Monthly income reports are hugely popular in the money blogging community, with a growing number of personal finance bloggers disclosing their income to their readers.
Back in the day, when my income was made up primarily of digital marketing wages, I didn’t see much point in sharing an income report. Most months would be like: “Made £1,500 from my job. The End.”
Not only did that not seem particularly insightful at the time, my former employer had insisted that myself and my then-colleagues keep our salaries secret. Now that I’m self-employed and trying to make a living from my writing, I figured this would be a good opportunity to document how my income fluctuates month to month.
April was a fantastic month for me income-wise, even though very little of my earnings were made from writing.
I tweeted the above at the end of April but it’s only now that I’m sharing an exact breakdown showing how much I’ve earned from each source.
I was initially vague for two main reasons.
1. I felt guilty about how much I made from my lodger and feared I might face criticism for not charging less than I do
2. I was embarrassed at how little I actually make from writing
My writing career is… struggling. I’m heavily reliant on my lodger and supermarket income in order to pay my bills. Before I started working at the supermarket and before I started renting out my spare room, I was heavily reliant on my savings. But I eventually grew tired of watching my savings fund get smaller and smaller. I had to be real with myself. This writer lifestyle I was trying to live was unsustainable and I needed more reliable sources of income.
As you’ll see, diversifying my income turned out to be a smart move – even if the sources might not fit perfectly into the lifestyle I originally wanted for myself. Here’s a break down of how I made my money in April.
Renting out my spare room to a lodger – £550
In April, I made £550 from renting out my spare room to a lodger.
I say I rented out my spare room but technically I moved out of my double bedroom and into the spare room myself. This was a decision made purely so I could maximise my rental income.
When I started researching the cost of renting a bedroom in my area on SpareRoom, it really sunk in just how much more money I could make by renting out my double bedroom with an en-suite than if I was to shove a double bed in the smaller room and get a lodger to move in there instead.
There were also very few en-suite rooms available in my area and the en-suite rooms that were available weren’t nicely decorated or modern. I figured I could fill a gap in the market, as Tory as that sounds.
Working at a supermarket – £958
This month I made £958 from my job as a customer assistant at a supermarket. I’m usually contracted to just 13.5 hours a week but I’ve been doing some overtime lately, even though the whole point in getting a lodger was to cover the cost of my mortgage and (some) bills. I wanted an income source that would allow me to spend less time at the shop and devote more time to writing. But as it’s turned out, I’ve still spent a lot of time at work due to not wanting to let my colleagues down during a pandemic.
I’ve been reading Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado recently and I particularly relate to this bit: “I’ve never cared any more for the owners of companies I’ve worked for than they have for me, but I will kill myself for my co-workers. A lot of us do that. When we work through fevers and injuries and bone-weariness, it’s for the money but also because if we don’t, we know that we’ll be leaving our co-workers holding the bag. However bad the shift is, with a man down, it’ll be that much worse for whoever’s left.”
I relate to that.
Some of the money included in this month’s pay slip was part of what me and my work pals have nicknamed the ‘coronabonus’ or, if we’re being really dramatic, ‘blood money’. Our wages have seen a slight increase as a thank you for working during the pandemic. This bonus is only a temporary and our wages will return to normal once things calm down a little. Personally, I think the bonus is an insult because it doesn’t come close to compensating us for putting ourselves at risk while helping the company boost its profits at a time when many are suffering.
The company we work for has framed this bonus as a way to say ‘thank you’, but I honestly think it’s been implemented as an incentive to keep us signing up for overtime. If the company cared about its workers, it’d pay us more consistently.
One of my pals defended the bonus and said “it’s better than nothing. We should be grateful” but personally, I think we need to start demanding more for ourselves.
Writing for Grazia – £300
In April I made £300 from writing a piece for Grazia about finding love after rape. Visit the post embedded below on Instagram and you can zoom in to read it. Despite the sensitive nature of the piece, this was a really exciting moment for me and I loved seeing my name and face in print. Making money off my trauma! Hooray!
Blog affiliates – £120
I made £120 from blogging income this month.
I’d like to increase my affiliate income as it can be a mostly passive form of income. There’s some work to begin with such as creating blog posts that promote the affiliated products or services, but once those are set up there’s an element of letting this content do its thing.
I could probably make more money by making it less passive. If I wrote more posts about these topics and spent more time promoting them, my affiliate income would likely rise. Time to pull my finger out my arse then!
Total: £1,928
