I'm Tired!

Oh my goodness...what a L-O-N-G weekend! My mom had to have surgery last week, so on Thursday I packed up the kids, the husband, the dog, and my laptop and made the 3 hour drive out there. The surgery was on Mom's ankle, and part of her Achilles tendon had to be cut, so needless to say, she can barely get out of bed. I felt it was important to help take care of her and do whatever I could to make her more comfortable. Needless to say, it is times like these that I am so grateful for my job. I could be with my kids, with my mom and still be able to work without worrying about taking time off. Of course, I didn't want the kids bothering "Grandma" so my husband and stepdad kept them entertained. They went to parks, went out on the lake in the canoe, shopping...I guess for them it was almost a mini vacation, lol! I, on the other hand, am exhausted. I was on-call for mom and she has her days and nights mixed up a bit, so she needed a lot of help at night. I also did all of the cooking for everyone and made some extra meals so Stepdad could just heat them up since she will be out of commission a few more weeks. I tried to clean up the house some too, (even though I HATE cleaning!!) because I know she is proud of a clean home.

I felt so empowered to be able to take care of my family and support my mom and still be able to work. I do not think any mother should have to choose between her family and children or her job and this weekend really reinforced that belief for me. And I am not sexist, Dads too of course! LOL! If I can give just one person the resources to be home with their family and still be able to work, I will have met my goal.

I am finishing up my summer semester courses right now--I have a BA in Political Science/Pre-Law but I am finishing up my Paralegal certification--and I am just swamped! I took 12 hours (4 8 week courses) so I am overloaded! Luckily, all the projects and all the finals will be finished after the 31st (my dear daughter's 1st birthday!) and then I will be able to spend a lot more time researching and posting leads!

Happy Monday to Everyone and I hope you have a GREAT week!!

Work From Home Customer Service Companies:

Okay, so I know not everyone enjoys doing customer service work. It takes a patient person to deal with an angry customer, but would you like it better if you could do it from home for and NOT in a call center? Here is a list of some companies that offer remote customer service positions. I have gathered the list from forums and websites I have scoured, so I want to thank some of the people before me who may worked on compiling these.

If you know of any other companies I should add to the list or come across any broken links, please let me know!



1-800-Contacts

1-800-Flowers


Accolade Support

ACD Direct

Alpine Access (Arizona, Colorado, Texas & Utah)

Affina

American Airlines

Arise

Asurion

Baby to Bee (send resume to deena@babytobee.com)

Beyond Marketing Online

BRG Research Services

Connect2Agent

Connect Plus, LLC

Convergys

Customer Loyalty Concepts

Delta

eCallogy (Utah Only!)

Grindstone

JetBlue Airways (Utah )

LiveOps

New

IncNiteo Services, Inc.

NTI Central -

O'Currance Teleservices (Utah)

RepsForRent

Secure Call Management

Service 800

Sterling Testing Systems

Support Freaks

Time Communications (St Paul, MN)

Teletech

Uhaul

Ver-A-Fast Corporation

VIPdesk

VoiceLog

West at Home (I worked for this company! They are great!)

Working Solutions

XAct Telesolutions

*As always--perform your own due diligence on any company you apply to. This blogger does not assume any responsibility for anything arising from a job search or applying to these companies.

Taking Surveys Online--The Real Deal

I have been doing surveys online for about 4 or 5 years. The first site I ever found to take surveys I paid 34.99 to join. LUCKILY, I did my homework and found plenty of info on it that didn't require having to pay, so I asked for a refund and got it. You should NEVER have to pay any money for anything.

So, here is the deal on surveys. You are NOT going to get rich. Yes, you might average 30 bucks an hour, but that is because you took one survey that paid 5 bucks and only took 10 minutes to take. You are not going to be taking surveys for 8 hours a day. Lots of times I get the survey but I don't qualify to complete it. I would say, in a really good month, I might make about 150-200 dollars. Usually, it is probably an extra 50-75 or so. It really just depends. Here is how it works:

1. You go to the company's website and register (they are going to ask for an email address to send the surveys, I recommend setting up a gmail just for this)

2. The survey comes to your inbox, you answer the screening questions and if you qualify you proceed.

3. You are awarded your "payment" in about 6-8 weeks and in order to get it you have to go to your account and cash out. Sometimes payment is in the form of an amazon.com gift card, or in points you can redeem for products, cash, or gift cards. Or it is cash. I like all three.

Another thing that happens often, you are asked to product test. After the survey is complete the company may ask you to test their product. I had a frozen meal sent to me overnight ups yesterday and I cant say what it was, but it was SO GOOD! Hopefully my feedback will help put it on the market. I also tested baby wipes last month and got an awesome new OPI nailpolish called Nics Sticks. There are all kinds of things. It doesnt happen every day, but probably once a month or a little more for me.

The following is a list of companies I take surveys from that I know pay and that I trust. Some of the links are general, some are my referral link, (just to keep it honest!).

Survey Spot (probably my favorite)

Survey Savvy (another favorite)

The Socratic Forum

Opinion Outpost

My Survey



These are my favorite companies. There are a lot more, trust me. But I do not really use them and a lot of them have you fill out 20 minutes surveys with the only reward being a sweepstakes entry. I don't have time for that! If you want to see a more comprehensive list of companies, you can check out a cool website called volition.com.

Again, if you want to make some easy money, (NOT millions) this is a good way to do it. Just remember to set up a separate email address!

Some Good Websites

These are just a couple of websites I think are very informative and helpful if you are interested in finding a job that allows you to work from home. You can find information, lists of companies that hire home-based workers, and job leads just to name a few. I know these websites have helped me tremendously!

WAHM
WorkPlaceLikeHome
Rat Race Rebellion

You have to play around with them and do some searching, but if you invest some time, you will be amazed at what you can find out!

The other thing that might surprise you is....CRAIGSLIST! I know, there are definitley scams there and you DO have to be careful. Just remember, you should NEVER have to pay ANYONE to work for them, NEVER accept anything that asks to process payments or checks, and keep your personal information private until you can find out more about the company. I work for a decent sized company (maybe 100 employees or so) and I found the lead on Craigslist, so there you go.

I found the best way to search is to go to Craigslist and in the search function type in "work from home" for jobs. A couple others you can try are "virtual" "remote" and "telecommute" There are ways to search Craigslist nationally as well, all you need is Google! In Google type: "telecommuting is OK" site:craigslist.org 2008-07

Obviously, you want to make sure you have the correct month and year. You can also use "work from home" instead of or in addition to "telecommuting is ok"

Hope that is helpful!! I know it made a big difference for me!

Yes, I work from home. Yes, it's a "REAL" job.

So, I am a work at home mom. I have a real job, with a real company, that allows me to work remotely from my "home office" (does your office have a litterbox in it??). I love the freedom it allows, the money it saves, and the time I have with my 3 children at home. Everytime people hear that I work from home I get one of a few reactions--excitment, incredulity, disbelief, and sometimes a little bit of jealousy.

What I hope to do here is provide people with LEGITIMATE, LEGAL, REAL, ACTUAL, ways to make money or work from home that I have nothing to do with. There are so many scams out there and it is so hard to find websites to really find out information. I want to make a one-stop shop here for websites, job leads, surveys, all KINDS of stuff. I am also totally frugal, so get ready for some of my money-saving tips! Oh--and I get free samples all the time. My husband, mail lady and neighbors all think I am crazy--BUT--in the last week I got 2 tubes of toothpaste, a new razor, 3 deoderants, 2 body washes, Cheerios, a diaper, and tampons...for free. So, call me crazy, but now I actually enjoy checking the mail! :)