Another month is in the books! What does that mean? Another 31 days where we were able to earn extra money in order to pursue financial freedom. October was not as bountiful from side hustle activities as months in the past, but we were still able to rack in a few extra bucks. Always remember, every dollar counts in the pursuit. Grab that cup of coffee and check out our October Side Hustle Report!
The side hustles
Ebates – We’re pretty sure most people are familiar with Ebates, the website that offers cash back and coupon codes for nearly all major online retailers and travel sites. If you aren’t familiar or do not have an account, click that blue hyperlink, (yes the first one haha) to see what this easy to earn cash back website is all about. Each new user also can receive a free $10 gift card upon sign up (yes an affiliate plug), which is an added bonus. The two of us always visit Ebates prior to making an online purchase to see if we can earn cash back by visiting the website through Ebates or using one of the listed coupon codes. It is easy money for a simple additional step in the online shopping experience that maybe adds 10 seconds to your transaction. Here is our October summary for cash back earned from Ebates:
- Lanny – $17.61 – Still waiting on more hotel stays to settle in wonderful cash back, but earned almost $18 this past month, just under $10 less than September. Most of my activity was from hotels and rentals cars (small benefit of traveling for work). In total, I have received over $364, see below’s snip from their website:
- Bert – $0 – A quiet this month for me. But hey, I’m never bothered by a small month of ebates rewards because that means I have made less purchases…right??? I did make one purchase through Ebates this month when I purchased a Groupon for a new local restaurant. I paid $16 for a $25 gift certificate (after applying a 20% coupon code, of course) and received 6% cash back on the purchase through Ebates. I was pretty pumped. However, due to an error, I haven’t received my $0.96 credit yet. What the heck? Trust me, they have received several inquires about this already and hopefully my account will be credited shortly.
Swagbucks – One of our longest tenured side hustles. For those of you that are not familiar with Swagbucks, it is a website the provides gift card or cash rewards for performing activities on the website. The activities include using their search engine, answering surveys, answering polls, watching videos, printing off coupons, shopping (similar to Ebates above), signing up for different offers, etc. Bottom line is that there are a ton of different ways for people to earn! Here is our referral link if you would like to give it a try as well! Here is how much each of us earned from Swagbucks:
- Lanny – > 3,071 Swagbucks or $30.71 – I was excited to know I kept the trend of over $30 per month alive through this side hustle and hit my 4th month in a row over $30, finishing at $30.71. Due to work constraints, was not able to spend as much time on here. The way I was able to monitor this was take my end of previous month lifetime amount and subtract out my lifetime amount at end of month (found in the activity section of your account).
- Bert – 2,765 Swagbucks or $27.65 – I was able to continue increasing my Swagbucks cash out amount with more free time due to the fact my housing projects are winding down and more efficient use of the website. I’ve finally settled in and figured out the best method to earn Swagbucks. I use videos during the day that run in the background at work and I like to complete a survey or two in the evening while relaxing. The system has worked well in September and October and I look forward to continuing my success in November. Plus, I was able to cash out and transfer $25 into my student loans savings account. This extra cash will be used to pay down my wife’s student loans!
Ibotta – Ibotta is one of our favorite apps because it is so easy to use. It is so easy to earn money that they even give you $5.00 just to sign up! The app allows you to earn cash back from nearly every grocery store and an expanding list of online retailers (such as Jet.com, Target.com, and so on). Before shopping, you scan the available rebates on thee app and see which items you are planning on buying. Some example of rebates that may be available any given week are $0.25 for different fruits/vegetables, $1-$2 off of a certain body wash or shampoo, $1.00 for purchasing a certain type of coffee, $2-$3 back for purchasing beer or wine, or our favorite, $5 off of a plant-based protein shake powder!
One of our favorite things about Ibotta is that the discounts don’t just apply to goods that are impossible to find or are very expensive. There are always a few name brands to choose from! Ibotta makes it easy to redeem cash as well and the process takes less than a minute after you complete your purchase. You simply scan the receipt, select the rebates that were purchased during that shopping trip, and then receive the credit within 24 hours. If you would like to try the app, we included a referral link in the banner below our monthly summary and at the beginning of the paragraph.
- Lanny – $5.50 – Another drop here, due to limited shopping opportunities, we’ll see if I can get this back up in November. In total, I’ve earned over $183.00 in cash back from the website. However, I highly URGE you to sign up. Yes, sadly we do get a referral kick back, but this is by far the EASIEST way to get cash back. Further, the beer, wine categories make it fairly simply to rack up (usually $1.00 – $3.00 for a 6-pack and/or bottle of wine, eh, I’m Italian and Irish). Additionally – supplements like vitamins are a bigger cash back piece as well.
- Bert – $18.50 – On my personal account, I only received $1.25 in cash back from Ibotta. Even though we like to typically shop together, my wife had to handle most of our grocery shopping in October. Luckily for me, she has started using Ibotta before each shopping trip and she was very smart about her shopping. She earned $17.25 cash back this month by simply planning ahead. Amazing stuff and I am proud of her for sure!
- Lanny – $0.00 – Twas a dry month in October, as I had a few small items sell, but nothing worth mentioning. November is the plan to hit this one harder, and taking a look at the wardrobe this time to reduce the number of dress shirts I have and T-Shirts that are from designer brands. Further, one should see 5 benefits of getting rid of “stuff”, I know I own too much crap in my life that is consuming space, time and resources. In the end, the idea is that the items sold or donated will add value to someone else’s life, as that’s the purpose of owning something, to add value.
- Bert – $0 – Darn – back down to zero this month after over $4 last month. My wife and I continue to unpack and build our inventory of items to eventually sell. But listing takes time and I need to have a day or night where I have three focused hours on building a large online inventory. This month I was able to list three items on eBay. Two pairs of shorts and an never-worn pair of jeans that my wife bought years ago. We had several watchers and over 30 views on the jeans. Unfortunately though, there were no bids. I do remain optimistic that we will be able to sell these jeans soon though and I cannot wait to report it the month it finally sells.
Total Side Hustle Income in October:
Lanny: $53.82, total of $425.61 since tracking on the blog!
Bert: $46.15, total of $271.03 since tracking on the blog!
Diplomats Side Hustle Total: $99.97, Cumulative Total of $696.64 since tracking on the blog!