How I made almost £3000 in one month working from home!

If you’ve been here before you’ll have read the below blurb at least once already, so skip to the bottom.  If you’re new, you might want to read it to understand why I do what I do and how many hours I put in.

Welcome to my new MEGA monthly income reports where I share the exact amount of money I make from home each month from both my blog and other work at home ventures.

I was sharing a home income report and a separate blog income/stats report, but since last month I’m now combining the two to stop giving myself so much work to do.  Plus it’s so much easier to see it all in the same place.

I share these to show how much money can be made from home by a normal mum of two (ages 2 and 5) around mum duties and with some hard work and dedication.  Before realising I could make money online and from home, I had little idea I could really make a full time income from my online activities.  I believed my only options were to return to my previous job after my first maternity leave or to be a stay-at-home-mum with no income myself (unless I worked evenings).  I had no idea there were other options available to me.

I won’t lie.  It’s not always been an easy ride to get to this point and I also have no idea if it will continue.  The lack of security is one very off putting thing for most people with being self-employed, but there are so many money making avenues nowadays I believe anyone can do it.  I’m working on diversifying my income nowadays so I have more than one stream.  That way, if one lets me down for a month, another should fill the void.

My current monthly target (pre tax) is £1500.   £1000 would be my absolute minimum.  That’s a bit more than I could earn working five nights a week or about the same, depending on how many hours I worked.  Only problem with working all those evenings in an employed job is I’m exhausted the next day and miss out on family time. 

I gave up my last part time job in May 2017 to concentrate on earning from home and make money from blogging.  Once I’d earned more than my employed wage for six months I decided it was time to chase my dreams and go for it!  In my last job I worked from 5-8.30pm every evening Monday to Friday meaning I dashed out during dinner time, missing our family meals every evening, returning home after the children were in bed meaning I missed every bath time and bed time.  It also left me no time to work on my own business in the evenings unless I stayed up really late and then felt tired every single day.  My original aim was to make £1000 per month from home.   In my best month this year I was able to make over £3000 from home!

Reuben is now in childcare 21 hours a week.  This gives me some dedicated business time without kiddies around.  This helps me so much now and means I don’t have to work every evening as I know I have some time in the day.  It is still difficult sometimes as I really need to be working 8 hours a day to get everything done and not 5.5 which is the maximum I get Tues-Weds. On Monday’s I get 2.5 hours and on Fridays I get 0 hours.  Once Reuben starts school (September 2019) I’ll be able to have a much more normal working week.

Though it can be stressful, it is still great and I wouldn’t change it for the world.  Working from home provides so much flexibility.  Both the children have had chicken pox recently which meant I had 8 working days with them at home.  I’m glad I don’t have to miss work at a normal job for these sorts of things.  If I have to, then I just have to work with them here or choose to work in the evenings instead if they’re ill.  I can only imagine it’s a struggle for some parents to have to take time off work if they can’t work from home when this happens.

Blog & Home Income Report: November 2017

This is my total before any expenses, income tax, national insurance or anything else. Here’s the breakdown:

Blog Income £2237.97

If you’re returning, scroll down to see the income report and stats.  If you’re new, read on to see why I share my income and how much I really work on my blog!

‘If you’re wondering how much money I make from blogging, read on. I share all with you in my monthly blog income reports.  These are a great resource for me to look back on and also for anyone who is interested in what I earn from blogging or what can be made. 

It’s not to show off, but to show how much money can be made online from a blog.  It’s important to note this is my full time income.   I left my employed job and I work on my blog all the time.  Like, ALL the time.  It’s my passion and my focus.  I have no personal social media or any distractions.  I also have no social life, or very little!  I devote all my spare time to my blog and website.  It’s my obsession.

If I am on my phone or laptop, I am always doing something blog related.  I put in 30-40 hours a week at the moment whenever I can.  I sacrifice evenings with my husband to work on my website.  He is now used to me not listening to him as I’m so engrossed in my laptop or phone!  Once both my children are at school then I’ll work out a better work routine if my blog is still making enough money.  I hope to then work in the day only and have my evenings and weekends back, if possible!’

One thing I never mention is how long it took me to monetize my blog.  I always get asked how long it takes and my answer is really ‘how long is a piece of string?’

I didn’t monetize mine for three years.  It was a part of my original retail business and I never knew about making money from it.  I could have made money a LOT sooner if I’d have known, but I was chasing the dream of being a shopkeeper and not a professional blogger.  I didn’t even know professional bloggers existed.  Once I found out I changed my game plan!

That doesn’t mean it would take someone else three years.

Many bloggers set up with the sole purpose of monetizing and they make money within a couple of months.  I’ve even seen bloggers share income reports after one month!

It also depends on your dedication.

If you’re going to only work 1 hour a week on your blog, you’re probably not going to make money as fast as someone who works 100 hours a week.

Monetizing a blog means your blog is a business.  It takes just as much hard work as running any other business.

It also depends how many opportunities you apply for and how many you get.  You might need good stats to apply for some which can take a few months to build.  I actively look for work EVERY SINGLE DAY.  It’s my job.  It’s my income.  It’s my only income, so I need the work and I need to be on it finding those opportunities.

Blogging definitely isn’t for everyone and running a business all by yourself also isn’t for everyone.

I do often get the impression people think I don’t do very much and the money just magically rolls in, or that’s what many people think of bloggers in general.

My favourite quote goes along the lines of ‘entrepreneurs are the only people who work 80 hours to give up working 40’

It fits the life of a professional blogger very well too!  I’m sure if I didn’t have young children I’d spend double the amount of time on my business!

So here is my blog income breakdown for October 2017:

 

 

Blog Posts £1831.90

This is from sponsored blog posts, blog reviews and hosting giveaways.  I charge for my time for all of these usually.  I have accepted a couple of reviews with very high value products without a fee.  I value my time and the years it’s taken to build followings, so I never work for free.

Referrals £406.07

Some of my referral money is from Profit Accumulator and Nutriseed   - two companies I use and thoroughly recommend, so I’m more than happy to promote them to you.

I also did a little blogger outreach so this includes my referral fees for this.

I also have some money in my Awin account, yippee!  I just need to wait for it to clear and go into my bank account.  The threshold is only £20, but it takes a while for brand payments to be approved and cleared.

Sign up to Awin as a publisher here for access to 6000+ brands affiliate schemes!

 

Blog Stats: 

 

Up on everything which is a good sign.  Oh, aside from the DA, but I’m more than happy to stay at 37.  It’s better than going down!  I’ve read DA can fluctuate though as it’s a comparison to other websites like yours.  So if they’re all doing a lot better, you’ll go down for a month or so. 

It will be interesting to see if December is much quieter as everyone is always so much busier and taking time off to spend with friends and family.

Relevant blog posts:

4 ways to make money from your blog without Google ads

4 ways to find paid blog opportunities

How I save hours every week scheduling tweets with Social Oomph

4 ways to improve your domain authority (DA)

Matched betting £167

Much better than last month.  I’d love to hit £200 a month, but I just can’t find the time.  Plus I’ve been gubbed from lots of great bookies which means I can’t take advantage of their offers.  My plan is to keep going with the ones I can do until they all gub me.  Though I’ve read not all the bookies gub people, only some, and even people who don’t do matched betting have had their accounts restricted, so there’s no hard fast rule.

So far I’ve made over £3000 this year which is incredible!  It’s tax free too.  I do have £1000 tied up in matched betting, but that’s still £2000 I’ve taken out for myself and that £1000 is mine sitting there, I just need to use it to cover all the bets!

Matched betting is a great way to make extra tax-free cash from home if you can spend a little time most days checking the offers and completing some.  You’ll need to be organised too and keep a record of all the offers you’re completing and your profits.

I highly 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.

Click here to try Profit Accumulator today!

Previous matched betting posts:

Is matched betting a gateway to gambling and is it dirty money?

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!

Mystery tasks    £1.00

I’ve really not been doing any lately.  There’s rarely been any at the supermarkets near me and I’ve not been venturing further as blogging has been so busy.  It is possible to make a lot more.  In May this year I made £235 from all the mystery shopping apps.

Apps I use are Streetbees, Roamler, Task360 and BeMyEye. 

You need an invite code for Roamler. Read this blog post for a great way to get a roamler invite code.

LR shop sales     £166.86

Lots more sales in my online fashion boutique this month which is great news!  There are lots of new scarves in stock and great Christmas present ideas. 

Personal eBay   £136.31

Still going strong and making over £100 per month from my personal items on eBay.  I’m desperate to sell it all and have ZERO clutter or things we don’t need.  Though Ben says that will never happen as the kids constantly grow out of things!

Resell   £98.91

Nearly £100!  I’d love to hit £100 so perhaps this can be a mini target next month?!  I just need to find more time to go to the charity shops.  That’s my main problem.  I always want to try so many things and make money so many different ways, I simply don’t have the time to do everything!

Top Cashback    £11.49

This would have been more, but I changed my bank details on the last day of the month and it wouldn’t let me do a pay out for 3 days.  Doh!  So I’ll save the rest for next month.

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 totals in my blog post though.

Click here and save on all your online purchases too!

Related blog posts:

How to earn cashback on things you already buy! 

Today I saved BIG on my car insurance and MOT. Here’s how… 

That’s all folks!