Simple living in the country - back to basics

themadvix

Gosh Cheery, I hope you went to sleep after all that! At least you are up on the HW. And now you know where you're at, so you can go for it!

rtandon27

Cheery - hope you managed to fall asleep after commiting those thoughts to paper (so to speak 😆). 

Have you given any thought to tracking those alternate income streams in YNAB? - I was pleasantly surprised recently to discover that OH makes considerably more on Prolific than I do and my time spent doing long surveys is better spent doing a bit of overtime here and there. 

Also a lesson is that I need  to move our ISAs and savings pot to somewhere with higher interest!

Baileys_Babe

Cheery_Daff said:

Anyway, having just done a Y-Live survey for £3, I've got to pondering extra income again (and yes, it's 1am and I should really go to sleep!) I'm at £17, so a way off payout 🙄 

I did have some luck on the Happy wheel tonight though, with £55, taking August total to £78, very pleasing (obviously this can, and probably will, go down 🙄😂).

Wondering whether to have an extra income total for the last third of the year, starting in September? (Or even now, I suppose!) I don't tend to tally up what I've earned extra each month other than the Happy wheel, but I think I'd quite like to. Will add up 2023 total so far tomorrow 😊

I'll be including...

* Happy wheel
* prolific
* cashback (although I can tell you now it's £0)
* premium bonds winnings!
* qmee
* other surveys etc

Can you think of anything obvious I'm missing? I'm not including anything Mr Cheery brings in (like tonight's instrument sale). Can't think of anything else I've been doing - although I can think of a few things I might start doing if I have a target! 

Do you have any loyalty cards? Nectar, sparks, clubcard....

Cheery_Daff

Aha, yes I do, thank you! 

And yes, I do keep track of income in YNAB, but couldn't check on the phone last night - will look on the laptop. I don't ever tend to actually look at it as a report though, so that'll be interesting. Not sure the Happy wheel one will be helpful either - I've tended to record the months I make some money as income, and if I'm down, I take it from the MB float and don't calculate it in with the main account (because I don't usually take money from the main current account to top up the float). Also because I can't be faffed entering all the HW transactions in YNAB, it just sits there as a blanket £300 float, which is not always an accurate reflection of exactly what's in there. I tend to rebalanced at the end of the year.

Anyway, thank you all. I did indeed go to sleep, and slept pretty well!

Contenplating joining the £10 a day thread next month. Just trying to read through a few to figure out at what point people count income - when a survey has cleared, for example, or when you've received an actual payput to the bank? Not sure when I'd count HW money - I'd be forever adjusting up and down and the total would be all over the place, quite dispiriting, might keep that separate...

Still no word from today's visitors. I'm going to do a workout then ring (and I hope they don't just turn up in the middle of the workout 😂)

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...Anyway, thank you all. I did indeed go to sleep, and slept pretty well!...

...Just trying to read through a few to figure out at what point people count income - when a survey has cleared, for example, or when you've received an actual payput to the bank?...

Glad to hear you slept!!!

For surveys, I count it when the cash hits my account & allocate as any other income. For points I tally as awarded in cash value & then count as spent in cash value when used.  The rare lottery win goes into the same category as lottery purchase as incoming rather than outgoing - needless to say it's not (yet) a category in profit if I run the report - LOL

EssexHebridean

I want to try to focus back on surveys again for a little bit of extra income - but I keep saying that with limited amounts of success so I won't be committing to anything there! Prolific is the ludicrous one - I know it can pay well but because the internet at work blocks it, that relies on me either remembering to checking it via my iPad connected to the phone at lunchtime (which is workable, I just need to remember to do it!) or what I was doing a while ago - check it first thing and then in the evening and pick up what is available then.  You have just inspired me to go and do an Ipsos survey though so thank you for that! 

Cheery_Daff

Ha, yes - my work doesn't block Prolific, but I've sometimes found myself in a dilemma with a 1 hour survey or something - and it is a dilemma when working from home and able to extend working hours into the evening... 🙄😂 I've usually not bothered checking on the phone, but there are quite a few that don't have to be done on a laptop now. 

I tried QMee again last night for the first time in a while - can't imagine I'll last long with that - I got extremely frustrated when it wanted me to upload a photo of a packet of sanitary towels and kept saying the file size was too large. For 9p I'm not going to !!!!!! about resizing photos 😂😂

I did join OnePoll yesterday though - is that the one you use the app for?

joedenise

I check Prolific from time to time during the day but I tend to only do the short surveys.  I can't sit and concentrate for 30 minutes or an hour on a survey!  They're usually not that interesting but I've still managed to get around £50 a month in the few months I've been doing it - only started in May.

EssexHebridean

I have used the OnePoll app in the past although not sure I've got it installed currently. I seem to recall it was pretty straightforward through the app mind you - it's one I can easily do during the day as the surveys are mostly so short so usually just the standard login to the website suits me well enough! 

rtandon27

EH - my work firewalls also blocs prolific so on days that I work from home, I check about an hour before work, at lunch break and immediately after my work day.  What I make is not a patch on the OH who checks in between his housekeeping 'chores' several times a day.  In the past 2-ish months he's earned a good 200+ which is great as he finds them fun, especially the longer studies that I don't have the patience for.

I've been having fun with entering contests on my 10 minute coffee breaks as those are normally not blocked.  No big prizes yet, but lots of consolation freebies & samples, including ice cream and chilled coffee, as well as small samples of expensive perfume which I just love and so do the bees in the garden!