Side hustles May 2018

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation.

Once a month (usually on the 1^st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles. 

Welcome to June!  Did everyone have a good month of May?  It’s been another great month for us.  Our children are growing so fast and have been much of our focus this past month.  Life has been hectic at times, which is partially the reason for my decrease in publishing posts lately.  These side hustle posts will continue because they help me keep track of our monthly activities and finances. 

Our son is now 3 years old.  Time has really flown by.  It’s been quite a challenging journey so far with many ups and downs.  I know from other parents with older children that things only get more difficult as children get older.  We are trying to enjoy all the moments that we have.  Our son loves the simple things, like running outside, playing with rocks, reading, and has recently discovered markers and Play-Doh.     

Our daughter just turned 5 months old.  She’s been a sweet baby from the start and quite a bit easier to take care of than our son was at the time.  She’s sleeping through the night and just starting to eat solid foods now.  She’s moving around, smiling and being much more vocal than before – she’s no longer just this little blob!  This has been a sad month since my wife had to go back to work and our daughter just started daycare.

While the stock market has been volatile lately, we continue with our regular contributions into our 401Ks, IRAs, taxable account, and 529.  We recently hit another all time high in our investments!  The money in our accounts won’t be accessed until many years from now.  All we can do now is continue to invest and enjoy our journey while we're at it.  

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of May.

Cash Back

On 5.7, I received $10.23 deposit in my Discover Cashback Checking account.  This is a nice and consistent 1% cash back on my mortgage payment for our rental property mortgage, which allows for debit card purchases.

On 5.29, I received a $50 bonus in my Citibank ThankYou credit card.  Citibank occasionally sends promotions for putting extra spending on their credit cards.  This one was a $50 bonus after spending $1,000.  I simply used this credit card to make my normal purchases up to $1,000 and then got a sweet 5% bonus rebate!

Rental Income

On 5.5, we received a net profit of $430 from our rental property.

Side Jobs

On 5.19, I received a check for $500 for providing fill-in services at another office for a colleague of mine.  When we reach financial freedom, I may occasionally supplement our income by working a handful of days each month.

On 5.21, I received a check for $162.50 for teaching at the local university.  I still love teaching and don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. 

Miscellaneous Income
On 5.24, I received a $36 check from the county for witness testimony fee for giving my professional testimony in court on a local case.

Monthly Totals:

We earned $60.23 from cash back

We earned $430 from rental income

I earned $662.50 from side jobs
We earned $36 from miscellaneous income

All of this totals $1,188.73 from our side hustles for the month of May.  Are you bringing in any extra income on the side?