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MSN Finance article excerpt:

Get paid to shop! Score free meals and clothes! Visit casinos, water parks and luxury hotels on someone else’s dime!

You might score pet food, vitamins, doughnuts or bone-density testing. You can get paid to go bowling, test-drive a luxury car, drink a microbrew, eat at a fancy steakhouse, ride a roller coaster, rent a car or visit a nursing home. You can mystery-shop a supermarket and get reimbursed for up to $10 worth of groceries.

Sound too good to be true? With mystery shopping, it is — sort of.

You’ll get “free” stuff. You’ll work for it, though. You’ll have to make one or more site visits. The evaluation forms can run to multiple pages. Generally, you pay upfront and wait weeks to be reimbursed. If you don’t follow directions, you won’t get paid or reimbursed.

That said, an organized and motivated shopper can consistently earn $100 a month or more. Or you can look at it this way: Mystery shopping gets you the small luxuries you can’t otherwise afford, such as fancy coffee or dinners out. It can also help shore up your budget by paying for things like vision exams, oil changes or veterinary care.

The pay may not be great — and you’ll have to decide whether the jobs are worth your time — but don’t underestimate the value of freebies. Mystery shopping can pay for things you want or need:

Are you without wheels? Watch for car-rental gigs and use the vehicle to shop for things that are tough to get home on the bus, such as soft drink multipacks or 35-pound bags of cat litter.

Ready to repay the $100 a buddy lent you? Look for a shop that pays you to purchase a money order.

Want to go downtown? Schedule one or two parking-garage shops and get free parking plus $10 to $20.