How I made an extra £1,364.12 in June
I have been sharing my additional earnings online for a number of years now for a few reasons; firstly I want to be as transparent as possible and I believe that me showing how I have increased my income can, and has, inspired you to find ways to put more money in your wallet without having to put in too much work.
Now that we are well into July, I wanted to break down exactly how I made an extra £1,364.12 in June.
The Bank Engine: £939.40
I am at a loss for words really, whilst The Bank Engine has almost always been profitable due to the business model that I have implemented from Day 1, I never anticipated that I would see numbers like this from what started as a small side project. So with that, I just wanted to express my gratitude for every single person who has supported The Bank Engine in any way possible.
June was a phenomenal month for The Bank Engine as there was a sudden surge in great referral schemes, notably ZING by HSBC which will be back again in a few days in another form. This, among other schemes, contributed significantly to the business’ income as well as paying you £100’s across the month, if not £1,000s.
If you are interested in seeing a full breakdown of how I got to this profit level for the month, check out my next Instagram post coming on Tuesday.
Mystery Shopping: £96.93
This has long been a favourite side hustle of mine, since starting it in late 2022. If you are new to mystery shopping you can check out my free mystery shopping guide here. June was interesting, as towards the end I tested out a new app in the form of SmartSpotter which is fast becoming my favourite app and I’m kicking myself I didn’t know about it sooner.
Here’s a breakdown of the jobs that I completed across Roamler and SmartSpotter during the month:
Roamler
8 x Hair Care Checks (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £33.00
4 x Personal Hygiene Checks (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £22.50
1 x Grooming Care Check (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £20.00
1 x Home Care Check (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £10.00
1 x Skin Care Check (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £6.00
3 x R&Rs (visit store, capture images, buy products & review once home): £3.00 + free items
1 x Survey (answer Q's on a plant): £1.00
SmartSpotter
2 x Beer Checks (visit store, capture images & answer Q's): £21.00
Matched Betting: £85.68
June was pretty heavy in sports events with the start of the Euros, alongside Royal Ascot, and I was able to take advantage of this quite well in the form of matched betting which is actually the very first side hustle I started way back in 2020.
This side hustle is one of my favourites as it can be done from home and all income is tax-free. It does sound a little complicated when you first start, but that is why I have created my free guide which you can check out here.
Lifetime ISA Bonus: £83.33
I am currently saving for the deposit on my first home, along with my partner, and we both do this in our own Lifetime ISAs - a Government backed scheme that allows you to save £4,000 per tax year and receive a 25% bonus on however much you save into the account.
I pay in £333.33 per month into my Lifetime ISA to reach this maximum £4,000 per year and as such receive a bonus of £83.33 per month from the Government. I currently use Nutmeg for my Lifetime ISA which is a Stocks & Shares Lifetime ISA.
Bank Interest: £57.54
I LOVE passive income, and bank interest is the best form of passive income as its your money working for you. Alongside my current Stocks & Shares Lifetime ISA, I have a Cash Lifetime ISA with Moneybox which I paid into for a good number of years and this is where the bulk of my bank interest comes from each month.
Dividend Income: £53.57
Dividends are largely like bank interest, but you receive them for investing in the stock market. They reflect a share of the profits of companies that you have invested in and are paid semi-regularly depending on how you invest.
This month, I also received some dividends from the Octopus VCTs that I recently invested in via Crowdcube as part of my tax planning and creating a more risky element to my investment portfolio to diversify myself.
If you are new to investing, or just want to learn more, you can check out my free investing guide here.
Cashback & Points: £29.95
If you follow me on Instagram you will know how much I love to bang on about cashback - it’s free money for spending how you normally would but just jumping through an extra hoop that takes maybe 1 minute!
In June, I received cashback for a number of different things:
Groceries - £5.99 worth of cashback received via EverUp by paying with vouchers.
Short staycation - £7.89 worth of cashback received via TopCashback
General spending - £16.07 worth of American Express points on various spending
Winnings: £6.25
I also received some points on EverUp for signing up through a referral link and used these to spin the wheel on some of their in-app games and won £6.25 worth of additional cash which I used towards our groceries.
Market Research: £10
For around a year now, I have been taking part in an ongoing study for a worldwide brand which involves giving small amounts of feedback every now and then. This takes a few minutes and pays very well in the form of gift cards which I use for our groceries as well.
You can check out my thoughts on market research here.
Surveys: £1.47
I typically have always held a grudge against surveys, but I have a soft spot for the Google Opinions surveys as they take seconds and generally pay well (say £0.20 for 15 seconds work)! Well worth checking this out if you are happy to share thoughts every few days for maybe a couple quid a month!