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November was way more like a normal side hustle month for me! I am trying to look for more side hustles I can do from home to build back my income. If you are new here, I used to see an OT client outside of my 9-5 that brought in quite a bit of additional income. Since having our baby in June I want to be home as much as possible! As a recap, each month I keep track of what I earn outside of my full-time job with the goal of increasing my earnings every month and year. So, without further adieu, let’s take a look at November’s side hustle report.
The Earnings
- Bank Churning: $450.00
- Survey Junkie: $5.59
- Etsy: $4.07
- mPerks: $40.00
- Doordash: $5.00
- Rakuten: $14.36
- Costco Digital Card: $30.00
- LMCU: $36.49
Total for the month of November: $585.51
The Breakdown
Bank Churning
This was where the majority of this month’s revenue came from. I signed up for a new checking account after receiving an offer in the mail from fifth third. If I deposited $3k in to the account within the first 90 days of opening it then they would pay me a $450 bonus. This took me all of 10 minutes. I opened the account, transferred funds, and the bonus appeared within a day or two.
This isn’t something I would recommend doing every month because 1. I wouldn’t want a bunch of checking accounts at different banks – it’s too hard to keep track of what bill is being paid from where and 2. it’s a lot of work to change things like automatic payments, direct deposits, etc. But a few times a year is do-able!
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is a market research site that pays people for their opinions. It’s not something you will get rich off of, but it could pay for your coffee runs! Minimum cash out is 500 points ($5.00) so I make it a monthly goal to achieve that. I wrote an entire review on Survey Junkie you can read here. If you are interested in signing up (it’s free!) click this link.
Etsy
A few months ago I opened my Etsy storefront! I turned the net worth and monthly budget spreadsheets I use for my own tracking in to shareable sheets. If you are interested in getting your finances on track check it out by clicking here! They are compatible with Excel and Google Sheets. I hope to add more in the future!
mPerks
I have been an mPerks member for quite some time. If you live in the Midwest and shop at Meijer, this is their loyalty program. It’s free to join and since they re-vamped it earlier this year I have noticed a lot more savings and cash back. You do have to physically go in and claim your rewards. Once they changed this feature instead of automatically taking money off your total I started counting it in my reports. Make sure you sign up if you shop at Meijer!
Doordash
My friend who lives across the country just had a baby. I had planned on buying her and her partner a meal (from afar) and a Doordash gift card seemed like a good option so they could choose what they wanted. For the holidays I noticed that if you purchased a $50 gift card you got a $5 bonus. I was going to spend the money on my friend regardless so it was a perk that they were offering this bonus.
Rakuten
Rakuten offers cash back at thousands of different retailers, both online and in-store. I’ve used them for years because I can find cash back on almost all of my purchases. You can use their app or download their browser extension. They pay out earnings quarterly via a physical “big fat check” as they say, or PayPal. The cash back amount for each store changes all the time but you can find anywhere from 1-15% at any given time. You can also stack coupons on top of this to save as much as possible.
Costco Digital Card
Our family finally caved and became Costco members. I spent a lot of time comparing prices of things like diapers, toilet paper, etc. between Costco and our local grocery store/Amazon and it was cheaper in almost every category. They charge an annual fee of $60. When I signed up I looked to see if there were any coupon codes or discounts to avoid paying full price. One deal I found was that if you signed up Costco would issue you a $30 gift card (or digital card as they call them)! I received it in my email a few days later.
LMCU
Lake Michigan Credit Union is where my husband and I have our joint checking account. The reason we chose LMCU is for their Max Checking Account where they will pay you 3% cash back up to $15k – which is about $450/year! You have to do a handful of things like sign up for e-statements, check your account online, etc. Overall it’s pretty easy and worth it for a few hundred dollars every year.
That’s a wrap on November! I haven’t been able to write as much over the last month or so. Going back to work and all the things that comes with juggling that, daycare, holidays, etc. is taking all of my time right now. But I love doing these side hustle reports and hopefully it helps someone else too. Until next month!