Blog and Home Income Report April 2018

Posted on 12:30pm Wednesday 2nd May 2018

Welcome to my monthly income report where I share exactly how much money I have made from my blog and at home. It’s great for me to see where I’m earning the money and also to inspire others who want to earn from home. There’s a lot of debate of whether people should share income reports, but personally I love them! When I wanted to monetise my blog I read them and they inspired me to push forward and go for it. Without ever reading an income report of another blogger I wouldn’t have even known it was possible to make money from my own blog.

To read more on this with an in depth reason behind sharing my income reports start with this blog post: Why I publish income reports (and how much I really work on my blog)

Making money from blogging is totally possible if you’re prepared to treat it like a business and put the hard work in. As well as blogging, I make money from mystery shopping, website testing, eBay selling and also cashback. The top 3 ways I made money from home in 2017 is a great blog post to see my most profitable in one whole year.

April 2018 Income Breakdown:

The below are my totals before any expenses, income tax, national insurance or anything else, so my total turnover for the month. My yearly business expenses are around £4000. I also save around £500 per month to cover my annual tax, national insurance and student loan repayments and pension. So my total monthly outgoings are approximately £830.

April was a quieter month than March and most others, but I was expecting this as we had the two weeks Easter holidays and we went abroad on holiday for one week. I always find the school holiday months a little quieter, especially the longer holidays at Easter, Christmas and over summer. I guess lots of people are away or working a little less around family and childcare commitments. I still didn’t do too badly and almost hit £2000 turnover.

Blogging - £1550.66

This includes running giveaways, collaborative blog posts and reviews. I charge for all of them. The only time I don’t charge is if a review item is really high value and I really want it, or if I can do social shares only such as on Instagram. Blog reviews can take around 2 hours of my time so I have to value this time. Any free time I have should be spent with my children, husband, or blogging just for me.

Last four income reports if you fancy a peek:
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018
March 2018

This month’s website and social stats for reference:

Page Views 14170
Sessions 8006
New Users 4873
Total Users 5692
Twitter 57129
Instagram 11471
Pinterest 1438
DA 37
Newsletter 3969

For more blogging tips and advice, read how I made £26000 from home in 2017

Referrals - £53.10

I knew this would be lower this month as my second highest affiliate income closed down. I really don’t concentrate on affiliate income, but some bloggers make most of their money this way.

Read how to make money from your blog with Awin affiliate marketing

Matched betting - £212.35

Another fab month considering I do it very part time, sometimes only one hour per week at most. I aim for £100 per month, so this is great. My outgoing for matched betting is just £14.99 per month which is my membership fee for the site I use.

I recommend using Profit Accumulator for matched betting as a beginner. They have so many guides and walk you through the whole process in the first few offers. If you are stuck you can ask a question in the forum and someone will get back to you. They also have a 30 day money back guarantee on their memberships, plus you can try the first couple of offers without even signing up to anything to see that it really does work and is so simple once you get the hang of the free bet offers! Read my One Year Review: How I earn up to £50 per hour matched betting from home for more information from a yearlong matched bettor – me!

WhatUsersDo & Streetbees- £26.00

I do website testing at WhatUsersDo and it’s so easy! I get paid £5 per test and some of them are only a question or two. Read my blog post ‘easily make money from home by testing websites’ and sign up yourself!

I also made £1 from Streetbees answering simple question: Get paid doing simple tasks from your phone with Streetbees

Lylia Rose Fashion Boutique - £9.99

This is the total sales from my online fashion boutique . This used to be my main focus, but I don’t do much with it at the moment.

Personal eBay and Facebook Marketplace - £41.52

Only 10% of what I made last month, but understandable. I turned off all my listings when I went on holiday and had to restart when we were back. Annoyingly eBay don’t have a holiday mode so you have to end all listings when going away.

An eye-opening read: Some of the strange and weird things I’ve sold on eBay

Reselling eBay - £21.47

I still haven’t bought any new stock and not sure if I will continue with reselling. I just don’t have the time to focus on it. Perhaps it will remain a tiny side hustle if I ever spot a bargain that I think I can resell. I’d love to do more, but there aren’t enough hours in the day right now. I only have less than six hours whilst the kids are at school to get everything done and it goes so quickly.

If you’re thinking of reselling, then read my blog post 6 places to find items to resell on eBay for a profit

Top Cashback - £3.78

Not a huge amount, but I have over £70 pending. I’m just waiting for it all to clear. Each retailer has a different timescale for checking and clearing cashback, so sometimes it sits in pending for ages, like mine seems to be at the moment.

Learn how to earn cashback on things you already buy and be amazed with amount of extra cash you have back in your pocket! Get it on all your insurances, price comparisons, holidays, flights, hotels, shopping, groceries, tickets, MOTs – almost everything you can book and buy online!

APRIL 2018 GRAND TOTAL: £1918.87

Blog - sponsored/review/giveaway £1,550.66
Matched betting £212.35
Referrals £53.10
Personal eBay £41.52
WhatUsersDo & StreetBees £26.00
Resell £21.47
LR shop sales £9.99
Top Cashback £3.78

(In my best month so far I was able to make £3210 from home)

Another great read is The 5 ways I made £30000 money from home in 2017/2018

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.

Image

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!

Blog and Home Income Report March 2018

Posted on 8:00am Monday 2nd Apr 2018

Welcome to my monthly income report where I share exactly how much money I have made from my blog and at home. It’s great for me to see where I’m earning the money and also to inspire others who want to earn from home. There’s a lot of debate of whether people should share income reports, but personally I love them! When I wanted to monetise my blog I read them and they inspired me to push forward and go for it. Without ever reading an income report of another blogger I wouldn’t have even known it was possible to make money from my own blog.

To read more on this with an in depth reason behind sharing my income reports start with this blog post: Why I publish income reports (and how much I really work on my blog)

Making money from blogging is totally possible if you’re prepared to treat it like a business and put the hard work in. As well as blogging, I make money from mystery shopping, website testing, eBay selling and also cashback. The top 3 ways I made money from home in 2017 is a great blog post to see my most profitable in one whole year.

March 2018 Income Breakdown:

The below are my totals before any expenses, income tax, national insurance or anything else, so my total turnover for the month. My yearly business expenses are usually around £4000 and vary each month. I also save around £400-£500 per month to cover my annual tax, national insurance and student loan repayments, as well as save a small amount towards my pension. I have a handy Excel spreadsheet that does all the calculations for me – I love Excel!

If you are planning to make money from your blog then it becomes a business and you must register as self-employed with HMRC and complete a self-assessment tax return every year. Some people choose to hire an account to complete the tax return on their behalf. If not, you must keep meticulous records of all your incomings and outgoings, balance your books and remember to calculate and save the correct amounts needed for income tax, national insurance contributions (class 2 and class 4) and any student loan repayments. The Gov websites are full of information on becoming self-employed and detail the percentages you need to pay for each tax and national insurance, so they’re a great starting point if you’re seeking the correct information.

Blogging - £1991.52

This includes running giveaways, collaborative blog posts and reviews. I charge for all of them. The only time I don’t charge is if a review item is high value and I really want it or if I can do social shares only and really want the item. Blog reviews can take around 2 hours of my time so I have to value this time. Any free time I have should be spent with my children, husband, or blogging for myself.

Last four income reports if you fancy a peek:
November 2017
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018

This month’s website and social stats for reference:
Twitter 57170
Instagram 11278
Pinterest             1368
Total users          6341
New Users          5300
Sessions 9304
Page views         15435

For more blogging tips and advice, read how I made £26000 from home in 2017

Referrals - £114.44

I was aiming for £100 per month, so this month was a success. Only thing is my second highest referral scheme just closed, so I expect this figure will drop again next month.

Read how to make money from your blog with Awin affiliate marketing

Matched betting - £343.66

Wowsers, what a great month. There were lots of great free spins offers and I won £32 in around 10 seconds on one of them – brilliant! I only aim for £100 a month now by doing this very part time.

I recommend using Profit Accumulator for matched betting as a beginner. They have so many guides and walk you through the whole process in the first few offers. If you are stuck you can ask a question in the forum and someone will get back to you. They also have a 30 day money back guarantee on their memberships, plus you can try the first couple of offers without even signing up to anything to see that it really does work and is so simple once you get the hang of the free bet offers! Read my One Year Review: How I earn up to £50 per hour matched betting from home for more information from a yearlong matched bettor – me!

WhatUsersDo - £45.00

I’ve been doing more website testing and made a lovely £45. Pay is £5 per test and they often take less than 5 minutes. Read my blog post ‘easily make money from home by testing websites’ and sign up yourself!

Lylia Rose Fashion Boutique - £121.31

This is the total sales from my online fashion boutique . This used to be my main focus, but I don’t do much with it at the moment. I had a couple of sales in March so sales were OK.

Personal eBay and Facebook Marketplace - £399.00

A huge amount from selling our unwanted belongings. This was boosted by one sale of £150 for one item. It was an air-con Ben bought last summer for £280 and barely used, so though my total eBay sales looks god at first glance it includes quite a loss on an expensive like new item. Still, better the money in our pockets and the air-con being used. I was not happy with Ben for buying that last year, but that’s another story. I’m glad it’s finally gone!

I’ve continued selling on Facebook too with a love-hate relationship. There are the biggest timewasters on there, but there are also some of the fastest easiest sales. It’s one or the other with every item I list! With collection from my home, cash rather than PayPal and no eBay fees it is becoming my preferred method of selling personal things.

An eye-opening read: Some of the strange and weird things I’ve sold on eBay

Reselling eBay - £15.78

I still haven’t bought any new stock and not sure if I will continue with reselling. I just don’t have the time to focus on it. Perhaps it will remain a tiny side hustle if I ever spot a bargain that I think I can resell. I’d love to do more, but there aren’t enough hours in the day right now.

If you’re thinking of reselling, then read my blog post 6 places to find items to resell on eBay for a profit

Top Cashback - £9.76

Not a huge amount, but I have around £60 pending, just waiting for it all to clear. Each retailer has a different timescale for checking and clearing cashback, so sometimes it sits in pending for ages!

Click here to get money back on your shopping too!

I love Top Cashback! I check it for everything we buy. Here are a few things I’ve got it on: Formula One MOT, gift cards from Zeek, Holiday Inns booking, our First Choice holiday, Very shopping, Car insurance, comparing car insurance, eBay, photo books, supermarket shopping, Flybe flights, car hire, home insurance.

As you can see, you can earn cashback on so many different things. Not just physical shopping. I even got over £2 just for doing a comparison search for car insurance. I didn’t have to even buy anything.

In 1.5 years we’ve had over £600 back on our normal household shopping across mine and Ben’s accounts. I don’t include his in my blog post though.

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

MARCH 2018 GRAND TOTAL: £3040.47

Blogging - £1991.52
Referrals - £114.44
Matched betting - £343.66
WhatUsersDo - £45.00
Lylia Rose Fashion Boutique - £121.31
Personal eBay - £399.00
Reselling eBay - £15.78
Top Cashback - £9.76

(In my best month so far I was able to make £3210 from home)

Here are some more ways to make money from home:
Get paid doing simple tasks from your phone with Streetbees
9 iPhone apps to make money

Why I publish income reports (and how much I really work on my blog)

Posted on 8:45pm Saturday 3rd Mar 2018

I’ve decided to write this blog post as it will be a great place to send people to who are new to my income reports to see why I publish them and how much I work on my blog. I used to write the same spiel at the start of every blog post, but keeping it here will save me doing this and let you get on with seeing the income right away in each report.

The background of my blog

I’ve been publishing my income reports for over a year now, since I decided to try and blog full time in January 2017. I’d already made a full time wage from my blog since November 2016 and I’d monetised in around April 2016 by accepting my very first paid blog post. I’d started blogging in April 2013 and it was never my intention to monetise and I never even knew that was a possibility. I had an online fashion boutique and wanted to attract more traffic to my online ecommerce store. All the guides I read recommended starting a blog and so I did.

At first it was just about the shop and my achievements there – awards won and so on. I had no idea what to blog about. Then I decided to try and be a beauty and fashion blogger. At the time I worked evenings in Boots and had a great discount, so thought reviews about the products I tried was a great topic that tied in nicely with my fashion shop. Problem was, I didn’t feel passionate about it. I’d seen beauty and fashion bloggers reviewing items and posing in outfit posts and assumed this was what people wanted to see. I hadn’t much experience of blogs and blogging and had no idea what I was doing.

By the way, most of those blog posts are deleted now! I’ve had two mass blog culls where I deleted hundreds of old irrelevant and terribly written blog posts. I have kept a few OK posts from the first year, but not many in case you look for them!

I decided to start blogging about my life instead and my newfound passion for natural beauty and beginning to lead a healthier lifestyle and my blogging passion was born. I found I enjoyed blogging so much more and could naturally be myself. I wasn’t pretending to be a beauty and fashion blogger and copying what everyone else did. My posts became easy to write, more personal, truthful and real. I was hooked.

I’d already started receiving products to review, which I did for free back then, and as time went on I received more and more. I was also offered sponsored posts but I didn’t really know much about these and always declined. My aim was still to get traffic to my online store, though I’d also found a new hobby I loved in the blog.

The greatest discovery

I soon discovered money blogs and stumbled across income reports. I was amazed. People were actually making a real living from their blogs! I did have Google ads on my blog, but assumed this was the only way to monetize. It only brought in a poxy £5 per month so I quickly realised this wasn’t the way! Reading those income reports inspired me to research how to really make money from my blog and I started accepting paid posts. They also led me to see other ways of making money from home and I quickly started making money from matched betting, mystery shopping, website testing and more.

Without those bloggers sharing their income honestly in their income reports, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. I’d have never realised the potential of blogging as an income source and I’d probably be stuck in a dead-end job I hate. Instead I’m doing something I love every day and making a full time wage, whilst getting to be a mum to my littles and do all the school runs, etc. It is the perfect job to fit in around family life.

So I share my income reports today not only because I enjoy writing them, but to inspire others who want to make money from their blogs or who haven’t even considered it an option like I hadn’t. Perhaps my reports will turn a hobby into a career for someone, just like someone else’s did for me.

The blog now

I soon realised the blog was my passion and not my shop anymore. I still have my online shop, but I sell printed scarves only and rarely focus on it. I work full time on my blog and love it. It’s more profitable for my business this way so it makes sense. Before it was a shop with a blog, now it’s a blog with a small shop.

I also charge for everything now. I charge for running giveaways, reviewing products and writing collaborative posts. In the beginning I reviewed items for free as it was a hobby and it was exciting, but now, five years in, I really have to value my time. I had a week with 10 reviews to write and that was my turning point. I realised I’d be spending up to 20 hours of my time that week writing reviews and promoting other companies with the aim of them making more money or increasing their Google ranking/SEO. But I was getting nothing in return for all this effort. Plus it had taken me years to get my website stats, they didn’t just appear instantly.

Now any ‘free’ time I have should be spent with my children, husband or doing what I love, not promoting or benefitting brands for their own monetary gains. I do support a charity and will promote them for free as well as donate money each year. I’m pleased to have donated £500 of my profits so far and hope to increase this if my income continues to increase.

I have occasionally accepted items only in exchange for social shares only or a blog post if I really want the item or it’s exceptionally high value. There’s not always one rule for everything, but 95% of the time I charge.

I don’t believe some companies realise how much time and effort a blog takes, especially to build good stats. Even my husband set up a blog last August and I think he thought it would be easy. He’s now realised how much effort goes in and that after 7 months he has barely any visits or good stats to show. He’s at a loss of what to do and realises the work and time needed. He now also realises why I’m always working!

How much I work on my blog

ALL THE TIME. Yep. It’s like an addiction. I think this is what running your own business is though, especially when you feel like you’re still building it up and gaining new contacts constantly, whilst getting your name out there. I have childcare 21 hours a week for my youngest so this is dedicated blog time, then I need to find another 20 hours usually. I can work until midnight or 1am which I used to do all the time once the children were in bed. I’m not great with late nights though and it makes me less productive the next day or two, so I try and avoid working too late too often. I’m most productive in the mornings.

I’m always working on my phone. I have no personal social medias and little to no social life. I devote all my spare time to my blog and promoting it, so if you see me on my phone it will probably be updating my business social medias or responding to emails. I might even be writing a blog post or researching. I won’t be aimlessly scrolling through a personal Facebook feed! Sometimes I get up one hour before my husband has to leave at 7am for work and I work then. I squeeze work in wherever I can.

Tonight is Saturday night and I’m ignoring my husband writing this!! Rock and roll!

Once my son is in full time education I will work out a better plan or normal(ish) Monday to Friday hours and I’m even considering renting an office to separate my home and work life a little more. But for now, I have to try and work full time when I only have part time childcare.

My point is, the income I receive reflects the time I put in. I see some people sometimes commenting on other’s income reports saying they don’t state how much they work so it’s irrelevant. I earn an OK full time wage and I work full time.

I don’t believe those people who say they blog 2 hours a week and earn £200000 a week. You shouldn’t either. And if they really do? Well I doubt it was like that in the beginning for them. I bet they worked a gazillion hours a week in the beginning.

A final word

Hopefully my blog income reports will inspire others to monetise their blogs if they want to. I also find it amazing every day that I can make money from my blog and other home money making activities, so I want to share this amazingness with the world. I hope it will help someone discover a new way to make money like it did me.

It’s not to show off, but to inspire, just like it did to me.

Find my income reports here

Blog and Home Income Report February 2018

Posted on 9:00am Friday 2nd Mar 2018

Welcome to my monthly income report where I share exactly how much money I have made from home. It’s great for me to see where I’m earning the money and also to inspire others who want to earn from home. There’s a lot of debate of whether people should share income reports, but personally I love them! When I wanted to monetise my blog I read them and they inspired me to push forward and go for it. Without ever reading an income report of another blogger I wouldn’t have even known it was possible to make money from my own blog.

In my best month so far I was able to make £3210 from home and I wasn’t far off this month. This month was my best month moneywise for purely blog income though, so that’s great news.

Just so you know, if you are new here, I blog full time. Well, around my children. Reuben my youngest has 21 hours of childcare a week and then I blog as much as I can around this. I give up most evenings with my husband to blog, if I’m not at the gym. Sometimes I get up early to work and I work weekends. I never have a full day off. My laptop comes on holiday with me!

There are bloggers who say they work 2 hours a week and make millions, but I’m not one of those. I work hard every day. My husband Ben says I’m always working. I put in around 40 hours a week, but this can vary from 30 to 50 depending on my workload and our plans.

I’ve been blogging for five years in April. I didn’t monetise for three years and I only went full time one year ago, so four years in. Hopefully that puts things into perspective for you. There are bloggers who set up their blogs with the sole purpose of cashing in and they make money a lot quicker. That was never originally my intention with my blog so I got there slower than others might.

Making money from blogging is totally possible if you’re prepared to treat it like a business and put the hard work in.

As well as blogging, I make money from mystery shopping, website testing, eBay selling and also cashback. I’ll share all of these totals below.

Blog & Home Income Report: February 2018

These are my totals before any expenses, income tax, national insurance or anything else, so my total turnover for the month. My yearly business expenses are usually around £4000 and vary each month. I also save around £400 per month to cover my yearly tax, national insurance and student loan repayments, as well as save for a pension. I have a handy Excel spreadsheet that does all the calculations for me – I love Excel!

If you are planning to make money from your blog then it becomes a business and you must register as self-employed with HMRC and complete a self-assessment tax return every year. Some people choose to hire an account who can offer advice and complete the tax return on their behalf. If not, you must keep meticulous records of all your incomings and outgoings, balance your books and remember to calculate and save the correct amounts needed for income tax, national insurance contributions (class 2 and class 4) and any student loan repayments.

Here’s the breakdown of my home income for February 2018:

Blog £2399.40

This is my best ever figure for blog only income so far. This includes running giveaways, collaborative blog posts and reviews. I charge for all of them. The only time I don’t charge is if a review item is high value and I really want it or if I can do social shares only and really want the item. Blog reviews can take around 2 hours of my time so I have to value this time. Any free time I have should be spent with my children, not promoting or benefiting other companies. So for this reason I always put a value on my time. Plus it’s taken 5 years of slog to get to this point. I’m not going to give away my hard work for nothing. If a company wants to work with you then it’s because you can add value to their company. Even a review with a link will help benefit their SEO efforts. If they want to work with you, there’s a good reason. I’ll never dictate to another what to charge though and if you’re happy working for free, then do it!

Last four income reports:
October 2017
November 2017
December 2017
January 2018

Last 6 months stats for reference:

Referrals £30.05

Pretty low, I’d love to get this to £100 per month regularly. Passive income is the way forward and something I need to work on. I have money in my Awin account, but it needs to clear before I can cash it in. It goes through a pending process, sometimes for a few weeks.

Matched betting £201.81

A great result for matched betting as I expected to only continue making £100 per month using it as a side hustle. There is lots more to be made if you can put more time in and learn more tactics than I have.

I recommend using Profit Accumulator for matched betting as a beginner. They have so many guides and walk you through the whole process in the first few offers. If you are stuck you can ask a question in the forum and someone will get back to you. They also have a 30 day money back guarantee on their memberships, plus you can try the first couple of offers without even signing up to anything to see that it really does work.

Roamler / WhatUsersDo / Receipt Hog £45.90

Ooh this is a good result. I made over £10 mystery shopping with Roamler. I also started website testing and made £20 in January which was paid in February. I know I have £45 due in March for the tests I completed in February too. See my blog post link below for what exactly it is. I also cashed in £15 with Receipt Hog.

Fashion boutique sales £56.44

This is the total sales from my online fashion boutique . This used to be my main focus, but I don’t do much with it at the moment.

Personal eBay and Facebook Marketplace £270.13

A great result, but we did get a new TV so I sold our old one for £75 which bumped this up a lot. Having not bought a new TV for 8 years, they had changed quite considerably! I sold three things on Facebook Marketplace and I’m going to try this a little more. There’s more profit to be made as there are no fees. I bet they start charging one day though as they realise they could be charging seller fees! I still have 165 items left to sell on eBay and I add more as the children grow out of toys and clothes.

Resell £51.46

I still haven’t bought any new stock and not sure if I will continue with reselling. I just don’t have the time to focus on it. Perhaps it will remain a tiny side hustle if I ever spot a bargain that I think I can resell.

Top Cashback £2.79

Not a huge amount, but I have around £60 pending, just waiting for it all to clear. Each retailer has a different timescale for checking and clearing cashback, so sometimes it sits in pending for ages!

Click here to get money back on your shopping too!

I love Top Cashback! I check it for everything we buy. Here are a few things I’ve got it on: Formula One MOT, gift cards from Zeek, Holiday Inns booking, our First Choice holiday, Very shopping, Car insurance, comparing car insurance, eBay, photo books, supermarket shopping, Flybe flights, car hire, home insurance.

As you can see, you can earn cashback on so many different things. Not just online shopping. I even got over £2 just for doing a comparison search for car insurance. I didn’t have to even buy anything.

In 1.5 years we’ve had over £600 back on our normal household shopping across mine and Ben’s accounts. I don’t include his in my blog post though.

FEBRUARY 2018 GRAND TOTAL: £3057.98

Blogging £2399.40
Referrals £30.05
Matched betting £201.81
Roamler / WhatUsersDo / Receipt Hog £45.90
Fashion Boutique Sales £56.44
Personal eBay & Facebook Marketplace £270.13
Reselling on eBay £51.46
Top Cashback £2.79

A really fantastic start to the year and hope it continues!

UK lifestyle and money blog

Category: Income Reports - At Home, Online, Blogging

Blog and Home Income Report April 2018

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

Blogging

Online selling

Matched betting

Side hustles

Top cashback

Blog and Home Income Report March 2018

March 2018 Income Breakdown:

Blogging - £1991.52

Referrals - £114.44

Matched betting - £343.66

WhatUsersDo - £45.00

Lylia Rose Fashion Boutique - £121.31

Personal eBay and Facebook Marketplace - £399.00

Reselling eBay - £15.78

Top Cashback - £9.76

MARCH 2018 GRAND TOTAL: £3040.47

Why I publish income reports (and how much I really work on my blog)

The background of my blog

The greatest discovery

The blog now

How much I work on my blog

A final word

Blog and Home Income Report February 2018

Blog & Home Income Report: February 2018

Blog £2399.40

Referrals £30.05

Matched betting £201.81

Roamler / WhatUsersDo / Receipt Hog £45.90

Fashion boutique sales £56.44

Personal eBay and Facebook Marketplace £270.13

Resell £51.46

Top Cashback £2.79

FEBRUARY 2018 GRAND TOTAL: £3057.98