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$7,641 in May Extra Income – Side Hustles!

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 85 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Find out how I made $7,641 in July from working at home.Hey everyone. Happy Monday!  I published my May Goals Update along with my June Goals yesterday. I decided to split up the posts, so don’t forget to read that 🙂 This is a whale of a post today, so make sure to grab a cup of coffee beforehand…

May was yet another good month with extra income. I don’t think any sane person could possibly complain about making approximately $7,641 in side hustle income, especially when everything in fun to do.

I still haven’t been able to crack the $8,000 level of extra income just yet (this is after expenses). Also, May income was below April’s income. However, not by much.

I do have plans to increase my side hustle income since I do seem like I have stalled out. The stalling is only normal I am guessing, since I have pretty much decided that I do not want to sacrifice enjoying life in order to make more money.

I am working on streamlining more tasks in order to have a better work-life balance. I also have added a couple more side hustles that will most likely add up to a decent amount of future side income. One thing that I really need to work on is being better with collecting payments. I currently have a couple of invoices outstanding that total over $1,000, and they have been outstanding for over 30 days now. UGH.

In May, I made $7,859 in extra income, after most expenses. In case you are new to my blog, “Extra Income” consists of all income that I make that does not include my office job that I have in the financial services industry. Extra income also does not include any money that W makes, as he doesn’t do too much for extra income (he just started something last week, so we have not seen any profit from it yet) and he is mostly commission at his work (so it fluctuates every month anyways).

As I say every month in my income update posts: this is not all super easy. None of it is. I spend enough time to make this a full-time job on top of my already full-time job. Luckily, I do enjoy what I’m doing so it’s not like I’m dreading anything. The goals that we have are also a great motivator. I just keep thinking about how badly I want my student loans gone, and also how badly we want a new house next year. Read further on my Extra Income page.

$7,641 in May Extra Income - Side Hustles!

This is for the month of May and after most fees and expenses (expenses were a little over $900 and include payments for staff writing on my blog and work with FITnancials, PayPal fees, etc.) being taken out. May’s number above includes a rent payment from my sister.

You can find my 2013 goals update here.

 

Blog

I am definitely not private anymore. Everyone knows about my blog… Well, besides those in my industry and those that I work with. Being public with it all feels much more nice, but now I really need to think about how public I am with so many things in my life. Being public about income sounds just a tad scary to me. However, I haven’t publicly talked about our income from our main jobs, so that is still good.

My sister’s blog is still going great. Please subscribe to FITnancials if you haven’t yet. She has many plans for her blog, and just earned her personal trainer fitness certification last month and started a job as a personal trainer also. She’s doing great! And she’s about to start her first semester in college as well.

If you are looking to start a blog, don’t forget to read my post How To Start a Blog. It gives step by step instructions on starting your own blog. Also, one of my most popular posts this past month was How To Make Money Blogging.

 

Staff Writing

This is what I wrote for the past three months and this section is still pretty much the same.

I’m not doing as much staff writing as I used to. It has slowly dwindled down since the Fall (I started turning down some writing opportunities, while one was hit by the Page Rank issue recently). Thankfully this is something that has worked out for the best, as now I can focus my time on other things. Right now I only write for one personal finance website and one hotel’s travel blog.

As you can see below, I made approximately $700 in staff writing last month. However, I am thinking about ramping this back up again. I’m looking to diversify and may be looking for staff writing assignments in the near future 🙂 If you need a staff writer, shoot me an e-mail.

I made a post titled So You Want to Be a Freelance Writer?, so please read further about this topic in that post.

 

New side hustles – Blog Management and more

A lot of you have wondered what my new side hustle is. I was recently contacted by a blog owner and I am now managing a new blog. I am excited to start this and see where it goes!

I also recently started doing some consulting. This encompasses many things, such as helping new bloggers and also managing smaller aspects of blogs. The consulting mostly came from others asking me to help them. I never once even thought about consulting or coaching, but others have asked and I have come to enjoy it very much.

ALSO, I bought a domain for a new blog, and plan on starting that soon. This blog will be mostly focused on diversifying my finances and being more financially independent. I’m looking forward to starting this a lot! I even think W is a little excited for it too…

I do think that with all of my new side hustles, that my extra income will start growing again. WOOOHOO! This will make it much more easier to make the switch to self employment.

Some of you have also said that I should start an e-book. I have been debating this now for some time, and once I have more time, I would like to pursue this more. What are some good e-book ideas? Freelance writing, having a blog, something else? Let me know!

Are you interested in becoming a virtual assistant? Don’t forget to also read about what exactly a virtual assistant does.

 

How much time I spend

A lot of you have been asking how much time I spend with my side hustles. This is a great question, however, I’m not sure if I can be very helpful.

For example, I love to read blog posts, and don’t know if I should be counting that as “working.” Also, I tend to multi-task when I do anything, which means that I’m always spending a lot of time going back and forth – and that of course means a lot of time wasted.

Anyway, I don’t do as much staff writing anymore, but I usually spend around 30 minutes to an hour on each article that I write. Sometimes it can be shorter, but sometimes when I have no ideas, it is much, much longer.

Usually for my whale posts (which have been every single post that I’ve written lately), these take hours and hours. Usually they stretch over a period of days because I want them to be perfect. High quality posts are important!

Keep in mind that I have a full-time job completely unrelated to blogging (analyst in the financial services industry), so my side hustles revolve around that currently.  I usually spend each Saturday and Sunday working on my blog as well. I definitely spend at least 40 hours a week on my side hustles.

Here is my normal weekday schedule:

  • 6:15 am – Wake up and get ready for work.
  • 6:45 am – Check emails, moderate comments on my blog, read blogs (I love reading blog posts!)
  • 7:45 am – Leave for work
  • During My Hour Long Lunch Break – Check and reply to emails, moderate comments, read more blogs
  • 6:00 pm – I come home from work and work on my side hustles more. Sometimes I barely work on them, but sometimes I work on them a ton.

 

 

Extra Monthly Income in May

  • Staff writing – $700
  • Blog (consulting, managing blogs, & direct advertising and Adsense, after all expenses) – $5,416
  • Affiliate Income – $1,200
  • Virtual Assistant tasks – $0
  • Selling Clothes – $0
  • Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income)- $0
  • Mystery Shopping – $0
  • Rent (We rent a room out to my sister) – $325

 

Comparisons and 2013 Extra Income total

  • Total extra income for May: $7,641
  • Income in April: $7,859
  • Difference: -218
  • Total so far in 2013: $35,868 (AWESOME!)

 

 

How did you do in May? What are your extra income goals?

 

Related Posts

About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. myfijourney says

    Looks like you had another great month of extra income. It would be interesting to see your blog income broken down more in future updates.

    Reply

  3. Taynia says

    Way to go lady! You rock and roll. Where do you keep your adsense at? One of the things I like about your blog is it's not filled with ads, so I'm always surprised to see you make an income from adsense! Keep hitting it out of the park.
    My recent post But Why, Said The Fly

    Reply

  4. John S @ Frugal Rules says

    Another great month Michelle! I had a really good month as well, which was nice to see. I think it's also great that you're looking for additional ways to diversify. That's so important, especially in the online space.

    Reply

  6. SaveBigLiveBetter says

    Phenomenal! I love reading your monthly updates, it's inspiring to me, something to work towards!
    Thanks so much for sharing:)

    Reply

  7. Matt Becker says

    As always, very cool to hear how you break this all down. It's really impressive. I'd be interested to see/hear how your blog income breaks down into the different categories you've listed above. As a newbie, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about where bloggers actually make the majority of their money. Thanks for the info!
    My recent post My Life Insurance Mistake

    Reply

  13. Kyle@DebtFreeDiaries says

    Completely inspirational extra income amount last month! I would love to learn more in depth about freelance writing or other monetizing ideas for blogging. You could probably use a lot of what you already posted, but go a little more in detail about some things, like your experiences when first getting started. It would be awesome having it all in one place, organized and easy to access when not online.
    My recent post May 2013 Budget and Goals Review

    Reply

  14. Budget & the Beach says

    In May I made $929 in extra income, which I'm happy about and would be awesome, if it wasn't for the fact that I made only $2670 from video freelance work. But I'm happy the number keeps improving, even just a little bit helps. But I'm working on increasing as much side income as possible, especially for this summer. I do think I would have a hard time working as much as you do though. Although I love blog related activities, I need to move away from my computer and do other things. But I know somehow you still mange the time to do fun things!
    My recent post Trying to Solve the Mysteries of the Universe

    Reply

  24. Christopher @ This that and the MBA says

    way to go michelle. you are killing it. That is awesome to have earned so much online, some people do not even make 35k in a year.

    Reply

  25. debtandthegirl says

    Another great month for you, Michelle. May was really good for me in terms of extra money on my blog,it has really motivated me to seek better opportunities. You are an inspiration.
    My recent post Holy Cow! Is That How Much I Spend on Food?

    Reply

  26. iheartbudgets says

    Ballin' as usual. I'm just starting to bring in some dough, but can't seem to keep up with my own blog posts, let alone all the ad emails and such. I need an entire weekend just to clear out my inbox and get everything lined up.

    But you seem to have a decent balance, earning an extra $7.5k per month AND still enjoying life. I don't even earn that between my day job AND side hustle, so you're definitely doing it right.

    Just make sure you withhold like 30% of that for those pesky taxes….plus you might want to talk to your accountant about filing as an S-Corp if you haven't already…

    Reply

  39. E.M. says

    Awesome! I love these extra income posts, they're so inspirational. I'm sure you'll hit the $8k mark soon! I have been thinking about getting up earlier to do blog-related tasks instead of waiting until the evening (when I'm tired and want to relax); it seems like it would be a little easier.
    My recent post The Mindset of Saving

    Reply

  40. The Norwegian Girl says

    I realize I´m probably repeating most of the other comments here, but I just love reading these posts where you write about your extra income, because it makes me want to do something similar too one day. I´m just not sure on how to do it.

    Reply

  41. Pretired Nick says

    Wow, great job! I'm kinda blown away by how successful you've been at this. You might want to break down your "blog" income on the summary section. Putting Adsense in with consulting income makes it a little hard to grasp the various proportions of each. But, still, I am super impressed!
    My recent post Pop your own housing bubble

    Reply

  42. mycanuckbuck says

    Impressive as always!
    My recent post How Misguided Use Of Balance Transfer Credit Cards Can Hurt You

    Reply

  43. Lindsey @ Cents says

    Hey Michelle!
    I love reading your posts – I always feel that anything is possible after reading one of your "monthly earnings" posts! I'm excited to hear more about your new blog too!
    Cheers
    Lindsey
    My recent post Mini Infographic for How My Brain Works

    Reply

  47. Desi says

    I really want to start staff writing. I currently write for another blog but it’s unpaid. I’m trying to focus on getting my blog to be great and getting more consistent with posts so I can start confidently offering my services!

    Reply

  48. Nick Loper says

    WOW! $7k+ in side hustle income is awesome! Even at 40/hrs of extra work, that’s pretty impressive. Inspiring stuff.

    Just found your site actually, so I need to go back through some of your older posts 🙂

    Reply

  49. Robert Connor says

    Hi Michelle,
    Since this was a big chunk for your income – we were just wondering how many blogs it takes to manage and see this great result. Thanks for your time and have a great day on purpose!
    Blog (consulting, managing blogs, & direct advertising and Adsense, after all expenses) – $5,416

    Reply

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