Episode 007: 6 Ways One Mom Earned an Extra $3500 of Income Per Month

What’s this Episode About?

Everyone has been asking about the topic from this week and asking us for more ideas on how to earn extra income.  Specifically we had a listener question from Tina that dug more into this topic.  She wants to find extra ways on how to help supplement her family’s income.  Specifically she was asking for more ideas.  This podcast episode is for her and hopefully for you as well.

We do ask if you have any insight on this topic (or many others) that we would love to have you on our podcast.  Feel free to reach out to us at thriftyus@thethriftycouple.com.  We would love to talk to you and have you on our show!

Today we are going to interview a mom that is a close friend of ours.  She has been wanting to help supplement her family’s income and has been successful in doing just that.  That mom is in studio with us today – Cassie! 🙂

These tips were used as a blessing to help us pay off our debt but also now to meet our other financials goals as well.

We Are All Works in Progress

Our story really is a work in progress.  We started delivery newspapers and transitioned quickly into delivering phone books.  Cassie soon found that she could buy items and then upsell, even up to a 900% return.  The only problem is this wasn’t a residual income.  This became difficult because Cassie found out she had some health issues with a pregnancy that forced her to slow down.  This caused that specific income to slow down as well.  Thus the desire for residual income grew rapidly!

As Cassie was learning how to coupon so well, she started teaching coupon classes.  This was what she really did that last year of paying off our debt.  But even this was not technically allowing her to be a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) because she was working so hard outside the home.  

Her desire continued to grow so she brainstormed and found a way.  It was over that time that she researched and discovered each of these ideas.  In fact, she still finds more ways to implement that she will have to share on a future, upcoming podcast episode (or more!).

Question: Are these ideas that anyone can implement?  Do you have to be talented in a specific way to make these ideas work?

Answer: This is what Cassie loves – these are ideas that any stay-at-home mom can do!  The reminder is that it will start small but grow at a rate dependent on the amount of work you put into it.  She still remembers making her first $12 per day – but it was residual income!  That $12 per day translates into about $360 per month.

Let’s get started with this list of 6 ways this mom made $3500 per month (even more now!).  Many of these tips are provided in even more detail in the article that inspired this episode.

#1 – Get Paid to Shop

Use shopping apps that give you money back when you shop.  Get paid to shop on your groceries, shopping for your clothes, and much more!  She is making about $40 to $50 doing what is already doing.

The first and her most favorite app is iBotta.  This one app gives her the largest chunk of the money she earns each month from shopping.  Make sure to use the link we just referenced though as it will give you a $10 signon bonus just for using this link.

Cassie also uses other apps like Checkout51, TopCashBack and Ebates.  TopCashBack and Ebates are rebate sites in which you can earn money back just by shopping through the links on their sites.  You’ll definitely want to sign up through our link for Ebates as it will earn you another $10 signon bonus just for signing up through this link.

Again, iBotta is still her favorite but it doesn’t hurt to use them all to maximize that income.

#2 – Get Paid to Search the Internet

Cassie has been doing this for the last seven years.  The internet is part of our lives, so why not use this tool to do what you would do every day anyway!  She uses this free tool called Swagbucks to earn an additional $50 each month.  Make sure you use this link to earn an additional $5 just for signing up.

We share that this income is not just what a blogger can do, but every day readers as well.  One of our readers started in April using Swagbucks through October and made $300 herself!

Don’t get us wrong, the amount you earn will be directly in proportion on the amount you use the tool.  Swagbucks offers not only their search tool, but surveys you can answer, emails to read, and other ways to earn even more income.

Please note that for the apps we’ve recommended as well as the tool for searching are all free.  There are no hidden fees to use these.

#3 – Get Paid to Write Articles for Websites

Cassie simply loves to write!  And what’s great about this is there are a ton of websites that want to pay writers for content.  Cassie found the sweet spot of providing that content these websites were looking for.

Everyone is an expert on something.  We often undervalue ourselves, but through our experiences, our hobbies, our work and our passions we have a lot of information to share.  Why not take that passion and share it with others?

There are so many websites looking for content.  Simply, Google awards websites that offer fresh content.  As such, many small to medium sized businesses don’t have time to generate that content so they are willing to pay for it.  This is where you come in.

TheWriteLife has provided a helpful list of several places online that you can find and apply for online writing jobs.

In addition, another great way to start is by joining Fiverr HERE and grabbing some easy writing jobs for $5 each. This builds your reputation fast and is often a quick $5 at a time. Most writing jobs for the $5 would take about 15-30 minutes, producing at least $10 an hour to start. Read a reader review regarding Fiverr HERE.

You can also write the content and then find groups on Facebook of bloggers looking for content.  Then you can share in those groups the title and subject matter of the article to sell that to potential buyers.

We also share a tip on specific ways to structure your content to make it even more intriguing for potential buyers and readers as well.

#4 – Selling Items Around My Home or Upselling Items

Now this isn’t residual incomes, but Cassie still does it.

We had a question a few weeks ago from our friend Sean on using the Amazon app to sell items around your home (or upsell by buying at a garage sale or at a local secondhand store).  He hadn’t seen where that option was in the app.  The short answer is to search for the product using the barcode reader and scroll down to the list like you see below.  If the item is eligible you’ll see a “TRADE IN FOR $6.33” (or whatever the trade in price actually is).  However, not ever product you scan will be eligible for trade in.

Just before recording this episode we tried this on about six items with two of them displaying a trade in price.  Take a look!

Book #1 (for $5.33):

Book #2 (for $16.39):

Do you see how we could make $21.72 today if we choose to trade in both of these books?  It’s really just that easy.  You can take your phone with you to secondhand stores, garage sales, and anywhere else you can find gently used items.  Cassie’s dad has been doing this ever since we taught him this and had made some really good money.

Now this tip isn’t just about selling to Amazon but any way you can sell items for more money.  This can be via your local classifieds, on Facebook groups, and other sites specifically designed for you to sell used items.  Remember there are low seasons and high seasons but it can be a lot of fun and a great way to make money!

#5 – Sell handcrafted items

Cassie has been selling these handcrafted items with her mom and grandmother for years now.  Just recently she started to include her daughters in the fun.  This one is definitely seasonal – especially in craft booths in the late fall and early Christmas season.  They have also sold items in the summer during those farmers markets and other events.

Her next goal is to find ways to sell online using a website or Facebook groups.  Cassie mentions friends that sell online for a consistent income and we just might have one of them on in a future podcast episode.

Are you one that has found success doing this exact thing?  Reach out to us.  We would love to interview you and find out how it’s working out for you!

#6 – Start a Blog

This may sound overwhelming at first, but you really can make an income sharing your expertise or passion with others.  Don’t be fooled as it could take at least up to six months or more to start seeing a consistent income from your site.  At first you might be working from free, but based on bloggers we have talked to, you really can start seeing a true income.

How to Get Started

A blog is a low risk and low cost investment to get started.  There is simply one real cost that you’ll want to consider – a domain name and host.

You might have some tell you that you can use blogger or a site like WordPress.com, but the problem with those is that you can’t have ads or honestly generate any real income on the site.  You’ll want to get your own hosting with a legit domain name to get started.

You can get hosting for about $3.49 per month.  As your site grows you’ll want to consider a larger hosting platform, but for getting started and likely the first year or so this will be a perfect place to get started.

Before you do anything – ask yourself what domain you’ll want to use.  Once you have that, then use this special sale through THIS LINK HERE (this link gives you 50% off!) to reserve that domain name and get started.

What’s great is they provide you with a domain name for free (or at least included in the price). Once you sign-up, they will walk you through the set-up of your site so that you can start writing and sharing. DO NOT DO anything else or buy anything else as you will not have what you need or be overbuying because there is nothing else you need right now. Just keep it simple and affordable! 

We do mention the videos I created on YouTube on how easy it is to setup your website using Bluehost.  You can find these videos in this playlist with all nine videos showing you how to get started.

Don’t Forget This One Point

You are also going to hear over and over again that CONTENT IS KING.  Don’t wait until your website is perfect or utterly beautiful to start posting content.  Start posting and no one will care.

We know some personality types will struggle with that.  There are cheap ways to beautify your site without all the expense.  Use a site like Fiverr.com if you want to get a quick logo designed for just $5.

Questions: How do you make money blogging?

Answer: One of the first answers to this is via ads.  You’ll also want to checkout affiliate marketing which will allow you to share links and make a small amount on any converted sale or click.  Also find sponsors – but limit this to only companies and products that you believe in and really do want to share with your readers.  We try not to do this too much ourselves.  Finally, sell your own products and ebooks.

Don’t sell yourself short! 

We don’t realize that we really are experts in something.  Don’t just think of your topic at the highest level but instead be more specific by breaking your topic down and considering your specific audience.  We give an example of this in the show that really breaks it down.  Start to whittle down your topic and ask yourself what you have to offer that is very specific and unique that other websites aren’t offering.  You can and will have another voice that a certain group of readers will resonate with.

Cassie shares an example of this with another site she started with a friend, Mousekemoms.com.  Their site focusses on travel to Southern California and Disneyland from the perspective of a couple of moms with kids whose ages hit the full spectrum.  Although there are a lot of other Disneyland sites out there, they felt there was enough space to add another voice to the mix.  And they were right!

The sum of it is this – that there really are ways you can make money as a stay-at-home mom.  It’s just a matter of finding out what fits you best and getting started.  Don’t miss future episodes as Cassie is already begging to be interviewed again soon.

Our 2% Tip of the Week:

The 2% Tip is where we share an idea to either shrink your budget or increase your income by 2%.  This week we discuss a fun topic that we have recently come to love – us and our kids!  This tool is called Stockpile and allows you to dip your toes in the water when it comes to investing.  What’s great as well is they designed it so that kids can enjoy the process – and learning experience – too!

We wanted to share this tool because it’s been consuming our household lately.  Seriously, because it doesn’t require you to have thousands of dollars to get started because you buy fractional shares of the companies you love!  A fractional share is just what it sounds like – you buy a small piece of the stock.  Then when the stock goes up your fractional shares goes up.  Even better, when they award those dividends you’ll receive your portion in case as well!

You can buy companies like Google, Disney, Amazon, Apple, and even Bitcoin!  Seriously, half of our kids invested in Bitcoin with the free $5 we’ll be sharing with you down below (you can only get that $5 when you sign up through the referral link).  And in just one week that $5 of stock grew to a value of $7.48.

When you want to invest even more, Stockpile has very low fees compared to the market average.  At the time of this recording it’s just $0.99 per trade.  Even better there’s no fee on investing that initial $5!

How Is It Kid-Friendly?

This is great for the kids as it gives them a great introduction to the stock market.  They will learn the basics of investing with the lessons they offer and hands-on experience.  Plus they will learn the joys of a stock growing and the caution they need to exercise when playing the market when a stock falls.  They offer gift cards to make them fun gifts as well.  I’ll mention it here that Cassie wants Stockpile gift cards for Christmas as well.  We’ll see what she gets in her stocking.  LOL!

As we just shares, to get your free $5, you’ll need to use the link here.  What’s great is this initial $5 investment does not require any fees to invest.  Whether you plan to just invest this $5 or want to do even more, don’t miss on getting your free $5 from Stockpile!

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

• Check out our book, The 2% Rule to Get Debt Free Fast: An Innovative Method To Pay Your Loans Off For Good.  We discuss more detailed information on other income generating ideas and stories from what we learned in our early years.
• We created a 64-page workbook to give you the tools and the resources to help you pay off your debt.  You can see the digital version or the printed version.
• Here’s that popular article we mentioned: 6 Ways I Bring in $3,500 Of Extra Income Per Month As A Stay At Home Mom (With 6 Kids).  There are so many more tips and details that you won’t want to miss.  We just didn’t have enough time to share them all!
• Check through all links shared in the separate sections above.  This will give you the context you need before signing up for any of the free tools listed above.

Don’t Miss an Episode:

If you want to make sure that you never miss an episode we encourage you to sign up for our Take Back Your Finances Podcast list.  We will also send you additional resources from the latest podcast episode like checklists or related worksheets.  You just might receive resources on some of our favorite money-making or money-savings tool as well!

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