Alternative Income

December Income – $1816.86

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Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

Online Income

$1511.80

Interest

$11.73

Stock Dividends

$111.94

Mystery Shops

$150

Bank Bonuses

$10

Survey/Cashback

$21.39

Total

$1816.86

It was a pretty good month for income.  My online income reached a new high.  If I could make that consistently I wouldn’t need to worry about a day job.  Since none of the income for the month was from a day job you might say I’m not worrying about the day job now.  My online income won’t be as high this month but it should still be over $1000 which I consider pretty good.

This month I’ll make more money from mystery shopping plus have job income.  Stock dividends will be down due to their quarterly nature.  There shouldn’t be any other big differences in my income.  My combination of alternative and passive income is working well and I plan to add to it this year.

November Income – $703.85

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Here is a breakdown of my income for November.

Online Income

$505.23

Interest

$38.81

Stock Dividends

$12.93

Mystery Shops

$129.89

Bank Bonuses

$10

Survey/Cashback

$6.99

Total

$703.8

It was not a good month for income.  My online income streak of making over $1000 came to an end as I only made $505.23 online for the month.  This isn’t too bad since I paid for three years of hosting.  I already know my online income for December will be over $1000.  This will be by far my best year for online income.  I’m hoping I can make next year even better.

Since I didn’t have any job income or medical study income my overall income was down quite a bit.  I’m starting a new job this month which should get my income total back up.  I don’t think having a job will result in any reduction in my alternative sources of income which will allow me to start putting some money in savings and investments again.

October Income – $2135.84

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Here is a breakdown of my income for October.

Online Income

$1158.98

Interest

$15.57

Stock Dividends

$22.81

Mystery Shops

$222.17

Bank Bonuses

$10

Survey/Cashback

$26.31

Medical Study

$680

Total

$2135.84

It was a good month for income. My online income not only totaled more than $1000 for the fourth month in a row.  It was down a little from the month before but since I didn’t have any new text link sales I was pleased with it. I should have a good shot at making over $1000 online this month as well. If I continue to make over $2000 a month without a job I won’t be in any rush to get one. My mix of passive and alternative income is working well for me.

If I don’t do a medical study this month my overall income will be down but I’m not worried about it.  My income should still be more than my expenses.

My reported mystery shopping income does not include reimbursements but expenses such as mileage and printing have not been deducted from the total.  With my allowed mileage expense the amount of mystery shopping income I have to pay tax on will be much smaller.  Mystery shopping is like a part time job for me now.  I just do a few shops that I like when I feel like it and try to pick up a few heavily bonused shops at the end of the month.  I like this better than trying to maximize my income by doing every shop available.  I make a little less money but I get a much better hourly rate for the shops I do and have a much lower stress level.

If I continue to make over $2000 a month without a job I won’t be in any rush to get one. My mix of passive and alternative income is working well for me.

July Income – $1519.91

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Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Online Income

$1067.96

Interest

$12.35

Stock Dividends

$22.79

Mystery Shops

$373.52

Bank Bonuses

$20

Survey/Cashback

$23.29

Total

$1519.91

It was a good month for income.  My online income was my best ever.  Making a $1000 in a month has been a goal of mine for a while but I don’t think I’ve even made it over $800 before.  One of the reasons my online income was higher in July was because I had a couple of months of affiliate income owed to me that finally arrived.  Most of the increase was from the direct sale of links.   There was a large increase in people contacting me wanting to purchase links on one of my sites.   Most of the income was from links paid for a year upfront.  There are also a couple of links that pay monthly and a couple more people I’m still negotiating with so I will still make at least a little from selling links this month.  I doubt I will make a $1000 again this month but I should make at least $600 which I am pretty happy with.

Mystery shopping income will go down because I have a regular job now and won’t have as much time for mystery shopping.  Some of the shops I did last month won’t pay me until this month though so I should make at least $200 from mystery shops this month.

My new job is working for a non-profit and it doesn’t pay much but it should still cause my total income to increase over last month. Although if I could count on making $1500 a month every month without a job I wouldn’t worry about a job and just concentrate on increasing my alternative sources of income.   It would be nice to have all my money come from alternative income and passive income but that might take a while.

Making a Living by Mystery Shopping Update

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My goal was to make $500 from mystery shopping this month. It looks like my total will probably be around $300 unless I get some really lucrative shops at the end of the month. There usually are shops with raised fees at the end of the month but I’ve not been quick enough to get the ones I want.

I probably would have made $500 but I did hardly any shops last week and I don’t have any scheduled for the rest of this week. I have decided I am only going to do shops if they are either especially lucrative or shops that I enjoy doing. It seems that a large percentage of the shops are petroleum shops and I don’t care for those. They take me too long and there is too much stuff to remember and too many pictures to take.

My conclusion after doing lots of shops this month is that it is possible to become a full time mystery shopper. It would require several things to be able to achieve this though. It would take some time to become more efficient at doing the shops so that you are returned a decent wage for your time. You also need to be highly organized to schedule the shops and report them in the most efficient manner. You would also likely need to persevere through some lower earning months because the mystery shopping companies do not show you all the opportunities when you first work for them. After you have worked for them for a while they will give you access to more and better shops. Although, I do believe it is possible to make a living as a mystery shopper it would be a lot of work. Since I don’t enjoy most of the mystery shopping jobs it wouldn’t be worthwhile for me. My plan for now is to continue making online income and look for a regular j-o-b, possibly in the legal industry.

****Don’t forget to enter my giveaway this week if you haven’t already.