I have been mystery shopping for 10 years! I found it to be a great way to get free food and clothes while in college! After getting a successful job out of college, I now find myself laid off due to downsizing. So I now mystery shop/audit full time and love it. I make my own schedule, don't pay for my gas (since I audit gas stations daily), and its a great way to network

Welcome. You have a lot of experience you can bring to this forum.

I hope so Dee Shops. I am on the Which Companies do you refuse to shop? thread right now...very interesting!

Hello, Classy. Tough luck on the all too prevalent downsizing. MSing can provide many things, but it can't compete with full time employment, with benefits. I'm glad mystery shopping is helping you fill the void, and look forward to hearing your experiences.

Love your name (Classy). You are very enterprising. Glad your found this forum.

I am new to the forum. I am retired?? I do not know what that means. People tell me it means you do have to go to the place you worked at for 30 years because you are old. I have been mystery shopping since 2006.

Super Star Member is correct, having a job is better than nothing. America will come back as the small business entrepreneurs figure out that sending resumes do not get jobs. Sending a resume is like a lottery. There are so many resumes looking for so few jobs the "chosen one" is like a lottery winner.

What did the winner win? The winner is an employee, a human resource for as long as they are needed and then tossed out like garbage when the need has ended. Mystery shopping gives former employees the first step to becoming an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs, independent contractors, look for a need and fill that need without asking a boss to hire them. You have to figure out if the money is worth it or figure out how to make it profitable if the activity you are doing is not profitable. The concept of being an entrepreneur might scare the pants off you, but it is great once you understand it. I have been an entrepreneur, since I was 16 years old along with my "regular" jobs where I had an employer over the years.

I have always been entrepreneurial. I use mystery shopping as an activity because I need the activity rather than because I need the money. I would not take a singe shop if I did not at least break even or get a lunch or dinner. When you group the jobs together you may even make enough to fill your gas tank.

When I am not mystery shopping, I am mentoring people (for free) to give them the mental stimulus, they need to survive the computer-generated transition from big corporations to individuals that feel and fill the needs of other individuals.

You can contact me at Mayoaid@aol.com. I can help you learn that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

Thank All...my biggest issue which is health insurance is solved, because my husband is still employed. So I guess that is a headache I don't have, but nothing beats 2 full time checks coming in! But I have found ways to take what we do everyday and get a return i.e. Gas, oil changes, tire rotation, eye exams/glasses (get great fees back), dental exams (good fee for going), printer ink, paper, grocery, shoes.

So I work it from that angle..taking what would my family need and how do I get it reimbursed. Then it doesn't look like we are losing so much money from our household. The going out to eat shops I use as our date nights. All the stuff I buy that I don't use I turn them into birthday, wedding, and Christmas gifts.

And don't forget if you take meds, I crave on transferring prescriptions and getting $100 a pop in gift cards just for moving my meds to a new store...so this month I will take them to another and get another $100.

Good job, Classy! The useful reimbursement shops such as those that you mentioned, are money-saving. A penny saved is a penny earned, right? $100 GC to move your Rx's?! Occasionally, here it's a $25 gift card.

There is so little competition here that they don't do the giftcard thing at all. :-)