The holiday season is such a very busy time of the year, and it’s expensive to boot. Some mystery shoppers feel torn between giving up on earning income from mystery shopping assignments because of the intense time commitments of holiday events like corporate holiday parties, school seasonal functions, shopping for gifts, and so much more. Of course, many mystery shoppers also feel the need to pick up additional assignments to help pay for the extra expenses of the holiday season. These are two very conflicting ideas that many mystery shoppers battle internally about during this time of the year. Here are some tips to help you enjoy the extra income mystery shopping can provide to you during this busy time of year:
Stay Organized. The key to living stress-free during busy times, whether during the holidays or other times of the year that may be stressful to you, involves staying organized. So get out your calendars or planners, update it with everything that you have planned for the next few weeks, and then see what time slots you have available to pick up a few mystery shopping assignments.
Plan Your Shopping Trips. It’s fun during the holidays to rush off to the mall and pick up a few presents here and there, but as a mystery shopper, it will be to your advantage to plan these trips ahead of time. So while yo have your planner or calendar out in front of you, take time to plan out a few shopping trips over the next few weeks to get your gift purchases done. Then look for assignments on the job boards that you can pick up while you are out and about.
Check Out Your Budget. This conflicting feeling many mystery shoppers feel between the need to work more and the desire to work less and enjoy the holidays may easily be rectified with some budgeting on your part. Plan out your holiday budget down to the dollar, and then take a look at just how much you actually need to earn from your mystery shopping assignments. You may find that by picking and choosing a few select assignments that cover your gift purchase, grocery bills, or travel expenses, you don’t necessarily need to work quite as much as you first thought!
Avoid Peak Hours. One last thing to consider when mystery shopping during the holidays is to avoid peak shopping hours at all costs. You can spend twice as long as you normally would completing a typical assignment any other time of the year when you shop at peak holiday shopping hours. This will eat up your valuable time and make your time spent on these assignments less profitable. You can also look for assignments at less frequented venues such as choosing assignments at slower retail strip centers over the busy shopping mall.
You can indeed still enjoy the benefits of mystery shopping over the holidays without the huge time constraint you think the assignments will create for you when you put some of these tips into motion.