Side hustles November 2019

­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.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles. 

Welcome to December!  Did you have a good November?  It’s been another adventure packed month for our family. 

We visited the La Habra Children’s Museum 3 times this month.  It’s a great place to spend a few hours exploring all of the children’s exhibits.  This place is like a second home for our family.

We visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach 2 times this month.

Our daughter loves sea turtles.

The big highlight of our month was a 5-day, 4 night stay at the Legoland Castle Hotel.  It was quite a busy vacation, with 3 visits to Legoland and 1 visit to Sea World in San Diego.  It was great staying at the Legoland hotel because daily free breakfast buffet was included.  We also had early entrance to the Legoland theme park every morning.  Our son rode his first rollercoaster: the Coastersaurus!  He loved it!  The best part about our trip was that there were no crowds this time of the year and no lines for the rides we went on.  On many of the rides, the attendants allowed us to stay on for another ride.

In other news, this month I turned 39.  It’s hard to imagine that I am almost 40 years old!  I continue to try to pursue a life of happiness and meaning while enjoying the here and now with my family.  Time passes so quickly. 

Thanksgiving this year involved spending quality time with family, having office potlucks, and holiday dinner parties with our friends.  We have much to be thankful for.  We are thankful for our health, our families, our friends, and our financial stability.   

In sad news, our dog has been suffering from many health issues this month.  She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection after she had blood in her urine.  Later on, she had uncontrollable vomiting and was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis.  She has been on multiple medications and now needs to permanently be on a prescription low fat diet.  Her veterinary bills have totaled $1,059.83 this month!  I am thankful that these big expenses are not major setbacks for our family. 

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

Award Travel

On 11.19, I redeemed 34,492 Southwest Rapid Rewards points towards 2 free flights for my wife and our son to fly home from visiting the in-laws during Christmas.  Paying cash for these flights would have cost a total of $503.96.  When redeeming points, I only had to pay taxes and fees totaling $11.20 for both flights, saving us a net $492.76 on ticket prices!

Cash Back

On 11.21, my wife received a $43.92 statement credit on her AMEX Gold card from the Airline Travel Credit benefit of her card.  This was cash back on a Southwest Airlines ticket flight for my wife and son to visit the in-laws.  We paid the majority of the flight costs with previously saved up Southwest $100 gift cards that AMEX reimbursed.  Unfortunately, the AMEX Travel Credit benefit no longer reimburses airline gift card purchases.

On 11.25, my wife received a $11.20 statement credit on her AMEX Gold card from the Airline Travel Credit benefit of her card.  This was a reimbursement for taxes and fees paid on award travel flights.

On 11.29, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold card from AMEX Offers.  This offer was for 10% back on any insurance purchase, up to $10 cash back.  We used her card to pay our homeowners insurance.

Rental Income

On 11.5, we received a net profit of $450 from our rental property. 

Survey Income

On 11.2, I received a $10 check from M3 Global Research for completing a medical survey.

On 11.6, I received a $10 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a medical survey.

Miscellaneous Income
On 11.4, I noticed that the two Legoland annual passes (with 2 bonus day passes included) I purchased at Costco had dropped in price by $20.  A quick phone call to Costco helped us get $40 refunded as a price match. 

Monthly Totals:

We saved $492.76 on award travel

We earned $65.12 from cash back

We earned $450 from rental income

I earned $20 for completing online surveys
We saved $40 by price matching a price drop from a Costco purchase.

All of this totals $1,067.88 from our side hustles for the month of November!  One more month to go before we start another year.  Keep hustling.