Free Breast Cancer Walk Sneakers for Me (Hooray!)

So you may have read my blog post here about how I'm a 5-year breast cancer survivor and I'm going to be walking 60 miles for breast cancer this Fall and all of that. Each week Susan G. Komen sends it's walkers a training email and last week mine said it was time to purchase a 2nd pair of sneakers to start breaking in for the walk (only 9 weeks away!). Well, cut to the quick, there just isn't enough money in the budget right now to spend around $100 or so on good, quality walking sneakers. The ones I've had my eye on, a pair from New Balance, designed specifically for walking and with this walk in mind AND being raved about 3-day walkers on all the 3-day blogs and sites are averaging anywhere from $75-$100....and here's me, racking my brain, where am I going to find an extra hundred dollars this week? Eureka!!
A few months ago, I did a 3 day focus group survey for 20/20 Research panel and was paid with a $100 Amazon gift certificate. I looked up the sneakers on Amazon, ordered my size and used my gift certificate with no money coming out of my weekly or monthly budget! My new pink sneakers are on their way. I can't wait to try them out. I also did another focus group survey for 20/20 Research a couple of weeks ago and am awaiting my $75 payment! If you have never looked into Focus Groups as an extra way to make money, you might like to try it out. I did have to spend time legitimately answering questions, reviewing a product (or, actually the idea of it) and responding to different marketing ideas for it. But I got to do it all from the comfort of my couch, during time I would have been watching tv or waiting to pick up a child from preschool...totally worth it for $100! 20/20 sends me screeners several times per month - sometimes for points toward earning different gift certificates, etc. and sometimes for the big lengthy focus groups that pay a lot. I learned about Research/ Focus groups from Carrie at Money Saving Methods here.
This post is linked to Life As Mom's Frugal Friday here.