The 5 ways I made £30000 from home in 2017/2018

Posted on 1:50pm Tuesday 24th Apr 2018

This is a blog post from one of those really annoying people who completed their tax return as soon as possible and files it nine months before the deadline. Hello! Honestly though, a genuine query, why do people leave it so late or until the last minute? Every January I see people on social media and in networking groups panicking about getting their tax returns in on time. Why not turn it around and file it as soon as the year end is up? This way there’s no panicking and plenty of time to pay it. My advice is to save up for your tax return through the year so you have the money ready to pay it at the end of the tax year.

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I had a really good self-employed tax year and as my tax was over £1000 I now have to ‘pay on account’ for 2018/2019. This means I have to pay half of my predicted tax (they give me the figures) by January 2019 and the other half by June 2019. So by the time the January 2020 deadline rolls around I will have already paid my tax or most of it. I’ll pay it in April 2019 anyway so I only need to worry about paying the first payment on account which I’ll save up for each month anyway.

I was thinking of leaving my tax money in savings until it had to be paid in January as it makes sense to earn interest on it, but I just panic too much that I’ll forget to pay it altogether, so for my own peace of mind I have to pay it right away.

My total bill was just under £4000. Luckily I had been saving this every month. This bill is for income tax, class 2 national insurance, class 4 national insurance and student loan repayments. I check the government and student loan websites each year to find out the personal allowance thresholds and the percentages they take above these. I then add formulas to my spreadsheet so it works out the exact amount I owe from my profits. That way I can save enough every month by popping the money into a savings account and forgetting about it.

Not all of my methods of earning money from home are taxed. For example, matched betting and selling used personal belongings on eBay are tax-free. Blogging, side hustles and selling online for a profit is all taxed.

To give you an idea of outgoings, I spent around £4000 on business expenses. Take this and my tax bill off and I earned approximately £22,000 after tax and expenses. Not too bad for my first tax year of working from home full time. In fact I’m very impressed with myself!

I’m not sure if next year will be as successful as I know matched betting will be a lot lower as the sign up offers were most lucrative when I began in January 2017. But on the other hand I have found a couple of new side hustles such as testing websites which I hope to do more of. I’ve also increased my blogging fees and have more contacts than this time last year. So we’ll see.

Here are the five ways I made money from home in the tax year 2017/2018 and my approximate total turnover:

Approx Total Turnover 2017/2018
Everything blogging: reviews, sponsored, giveaways, blogging for others, blog comp winnings, social media, ads, affiliate, referrals	£22,930
Online selling: personal eBay, LR shop & reselling	£3,209
Matched betting	£2,649
Side hustles: Mystery shopping, shop audits, surveys, website testing, receipt hog, etc	£557
Top Cashback	£293
TOTAL	£29,638

Blogging

This has been my most successful way to make money from home. I had a head start when I decided to monetize my blog as I’d already been blogging for five years by that point. I then just accepted some paid posts that landed in my inbox until January 2017 when I decided to really go for it, apply for blog opportunities and get myself out there.

The best thing about blogging is you can blog about whatever you like. If you love writing, then I’m sure you’ll love blogging. It’s so brilliant to build a website and have something that’s mine. Blogging has given me the freedom to seriously work from home and to have more flexibility whilst we have a young family.

Online selling

I do love online selling. This was probably sparked from being an e-commerce fulfilment manager for a few years before I had kids. It’s a thrill every time I sell something online. I sell our used personal belongings on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. There’s a constant stream of things I can sell as the kids are quickly growing out of clothes and toys. I also have a small online boutique on this website. I have dabbled in a little reselling but I don’t find it very profitable and it’s quite time consuming. It’s probably better for someone who can devote a lot of time to it and spend time sourcing good stock.

Matched betting

I started matched betting in January 2017 and made the majority of my profit then. In total I’ve made over £4000 since I started. This is even more amazing as it’s tax free! The only outgoings are my monthly Profit Accumulator membership fees which were £17.99 per month but after 12 months they reduced to £14.99 per month. You can also sign up for a yearly fee and save money on membership, but for flexibility I use the monthly option. I just take the fee out of my profits.

The company I use who have enabled me to learn the process and make so much money is Profit Accumulator who I still use and highly recommend. It’s possible to make more and it’s possible to make less. It depends how much time you can devote and which methods you continue to use after the sign up offers.

Here are some great posts if you’re thinking of starting:
I made over £3000 matched betting in 2017
I’ve made £300 tax free cash from home in 2 weeks and you can too!
£753.62 Matched Betting Profit Month One (and silly mistakes)
Not sure about matched betting? Make £40ish now to see if it’s for you!
Is matched betting a gateway to gambling and is it dirty money?

Side hustles

I love finding and testing other ways of making extra cash from home and have tried so many ways over the past year from surveys to mystery shopping. My favourite ways are using Roamler and Streetbees for random tasks and mystery audits. I have also started website testing with What Users Do for £5 per test and they’re very easy to do: Easily make money from home by testing websites

Top cashback

I joined Top Cashback in April 2016 so I’ve been a member for two years this month. It was one of the best financial decisions I ever made and I should have joined so much sooner. I get cashback on almost a weekly basis on all sorts of normal things. I’d never buy anything just because there is cashback, but if I am already going to buy something then I’ll check to see if I can get cashback on it. I’ve earned almost £300 cashback on things I’d buy anyway in the past year. As a household we’ve earned even more cashback as my husband has an account too, but I don’t track his cashback withdrawals on my blog.

Learn how to earn cashback on things you already buy and be amazed with amount of extra cash you have back in your pocket!

Were you mis-sold your mortgage? If so, you may have a claim.

Posted on 10:00am Wednesday 18th Apr 2018

You’ve probably heard all the noise about claiming back your mis-sold PPI, but did you realise you may also have been mis-sold your mortgage and could have a claim? It’s a new one to me, but after some digging it seems some people have been poorly advised and not treated fairly by their lender, adviser or broker. In this blog post I’ll take a look at why people are making mortgage claims and whether you may have a case.

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How people were mis-sold a mortgage

Ultimately people were sold a mortgage deal that was not right for them. It was not the best choice for their individual circumstances and results in them paying more than they need to. The broker or adviser may also have recommended a product that generated themselves a higher commission instead of choosing the best deal for their client. If a mortgage isn’t suitable for a customer and the risks weren’t adequately explained, then it was probably mis-sold.

Mis-sold mortgage examples

There are a lot of different ways a mortgage could have been mis-sold. Here are some examples:

Interest-only mortgages

Though these are cheaper at first glance, with cheaper repayments, they will actually cost more in the long run. If you are recommended an interest only deal then your adviser or broker should have shown the comparison between interest only and a capital repayment mortgage.

Self-Certification

If you were advised to self-certify and not provide proof of your income, or even state it was higher than it really is, you may have borrowed more than you really should have. This could have been so your broker received a higher commission and would not have been the correct advice to you.

Debt consolidation

If you were advised to move all your debts, such as unsecured loans, to your mortgage, but you weren’t advised that long term you’ll be paying back more by increasing the debt duration and interest. The monthly payments were lower, but the amount of debt owed was increased. If this was not properly explained then you were incorrectly advised.

Your mortgage end date is post-retirement

Many lenders will not lend a mortgage post-retirement as income may considerably drop and it’s too risky. Did your adviser tell you the mortgage will run into your retirement? Will you have substantial income to continue with mortgage payments in retirement?

Subprime mortgages

A subprime mortgage is for those who have a poor credit rating and history who cannot get a regular mortgage. If you were recommended this type of mortgage, which has higher interest rates and fees, yet your credit rating is fine, then you were misinformed.

High broker fees

Were the brokers fees unreasonably high? Or perhaps they added their fees to your mortgage without your knowledge? They should have explained their fees (and commission) to you.

How to claim

If you believe you are due compensation then you’ll need to contact the company who you believe mis-sold the mortgage to you. This could be the company of the lender, adviser or broker. Write a letter outlining the reasons you believe the mortgage was mis-sold and ask them to investigate your complaint. They must investigate within eight weeks. If you haven’t heard back after eight weeks or you’re not happy with the response then you have six months to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to step in and investigate your complaint.

Alternatively, if you don’t want the hassle, you may choose a claims company to process the claim on your behalf. They’ll take care of all the correspondence and will fight for your compensation. They understand all the legal jargon and can talk you through the process. They’ll also be able to assess whether you have a claim in the first place. Choose a no-win no-fee company so you have nothing to lose.

Sources:
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/letter-to-complain-about-a-mis-sold-mortgage
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/financial-mis-selling-what-to-do-if-you-think-its-affected-you
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/i-think-ive-been-mis-sold-my-mortgage-what-can-i-do

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How I saved £36 on my car insurance (with increased cover and breakdown) and got £12.80 cashback

Posted on 12:15pm Monday 16th Apr 2018

I love saving money and getting cashback, so each year when my car insurance renewal rolls around I never trust the quote I am sent from my existing company. Do you? I always assume the quote will go down every year, especially when I’ve not made any claims and so have an extra year of no claims, but it always goes up. Because it always goes up I simply don’t trust it is the best deal and shop around for a better price. Every year I find one. I’ve not yet stayed with the same car insurance company for two years running as there’s always a better deal out there. It baffles me slightly why the existing company never want to retain a customer and just offer the best price in the first place. Surely it’s less paperwork for them and more money to keep an existing customer?

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This year I managed to save £36 on my car insurance by switching, which might not sound much at first, but this is for an upgrade to comprehensive cover and breakdown too. Before now I’ve always only had third party fire and theft. So I saved money and got more cover for my money. Plus, my insurance is now under £200 for the year, around £170, so I’m not sure how much further I can keep driving it down each year! Perhaps until they pay me to have the insurance?!

Not only did I save £36 on the price I was quoted from my existing insurers, but I also got £12.80 cashback. I always check Top Cashback for car insurance quotes. Plus if you click through to Confused on Top Cashback you’ll get cashback for simply doing a price comparison. I got £2.30 just for comparing quotes and it was very quick as they’d saved all my car details from last time I checked.

I always check a few comparison sites and a couple of independent ones. I then check Top Cashback to see if I can get cashback on the cheapest quote and I always have been able to so far. This year my cheapest quote was from Churchill and I was able to get £10.50 cashback too.

Never ever just assume your car insurance renewal quote is a great deal. Shop around and you could pay less and even get a higher standard of cover!

Free National Lotto: Win cash for free online!

Posted on 9:00pm Monday 9th Apr 2018

You may have seen my post before about free online lotteries, but if not I’m here again to remind you they do exist as a free way to potentially make some extra cash online and I have a new company to share with you today - Free National Lotto! This is a new one to me too and I’ve only just signed up. They run a daily 5-ball draw and a bi-weekly 5-ball draw, that’s a lot of chances to win some free money online!

I signed up yesterday and the bi-weekly Sunday 5-ball jackpot was £1260! If no one wins the prize it rolls over to the next bi-weekly draw. For a few seconds of your time each day to check the results, you could win over a grand. I love free lotteries for the chance of winning even a fiver or tenner, so the chance to win over a grand is even more exciting and definitely worth checking the site each day. Plus, it’s free, so you have nothing to lose!

The daily draw prize pot is £5 and this will also roll over to the next day if it’s not claimed. There’s no limit on the rollover so the jackpot will keep growing until someone claims it.

The best thing is they email you a reminder, so you don’t even have to remember to check the site yourself, they will tell you. I save up all my free lottery emails and check them when I have a spare moment such as waiting for the kettle to boil, being a passenger in a car, waiting for a slow web page to load, or first thing each morning when snoozing the alarm. Just find a few spare minutes in the day, click the links in the emails and check to see if you’re a winner.

If you have won, you’ll see a ‘claim my prize’ button below the draw results, simply click to claim and once the draw closes for that day you’ll get your share of the prize to your PayPal account. Easy.

Signing up is super quick. I selected my 5 lucky numbers by typing them into the coloured balls shown, entered my email and password, then voila. Account set up. Next was my name, surname, DOB and sex, a click on a link in an email to verify I own the email address and within a couple of minutes my account was totally set up and verified.

If you’re wondering how a lotto can be free to enter it’s because they make their revenue from ads, promotions, offers and surveys.

Here are their fabulous (and free) promises:

Free daily 5-ball lotto draws with real guaranteed cash prizes!
Free Twice weekly 5-ball big jackpot draw! Will keep growing until its won!
Absolutely free lotto, free for everyone, free forever!

To find out how it works simply watch the video below or visit https://www.freenationallotto.com/help/how-does-it-work

Here’s a great video explaining what Free National Lotto is:

More money making blog posts:
The top 3 ways I made money from home in 2017
9 iPhone Apps to Make You Money
Get paid doing simple tasks from your phone with Streetbees
I’ve made £300 tax free cash from home in 2 weeks and you can too
5 Free Daily Lotteries With Cash Prizes

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Use Your Home To Finance Your Family Holidays

Posted on 8:45pm Monday 9th Apr 2018

Homeowners are the first to notice the increase in house-related costs, from energy bills to everyday shopping, without mentioning the council tax rise that is likely to hit most families in the UK from April 2018. In other words, it is difficult to think of your home sweet home without considering the costs that it incurs. However, there are ways in which you can let your home finance your family time, such as helping you to pay for future holidays. How does this work? With a lot of planning, organisation and savviness! But here are four methods you can employ to make money out of your property.

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Save money on your energy bills

A lot of families struggle to keep on top of utility bills, especially as most energy suppliers in the UK have increased their invoices on the past months. If switching didn’t help to cut down the costs, then it’s time for mindful energy consumption. You can encourage positive habits within your family by teaching your children that their behaviour can have a positive impact on the bill. Additionally, you can also implement little changes, such as switching to LED bulbs with https://www.simplelighting.co.uk, as they can save up to 70% on your yearly energy consumption. Finally, now that the warm weather is back, you can bleed your radiators to keep them effective next winter.

Cut your grocery shopping costs

It might sound unbelievable, but you can save a fortune by establishing a more sustainable lifestyle when it comes to food. Indeed, you can save up to £1,300 a year by growing your vegetables, according to the National Allotment Society. Additionally, if you choose to build a coop in your garden, you can get your own supply of fresh eggs all year round and more than enough to sell to your neighbours too.

Rent a room to exchange students

Did you know that you could host foreign students and earn a tax-free income in the process? Under the Government’s Rent a Room scheme you can earn up to a threshold of £7,500 per year from letting out a furnished room in your home. You can, of course, earn more than this, but you’ll have to pay taxes on it. You can get directly in touch with school and university for exchange students to be part of their list of approved hosts – your room will need to pass the inspection standards first. As you provide accommodation for someone who is standing only temporarily in the UK, you need to ensure that the bedroom is habitable and properly furnished, including spare bedding, towels and curtains.

Declutter with a profit

Every house has items that nobody needs anymore. If you want to declutter as part of your spring cleaning habit, you can choose to sell the items you don’t want on https://en.shpock.com or eBay. Items that are in good condition can go at a profitable price. What can you sell? Anything including furniture, used clothes with plenty of life left, books, DVDs, appliances you don’t use, etc.

There’s more value in your home than you suspect. From saving your money on energy and grocery bills to generating a new income from letting or boot sales, your home can support your finances in more than one way!

More great posts to save money:

Mustard Car Insurance Comparison Promises to Beat Your Cheapest Online Quote
Today I saved BIG on my car insurance and MOT. Here’s how…
How to earn cashback on things you already buy
Where to get affordable family travel insurance for a pre-existing medical condition
How to save time and money on your laundry with Ecoegg
How we saved £315 per year on our TV and broadband in 5 minutes

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