My Plan & Objectives to make £1,500 Free Money in 2024
2023 Free Money Journey Recap
I ended up making £1,922 Free Money in 2023 against a plan of £1,500 (see post How to make £1,500 Free Money in 2023 – My Plan & Objectives). When I devised my Free Money Making Roadmap for 2023 I was not trying to sell myself short but to use previous performances to develop a realistic set of quantifiable objectives for every single Free Money Stream. It turned out that I managed to deliver exceptionally well in some areas and poorly in others. That is where the fun is. It is not an exact science and you never now with certainty what sum will be produced one year on (see post I made £1,922 Free Money in 2023 + £285 Fund Gains). All I can do is apply some maths to my tried and tested methods to then aim for my very best. It is now time to use my routine to project what is to be expected from 2024. Let’s do this.
Bank Rewards Objective for 2024: £200
Cash rewards offered by banks in exchange of: a minimum deposit per month, a minimum number of direct debits, a minimum debit card expenditure or any combination of them.
My method for collecting bank rewards is by transferring a set amount of money between five accounts every month. The process is similar as to passing on a cash baton and keeping a small chunk of it every time it changes hands. This way, I meet two requirements at once: a) a minimum deposit per month; b) leave enough money behind on every account to cover direct debit payments.
At the start of 2024, my bank accounts deliver monthly perks as follows:
- Santander Lite Bank Account: £3
- Halifax Reward Account 1: £5
- Barclays Blue Rewards: £3
- RBS My Rewards: £3
- Natwest My Rewards: £3
If my calculations are correct, £17/month x 12 months = £204. Assuming no changes, a realistic goal will be £200 for the year. Experience tells me that I will miss on the reward on the odd month (ie: direct debit will not go through) and I will also be awarded a higher than expected cashback reward from direct debits at certain months during the year cancelling each other out.
Interest on Savings Objective for 2024: £150
Any interest payments generated as a direct result of keeping money in a bank or savings account.
As an individual, I perceive a salary from my work. As disciplined as I am, I timely transfer moneys to savings accounts to satisfy different financial goals for the year (ie holidays). As a result, all moneys collected from interest payments constitute a source of Free Money. I made £276 in 2023 which is ok. However, the difference in 2024 is that I have no savings at all to start with and I will have to drip feed funds into my savings accounts all over again. As it stands, I have three savings accounts I can deposit moneys into on a monthly basis:
Barclays Blue Rewards Rainy Day Saver (5.12%). I can collect interest on up to £5,000 kept in the account ; up to £256/year
RBS Regular Savings Account (5.12%). I can save a maximum of £150 per month and collect interest on the first £1,000 saved ; £39/year
Nationwide Regular Savings Account (5.12%). Same as RBS ; £39/year
Not that I am broke, but I am starting the year with zero savings. If I am counting on £78 from Nationwide and RBS, I am going to need £72 from Barclays (£6/month). The implication is that I need to save and keep £1,500 minimum in my Barclays Savings Account as soon as possible. No pressure.
Cashback Objective for 2024: £350
Money collected from Cashback Websites as a result of an online purchase. Cashback is a commission over a sale that gets reimbursed to the buyer.
Let me clarify once again that there are two distinguishable cashback categories if I classed them in terms of unavoidable or casual purchases. For instance, home insurance is a must an hence unavoidable. By contrast, a perfume is a discretional buy and belongs to the casual purchase category. Both of them will provide with Free Money in terms of cashback, however, I can only count on unavoidable purchases for my projection.
As it has been the case in previous years, car insurance and home insurance automatically qualify as unavoidable and will be counted on. In addition to this two, I do know that I can use two other instruments to boost my cashback earnings:
- Stocks & Shares ISA
- Cashback Credit Cards
Using 2023 as a reference, I can expect £42 from car insurance, £35 from home insurance and £100 from opening a S&S ISA. In addition, I can target £150 from a day to day use of a cashback credit card. It will not be unreasonable to allocate another £50 cashback from casual purchases which will take place throughout the year. As a bonus, let’s not forget that there are a number of tracked transactions in my TopCashback account carried over from 2023. These will be made payable in 2024. All in all, I am going to settle on a nice round number of £350. I am not expecting to struggle to get to this figure.
Bank Switch Promotions Objective for 2024: £200
Not strictly restricted to but mainly bank switch incentives and promotions. Banks will pay hard cash providing a new bank account is opened and a switch tool is used to close an old account in the process.
I have made extensive use of this Free Money method in the past. If you couple this fact with my availability of perk accounts, I am finding myself constrained as to the switch promotions I can opt in. There are always opportunities and I need to keep an eye for them. £200 is a figure in alignment with previous years performances. I feel confident I can still aim for it.
Decluttering Sales Objective for 2024: £500
This is Free Money coming from selling personal and household items I will no longer need. I am not buying stuff to resell for a profit. They have to come from a pool of redundant items that I once had a use for.
2023 has been my worst year ever collecting money from selling my clutter. Only £190. Ridiculous. I am not disheartened though because I know that I can get decent sums here. I am going to be brave and stick to my guns. £500 is not that far fetched. I just need to make it happen.
Freebies Objective for 2024: £100
This is unexpected Free Money coming my way from a variety of sources: from items donated that I can sell and cash out from, to a free bet at the bookies, a tax return, a test sample or money left and forgotten about at the bottom of a drawer.
2023 was not forthcoming for freebies. That does not mean that I need to rely on a random event to get some. I can actively or passively look for them. Since I am seeing a drop of £100 in bank rewards and interest payments, I am going to need freebies to make up for this loss in revenue. I know that this money will come in effortlessly.
2024 Free Money Objectives Summary:
£125 per month or £1,500 Total Free Money in 2024.
Free Money Streams: bank rewards, interests on savings, cashback deals, decluttering sales, bank switch promotions and freebies.
Free Money Objectives by Source:
- Banks rewards: £200.
- Interest on Savings: £150
- Cashback: £350.
- Promotions: £200
- Decluttering sales: £500.
- Freebies: £100.
This is the Plan. I am hoping it is a good one in terms of planning for success and for success in planning. We will find out soon enough. Watch me execute it.
Recent Comments