Ways to earn or save a little extra each month

[daydreamingnightowl]

I have never been so financially insecure in my life and I have just turned 40. This comes from being self employed and having two children in my late 30s. Topping up a very poor maternity allowance has wiped me out.

I've cancelled all my subscriptions and am budgeting to within an inch of my life.

I'm wondering what little things I can do to get a bit more cash?

I switch my bank account regularly to get cashback.

I have clubcard plus for tesco which saves me around £15 a month with their 10% off 2 shops and 10% off Fred and flo which we use with baby.

I use jam doughnut for extra cashback ( https://app.jamdoughnut.com/TLW4 if you want to sign up and get first time user bonus)

I don't have the time for online surveys but wonder if there is anything else like above I could be doing or using to save or make a little extra each month.

Matched betting works, but it’s very time consuming and quite dull. When we were in a tricky financial position I found shopping at the budget supermarkets and eating cheaply was my biggest saving, homemade pizzas, cheap fish and mince occasionally but mainly vegetarian diet. Obviously no spending unless essential.

Layer up the cashback. Cashback credit/debit card and using quidco/topcashback. Also link your card in the airtime rewards app to get a third layer of cashback on the same purchase - I buy multiple supermarket gift cards (£5 or £10 each) to meet the monthly challenge bonuses. Then use the gift cards to do the grocery shopping. (My referral code TB4QEDAP gets us both a small bonus). I earn about £200 a year from this app for minimal effort. Obviously only spend what you would normally.

Once I've worked on your bills and subscriptions, I find food is the biggest variable expense for us and so easy for it to grow when attention is diverted. We found we get a lot of value from growing some of our own fruit & veg and having an additional freezer for excess grown food and bargains/reduced food.

Declutter and sell - amazing what people will buy. But keep a handle on shipping costs/fees - no point in spending hours to break even. You're often better off selling in buik to a trade-in merchant like CEX/ziffit etc unless your items are more than £10 or so.

If you are self-employed make sure you claim all the expenses and allowances you can. Depending on the ages of your children you can often earn more from working a bit more/doing admin in the evening than from online wheezes.

Vinted / ebay
Attapoll.
Prolific
Top cash back
Quidco

Olio
Too good to go

Even though you get some money off Tesco I think you'd probably be able to save going to a cheaper supermarket. Tray and save 10 per week on your food shop
Sell anything. Toys etc that are no longer played with.
I sold some gold recently which was way more than I thought I'd get. Just for old broken jewellery

Buying all your branded household goods off Ebay

Using Topcashback

You can try affiliate marketing but generally this is a lot of work - easiest when spread across friends in a group - e.g 20% commission shared between you when you know a friend wants to buy something

as well as your bank account regularly switch things like gas, electricity, broadband for cheaper deals and check with friends & family for referral codes, I got a £50 voucher when swapping my broadband & tv package and £25 credit on my new gas & electric account.
Never put your car and household insurance on automatic renewal so you can shop around for a better price. Also check if you're paying for add-ons that you don't really need e.g. complimentary hire car (that might be essential to you but i saved by taking mine off as I can manage without), or declaring way more miles a year than you actually do.
I meal plan for the weekly shop but always buy one less meal than I need to try and avoid food waste. So Friday is often using up leftovers or something that's been batch cooked in the freezer.

Ideas (might be irrelevant but throwing anything out there):

• renting out your parking space in the daytime through online “park-on-my-drive” type of apps
• rent out a room to a lodger temporarily , or
• become a Host for an international student (this only works if you have 3 rooms and your kids can share)
• offer pet-sitting services for a small fee.

if you’re self employed, do you have predictable gaps in your day, can you find work to do in those gaps?

I have just started following this lady

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=frugal+queen+in+france

She is a Brit living in France with her husband. granted she lives in France and costs are different but she has lots of ideas that are transferrable.

Also, I recently discovered the Too Good To Go app. I have only thus far used it once- Artisan bakery in town- but for £5 we got several large loaves of sourdough or cobb rolls (have frozen half of them) plus pastries and sandwiches which were perfectly good and lasted two days of summer lunches for 3 of us.

I also have had to scale back on working full time due to ill health so have signed up too a temp agency. I have managed to pick up extra work for the past 2 years here and there - last year totalled about 50 days extra. If you are self employed would something like that be an option?

Otherwise I am also looking for tips. COL is hitting us hard.

You could look into training A.I like me. This place pays weekly and has been a life saver to me. Look for positions that suit your skill set and apply.

heres my referral link

https://work.mercor.com/?referralCode=fb83bd4e-2bac-48e5-a977-2a14c29df04a

Couldn’t you just work a few more hours each week?! I find the whole cashback suggestion ridiculous to be honest…in prefer to save any money you have to spend first, kinda ridiculous.

The simplest ones I have found are ....

Make your own lunch to take to work - Saves £5 a day at least, which is about £1,200 a year if you take home made soup/tsatsiki/hummus or boiled egg/cheese salad.

Avoid motorway service stations - everything without exception is absurdly expensive.

Cook from scratch

Buy one large bottle of multi-purpose cleaner, dilute it in a spray bottle and use it everywhere. Buy own brand washing powder instead of tablets. It works better, is better for your machine and is half the price.

Do Parkrun instead of gym. Watch terrestrial instead of subscription tv.

25 free hours of electricity in November if you have a compatible smart meter and sign up

https://www.uswitch.com/mobile-app/power-hours/25-hours-free-electricity/#:~:text=of%20free%20electricity-,Get%2025%20hours%20of%20free%20electricity,sign%20up%20by%2031%20October.

Hi, thanks very much for this. I am just in the process of signing up.

These are things I do that help a little

1 bottle of multi purpose cleaner split into other bottles
Own brand supermarket labels
Eating less meat eg' mushroom curry etc
I do surveys only a few sites are worth it tbh as lots are time consuming
I use attapoll survey pop and survey spin £4 cash out
Packed lunches for work
I do have 1 subscription Netflix that's my treat cheapest one.
No gym membership I bought some cheap at home equipment and walk more

On surveys I probably earn £15 a month not masses but all helps

I'm doing the 1p challenge. The idea is you start day one with 1p in a jar or in a bank account, then on day 2 you put 2p in.

If you keep it up you will save £667.95.

You don't have to do it in any particular order. So you can start with £3.65 if you like.

Use cashback sites and comparison sites. I was already a customer of DF but renewing via topcashback got me £80.

I have a bank account with Nationwide, they are offering a cash incentive to anyone swapping accounts. This year I have also had £150 as 'fair share' payments.

i agree with less meat
beans and lentils are far healthier anyway

Analyse your food shop and look for categories you spend a lot on, have a think about ways to reduce that. I remember finding I was spending 15% of my food budget on yogurt, so I asked for a yogurt maker for Christmas - I still had to buy UHT milk but it definitely reduced what we were spending.

And start buying loose fruit and veg in exactly the quantities you need to cook or eat rather than what the supermarket wants to sell you. Likewise if you like to provide 5 a day fruit and veg, make it one piece of fruit and 4 veg, it’s usually cheaper.

Agree with seeing if you can grow any fruit/veg yourself - even if you don’t have a garden you may be able to grow at least a couple of herbs, and if you have any outdoor space at all some tomatoes. If you know people with gardens, get good at asking for any spare plants. In the earlier autumn (so next year) learn where the areas are where people leave out date fruit and veg to take.

Google for your local community pantry or fridge and use it. They are designed to cut food waste, they are for everybody and they often have a LOT of food available, though you need to be flexible in what you make.