Bank Rewards & Interests: £7

• Co-op: £1
• Natwest My Rewards: £3
• Santander Lite Bank Account: £3

Interests over Savings: -£31

• Moneybox General Investment Account £2,000 Emergency Fund: -£31

Cashback: £2

• Casual purchases: £2

Freebies: £4

• Free Bet: £4

eBay Sales: £65

• Pair of shirts: £2

• XBOX 360: £44

• Magazine: £2

• Tennis Balls: £17

September Total: £47 (-£37 below monthly target);

£1,452 above year target.

Bank Rewards		Interest on Savings		Cashback		Freebies		Sales		Total
£7	9%	-£31		£2	3%	£4	5%	£65	83%	£78 – £23 = £47

Month	Free Cash Earnings	+/- to Monthly Target (£84)	Accumulative	to Year End Objective (£1,000)
January	£102	+£18	£102	£898
February	£196	+£105	£298	£709
March	£248	+£164	£546	£454
April	£451	+£367	£997	£3
May	£61	-£23	£1,058	+£58
June	£1,096	+£1,012	£2,154	+£1,154
July	£104	+£20	£2,258	+£1,258
August	£147	+£63	£2,405	+£1,405
September	£47	-£37	£2,452	+£1,452

September brought a mere £47 in earnings. Lowest contribution to the Free Money Pot for the year. Appearances are deceiving though for two reasons: a) I experienced negative growth in my interest over savings, and b) I have been really active as regards to sowing the seeds for scaling up the fund as well as earning activities I will be collecting money from in the short term such as cashback, bank switching promotions and credit card offers. I will explain and document my progress in future posts.

I was rubbing my eyes and had to double check a £45 earning in interests from savings last month. The flip side came this month as I experienced a correction pushing me down £31 into the red. It did not come as a surprise in all fairness. Ups and downs are to be expected. In the medium term, it is a strong plus mark since I have accrued £92 in interest earnings from the beginning of the year. If I was to exclude interest, I managed to collect £78 in hard cold cash. Just £6 shy from my monthly target. Not my biggest feat but something I am happy enough with. In any event, I have a feeling that I am not going to lose any sleep over this.

Moving on into the bank rewards and interest department, I have to state that the direct debit reshuffling has left me slightly frustrated. This is the third month on the bounce that I am missing on rewards through no fault of my own. I will be missing £11 in ‘passive income’, £8 from Barclays and £3 from RBS. I believed that my set up was bullet proof but I was obviously wrong. Contrary to my expectations, two direct debits did not come through (again). Just not good enough. I still collected £7. I have swallowed bitter pills than this one.

I collected £2.30 cashback from a casual purchase. It was paid within a week of the transaction being tracked which to me, has been the fastest on record. I wish all of them were that quick to mature.

In the freebies department, I was awarded a Free Bet from Betfair. Now let me point out the fact that I am not a gambler, I do not gamble and I have nothing against or in favour of gambling. I think that I need to clarify that these freebies are the remnants of my Matched Betting days. To cut it short, let’s just say that I have a number of dormant gambling accounts and every so often, I receive the odd email offering a Free Bet to ‘hook’ me back in. Needless to say that I use the free bet and I do not risk a penny of my own money. If I am in luck and win using free bet, that qualifies as free money which will get transferred straight into the Pot. If I don’t, well, I will not pull my hair over it. In summary, my £5 bet in a tennis match market produced a winner and a ‘massive’ £4 profit. Happy with that I guess.

Healthy decluttering sales. I am just surprised at the time it took for the XBOX 360 to sell. I honestly thought that it was a good bundle and that it was priced competitively. Nevertheless, it was listed on eBay for four months before it finally shifted leaving a £44 profit behind. A couple of small sales added £2 each, and a bundle of worn-out tennis balls I gather every so often piggy banked another £17. A total of £65 is not bad but I am sure I can do better.

Three quarters of the year are gone and I am £2,452 Free Money better-off. Reaching £3,000 by 2022 seems like a high mountain to climb at this moment. Mind due I am the kind of person who is not afraid of a challenge. I am going to try my hardest. You just need to stay with me to find out.