Hey there! If you’re new to Budget Breakaway, each month I reflect on the previous month’s financial progress and calculate my total earnings from side hustles. I analyse any activities that may have had an impact on my finances and check up to see how far I have climbed towards my long term goals.
June’s Happenings…
In the last week of June, we spent a frugal week in Scotland visiting family, going on long bike rides and enjoying some fantastic food. The best bit? Thanks to the generosity of family it didn’t cost us any more than an average week at home!
In previous weeks I’ve made a real effort to be especially frugal, only buying the bare essentials to ensure I can put as much towards the emergency fund as possible; after all, I did spend two-thirds of it on my car insurance premium last month!
This month was actually my first month without reading and reviewing a book. I must say it was a great decision to take a short break as my side hustle income has increased and I’ve felt more productive and less stressed. However, if you’re on the lookout for a good book to read, you can check out my book reviews here.
I’ve Filled My Emergency Fund!
One of my goals for 2014 was to create an emergency fund of £1950 to cover me for 3 months without work. Last month I set myself a rather ambitious goal of adding £777 to the fund with the aim of fully funding it at the end of July.
With some frugal living, ferocious side hustling and a fine stroke of luck I actually managed to deposit £1490 into my cash ISA this month which means my emergency fund is fully fueled!
Having a reliable emergency fund is very important to me as having no cash in an emergency is exactly what got me further into debt in the first place! A situation I plan on never being in again. Check out this post to find out why you should have some money stashed away for a rainy day! A full emergency fund is a huge step for me as just six months ago I was paying off my debt; I can now set my sights a little higher and begin saving for a deposit on our first mortgage!
Side Hustle Income – £273.42
Fiverr – £11.66
This month I set up a new gig on Fiverr; I had once set up a ‘finance article writing’ gig but as I’m not the fastest writer; I certainly wasn’t maximizing the value of my time. This time around, I wanted to sell something that I could complete in a tenth of the time but would still provide value to my audience. My latest gig? I will say your greetings message and do a backflip – check it out here!
Business Consultancy Services – £192 – By far the best earner for me month on month, finding a client of your own is the perfect earner for anyone that works in the digital industry. This also expands your skills at a faster rate to further benefit you at work. I’ll be looking for another client in the coming month’s to double this income stream.
Parkour Coaching – £12 – For those that don’t know, I spend the occasional Friday coaching parkour.
Blog Advertising – £57.76
Total Side Hustle Income: £273.42
My Net Worth – £2337.28
After clearing my debt at the start of this year I’d say I’ve now been in the green long enough to start tracking my net worth. I’ve began to diversify my assets and despite these meager beginnings I’m really looking forward to seeing my net worth grow over the coming months. The net worth breakdown:
Pension: £142.28 (‘Adventurously’ invested – up to 100% in shares)
Emergency Fund: £1950 (Cash ISA @ 1.75%)
Current Account + Joint Account: £245 (£10 per month generated from reward accounts)
Grand Total Net Worth: £2337.28
My Progress on Goals for June
All in all a very successful month with all of my goals complete and exceeded, needless to say, I’m very happy with this one!
Generate £240 in Side Hustle Income – Complete
Deposit £741 into my Cash ISA – Complete
Calculate My Net Worth – Complete
My Goals for July
1. Generate £250 in Side Hustle Income
Side-hustles were nice and high in June and I’d like to see this continue in July. I’ll be trying to add some more tools to my side hustle belt so keep watch as this all unfolds
2. Make my first deposit of £643 into my mortgage fund!
The next stage in my financial journey and a very exciting one! We’re looking to have built a large enough deposit for a 5% Help to Buy mortgage. For us to hit the target and have enough for furniture and additional moving cost I will be aiming to contribute £643 per month until the end of January. Wish me luck!
3. Post another gig on Fiverr
As well as being a quick and easy earner this month, it has also been great fun to come up with a product that will sell well on Fiverr and also keep me active! My latest gig has gone rather well so I’ll be looking to post another that has an equally low time investment to ensure the maximum return on investment on this platform.
How was your financial progress in June? Any goals for July?
Good for you mate, you’re well on your way. I would love to do some side hustle work with SEO as I rather enjoy that aspect of blogging. I’ve been reading about it since day one and many people don’t care to implement it but it does help. Good job getting your emergency saving fund fully fulled. That is not easy for many people but living frugal and only buying what you need is essential. When I was living in the UK I saved money all the time just so I could buy my first flat at 21 then a house at 24. It was only because I was watching my money. Now that we budget I’m pretty sure I could have saved even more back then. Living in Canada now has been a big transition for me but one thing hasn’t changed and that is spending less than we earn. Thanks for a great update. Mr.CBB
Thanks, SEO is a HUGE topic but I’m lucky enough at work to be immersed in the full range of SEO areas which makes it easy to transfer my skills straight into a freelance gig. So glad to have filled the emergency fund, I’m so excited to start looking at houses to buy. Impressed that you managed to buy your first house at 24! With Help to Buy Mortgages coming in to the UK recently it makes it much easier for me to buy than if I were to try a couple of years back. You seem to have a real hold on your budget, I’ll certainly be trying your grocery challenge soon to see what I can save so watch this space!
Thanks for stopping by!
Your freelance SEO service sounds like a blast. Using a preexisting skill set to earn more is brilliant.
Did you find your client through one of the large freelance sites or through networking?
Subscribed.
It’s great as I love working in SEO so the work is fun at home and although I can’t ever see myself scaling this to into a full scale agency it’s a nice idea to increase my client base to help more people increase the sales for their business. The first client was from networking and I’m sure the next will be too!
You’ve done great in June! Congrats on the side income hustles, that will start to have a good impact in your goals 🙂 I’d like to start a side hustle but don’t really know where to start! Need to get my planning head on I think 🙂
Hey Nicola!
Thanks, as I raise the bar each month it’s very tricky getting those results consistently but they’re a huge help! Fiverr has certainly been fun and although not a huge earner it does present a way for you to test the popularity of your side-hustle idea before putting it to market. For example; when first listing my writing gig, I quickly learned from a surge of orders that there’s a big enough demand for finance content I just need to find higher paying consumers away from the Fiverr marketplace (e.g. staff writing or job boards…) Thanks for stopping by!
Excellent for you partner, you’re well on your way. you’ve done excellent in June! Congratulations on the part earnings hustles, that will begin to have an excellent effect in your goals.
Thanks John, I’d like to shift into something a little more passive sometime as the side hustles are great but very demanding on spare time. The idea is that the earnings on these are put together in the savings pot and funneled towards larger financial investments; a mortgage, stocks & shares, business investments etc.
Thanks for stopping by!