How I made an extra £1,259.06 in November
For those who have been following my personal finance journey for a number of months (or years!) you will know that I am keen to share my full journey which includes a breakdown of my extra earnings.
So with November 2023 coming to a close recently, I wanted to share a more detailed account of my extra earnings for last month.
November brought some phenomenal opportunities to me with ways to make some extra cash, particularly with a large focus on my mystery shopping side hustle which saw the highest income month since starting back in late 2022.
Without further ado, here’s a breakdown of how I made this extra cash in November.
The Bank Engine: £662.18
I am beyond words with how this little website and Instagram page I built on a whim one day has grown to such a profitable business on a monthly basis, with this being another >£500 profit month before taxes. To everyone who uses my referral links, affiliate links or simply enjoys the content I put out there - thank you! It helps more than you could imagine.
Throughout November, my diversified income stream continued to provide some great returns with referral income and free shares leading the way through some great referral schemes which have now ended (Webull, Trading212, etfc.) alongside switching my business e-money account into a business bank account with Mettle to make a whopping £200 for 15 minutes worth of work!
Mystery Shopping: £430.40
I have previously been exclusively using Roamler and Shepper each month, but this month cast my net a little wider and added some new mystery shopping sites and apps into the mix. Here’s a list of the apps I used alongside a breakdown of the income I earned from various jobs (before expenses):
Roamler - I do have some invite links (referrer only benefit) if anyone did want to help me out!
13 x Home Care checks (capture images in-store): £70.00
10 x Hair Care checks (capture images in-store): £68.00
6 x Lighting checks (capture images in-store): £45.00
8 x Fabric Care checks (capture images in-store): £36.00
16 x Rate & Review tasks (buy and review products): £27.00
1 x Iceland Gum check & fix (visit store and add stock to shelf): £22.00
3 x Sarsons Vinegar checks (capture images in-store): £13.00
1 x Morrisons Chiller check & fix (capture images in-store): £8.00
2 x Baby Care checks (capture images in-store): £6.00
1 x Meta Quest check (capture images in-store): £5.00
1 x Boots Promo check (capture images in-store): £3.00
1 x Tea Training check (capture images in-store): £1.50
Shepper (non-ref)
5 x M&S Mystery shops (capture images in-store & answer Qs): £61.00
2 x Poundland Mystery shops (capture images in-store & answer Qs): £23.00
5 x National Lottery checks (capture images in-store): £22.00
1 x Vodafone Mystery shop (capture images in-store & answer Qs): £7.00
1 x HotHands Unit check (locate unit in-store, capture images & answer Qs): £6.00
1 x Activia Promo check (capture images in-store): £6.00
1 x Amazon Home Delivery check: £35.00
This was a new one that I started this month, where you order an age-restricted item from Amazon (alcohol, etc.) and answer questions about whether you get ID'd upon delivery. You need to be aged 18-24.5 to be able to do these tasks and can do two per month.
BeMyEye (£1 bonus with ref code: v1znkgq )
4 x McDonald's App checks (take screenshots in-app and answer Qs): £8.00
1 x Currys Mystery shop (capture images in-store and answer Qs): £7.90
4 x Closed Stores (capture images of stores that aren't there anymore): £5.50
I originally had a go at completing a task on BeMyEye in October and just couldn't get on with it, but after giving it another go in November the app is slowly growing on me and I would recommend it's worth having a look at!
FieldAgent (ref code: gam4qhf )
1 x Yoghurt check task (capture images and a video in-store and answer Qs): £10.00
Matched Betting £41.55
This is my original side hustle that I started back in early 2020 as my first dive into the idea of earning extra income outside of my 9-5 role as an accountant. To date, I have made £3,000+ in tax-free cash from this side hustle and helped hundreds of others make money from it too.
If you haven’t heard of it, the idea is that you use betting sites’ promotional offers to make a profit by using online calculators to win regardless of the outcome of a sporting event. At first, this probably does sound quite complicated but that is why I have written a comprehensive free guide that has helped people make £1,000s from this side hustle.
I am happy to answer any questions on this side hustle, but I would highly recommend checking this free guide out here.
Market Research £35.00
During November I completed 1 x 30 minute market research study via Askable which was a look at a new piece of accounting software demo that I had to give feedback on for £25.00.
I am also on a list to receive paid surveys for a professional subscription company who send occasional surveys for which I earned £10.00 of vouchers during November for less than 5 minutes worth of work.
Cashback £7.44
Throughout November I made sure I got cashback on ALL of our regular spending which included groceries and other shopping trips; this was all done through JamDoughnut which gives you cashback for purchasing gift cards that you can then spend at the till in place of cash. For spending we would have done anyway, I made an extra £5.80 in cashback via JamDoughnut simply for spending what we would have already. Get a £2.00 bonus on your first transaction using the code 5ZNC
I also earned an additional £1.64 from Octopus Energy for taking part in their “Savings Sessions” as part of their “Octoplus” rewards scheme. Basically, use less energy during pre-determined time slots and earn points (redeemable as credit) for doing so! We weren’t even in the house at this point so accidentally made an extra £1.64 just for being opted into this scheme.
If you aren’t using Octopus Energy and are looking to move to them to save on your energy bill sign up here via my link and we’ll both get £50 (thank you in advance!)
Dividends: £6.81
This one is obviously a bit different, as it is the income earned by my investment portfolio during the month. I am not invested in dividend stocks and am mostly invested in accumulation funds where the purpose is to growth my investment pot over time rather than to provide me an income.
I am, however, paid dividends from a number of investments that I hold in platforms like Nutmeg and Trading212. I re-invest these dividends to ensure that my money is working hard for me.
If you are keen to learn more about investing, you can check out my free investing guide here, and I am always happy to answer questions that you may have.
Bank Interest: £71.10
Similar to the one above, this is “passive income” that I earn without lifting a finger and has been earned on my savings (being my emergency fund and my Cash Lifetime ISA).
Whilst this is a large amount of bank interest to be earning every month, the cash I have sat in these accounts is actually losing value as a result of inflation, which is frustrating but is part of the deal when you are looking to keep cash in the short-term.
Receipt Scanning: £4.58
Following some confusion over how this side hustle has worked for a number of months, I finally signed up to the NeilsenIQ Consumer Panel in June, which allows you to earn rewards for scanning your receipts from grocery shopping and then scanning the barcodes.
This isn’t going to make you a millionaire by any means, but by my calculations you can make an extra ~£40 per year just from scanning your weekly groceries that you would have bought anyway.
During November, I scanned our shopping every week and managed to get bonuses for using the app for 4 weeks straight - I don’t have a referral link, but this is the website (I know, it looks ancient but it does the job!)
Points can be exchanged for vouchers once you reach thresholds in £25 multiples depending on the type of voucher you would like! I would recommend this as a slow burner side hustle that adds up over the long-term.
Overall thoughts
November was a busy month! I haven’t put this much time into my additional earnings in a while but we’re still looking at around 20 hours all-in for the month which is an exceptionally great return on my time input. I am forever grateful of every single person who shows in an interest in what I do, helps me build this great community and space to help each other grow their wealth over time.
I anticipate this will be the last good month for 2023 as things come to a pause for Christmas, but I have a lot of very exciting plans in place for 2024 and the future and I can’t wait to bring these to fruition!