Mystery Shopping is a great way to make some part-time money on your own schedule, especially for college students. Check out how mystery shopping fits into college life. The set pay for each mystery shop you choose to conduct will vary, but here are some good examples.
Mystery Shopping Your Way Through College
Books for one semester ($300) = 10 Shops!
That would be less than one shop per week for the whole semester! Obviously, the last thing you want to spend your money on is textbooks that you probably won’t open up until the night before a test, but you’ve got to have them.
Back to School Outfit $50-$150 = 2-5 Shops!
You could do that in a couple of days on your way home from classes! You can’t show up to the first day of classes with last year’s clothes.
Nice dinner for two ($90-$200) = 3-9 Shops!
That’s if you’re paying for both of you! You’ll be the only guy with enough extra cash to take her somewhere other than the dining hall. That’s a winner!
12 Pack of Ramen Noodles = 36 meals for ONLY ONE SHOP!!!!!
This one is a no-brainer.
See a Movie ($10) = 3 movies for one Shop!
Who wants to see a movie alone? That’s for divorcees and loners, aka, not you. Grab two pals and catch a flick!
Tank of Gas ($30-90) = 1-3 Shops!
With gas prices what they are, you might be regretting choosing a gas guzzler as your car. As cool as it might be to scoot around town in the coolest car on the college strip, it’s probably not as cool when you’re filling it up for the 9th time in a week. Not to mention the car payment your parents transferred over to you as soon as they dropped you off at college.
Plane Ticket ($150-350) = 5-12 Shops!
Whether it’s a Spring Break adventure or a holiday trip home, mystery shopping can get you there! Doing one shop a week for 12 weeks can get you pretty much anywhere in the US you want to go! Just think, one second you’re mystery shopping and the next you’re on the beach.
iPhone ($100-300) = 4-10 Shops!
So your parents don’t understand why you need the latest advance in technology just so that you can call them once a day to check in. They probably still have a landline, too. And most likely they’ve never heard of Instagram. Well, you won’t need their permission to upgrade to a smart phone. You can’t be the only person in your class without something to play Candy Crush Saga on while your professor drones on in what sounds like a foreign language.
Laptop ($500-2000) = 17-65 Shops!
Okay, 65 shops seems like a lot, but that means, one shop per day for a little more than two months and you could get the nicest laptop that Best Buy or the Apple store has to offer. It’s better than making the trek across campus to the library every time you need to type something up, and we highly doubt your professor will be impressed when you turn in a handwritten paper.
What kinds of things would you buy with the money you make from mystery shopping?
Lindley K