I made a video on TikTok about my Side Hustle Round Up which if you do not know is how I have been doing things every month to save up for a new camper as part of my camper savings goal. Everyone seemed to love it so I will be continuing to do that each month and I thought I would talk about it on here too.
I made $622.39 in August and September doing side hustles. I know that seems like a lot but I am going to break it down by month and then you can see why at the end of it, I really only have $140.68 that is in my high yield savings account to go towards the camper fund. It’s a bit of a long one so strap in.
August
I did a number of things in August. It was a good month and it was also my birthday month so I had several people gifting me things that weren’t the normal. People are extra generous for your birthday you know. But let’s get into the list shall we:
- Mystery Shops: I made $32.00
- Gift Cards
- Subscriptions: $24.00
- Branded Surveys: $42.58
- Cash Stuffing: $178.00
Total for August ends up being $396.58 and my high yield savings account, which I opened in July for the purpose of saving for the camper that had a starting balance of $25 but basically zero ended with $171.22 because I used round ups to funnel in money from my purchases. I also planned to deposit the money I cash stuffed into that account at the end of the month.
September
This month was rough. I took hit after hit. I knew some stuff was coming up that we were going to have to pay for but I did not expect so many hits and I got kicked while I was down on top of it. But let’s just see what I did and then I’ll talk about the problems after:
- Mystery Shops: $0.00
- Gift Cards
- Reselling: eBay – $9.24
- Subscriptions: $44.00
- Branded Surveys: $27.57 + $125 Amazon Gift Card
- Cash Stuffing: $0.00
The total amount of money made in September was only $225.81. I have $35.17 pending but that doesn’t count because it has yet to be deposited! My beginning balance of my HYSA was $171.22 at the end of August and by the end of September is was $135.22, which means I lost $36.
What Went Wrong
So, I kind of gave up on the Mystery Shops and I did not try as hard with the surveys. So that was a huge problem. The reselling came out of nowhere, I even forgot I had stuff listed to be honest. I put no effort into that and I’m now thinking I need to start that up again. I could not do anything for the cash stuffing because of all the financial hits I took.
I knew I was losing a client in my virtual assistant business. They closed their business and off loaded and though I was given notice, I just could not fill that slot. I took on some work at a temp agency and so I’m now working in an office three days a week but they messed up in the payroll and so I did not get my check in time. So I worked for three weeks without getting any kind of pay and that really messed everything up financially, to the point that because I had autopay scheduled and had already given my friend the $500 for the cabins for her wedding in December and prepaid my phone, insurance, car payment and rent I had to dip into my savings in order to not overdraft my bank account. It was that bad.
Oh and someone vandalized my partners car and we had to pay the $1,000 deductible to have that fixed, plus a week of a rental car (which I fell in love with by the way). So that was an unplanned expense on top of the payroll snafu that we could not have foreseen and it was just the perfect storm.
Looking Ahead
My goals for October are very simple – catch up and move forward! I have $50 from each check at the temp agency being direct deposited into my HYSA, so that will help it grow steadily. I will also try to be better about putting the money from cash stuffing into the account each month. I messed up by having it on hand. I put it into my bank account to cover things rather than having it in the savings account. I still moved money, but that took longer and was less accessible.
- Mystery Shop Goal: $50
- Branded Survey Goal: $50
- Reselling Goal: I didn’t really put an amount on here, so let’s just say $50.
- Social Media: I need to get monetized on social media, so please go follow me and interact, it would mean the world!
- Subscriptions: $40 (I made $27 in September so I can do $40 in October).
Total goals for October is to make $400, and push my fundraising thermometer over the $500 threshold! With what I have listed, I should absolutely be able to meet my goal as long as there are no issues like there were in September. May all the surprises this month be good surprises please and thank you!