How I made an extra £1,639 in August
If you have been following my side hustle journey for a while, you will know that I always like to give you a breakdown of my extra earnings each month. August was incredible and has now topped the charts to be the highest earning month so far in 2024.
The aim of this is not to brag or show off, but to prove that this is possible and inspire you to see if you can boost your earnings with some of these methods. So without further ado, here’s how I made an extra £1,639.43 in August 2024.
The Bank Engine: £981.77
I am continuously astounded at these profits as the business grows from strength-to-strength. Almost all of the income from The Bank Engine comes from you signing up to apps, websites and finance platforms. I always try to ensure that there is a benefit to you from signing up as well and July saw the return of some brilliant offers including Zing and Webull which resulted in some great earnings for you and this page throughout July and August.
I am beyond grateful for your continued to support and am hopeful that I can continue to help you all increase your income as we continue through the rest of 2024. If you want to see a full breakdown of the income and expenses for this, be sure to check out my Instagram earnings post which will be coming soon.
Bank Switching: £175.00
I completed the most recent Barclays bank switching offer in July and following the completion of various criteria, I received the £175 incentive payment in August.
Mystery Shopping: £174.55
Check out my free mystery shopping guide here, where I share how I make £1,000s from this side hustle.
Since writing this guide I have discovered SmartSpotter (see below) which is fast becoming my favourite app and is perfect if you don't like the idea of having to interact with staff as most jobs don't require you to!
3 x M&S Shopping List Tasks: £42.00 (find 50 items per store, record stock level & capture images)
1 x M&S Mystery Shop: £14.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Poundland Mystery Shop: £11.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x GetPro Display Check: £7.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Currys Mystery Shop: £7.00 (visit store, capture images, interact with staff & answer questions)
Roamler - I do have some referral links (referrer-only benefit) if you would like to help me out!
5 x Hair Care Checks: £17.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
15 x R&Rs: £15.00 + free food worth ~£38.00 (visit store, capture images & review items online)
1 x Veggie Check: £5.00 (visit store, capture images of vegetables & answer questions)
1 x Ice Cream Check: £5.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Home Care Check: £4.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Peroni Check: £3.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Tesco Compliance Check: £3.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Sound Check: £3.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Chocolate Price Check: £2.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
SmartSpotter - I do have some referral links (referrer-only benefit) if you would like to help me out!
3 x Pets At Home Checks: £16.30 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
3 x Washing Checks: £15.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
2 x Cat Food Checks: £10.00 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x SumUp Check: £7.20 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Snack Check: £4.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
1 x Boots Display Check: £4.50 (visit store, capture images & answer questions)
I also incurred £21.15 worth of travel costs when completing these tasks.
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: £66.22
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.
Market Research: £59.33
Mr & Mrs Smith is a boutique hotel booking site which I used a few times earlier in the year, it is well worth looking at as they price match cheap comparison sites for any hotels on their site as well as providing added extras when you book through them.
In August, they sent me a survey to fill in and as a thank you gave me £20 credit towards a future stay.
I received £14 worth of supermarket vouchers from an online community I joined through Angelfish around a year ago, to receive these I just took part in a number of short surveys throughout the month.
I have not been invited to anything else through Angelfish since, but just from this community I have made £100s for taking part semi-regularly.
I only started using this app in the last month but am finding it really great so far. It is essentially another market research app which lets you apply for various types of studies from surveys to market research video calls.
I took part in the following in August:
Banking Providers survey (USD 7.00)
Smartphone Homescreen survey (USD 10.00)
These were both paid within 7 days of completing them via PayPal and I will continue to use this going forwards.
I downloaded this app right at the start of July after reading some positive things about it online and it's actually pretty worthwhile (coming from someone who hates surveys usually).
Most surveys I received were to do with watching online ads and answering 5 or 6 multiple choice questions on it, so took less than a few minutes each time and seem worth doing in my opinion!
You can cash your points out to vouchers once you reach £5 worth but are limited to Amazon only, whereas once you reach £10 you have a lot more options including supermarkets.
You can make considerably more if you share your audio data with them, but I have this firmly turned off and after filling in my profile & answering the surveys when available I reached £10 of points just before the end of July and again reached my second £10 before the end of August.
I was recommended this app in one of my posts a few months ago, and since then have been answering the super short surveys every time they pop up.
They are generally about shops I have visited and whether I made a purchase, but recently have started getting questions about Google searches too!
The earnings can only be redeemed for Google Play credit on Android but still worthwhile! I made £2.89 from this in August.
Matched Betting: £51.00
Matched betting is a tax-free side hustle that takes advantage of betting sites’ promotional offers.
I like to take quite a laid-back approach to matched betting which you can check out my free matched betting guide that has helped people earn £1,000s.
If you are new to matched betting or keen to understand more about it, feel free to message me with any questions!
Dividend Income: £44.51
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.
If you are new to investing, or just want to learn more, you can check out my free investing guide here.
Cashback: £3.72
This cashback app is similar to JamDoughnut as you purchase gift cards in the app and earn cashback for doing so, which can then be exchanged for more gift cards in increments of £1.
It is a little different as you also earn coins which can be used to complete in-app games where you can win extra cash, extra points or even gift cards.
Largely, for the last few months EverUp has had the highest cashback rates for supermarkets so I have been using them in place of other apps but it will be interesting to see if this continues.