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I was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about becoming a mystery shopper, i'm a new mom and a nurse working full time and i would like to drop to part time to be with my baby more. in order to do this i need to supplement my income a little. i live in northern ohio. thanks for any info you have to help!!

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Let me suggest you start with reading the "Nuts and Bolts. . ." sticky information at the top of this section of the forum.

Some folks shop with an infant or child in tow, but some shops will not allow another person at all or another person under the age of 12. There was a recent discussion of this on the forum because small children can be a distraction to your observations and the needs of your child need to come before the needs of your shop--though the company you are doing the shop for will not want to hear that. And of course if you leave your child at home you are not spending more time with him/her.

Other things to consider . . . if you cut back your hours do you also lose your benefits such as health insurance, retirement plan, paid days off, etc. Loss of those can constitute a bigger loss to you financially than anything you can make doing mystery shopping. So I would explore the possibility of working the night shift so that you can be with your child during the child's normal waking hours before cutting my hours.

Well I am no expert and I am sure you will get lots of advice but here is my opinion.
I am also a mother and I work full time in a medical building during the day. Due to my husbands health conditions he is no longer able to work so there goes our Christmas bonus we depended on every year.
I figured I would do "shopping" after my day job, bang out a few jobs and make some extra money for the holidays.
Its just not that simple. It is time consuming and MOST of the pay is rather small so you need to do a bunch of jobs to make even a small profit.
I find myself leaving my day job at 3:30 pm and showing up at home after 7 or 8 at night.

I am sure there are some who will disagree with me, so this is just my opinion.

I agree completely, Justme. No one will get rich doing this. It takes time and planning to schedule jobs located close together (at least here in Texas where everything is long distances away. Pay for most jobs is rather small, although there are some well-paying ones around. Like you, I work full time, so I do a shop here and there on the way home or at lunch. I can fit in several shops. But once you do the shop you are not done. The report has to be done .... and soon. The reports usually take longer than the shops. And if, like me, you have a job (I work for a governmental entity) that does not allow you to use your computer for personal use you cannot check your e-mail or look for shops periodically during the day, so you will miss shop opportunities. After a few months, I significantly cut down the number of shops I do, concentrating on the ones I really enjoy, have easy reports and are on my way anyway. I make few special trips. It makes me a little pocket money but nothing big. And it is time consuming. And probably not a way to spend more time with the baby. I take mostly the dining so I can eat out - I LOVE TO EAT OUT!!!!! - free.

Certainly a lot of the opportunities require a fair amount of schedule flexibility. It can work reasonably well around other jobs, but my best paying work scheduled for November are jobs that need to be done during normal working hours for most office workers (stuff between 9 and 11AM and a whole lot of stuff at 2PM).

I would use MSing as a way to go out and have dinner (on the house), and perhaps do grocery shopping. Limit yourself, don't quit your day job, the $ isn't that good and the time involved finding work monthly is time consuming with no pay. I work during the day, drive alot, with gas and wear and tear on your car, the pay just isn't enough. I am having an excellent month, but next month, who knows! Don't give up your day job, be very happy you have it.

Live consciously....

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