Friday, June 12, 2009

Other Income

Some people have significant outside income from various sources. I am not one of those people. I do have a little bit of un-budgeted income such as:

My bank account-This used to be a much bigger income source but now I am lucky if I get $20 in interest a year.

My CDs-$200-$300 a year for this one. Part of my emergency fund is in a CD right now. The other half needs to go back in to a CD when I have enough excess built up in my bank account again. It got pretty low there for a while.

Discover Rewards-I switched to a Chase card but I did get $100 cash back from Discover and an Ace Hardware gift card for $40 with an extra $10 because it was a Discover partner. I'm going to use this card for gas in July when I can get 5% back. Then I'll keep it and see if I can get any deals with it for Christmas with Discover's partners. That is if they don't cancel me for not using the card enough. I have $16 in rewards saved up.

Chase Freedom-I got 50 reward points for signing up and when I reach the $200 level I can get an extra $50 as a bonus. I'm at $86 now. Maybe I'll reach $200 by Christmas. That would be a big help.

Surveys-Yes, I tried surveys. I have finally reached the $20 level in rewards. I haven't cashed out yet. Sometimes the surveys are interesting, sometimes it seems like I tell them the same thing over and over and they still don't believe that I am not the decision maker at my company when it comes to computers and software. If I see that survey again I will scream.

Blog Ads-I have spent over $150 on this blog, mostly a donation to PFblogs to get more readers. I have made approximately $20 with the ads although I can't get paid until I reach the $100 level. At this rate I will get $100 in 8 more years. I should probably take the ads off. I lost interest in them about a year ago. I guess this one doesn't count as income because I already spent more than I will make but who knows, I could suddenly get 1 million reader or something.

Stock dividends-Most of my stocks have automatic dividend reinvestment. One stock, Arby's, bought another one of my stocks and does not have a direct stock purchase plan or dividend reinvestment. It cashed out my partial share and left me with one measly share worth approximately $19. Arby's now send me a 6 cents check every quarter. They are spending more on postage! I have to go through a broker if I want to sell which means more fees. Since they made it difficult for me to sell or buy I am just going to let them send me 6 cent checks for a while.

And lastly, anything I can sell on ebay or craig's list gives me a little money. This year I sold my modem and my washer and dryer for a total of $120 I think. There is a lot more stuff to sell.

Each thing on its own doesn't seem like much but altogether they usually pay for at least 2 plane tickets and it keeps me from dipping in to my emergency fund. Every little bit helps.

5 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Other than CD's, dividends, and bank interest, I don't make much outside of my paycheck. About $25 from Adsense, and about $20 from CafePress are the 'big' ones so far.

Do you not count your rental house because all of it goes to the mortgage? That will be huge for you one day soon.

Daizy said...

Oh yes, the rental. You are right, I don't count it yet but it is the key to my plan and one day it will be my primary income.

I need to check out that cafepress site. That sounds cool.

MoneyFunk said...

It's great to see people actually really benefit from using their Credit Cards for rewards points. I am hasty using my credit card, but I may start as long as I pay it in full each month.

Andy Hough said...

That isn't a bad amount of extra income. Chase is changing their reward system and after June 30 you no longer get the $250 for $200. They call this an improvement. They should have notified you already unless you're exempt as a Chase checking customer.

Daizy said...

MoneyFunk, paying it off every month is definitely the key. It is nice to get a little bit of money back.

Andy, I did read on other blogs that Chase was cutting their perks. I haven't been notified so I checked my online account and it does say: exclusive rewards for Chase Checking account holders so I guess I lucked out for now.