CashCrate - Personal Review - What is Cash Crate?

Age Category: 14 - 80

Requirements: Patience & Strategy 

"Welcome to CashCrate! We have Task for you!"
I know what your thinking, "What is CashCrate"? Cash Crate is one of many Survey Sites on the amazing internet that task you jobs in exchange for small amounts of money, very much like SwagBucks.com and PrizeRebel.com. (if you're familiar with them).

Cash Crate also has a one of the friendliest online community and forum of any survey site that I've personally seen. Main reason, everyone is there for one specific goal, to make some money and they don't mind helping others along the way at the same time either.

What Do I need
To start a CashCrate account, All you need is a:

1. Valid Email Address 
2. Use of your real name
3. A Phyiscal Mailing Address

"Whoa there! my Email Address?"

Yes. In order to sign up for an account, you'll need a valid email address. My suggestion is to set up a 2nd email (or 3rd or 4th, depending how many you already have) specifically for Cash Crate. So, as an example, JohnEgbert_CrashCrate@Live.com . Whatever works for you.

"Ok. That is  fine I guess, but why my real name?? I want to be anonymous."
Understandable, but in order for you to get paid via crash crate's payment system (which is by mailing you a physical check), your real name is a necessity.

"Wait? Mailing me a check? Is that why I need to give them my address?"
Yup! In order for CashCrate to pay you, you'll need to give them an address for mailing out your check to. Also, depending on your standing with the website, could either be by the 1st or the 15th of every month.

Where do I start?
The most easiest way to start is actually signing up right here!

email address

password

password again

The Pay
CashCrate offers many avenues of about obtaining and making money. Payments or Checks, as mentioned earlier, are sent out monthly either on the 1st or the 15th. These dates depend on what level you are on the website. Direct deposit, if you have you're own bank account, becomes available to you once you reach a certain pinnacle on the website. This pinnacle is easily measured by the amount of which you've earned on the website.

Cash Outs / Payments do have a minual requirement, which is a easy (yes, its quite easy) $20. If you're a hardballer and wish to set your self up with a higher payment goal, you can edit it to whatever your heart desires. For me, I like to set mine at $25.

• *Offers
• The Offers tab hosts the about 1/5 of what CashCrate has to office (in my opinion). Most of the offers are divided between paying into and just signing up with an offer (for free). Also, on top of doing and completing offers, you'll receive points that you can redeem for a large arrangement of gift cards or if you feel lucky, playing games to win a chance to earn even more!
• *Surveys
• The Offers Tab hosts the basic surveys that you can almost do on a daily basis (once 24 hours on each survey)
• *Top Surveys
• The Top Surveys tab hosts more advanced surveys that are sometimes hit and miss as they are looking for specific individuals to complete said surveys.
• *Referrals
• The Referrals tab gives you options on how you can make the most of Cash Crate, by getting referrals. Referrals, are a good primary source of obtaining sustainable and constant profit with cash crate because each task and offer your referrals do, you also get a share of their earnings as well (no you ain't stealing what they make!)
• *Bonus Surveys
• The Bonus Surveys Tab has a mix of offers and surveys that you can do for some extra cash.
• *Bonus Offers
• The Bonus Offers Tab, just like the normal Offers Tab, shows additional options for garnishing extra cash flow. However, just like many of the normal Offers, there are many offers in this tab that will require you to pay some amount to get something back in return. Sometimes its equal to what you pay and sometimes its more to what you paid.
• *Cash Tasks
• The Cash Tasks tab loads up a third party (CrowdFlower) money making website (that works with cashcrate). These cash tasks require you to perform internet tasks such as doing website research to making sure a company website has its hours listed. Signing up for a CrowdFlower account is most likely going to be a requirement for most of the jobs in this tab. So keep that in mind.

Conclusion
In conclusion. I like cashcrate. They have a easy going community of cash craters and an amazing Admin Mod Staff.  I've been a member with them since 2010(?) and have always found my self always going back after trying other money making websites. Plus, its a fun pass time with friends if you want to make it. Nothing makes friend challenges more eventful on CashCrate!

Collecting and Recycling - Scrap Metal

Scrap! Its whats for dinner tonight!
Recycling scrap metal can be very profitable, especially if you know what you doing, but even if you don't, its why I'm here, to assist you in your craving for metals. Ha ha! Before we get a head of ourselves, if you haven't gotten the chance too, read my other blog on recycling: Recycling - Plastics, Aluminum, and Glass. There are many good tips in that posting that you can also use for collecting scrap metal.

What Do I need First?

• Some Knowledge of Different Metals
• Wire Cutters
• Razer Blade/Cutter
• A Place to Separate and Store Your Metal

There are many kinds of metals in the world. A lot of which have a recyclable value of some kind. Knowing their value and being able to identify them from almost a quick glance is important as it will save you time, sweat, and maybe even tears! I'll provide a list and descriptions (along with pictures) below encase you need to refresh your memory on what metal is what.

Copper on pallets

Copper: With a reddish color to it, copper is the one of the most valuable metals you can find. When exposed to moisture, copper will obtain a light green color type of rust, but this rust can be cleaned off so its not really much of a problem. Copper is used allot in electronic wiring and in plumbing. There are also 2 different kinds of copper, Clean and Dirty. Clean copper, which is bright and has a shine to it, will always net you more. However dirty copper, which could be stained with a green layer or blackened and not shine, will net you less depending on the recycle place. Also, if you leave the insulation on wiring, you'll be given allot less. So it is totally worth the time to strip the insulation off the copper wire.

Aluminum: Has a silver like color to it and its value is a little less then Copper, but it still is worth collecting. Aluminum is used in allot of products: soda cans, house gutters, electrical cables, and piping. Aluminum is the most commonly found discarded metal. On a daily basis, you can see it on the freeways and streets from pipes and soda cans, but mostly soda cans. It is also one of the fewest metals that can be 100% recycled.

Stainless Steel: Usually has a silvery dull shine to it, its value is about the same as aluminum. Stainless Steel is used in many products from cookware, cutlery, hardware, surgical instruments, and to major appliances. As the name mentions, stainless steel does not rust cause of the way its made. It is easily found in outdoor areas and in moist climates.

Steel: Almost the same as Stainless Steel, except lacking the non-rusting abilities of its cousin, is used in many products from home appliances, piping, tire rims, food cans (soup/vegi/meat), bolts, and nails. Most can be found near building tear downs, in your own home, and sometimes in and around dumpsters.


Now that you know the low down of metals, the next step is to know.. where you gonna store it? Depending on your living situation, either be a house or an apartment (or car), there are a few places to store your metals. Its best if you can keep your scrap metal outta of the elements, cause normal steel and copper corrode and that lowers their value. You could keep them in your garage (if you have one) or on the balcony. However, if there is no place to keep them inside, try keep them covered with like a tarp or put them in a plastic container.

My personal way to store and keep metals separated are in milk crates. They are sturdy, not to big or to small, and they got handles for easy transport! Milk crates can be found at your nearest grocery store and sometimes even at the recycle center.

Where do I start?
Finding scrap metals just lying around, specially in big piles, is gonna be very hard, unless your really lucky! However most of the time that won't be the case, so the first place you could start is in and around your own home. From there on out, start looking around your own neighborhood and your place of work. Collect empty soup cans. Cut the extension wires from thrown out small appliances and collect thrown out tv cable, which has copper.

Fair warning, it is against law in most countries to go into "abandoned" buildings and remove these precious metals from the property. The reasoning on why is 3 things:

1. Harvesting metals, such as wiring, from a building could be extremely dangerous as wire could still be live even though the building is abandoned. Not only could someone get extremely hurt, but could die from electricity still going through wires. So its more of a law to prevent loss of life.
2. Taking metals from a building can be considered stealing since the building that you're harvesting from usually is owned by someone.
3. Most abandoned buildings have fencing around them or "should" be locked up. Just because its abandoned doesn't mean its not owned by someone. So you have trespassing issues

The Pay
The amount of cash you'll get varies by two things important factors:

• The metals in which you have
• The amount in weight in which you've collected

The most valuable scrap metal you can collect is by all Copper, while Steel the least valuable. The amount in weight, per pound, will determine how much you get too. Which why its important to collect a good amount, 30 lbs+, before even thinking about taking it to the recycle center. The less trips you can take, the better the reward.

Conclusion
Recycling scrap metal can be a fun small hobby, which can be educational to you and those around you. Heck, it might even lead to something else, like the learning of metal fabrication and my personal favorite, armor smithing.

Links:
Collecting and Recycling Plastic Bottles, Aluminum Cans and Glass Bottles
Dr Andrew J. Smith - How to Make Money Recycling Scrap Metal (very detailed)