How I made an extra £777.11 in May 2026

Written By Tom Sexon

Over the last five years I have been sharing my experience with earning additional income outside of my 9-5 job online. I believe that sharing this on a regular basis shows how it can be done and the possibilities for people who may be struggling with their current income, there are no quick gimmicks here; this is all a mixture of things I have been doing and documenting for years. If you have any questions on anything I did during May, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Mystery Shopping: £316.88 Profit

Whilst this is an income stream I have been focusing on here and there for a number of years, 2026 seems to be one of the most fruitful years in recent memory with May being no exception. You may be interested to note that 72% of this income was made in the last three days of May.

I used two separate apps to carry out my “mystery shopping” tasks during May and it is worth noting that actually a lot of this contained no “mystery” at all as these were announced visits to shops where I had to carry out some tasks on behalf of brands, I don’t love these but when the money is right I jump straight on them.

Roamler: £285 Income

Roamler is the app that I have been using the longest and is the best one for repetitive work and a good mixture of mystery visits and announced visits, these are the tasks that paid me during May:

  • 5 x Display Unit check & fix visits: £129.00 (visit store, check prices and stock on a small unit and make changes if needed)

  • 1 x Pallet check & fix: £50.00 (visit store, check for pallet on shop floor and add a cardboard surround if needed)

  • 2 x Checkout audits: £40.00 (visit store, take photos of each manned till and answer a question for each)

  • 4 x Ice cream checks: £18.00 (visit store, take photos of ice cream section and answer questions)

  • 1 x Dairy check & fix: £16.00 (visit store, check prices and stock for dairy products and move/ add stock if required)

  • 1 x Sticker task: £15.00 (visit store, take photos and add stickers to a unit if required)

  • 2 x Mystery promo checks: £11.00 (visit store, take photos of specific displays if present)

  • 2 x Display unit checks: £6.00 (visit store, take photos of specific display units if present)

SmartSpotter: £85.50 Income

I REALLY like SmartSpotter for the high pay; per job this app seems to offer significantly more pay (at least in my area) and increases the pay quite quickly if tasks are not done earlier, the tasks are also normally quite quick - if you want to check the app out send me a message and I can give you my referral link (it gives me a small amount each time you complete a task)

  • 6 x Peanut butter checks: £40.00 (visit store, take photos of peanut butter products and remove cardboard if needed)

  • 3 x Mayonnaise checks: £14.00 (visit store, take photos of mayonnaise section)

  • 2 x Cat food checks: £13.50 (visit store, take photos of cat food sections and answer questions)

  • 1 x Pharmacy check: £9.00 (visit store, take photo of pharmacy and locate one display)

  • 1 x Spices check: £5.00 (visit store, take photos of spices and answer questions)

  • 1 x Energy check: £4.00 (visit store, take photos of energy drinks and answer questions)

Travel costs: £53.63 Costs

Due to the high-paying jobs, I also travelled more in May than I normally would for these jobs. I racked up 97.5 extra miles which is now calculated at the increased 55p per mile rate for use of a personal vehicle in line with the updated HMRC guidance announced last week.

These costs are for mileage done specifically to complete these jobs and is not included where I was already in the area or mixed the visit with personal tasks (e.g: grocery shopping, etc.)

Bank Interest: £190.46

I am still holding a significant amount of savings which will be utilised in due course, this is generating a decent amount of bank interest each month and has been heightened by using Zopa’s savings accounts during May. If you are interested in opening an account with Zopa, you can currently get a £20 bonus on top of 4% direct debit cashback and a 7.1% regular saver; message/ email me the word Zopa for my referral link!

Market Research: £138.02

I have been carrying out market research calls on a semi-regular basis but they are very hit and miss based on the opportunities available. I was fortunate that there were lots of opportunities available for me throughout May, which I completed across two apps:

Dscout: £78.02 (USD 108)

The tasks available on Dscout vary drastically depending on the type of information the researcher requires, which means that there is a lot of flexibility in earnings potential - these are the tasks I did on Dscout in May to generate £78.02 / USD 108:

  • 1 x Video Call with a researcher on a piece of software - £32.00 / USD 45

  • 1 x Self-recorded usability test on another piece of software - £14.96 / USD 20

  • 1 x Self-recorded video survey on TV - £10.81 / USD 15

  • 1 x Self-recorded video survey on cars - £10.68 / USD 15

  • 1 x Self-recorded video survey on credit - £5.98 / USD 8

  • 1 x Self-recorded usability test on another piece of software - £3.59 / USD 5

Askable: £60.00

Askable is similar to Dscout with the variety of tasks, but they are slightly further ahead with the hands-off studies and operate a number of market research calls held with AI researchers now - the pay varies on these much like with Dscout and there are typically less opportunities but it’s well worth having both of these apps to get exposure to all opportunities. Here are the Askable studies I did during May:

  • 1 x Video call with a finance company - £35.00

  • 1 x Self-recorded video survey on finance software - £15.00

  • 1 x Self-recorded video survey on finance software - £5.00

  • 1 x Self-recorded usability test on another piece of software - £5.00

The Bank Engine: £90.37

May was another good month for The Bank Engine whilst I focused on redesigning the website, removing and updating various sections and pushing my focus into other offerings; I was pleased to be able to lean on a number of new offers which came to market and am, as always, exceptionally grateful for all of you who sign up to these offers through my referral links.

Sign-up Offers: £25.00

Like many of you, I took advantage of the Klarna referral offer during May signing up myself with someone’s link who was also offering £15.00 on top of the £10.00 sign-up much like the offer I have been providing.

Cashback: £12.21

I earned cashback from three separate places during May:

  • EverUp groceries cashback: £6.26

  • Zopa direct debit cashback: £3.69 (message me for a referral link to get £20 + 4% cashback on your direct debits)

  • TopCashback one-off cashback for a deal: £2.26 (on a £10 Tesco gift card)

Google Rewards: £4.17

Google Rewards is an app that pays you for answering short surveys on a regular basis. These typically are linked to your Google history and therefore I will receive surveys on shops I have been to and asked if I made a purchase, if the store was accessible, etc. or based on Google searches I have made recently.

From the surveys, I made £3.62 in May with an extra £0.55 from receipt photos.

You can also earn from taking photos of receipts, it will try to figure out if you visited a store based on location history and will ask you for a receipt, you will then get paid roughly 10-20p for each receipt.

If you use an Android this can only be redeemed as Google Play credit, but simply set up a subscription to be paid via this (Disney+, Netflix, etc.) or can be paid via PayPal if on iOS but you will obviously earn more if on Android.

Tom Sexon
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How I made an extra £1,555.58 in April 2026