Side hustles February 2020

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 March! Did you have a good February?  As usual, it’s been a busy month for our family.  Our kids are both growing so fast and playing with each other more.  I can’t believe our son is starting Kindergarten soon.

We visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach two times.  Our kids love exploring exhibits and reading books in the gift shop.

We celebrated a friend’s birthday party at the Sky Zone trampoline park in Anaheim.  This is a great place to jump around and get exercise!

We visited Chuck E. Cheese with friends and their kids.  Chuck E. Cheese offers unlimited play cards for unlimited games.  The play time lasts an hour and can be paused once (while eating).   

We continue to get the kids out to walk around our neighborhood.  They both run so fast and have so much energy.

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

Cash Back

On 2.2, I received an $88.90 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for a hotel reservation I made for our family’s hotel stay in Carlsbad.  This was part of the annual $300 travel credit this card provides.

On 2.2, I received a $16.90 PayPal deposit from The Guestbook, a cash back site that gave me 5% cash back on our hotel booking at the Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad where we stayed when we visited Legoland.

On 2.5, I received a $34.42 statement credit on my AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card for redeeming my reward dollars.  This credit card is one of the best cash back cards to use without an annual fee.  It earns 3% cash back at US Supermarkets and 2% cash back at gas stations and department stores.

Rental Income

On 2.5, we received a net profit of $450 from our rental property. 

Survey Income

On 2.18, I received a $30 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a medical survey. 
On 2.18, I received a $35 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a medical survey. 

Miscellaneous Income
On 2.16, I sold some items on eBay and made $98.01 profit (after shipping and eBay fees).
On 2.17, I sold some items on eBay and made $22.45 profit (after shipping and eBay fees).

Saving on expenses

On 2.9, I switched rental property HO-6 insurance from Farmers to Travelers and saved $319.89.  I wrote about it here.

Monthly Totals:

We earned $140.22 from cash back

We earned $450 from rental income

I earned $65 for completing online surveys
I earned $120.46 of miscellaneous income by selling some items on eBay
We saved $319.89 on our rental property insurance

All of this totals $1,095.57 from our side hustles for the month of February!  Having some extra side hustle income allows us to take advantage of the big stock market pull back we are currently experiencing.  While we are picking up extra stocks on sale by front-loading our Roth IRA contributions, there’s no telling what will happen in the upcoming months.  The market had a drop of about 15% from all time highs during the last week of February.  We could be in for a wild ride.  There’s a lot of media speculation and fear mongering out there.

In the meanwhile, we are staying the course with our investments.  We are practicing good hygiene, doing work we are proud of and trying to live a good life.  Stay healthy out there.