At the start of March I set myself 4 goals over on my new Instagram. One of these goals was to make £100 in extra income over the course of the month. One of the main ways I planned to do this was to sell some of my unwanted items on eBay and Facebook marketplace but due to the coronavirus outbreak I decided to put this on hold and look for some other ways to make extra money from home. Here are the ways I made £73 in extra income in March:

Surveys

Streetbees – £7.50
Referral code – 7946AT
Streetbees is by far my favourite survey app. It’s very well designed, easy to use and I don’t seem to get screened out in the same way I do on other survey apps and sites. You get paid per survey via PayPal and there’s no minimum payment threshold so it’s provided a steady trickle of income over the month.

Qmee* – £6.50
Referral reward – *If you sign up using my Qmee referral link we’ll both get 50p!
In second place is Qmee, another survey app. This one offers a lot more surveys but I do get screened out quite a lot. Again there is no minimum payment threshold if you choose to be paid by PayPal so you can withdraw after every completed survey if you wish.

Total – £14.00

Receipt Scanning

ZipZero – £6.00
Who knew you could make money by photographing your receipts? Obviously there’s a trade off as you’re effectively selling your data but I don’t have a problem with that as I already use a range of loyalty cards. I’m using 5 different apps at the moment and scanning each receipt into each app meaning I often make around 50-70p per receipt. ZipZero offers 1% of the value of your purchase and is the only one I’ve cashed out so far. The payments are sent to your utility bills (electricity, gas, water, internet, phone bill and council tax) so I used mine towards my gas and electricity bill.

Total – £6.00

Matched Betting

I’d been pretty nervous about trying matched betting but I finally gave it a go in March. I completed one offer with the help of Team Profit and made £12.29. Matched betting involves using free bets and incentives offered by bookmakers to make a profit and isn’t generally considered risky as it’s based on mathematical equations. The Team Profit website has how to videos and calculators you can use which really gave me the confidence to give it a try and I’m looking forward to completing my next offer when professional sport gets back to normal.

Total – £12.29

Referrals

Freetrade* – £24.82
Referral reward – *If you sign up using my Freetrade referral link we’ll both get a free share worth up to £200.
Freetrade is a free stock investing app that offers a free stock when you sign up and deposit at least £1 using a referral link. So far I’ve received a free share in Greggs worth over £20 when I got it and a free share in Crest Nicholson which was worth around £5.

Total – £24.82

Cashback

TopCashback* – £13.79
TopCashback allows you to earn cashback when you shop online with thousands of retailers. I’ve earned £530 since I started using it and throughout Spring they run a cashback giveaway where you have the chance to win cash prizes.

Quidco* – £2.25
Similar to TopCashback, Quido is cashback site that offers cashback on purchases with over 4,500 UK retailers. I’ve earned a total of £296 so far and always compare cashback rates on Quidco and TopCashback before deciding which site to purchase through.

Total – £16.04

Grand Total – £73.15

For this challenge I have only counted money I have received into my bank account. The exception is the shares I have in Freetrade as I’m waiting for the market to go back up before I withdraw these. I have further money awaiting withdrawal in some of these accounts and others that will contribute towards my April goal so make sure to come back next month and see how I do!

If you’ve found this post helpful and are thinking of trying any of these ways to make some extra income yourself please use my referral code or links when provided as these will often give you a little boost to get you started and provide me with a small reward for recommending you.

Why wait for the New Year, next month or even Monday? If I’ve decided I’m going to do something surely the best time to start is now? So, that’s what I’ve been doing and I thought maybe if I shared the changes I’ve been making and the things I’m determined not to give up on despite the time of year it might inspire someone, somewhere to start something now too.

I started investing

I recently discovered the FIRE movement – Financial Independence Retire Early. It’s a big thing in the US and it’s slowly been making its way over to the UK. The principle is that you increase your savings rate and invest enough so that, over time, the returns are sufficient to live off enabling you to retire before the official retirement age. Although I’m not looking to retire early I really like the flexibility this approach gives. Having another stream of income in 10 or 20 years’ time could allow us to reduce our working hours and spend more time with family or take a pay cut to work a job for love rather than money. The most accessible way of doing this is through investing so I’ve chosen to invest in low cost index funds and open a stocks and shares ISA. At the moment our monthly contributions are relatively low as we’re saving for a new car but in time I hope we’ll be able to increase this and set ourselves up for a more adaptable future.

I stopped drinking

Alcohol is a drug and drugs don’t lend themselves well to productivity. Although I was only (usually) drinking on Friday and Saturday nights the effects were much more far reaching. My Saturday morning workout sessions were less effective and the days after big events were often a write off. I’ve been toying with sobriety throughout 2019 and completed 40 days without alcohol at the start of the year then 66 days from the end of the summer. They say it takes 66 days to break a habit and you know what? I think “they” might be right. After those 66 days I had a blow out for my husband’s birthday which left me feeling hung-over for two days and I began drinking my regular couple of bottles of wine per week again, slipping right back into old habits. This time though I decided enough was enough and it just wasn’t worth it. I’d seen the benefits and I knew they weren’t outweighed by the “positives” of lowered inhibitions and a fuzzy feeling inside. So here I am at 6.30am on a Sunday morning feeling fresh as a daisy and finally finding the time I’ve been looking for to do something for myself and revive my blog.

I’m losing weight

I don’t want to wait till January when I’ve piled on the pounds and feel utterly miserable to focus on weight loss. I’ve dropped over a stone so far but a recent care free holiday means I need to get back on track. I don’t want to be derailed by the festive season so I think it’s more important than ever to get back to the key principles that have helped me get this far. Quitting alcohol should help me stay on track as my alcohol free alternatives contain a fraction of the calories and I won’t be as tempted to reach for salty snacks. I’m a member of Team RH (you might have seen Richie’s sweary, no-bullshit videos on Facebook) who have taught me so much about nutrition and why it’s important to try to hit my protein and fibre goals so I’ll be renewing my membership when it comes to an end. The Team RH app links to MyFitnessPal where I track my calories and provides me with calorie, protein, fibre, water, step and exercise goals which are completely achievable unlike those MyFitnessPal will set if you let it. If you’re interested in joining let me know and I’ll send you a discount code.

I’m minimising my media consumption

I was subscribed to so many email newsletters, podcasts, YouTube and social channels that it was overwhelming. I lived in fear of missing out on that key snippet of information that would make all the difference to my life and career but I was consuming so much information that it was hard to find the time to take action on any of it. The solution to this problem may seem pretty obvious but in practice it hasn’t been as easy as you might think. FOMO is real and whittling down to a few choice experts per channel has taken a lot of time but I think I’m nearly there. For once my inbox reads 0 unread emails and, on Instagram, I’ve actually seen the words “You’re all caught up.”

John and I are in the process of buying our first house! It’s a 3 bed semi on the outskirts of Carlisle and we are very excited to have a place to call our own. After 8 years of renting flats near the city centre I can’t wait to have a garden and a driveway! Here’s a sneak peak of the garden..

The impending responsibility of owning a property is making me feel like a real grown up and pushing me to consider things I’ve put off in the past like life insurance and pensions.

At the moment the company I work for isn’t obliged to offer employee pensions (although this will change in the next couple of years) so I’ve been looking at other options. My first thought was to set up a direct debit and transfer a monthly sum to my cash ISA. This is a safe option which offers tax free savings of up to £15,240 and if you select an easy access ISA you’ll be able to withdraw your funds at any time. If however you’re looking for better returns and higher long term growth investment might be the way forward.

Nutmeg offers a simple way to manage your savings online. You can invest as little as £1,000 per fund for ISAs (plus £50 monthly contributions for funds under £5,000) or £5,000 for pensions. A single management fee of between 0.3 and 1% (including VAT) per year is charged giving you the transparency that is often lacking in the traditional wealth management industry. You can set up a portfolio in under 10 minutes and you can top up, transfer or withdraw your funds whenever you like. Each diversified portfolio is managed by a team of experienced investment professionals who choose sensible strategies for long term growth and won’t spend your money on hot tips or market fads.

You can set your risk level anywhere from 1 “Avoiding loss is the priority” to 10 “I’ll risk large losses for higher gains” and a globally diversified portfolio means your risk will be spread across a wide range of investments. You can view the overall results for each of the 10 risk-based portfolios. From its inception in October 2012 to 31st March 2015 the average return for a medium risk investment was 23.9% which sounds pretty impressive to me!

Nutmeg’s interface works using a slider system so you can explore different options and decide what will work for you. I really like the concept and the fact that Nutmeg tailors investments to your specifications. Of course no investment of this type is without risk so keep that in mind but this is an easy, accessible option for both new and experienced investors.

Wondering how to save money on your Christmas shopping? Here are my top tips for making sure you grab a bargain.

When You Know What You’re Looking For

Compare

Once you’ve decided on the perfect present you need to have a quick scout around the internet to find out what price you should expect to pay. Keep a note of the sites where you find your item is cheapest. Remember to take postage into account as most retailers charge for standard delivery.

Cashback

The next thing to do is check the two top cashback sites Quidco and Topcashback to see if you can earn cashback on your purchases. Search for the names of your cheapest sites and work out the cashback amount you would receive if you used that link to buy. You can also add these retailers to your favourites so you will receive updates when the cashback amounts are increased. If you’re prepared to put your purchase off for a week or so this can be a rewarding move.

Codes

Often you can use voucher codes alongside cashback sites. (This isn’t always the case so check the Ts &Cs on the cashback site.) There are a huge number of voucher code sites on the internet so it’s best to search the name of the shop you’re looking for and the term “voucher code” or “discount code”. If you’re lucky you’ll find a few different codes you’ll need to take into account. Work out the discounts you can get on each site and factor in the cost and cashback amount to find your best price!

When you’re not quite sure

If you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for there are a number of sites that will send you fantastic deals straight to your inbox. My favourite is HotUKDeals. This site features the best deals available in the UK and each day they send out a newsletter with their top selections. From TVs to DVDs and candles to toys the site has a huge collection of deals found by it’s users. Deals at rated in ° so you can see how impressed the community is by the level of discount!

Another fantastic newsletter is the weekly MSE newsletter “Martin’s Money Tips”. Here’s last weeks which highlighted amazing deals on books, a 50% off code for the Body Shop, 15% off at ASOS, £100 worth of wine for £40 and lots more.