Making Sense Of Cents

Learn how to make extra money, how to save money, how to start a blog, and more.

JOIN OVER 300,000
MONTHLY READERS!

Make Money

BY - 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I talk about extra income a lot. To read my posts about extra income, click here.

Below are my extra income updates:

 

Here are some sites that I use to make extra money. They are relatively easy.

Starting a Blog

 

BestMark Shopping

 

Mr. Rebates

  • Whenever you are about to buy something online, check to see if the company is listed on Mr. Rebates. If it is, then when you buy something, you will get a rebate (can be anywhere from 1% to 40% back).

 

Swagbucks

  • Swagbucks is a search engine (like Google or Yahoo) that offers you the chance to earn “swagbucks” for different things. I mainly just do my normal internet searches through Swagbucks. Then when you accumulate enough, you can go to the prize store and get anything from toys, electronics, and gift cards. Most people buy Amazon gift cards.
  • So far I have made over $200 in Amazon gift cards. It's super easy to use, so sign up NOW!

 

Ebates

  • With Ebates you just shop like you normally would online. Go to ebates first and then search for the store you are wanting. They have many stores and most likely the store you are wanting to buy your item(s) from will be listed.
  • Then you just click to your online retailer of choice through ebates, and then ebates will give you your percent back! Sometimes you can get 10% to 15% back on your purchase. It's easy money!
  • This is a free service, click here to sign up.
  • This is a quote from their website: “People often ask: “This sounds too good to be true, how are you able to do it?” It really is quite simple. Just like almost every other online shopping center, we get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping that money – like almost all other sites do – we share it with you!”

 

That extra monthly income that I was supposed to be making…

BY - 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

 I'm doing an update on the extra monthly income that I talked about in How I plan on increasing my income and therefore my saving.

Back in August, we were trying to find ways to add around an extra $1,000 to our monthly income, so that we can pay down debt faster. Here are the steps that we were talking about doing.

1. “Do more secret shops.  I have made around $250 so far.  My plan is to make around $150-$200 a month.”

  • I have cut this down quite a bit, as I don't have time anymore to go to places when they are open.

2. “Continuing with my online surveys. Probably only around $30 a month.  But this along with Swagbucks will probably be around $50 a month altogether.”

  • This is still going at pretty much the same pace.

3. “We have a friend moving in with us.  This person is going to pay $300 for rent and utilities altogether.  Our house isn't huge but we have a finished basement, so altogether our house is around 3,000 square feet. So, with a roommate we still won't be cramped.”

  • This friend still doesn't know when she wants to move in, I wish she would have a date so that we can have everything ready for her, so it's a little aggravating. At first it was August, then it was the end of August, then it was the beginning of September, then the end of September, and now it's just in the air.
  • It wouldn't be as aggravating if we didn't tell another friend that they could not live with us because the other friend would be moving in soon. So now I think this other person just thinks I'm lying.

4. “Also, hopefully I can convince the BF to get a second part-time job.  His hours at his current job have been cut (but he's still making the same amount of money, I have no clue how that worked out), so he has time now.  Now I just need him to be motivated to look.”

  • He got more hours and he makes around $400 extra a month, so not exactly $500 like I wanted, but it's still an improvement.  And with Christmas coming around, his work hours will increase by a lot, and he'll be making a couple of extra thousand dollars in November and December.

5. “And then I plan on maybe getting a side job also.  As many of you know, I have been asking you what you do and pretty much just bugging everyone.  I'm not sure how I will have time for a side job, as I work 50 hours a week and I attend MBA classes full-time as well (12 credits this semester).”

  •  I haven't looked for a job AT ALL. Me and my friend are thinking about trying to become bartenders, but we haven't really thought too seriously about it.

So, right now we're only at about $550 in extra monthly income, which is a little disappointing. BUT, it is better than not making any extra side money, so I'll of course take it.  I just can't wait until next summer.  I don't know if anyone is like me, but I constantly calculate how much money I'll have in the future, and I get yippy about it.  After I get my licensing/certifications for my job, I'll probably be making around $10,000 more a year, and then after I get my MBA next year, I'll be getting another raise.  My work told me that both bumps would be pretty big, and this is all on top of the usual inflationary raise that I get in the summer also.  So, I'm hoping by the end of next summer, I'll be getting around a $25,000 raise or more.  Here's to hoping!

What have you been doing to make extra income?

Would you ask for a raise?

BY - 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Daily Worth had a great article the other day titled How to Ask for a Raise…And Get It!

I've only asked for a raise once in my life (which should not be surprising considering I've technically only had 2 jobs). I was underpaid when I was a teenager and my boss took advantage of the fact that I was quiet.  Everyone else who worked with me made more, even though they were horrible workers (the boss even hated some of them, so I'm not sure why they got more raises than me) and worked at the store less than me.

I asked and I received.  She was stunned at first that I asked.  I didn't get a huge raise, but then again I was only 19 when I asked, so it's not like the raise would be thousands of dollars.

Here are some tips from How to Ask for a Raise:

  1. How much are others in your field earning? – This will help you understand what you should be asking for, or if you should even be asking.
  2. How much can you earn? – What do you think you're worth?
  3. How is your company doing financially? – If your employer is in a bad financial condition, it might not be the best time to ask for a raise.
  4. Prepare your argument – When you talk to your employer, go prepared.  If you're not prepared, then your case will not be good of course.
  5. What to do if you don't get the raise? – Think about this before hand.  Are you going to quit your job?
    • “Your answer may depend on what your boss says. For example, has she turned you down because of your performance? If so, ask yourself if her criticisms are valid. If they are, think about what changes you can make. If they aren't, you may want to go where you are appreciated. If there is some other reason you were turned down, talk to your boss to find out if she expects the situation to change. If she does, find out when you can talk about this again.”
  6. Make an appointment to talk to your employer
  7. Present Your Case – and try not to be nervous!

Daily Worth also had a great poll on their site too. If you were paid more at your current position, would it be your dream job?

Have you ever asked for a raise?  What was the outcome? Any tips?

Being a Landlord

BY - 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Me and the BF are always thinking about what we would do with the house that we have now when we eventually buy a bigger house.  Would we rent it out or sell it?  We are seriously thinking about renting it but we need to know all facets of this.

We have a lot of friends and family who are serious house flippers and landlords.  And they ALL have their scary stores which sway me to not even consider renting.  A lot of people don't pay and you more than likely can't get your money if they don't.  Where I live, you also are not allowed to kick people out (this is probably similar to a lot of places, but I don't know).

Anyways, if we did rent, there is the potential that we could make a nice profit.  We've thought about staying in our house for awhile, but we decided that we want more land.  We live on less than 1 acre right now, and we both want more once we both have higher incomes.  We don't plan on renting or buying a new house for at least 5 years, as we've only lived in our current house for about 2 years.

What are your experiences with renters and rentals?

An Extra $20,000

BY - 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What would you do with an extra $20,000?

I recently read this article which said:

“CNN recently created a video in which they asked New York residents in Central Park a simple question “How would you spend an extra $20,000?”

What can you do with $20,000?

  • You could buy a Mini Cooper
  • You can invest it for 30 years and turn it into $265,353 at a 9% rate of return…
  • You can buy 40,000 donuts which is enough to last you 109 years (without inflation and the cost of your heart surgery).
  • You can stay at the Burj Al Arab for 3 nights
  • You can live in Thailand for two years
  • You could feed 80,000 children in Africa for a day or 220 for about a year.”

Would you buy a car, use it as a down payment on a house, pay off loans, splurge on something, or what?

How I plan on increasing my income and therefore my savings

BY - 26 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Me and the BF have been talking, and we want to pay down our debt faster, and start putting more in savings.

We want to add around an extra $1,000 (after tax) to our monthly income.  This shouldn't be too hard. 

Our steps for doing this include:

1. Doing more secret shops.  I have made around $250 so far.  My plan is to make around $150-$200 a month.

2. Continuing with my online surveys. Probably only around $30 a month.  But this along with Swagbucks will probably be around $50 a month altogether.

  • All the money I earn from Swagbucks I use for Amazon gift cards, and I plan on just using this for Christmas time for the kids in the extended family.
  • From the survey company that I participate through, I also get lots of free products.  These are not just trial sized products (actually none of my surveys have includes trial sized items).  I get full products such as 8 rolls of toilet paper, 5 tubes of lip gloss, $200 to spend on Captain Morgan, gift cards to spend at grocery stores, TRESemme conditioner and shampoo and so on.  All of this free stuff also saves money.

3. We have a friend moving in with us.  This person is going to pay $300 for rent and utilities altogether.  Our house isn't huge but we have a finished basement, so altogether our house is around 2,500 square feet. So, with a roommate we still won't be cramped.

  • FYI, we are not having them move in just for the money, just so everyone knows.

4. Also, hopefully I can convince the BF to get a second part-time job.  His hours at his current job have been cut (but he's still making the same amount of money, I have no clue how that worked out), so he has time now.  Now I just need him to be motivated to look.

    • I know he can find one, a lot of our friends own restaurants and businesses and they are always asking him if he would like to work with them.  I estimate that if he can find a part-time job, that he will make somewhere around $500 a month.
    • He asked for more hours today (right after I posted this) at his work and now he's making an extra $300 a month from work.

 

5. And then I plan on maybe getting a side job also.  As many of you know, I have been asking you what you do and pretty much just bugging everyone.  I'm not sure how I will have time for a side job, as I work 50 hours a week and I attend MBA classes full-time as well (12 credits this semester).

  • I have two friends who are beer cart girls (both work at a different golf course, and they are both teachers and beer girls on the weekend).  They make AT LEAST $300 every weekend, for just one day and just a couple of hours.
  • They usually work from around 9am to around 1pm.  So this sounds like pretty easy money to me.  They also always tell me to join them because they always need help.
  • So even if I worked just two days a month, I should clear at least $300 (pessimistically thinking) a month from this.

I know that all of this won't happen, but that's why my goal is only for $1,000.  We then plan on paying off my student loan that actually has an interest rate right now. This loan is at around $5,700.  So if we can pay off this loan in 5-6 months, we would then be able to start paying off my car completely and have that done within 4 months after the loan is done.  So sometime by before next summer, I should be free of my student loan (that has interest) and my car loan!  Then after this, I will be graduating with my MBA soon after, and then I can start working on paying down my enormous student loan.


What have you been doing to make extra income?

Do you have any side jobs?

BY - 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

DailyWorth published a new article yesterday.  You can find it here.

I love the Money Fix Series because it is very relate-able.

Stephanie has a budget shortfall of nearly $500.  She has cut nearly everything out she doesn't need and she still has this shortfall.  The author of the article suggests that she find some part-time work.

I have been trying my hand at side gigs for about a month.

  • I secret shop for Best Mark (this has brought in more than $100 so far and I've only been doing this for less than a month)
  • I participate in online surveys (these don't pay a ton, maybe around $3 per survey)
  • I'm also trying my hand at writing for Yahoo.  I have found it very hard to find myself to write for them though.  I have no motivation.  I need to change that.

Your turn:  Do you have a budget short-fall? What do you do to fix this? Do you have any part-time work?  Or freelancing gigs?

Subscribe Via Email

PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS OF USE
DISCLAIMER / EARNINGS DISCLAIMER

Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved.