of dollars if you put the items together as instructed. You will invest hours of your time into putting these crafts together only to have the company tell you that you did not meet the “standards” for the work that they have sent. They will then send the materials back to you which you will be stuck with items and you will also be out a bunch of your own money which you had invested.

UPS & Federal Express Recovery

This is a scam that I have personally been victim to and spent $69 of our money only to discover that I was stuck with software that I could not use. Stupidly, when I think of a name such as UPS or Federal Express I automatically think that this has to be legitimate, right? Wrong!

The claim with this software is that companies that send out large amounts of shipments through Federal Express or UPS do not have the time to track these packages. If the packages are even one minute late with delivery, you are entitled to a full refund. With these “amazing” software packages, you will now be able to track all these parcels for the companies. You simply call on behalf of your clientele and they will get fifty percent of the refund while you pocked the other fifty percent. These people will agree to this because this is money that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. You can make $50-75 an hour and download the list of the packages while you are sitting in your robe and sipping your coffee. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

First of all, neither Federal Express nor UPS is affiliated with any of these software programs. They also have every right to refuse the refund to you, a third-party who did not pay for the shipping in the first place. UPS online tracking system can only be used by the sender of the package or by the recipient. Besides, information obtained through the tracking system can only be used to monitor one’s shipment and not for someone’s commercial gain unless UPS openly authorizes it. To top it off, UPS prohibits any uses of automated software to access its online shipping-related systems. Therefore, the software you would be using would be deemed illegal.

I guess I had been under the assumption that they would be providing a list of people to contact that would be interested in these services. What they did provide was a list of general types of companies to target like the health industry, industrial services, or retail companies. Through this list you are supposed to come up with a list of people you think would be interested in your services, try to obtain the name and email address of the correct person who should be targeted, and send them this letter that the company has so kindly supplied for you. Then you just sit back and watch people chomping at the bit to get this amazing service. Who in the world would ever give out any of this private tracking information on their packages to a complete stranger? The answer to that, of course, would be no one in their right mind.

Envelope Stuffing

This is also a very old scam, however, people continue to fall for it. This scam informs you that you can earn hundreds of dollars by simply stuffing envelopes for companies. What you end up doing is paying someone to get information about stuffing envelopes and instead you get information on how to place the same advertisement for other people to become suckered in just as you have. Today everything is so automated that there is no reason that a company would outsource for envelope stuffing.

Data Entry

This is another scam that I fell head over heels for when searching for a work at home job. I saw an advertisement for a position doing data entry. All I needed to do was pay ten dollars for my “training packet” and they would send to me all of my training materials. For this particular company, I emailed the person in charge to request more information. The person that emailed me back seemed so sweet and told me how much money she was making doing this, sent me an application, (here was the clincher for me) signed it “God Bless.” Well, I figured this woman had a little God in her life so she wouldn’t be scamming me….right? Wrong again! Upon filling out my application I received within two seconds an email explaining that all I had to do was send the same advertisement out to other unsuspecting people along with an application for employment, review the application (for what reason, I do not know) and send them the congratulatory letter that there employment has been approved. I would then get half of the money and the other half would go to the person who recruited me. Believe me when I say that I got my money back for these training materials. I will explain more on what to do if you become a victim at the end of this article and how to try to salvage your money.

Medical Transcriptions

There are tons of phony advertisements out there for this job. While knowing medical transcription is great in a traditional work place, unless you personally know the company and they check out with the Better Business Bureau, be very wary of these types of job listings. The typical scenario usually plays out with the company telling you that you can make hundreds of dollars working from home and all you will need is the CD Rom which will have everything you need to know about medical transcription and at the end of their course you will officially be certified and people will be dying to hire you because of your qualifications. After purchasing your software and the computer system needed in order to link with the central computer system for “training purposes” you will have spent thousands of dollars with absolutely little or nothing to show for it. There will be no job and no clients with an amazing certification from Jon Doe’s Medical Transcription Online Schooling Company and you will have wasted both your time and money into yet another fruitless cause.

Tips for Spotting a Scam

These are just a few of the many scams that you will find on the internet and could become a potential victim to. These advertisers are looking for desperate people especially stay-at-home moms who are dying to continue staying home with their children or are in a difficult financial position. It is important for you to be an informed mother and know what to look for in a work-at-home scheme. Here are a few red flags that should help make a work-at-home scam more apparent:

  • The advertiser is using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS with lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!! AREN’T YOU LUCKY TO BE SCAMMED????
  • They claim that you can make hundreds or thousands of dollars a day with no experience needed and minimal effort is needed in order to achieve this financial miracle.
  • There is a fee in order for you to apply. This fee is for training materials, a membership into a work-at-home club or for a transaction fee and it is an obscure company that you have never heard of. If there is a fee involved, chances are that you are being scammed. If you are applying for jobs in your neighborhood you are not charged transaction fees in order to submit your resume to a job so you shouldn’t be charged for one for a work-at-home job.
  • The advertisement lists no company or any information that you can check into. They don’t give you any contact information other than a first name and a number where you can leave a message. A job listing shouldn’t be a mysterious advertisement unless there is something to hide. Be very leery of these types of advertisements.
  • Look the company up on the Better Business Bureau’s web site. If they do not check out on this web site, chances are that this company is trying to scam you. The Better Business Bureau is a wonderful tool for you if you are trying to spot a scam. Their web site is full of helpful information and tips along with consumer alerts on new scams that are taking place.

What to Do if You’ve Been Scammed

Okay, so you are asking, “What if I have already been scammed?” How do I get my money back and who do I report the scam to. As I said before, I had been victim to the “data entry” position and so when I found out that instead of doing data entry I was typing the same dirty little ads out to other unsuspecting victims, I simply sent the company an email and asked for an immediate refund. I received an email back stating that I should have known what I was getting myself into and that they were sorry, but they wouldn’t be refunding my money. That is when I looked on the Better Business Bureau’s web site to find out how they suggested I get my money back. There web site states the following:

If you become a victim of a work-at-home scheme, ask the company for a refund. If they refuse or give you an evasive response, tell them you plan to notify law enforcement officials.

Keep careful records of everything you do to recover your money. Document your phone calls, keep copies of all paperwork such as letters and receipts, and record all costs involved, including the time you spend. If the company refuses to refund your investment, contact:

All it took for me to have my money refunded was to tell the company that I was planning to contact law enforcement. Hopefully, if you are victim of a scam you will not have to go through these steps, but it is good information to have just in case. Please see my Work-At-Home Ideas to give you more ways to make money from home.

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