As we say goodbye to 2024, it is time to look back and revisit our Journey over the last 12 months. Yet another year of effortless, almost-passive Free Income is gone, so how did we do in the end? The relevant significant numbers are £2,552 from Free Money Streams plus another £421 from gains delivered by the Free Cash Fund, that is £2,973 as a combined profit. That’s all well and good, however, I find much more value by deep diving into the figures in order to understand how we got where we are one year on.

I detailed my Plan and Objectives back in January and the output of that analysis was a £1,500 ask from Free Money sources in 2024 articulated as a SMART objective (Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound). Well, I have managed £1,052 more than originally planned which I deem as a great result, but, what is the story behind it? Let’s find some answers by appraising our performance.

Earnings vs Objectives

Where did the Free Money come from and what is the weight of every single contributor?

Source	Objective	Actual	Difference
Bank Rewards	£200	£228	+£28
Interest on Savings	£150	£158	+£8
Decluttering Sales	£500	£611	+£111
Cashback	£350	£985	+£635
Promotions	£200	£200	-£
Freebies	£100	£370	+£270
Total	£1,500	£2,552	+£1,052

Our monthly earnings matrix will help us understand our progress over time.

Source	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
Bank Rewards	£23	£16	£16	£18	£18	£18	£23	£18	£18	£20	£20	£20	£228
Interest on Savings	£5	£8	£12	£10	£12	£16	£12	£14	£14	£14	£20	£21	£158
Decluttering Sales	£29	£162	£84	£47	£87	£5	£20		£108	£25	£34	£8	£611
Cashback	£162	£24	£73	£23	£48	£26	£41	£5	£344	£74	£58	£107	£985
Promotions				£200									£200
Freebies					£23			£23	£48	£276			£370
Total	£219	£210	£185	£298	£188	£65	£96	£60	£532	£411	£132	£156	£2,552

A quick look at the percentage weights table will reveal that 80% of the total earnings came from Cashback, Decluttering Sales and Freebies.

Free Money Income Stream	Contribution	% Weight
Bank Rewards	£228	9%
Interest on Savings	£158	6%
Decluttering Sales	£611	24%
Cashback	£985	39%
Promotions	£200	8%
Freebies	£370	15%
Total	£2,552	100%

I have had another outstanding year in terms of Cashback. Just £15 shy of £1k and carrying 39% of the weight of the total earnings. I am both surprised and pleased that the £987 cashback figure from 2023 was not a one-off. Also, 2023 was an extremely disappointing year as regards to sales with only £190 profit. Even though it is not a particularly great number, £611 is not a bad performance in 2024 after all. As for freebies, collecting £370 has been an unexpected bonus since I was really doubtful I could get the £100 I asked for initially.

eBay Decluttering Sales Tracker

What about decluttering sales? I sold 25 items for an average price tag of £24. My math is that it will take roughly 15 minutes of my time to list, pack and post a single item. On this basis, I am more than content with an hourly rate of £96. A good wage by my standards bearing in mind that I could have given or thrown away 25 pieces of clutter. I am proud to report that I transformed them into hard cash, and needless to say, that money is much better-off in my pocket.

Monthly Earnings

An ask of £1,500 works out at £125 per month. Using this number as a compass, I can redirect my efforts into delivering a levelled tally chart of Free Money Earnings. I only fell behind during the three summer months due to me being away mostly. I bounced back in September and October to make up for lost time almost netting £1k.

Income Report	Free Money Earnings	Accumulative
January 2024	£219	£219
February 2024	£210	£429
March 2024	£185	£614
April 2024	£298	£912
May 2024	£188	£1,100
June 2024	£65	£1,165
July 2024	£96	£1,261
August 2024	£60	£1,321
September 2024	£532	£1,853
October 2024	£411	£2,264
November 2024	£132	£2,396
December 2024	£156	£2,552

This year round, I also introduced another metric in the shape of the Monthly Average Earnings. Consistently over £125, its lowest was £165 in August and ended up at £213 in December. In other words, I gave myself £200-ish per month for doing practically nothing.

Overlaying the Accumulative Earnings Chart with the ones from the previous three years, the data is showing that it usually takes 8 to 9 months to deliver annual targets. 2024 was no exception to the rule where the £1,500 bar was surpassed in September.

The Free Cash Fund appreciated £421 in Value

All my Free Money is invested in a basket of different types of ISA accounts so that gains are not subjected to taxation. The allocation is not random but follows a set of rules which are detailed in my Investment Plan. In short, there are three main ISA accounts constituting what I refer to as the Free Cash Fund. These are Cash ISAs (60% of Earnings are deposited here), Stocks & Shares ISAs (30% of earnings) and IFISAs (approximately 10%). The combined figure of the gain for 2024 is £421 broken down as follows:

Source	Gain	% Weight
IFISA	£9	2%
Cash ISA	£204	49%
Stocks & Shares ISA	£208	49%
Total	£421	100%

My IFISA account delivered a painful loss of £109 (writen off loans) in the last week of December which in turn made its weight into the profits almost negligible. Somewhat frustrating but still in green colour by a mere £9. As a result, the gains split contribution is close to a 50/50 between Cash and S&S ISAs. Historically, the yield of the fund is approximately 5.4% (see spreadsheet further down).

The Free Cash Fund is valued at £10,521

January 2021 to January 2025 (48 months), I have made £9,604 from Free Money Sources and they have increased in value by £917 as a result of being invested in the Fund. I now have £10,521 Free Money in the Free Cash Fund. Experience tells me that the size of the Fund will be tilting the odds in my favour since this is the point where compound interest starts working its magic with tangible results. This will become even more apparent when we add up the Stoozing Fund Profits into the mix.

Year	Free Money Earnings	Accumulative	Free Cash Fund Value	Gains	% Yield
2021	£3,229	£3,229	£3,406	£177	5.2%
2022	£1,901	£5,130	£5,331	£201	3.9%
2023	£1,922	£7,052	£7,538	£486	6.9%
2024	£2,552	£9,604	£10,521	£917	9.6%

Small Profit from the Stoozing Fund

For the most part, the Stoozing Fund has been in break even territory in 2024. It is only in December where we see a modest profit of £8. The encouraging news is that it will only deliver additional profits from this moment until the end of the current promotional offer in February of 2026.

Month	Liabilities	Repayment (1%)	Interest	Investment Value	Net Value	Net Profit
March 2024	£2,587	-£	-£0	£2,500	-£87	-£87
April 2024	£2,561	-£26	+£11	£2,511	-£50	-£76
May 2024	£2,536	-£26	+£10	£2,521	-£15	-£66
June 2024	£2,510	-£25	+£11	£2,532	£22	-£55
July 2024	£2,485	-£25	+£10	£2,542	£57	-£45
August 2024	£2,460	-£25	+£11	£2,553	£92	-£34
September 2024	£2,435	-£25	+£11	£2,564	£128	-£23
October 2024	£2,411	-£24	+£10	£2,574	£163	-£13
November 2024	£2,387	-£24	+£10	£2,584	£197	-£3
December 2024	£2,363	-£24	+£12	£2,595	£232	£8

If (and only if) I can place a similar amount of money into the Stoozing Fund as in the Free Cash Fund (£10k), I can aim for equal profits of £400 to £500 per year. Difference here is that I will not be using my own money to achieve these results. See post (How to make Free Money from Credit Cards – Stoozing 2.0).

2025 and beyond

I made nearly £23k from Free Money Streams (see post I managed to accrue £22,750 from Free Money Sources) before I was forced into a reset. Should I had kept that money plus the Cash4Nothing earnings, I would be looking at a figure in between £40k to £50k today. Gosh, I feel like getting hold of some tissue but on the other hand, there is absolutely no point in dwelling in what-ifs. I need to get back to where I started as soon as and that means doubling my money in as little time as possible. I am confident I can make this happen. 2025 is a year of good things to come. Join me in Journey.