**Part 2- Set up budget

    Ideally, your spending for the last month should have been LESS THAN YOUR INCOME. (See part 1 for tracking your spending for the first month).  However, sadly, for many families it is not.  Now that you know what you’re spending, we need to set up a budget that combines the “ideal” with the “reality.”  

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”  Attributed to Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and the ancient Chinese, among others.
 
If following a spending pattern has led to being in debt, continuing to do the same thing isn’t going to get you out of debt.  If not in debt, but with no savings, if you don’t start saving, the money isn’t going to magically appear.  When setting up our budget, we need to shoot for what we ideally want (no debt with savings) combined with where we’re at now.  

    Rules to follow when setting up your budget:
    1) Put away some into savings.  No matter how little the amount, savings will add up over time.  
    2) Make a category for everything and be realistic.  The idea that you won’t buy any clothes for six months is fairly foolish.  Someone is going to need socks, underclothes, or something.  You’re not going to be able to cut your grocery money in half right away.  
    3) Don’t make too few (5 or 6) or too many (30) categories.  You don’t need a special category for household cleaners.  But on the other hand, household cleaners shouldn’t be stuck together with a new washer!  
    4) Reflect YOUR spending patterns.  If you buy lunch at work every single day, try cutting it to every other day.  But allow money in your budget for some lunches at work.  It is unrealistic to expect to completely change your spending behavior over night.  
    5) If you’re in debt, allow extra money for paying it off.  Cut down on dining out, clothes, golf, television, something. 

I've organized my "sponsored review" sites and have all three of my websites approved by all the sites.  (This one; Cynical Musings; and "Walk into the Bible" Study). 

What this means for you? 
Within the next few weeks, I'll be bidding for jobs and seeing if/when/how much I get paid. 
As always, I will share that information with you.

If I find a good site that pays for quality reviews, I will share it.
If I find a site that is doesn't pay, has horrible prices, etc, I will also share that. 
For those of you that are already familiar with sponsored reviews, and have a site that you like, please recommend! 

-and-

I have signed up for some new mystery shopping companies.  Not because I'm not getting enough jobs from the other ones (I am and I don't even have time to take them all as I am busy with my writing), but because I want to make sure that they pay well and on time.  So, there WILL be more mystery shopping companies posted in the future! 

What is my biggest pet peeve when visiting sites and blogs that tell how to make money online? 

Those that promote pay-to-click sites. 
There is only one way to make any "actual" money with these sites, and that is getting other people to join.  To convince them to join, people tell all about the money they've made.  They don't mention that the whole $5 they made last month included all the income from their referrals. 

Well, here's the math. 
The average pay-to-click site requires you to remain on the site clicked for 30 seconds.  Each site pays an average of .01.  And that is generous.  There are plenty out there that only pay .0075, .005, or even .001.  In addition, most sites only have five-ten sites that you can click on each day.  So, it will take time to move between different sites. 

Here's a few scenarios:
30 seconds per site, making .01 per site.  I will be very, very generous and say that it it will take no time at all to move between clicks and between actual ptc sites. 
That 2 cents per minute or 1.20 per hour. 

Here's a more realistic scenario:
.005 per site.  We'll assume 30 seconds per site plus another 10 seconds to navigate between clicks. 
That is .0075 per minute or 45 cents per hour. 

Worst case scenario:
.001 per site.  Assume 1 minute per click and to navigate between sites.  This will also take into account those clicks that don't credit, time you spend arguing about receiving your payment, etc. 
You'll make an amazing total of .06 per hour.

If you absolutely insist upon trying paid-to-click sites, go join Neobux.  Faithfully click everyday for a month.  And then tell me it was worth your time.
(yes, I tried it.  yes, I was paid.  no, I'm not posting my referral link.  I no longer visit the site.  Picking up change in parking lots is more profitable.) 

Okay, you should already have your picture picked out and it should be 125 pixels x 125 pixels.  (If you missed the post on how to make/get this, here is the link to the article: http://www.incomeonlineandmore.com/1/post/2010/05/how-to-make-a-badge-for-your-blog.html)

1) Next, we upload the picture to the internet.  I use Photobucket.  It’s free, easy to use, and once the picture is uploaded, Photobucket automatically makes an e-mail link, HTML code, direct link, and image code for each picture.  This is going to save us a lot of trouble.  So, if you don’t already have an account, open a free account with Photobucket.

2) On the Photobucket home page, click “upload images and video.”  This will open a new window which allows you to pick the picture from your computer.  (Use the “look in” option at the top if it doesn’t automatically open to where you have it saved….for example, when mine pops up, it opens the “downloads” folder, not the “my pictures.”).  Double-click on the picture and it will upload to Photobucket.  Photobucket will now give you the option to add a name, description, and tags.  I simply skip this step and click “save” as there aren’t enough photos in my account for me to be worried about organizing them.  

3) Once on your Photobucket home page, simply click on the image.  It will appear on the screen a bit larger.  On the left hand side of the screen, there will be a “share this image box.”  

4)  Here’s the magic part.  You have no idea how long it took for me to find this stupid code when I first started blogging.

<img src="PHOTOBUCKET  DIRECT LINK FOR PICTURE"/><br/><textarea rows="4" cols="24" style="text-align:center"><a border="0" href="WEBSITE" target="_blank"><img src="PHOTOBUCKET DIRECT LINK FOR PICTURE"/></a></textarea>

Once you input your link and website in the appropriate places above, you now have your html code for the “grab my badge button”.  Simply cut and paste it onto your website wherever you want it! 

Example:  For my cynical musings website, the direct link provided by Photobucket in the "share this image" box is: http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg

The website address is: http://www.cynical musings.com

So, the "grab my badge" code looks like this:
<img src="http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg"/><br/><textarea rows="4" cols="24" style="text-align:center"><a border="0" href="http://www." target="_blank"><img src="http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg"/></a></textarea>

While I've only done three shops for Customer Impact, the pay was decent for the jobs needing done and I was paid promptly.  As with all of the other mystery shopping sites on this website, I have been paid!  If you're interested in becoming a shopper for Customer Impact, please visit the following link: Become a shopper!

OTX Research is actually a company that makes surveys for clients and uses various surveys companies to reach customers to fill out those surveys.  So you may be asked to participate in a Lightspeed Panel Survey or a Opinion Outpost survey, and they will announce that the survey is hosted by an outside company.  Occasionally this outside company you are sent to will be OTX. 

In my opinion and vast experience of surveys, I advise you to not even bother if the survey is by OTX. 

1) The screening process takes a ridiculous amount of time.  This is the only survey company I know that can have thirty questions just for screening.

2) Often, you will spend twenty minutes on a survey, answer all the questions you would for another company, and then have them announce that you were "screened out."  Now, I have no proof....but from my experience they aren't throwing all those answers away.  You actually did the entire survey.  They just don't want to pay you for it.  Trust me, if you spent 20 minutes answering the normal "is this statement believable, rate 1-10 your opinion of this brand, that brand, the other brand, etc." you've done the survey.

3) The pay, on the rare occasions you qualify, is horrible.  Basic rule for surveys: you want to be paid AT LEAST $1.00 for every 10 minutes of your time.  Spending 30 min. filling out a survey for a $1.00 is stupid.  Trust me, you can make money other ways on the internet. 

4) You only qualify for a survey about 1-2% of the time.  Yes, you read that right.  I've tried over 100 surveys by OTX.  The results: screened out about 90 times.  Five times I spent more than 20 minutes answering various questions about a product, and was then told I didn't qualify.  Three times I've spent more than 20 minutes answering various questions and had the survey "freeze up" on the close to the last page.  When you try to contact them, they say that since you didn't finish the survey, they can't pay you.  Note: I have NOT had a survey freeze up for any site except for them.  Ever. 

As always, I always appreciate comments about your experience, and will do a follow-up post with all your comments. 

 As I told you earlier, I started writing for Suite101 about six months, but wanted to give it a fair chance before I gave it an official grade or recommended it to anyone.  Overall, I would recommend it to writers who are new at freelancing (even if you're not new to writing).  The experience, learning, and publishing credits make up for the fairly poor pay.   If you're interested in becoming a Suite101 writer, there is an application process. 
Please feel free to apply by clicking here: www.suite101.com/invite/676850.

Positives-
They have a great editorial staff and tutorials that will help you learn article writing basics.  Most places have the same requirements- a certain format for sources, not using "open" links, no first- or second- person writing, etc. 

It will get you some publishing credits.  Now that I have quite a few articles published there, it has been much easier to get other freelance writing jobs.  Ones that pay a lot more.

They have a great community and forums.  I've gotten leads on other jobs from the forums, not to mention a lot of great advice.  Unlike some writing forums out there, I don't think I've every seen a rude, snappish remark.  People are open, friendly, and willing to help each other. 

Negatives-
THE PAY.  I have to be honest.  I've written 40 articles over the last six months.  My income so far is a little over $21.  That means I only got paid about 50 cents per article.  Thus far. 
-----They only pay for page views.  No up-front article pay.  I really, really don't like this.  Even a $1.00 an article plus page view pay would have tripled what I've made so far.  Right now, I'm writing for other sites, and using Suite101 for my religious articles. 
-----However, I will continue to get revenue forever on those articles.  Plus I have reprint rights.  Suite101 only takes electronic rights for the first year. 
-----I write for a non "high-paying" area.  Finance links usually garner about $10.00 per click.  But I'm not a financial expert (IRA's, tax laws, etc.).  I write about religion for Suite101. 

    **Part 1- Track your spending

    Amazing as it seems, the majority of households don’t use a budget.  Financial goals are like all other goals- you need definite goals and a plan of action to get anywhere.  Wandering along with no plan makes it very unlikely that you will reach any goal.  

    The first step is to track your spending.  Some suggest a week, others a month.  I would suggest a month, as you want to make sure that all the bills that wander in throughout the months- such as cable, internet, housing, etc- are accounted for.  The important thing is to track EVERYTHING.  That includes the pack of gum or cup of coffee you buy with a crumpled dollar you found between the car seats.   That also includes the impulse purchase of a pair of shoes- don’t use the “it was just once” excuse.  Buy them if you want, but make sure you track it.

There are a couple of ways to do this.  If you use a finance program such as Quicken, you can simply run a report at the end of the month.  Make sure that you put in anything you buy with cash in a cash account.  Don’t just skip it because you don’t already have one set up.  The second way is to write down everything at the end of the day.  I suggest using an Excel worksheet.  You can divide by category and simply add the daily amounts to the old total to get an updated total.  No messing with a calculator.  

At the end of the month, not only look at the totals spent, but the percentage.  I’m sure you all know how to figure out percentage, but just in case: amount spent on category divided by total spent times 100 gives you the percentage.  For example, you spent $100 on groceries/$1000 spent total is equal to .1.   Multiply times 100, and you spent 10% of your total expenses on groceries.  

Corporate Research International is another company that I have done jobs for and that has paid.  Like I've said before, I will NEVER recommend a site that hasn't paid me personally. While this sometimes means that I occasionally don't get paid for investigating stuff, it means YOU WILL! 

Benefits of CRI: I just got $50 for one job a couple of days ago.  It has some of the higher paying jobs that I do, but only because I only take last minute jobs from them.  They do send e-mails on a regular basis with last minute jobs they need done, with the pay rate for the job.  This is where I pick my jobs from for this company.  Because...

Negatives of CRI: The pay rate for a "regular" (aka- not last minute job) is horrible beyond belief.  Another negative is that for each company you're going to mystery shop for (say company a is a gas station; company b is a pizza place; company c is a retail store, etc), you have to do the training and pass the test before they'll even tell you what the job pays!  I know, I know.  Honestly, it doesn't take that long, though. 

BY INVITE.  Please e-mail me at:  jenniferlandsberger@yahoo.com  -or-  use the contact page.  Include your e-mail and I will send an invitation to you!   In the meantime, I have to send e-mail invites!  I will NOT nor ever will share your e-mail address with anyone else, and I do not and will not charge for any information on this site.  I will also not e-mail you myself except for the actual invite.