Howard’s Top Picks for February 2013
Howard is a 54 year old white male from Jacksonville, FL. He spent 27 years in the US Army and retired as a Master Sergeant in 2004. He has participated in survey panels since January 2009. He enjoys fishing, tropical climates, and playing with his 2 tabby cats for fun. Sports, beer, and a laid back lifestyle are his passions.
February turned out to be a better month for earning some extra cash with survey panels than I had initially anticipated. February has never been one of my top earning months because there are just not a great deal of surveys available on most survey sites. There are usually many opportunities to evaluate ads from the Superbowl, but I didn’t get many this year for whatever reason. I had to really grind this month to make $150 from my top 5 or 6 survey panels. My favorite survey panels this month were Opinion Outpost, Global Test Market, Surveyhead / Focusline Surveys, Toluna, and My Survey.
My favorite survey panel has been Opinion Outpost for the last 2 years because I always seem to qualify for a lot of surveys and consistently cash out at least 2 or 3 times per month. This month I cashed out twice for a total of $23 and received 87 entries in their quarterly prize drawing. My ace in the hole was a usage diary that I received a $30 check from late in the month. Since I’m retired from the US Army, I only get paid once, at the beginning of each month. So I really appreciate any extra cash the last 2 weeks of every month.
I logged on to Opinion Outpost multiple times, most days, to earn my money this month. I don’t normally have to work this hard, but I was rewarded with $53 for my efforts.
My big surprise, this month, were all of the surveys I completed with Global Test Market. I had just requested a cash-out at the end of January, 2013 for $50, so my points’ balance was almost nothing at the beginning of this month. I earned 995 points for $49.50 which is a great month, for me, with this panel. I got at least 7 or 8 email invitations every week and I qualified for most of them. It normally takes me at least 2 to 3 months to earn this much. I should get a check for $50, from January’s cash-out, sometime this week. Needless to say, I’m very happy with GTM. It would be nice if every month was this productive.
Surveyhead and Focusline Surveys are sister companies where you are afforded essentially the same survey opportunities from each panel. I use both panels because of their pay-out times. I’m always working for the next month’s pay-out this month. This month I focused on Surveyhead because it was the closest to a pay-out. I completed surveys for $14.25, 1 iPad sweepstakes entry and requested a $25 Amazon voucher. With Focusline Surveys, I completed surveys for $2.75 and requested $35 with PayPal and $25 for an Amazon voucher. So all totaled, I earned $17 this month and requested $85 with PayPal and Amazon.
I made about $20 this month with Toluna. I usually cash-out for a $20 check every month with this panel. It’s hard to say what I specifically earned this month because most surveys are pending verification and points being awarded for a few weeks. I know that many people knock this panel for low survey values, but I always manage to complete 20 to 30 surveys every month. I also earned 48 sweepstakes entries this month. Maybe I’ll win one of these sweepstakes someday. I keep hoping….
I had an average month with My Survey. I received $10 in my PayPal account and I redeemed 1100 points for $10 with PayPal. My exact earnings were 1310 points and 32 sweepstakes entries. It’s worth noting that I could have participated in a smartphone diary for the whole month of Feb., but I was unable to because I bought a new smartphone at the start of the month after the diary had started. Oh well, my timing isn’t always the best.
When it was all said and done, I had a good earning month in spite of diminished opportunities for February 2013. I worked harder than I have other months to earn the same amount, but I still managed to pay my cellphone, cable and internet services with my survey earnings. That is always my monthly goal, so mission completed. Another positive note for February is that I updated my profiles on many survey panels. Whenever survey invitations slow down, it’s a great time to bring those profiles up to date. I might miss out on some great opportunities if my favorite survey panels don’t have an accurate picture of my demographics.
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