Extra Cash 2020 -

Well. 2020 is over. What a year that was! In a time of strife, illness and complete overthrow of the way we live our day-to-day lives, I was so very grateful for our extra money and cost reducing strategies.

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Not only was the world in chaos in 2020, but that whirlwind energy came into our home and really shook things up.

Towards the end of January, I ended up with appendicitis, and at 12 weeks pregnant, ended up having to have my appendix removed. The pain of the attack and the weeks of recovery afterwards were nothing like anything I had ever experienced, and I spent weeks in bed, needing help just to sit up.

After healing from that, we decided to take a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky Ohio. Unbeknownst to me, the border control agent forgot to give me back my passport. Fortunately, I was able to get back into Canada easily enough, but the borders shut down due to Covid days later and I still have yet to get it back (not like I’m going anywhere anytime soon anyway ha!)

Life progressed, and then in June our last child joined us, 8 weeks early. This lead to me spending 3 weeks in the NICU completely alone with the baby, staring at a wall. After about a week, I bought myself some headphones and got hooked on TikTok!

But it doesn’t end there. In October, one of our cars died, then the microwave, then my laptop started shooting sparks out the side of it, and then the fridge needed to be replaced mid-November. It was one big bill after the next.

Oh, and I had a random anaphylactic reaction to something towards the end of October that resulted in a $45 ambulance bill and needing epinephrine.

So, 2020 was quite the ride for us!

Nevertheless, amongst all that chaos, I still ended the year with an extra $14,575.48!

This extra money is recorded on a simple excel document, where I track each coupon I use, each survey payment I redeem and every cashback payout I receive. I also include our side hustle income, money we make selling things on Facebook and Kijji and any other money that we collect outside of our regular jobs and benefits.

Now this is dramatically below my $21,000 goal – and I’m okay with that. The chaos of the year, coupled with my life being put on hold for several months really impacted our extra earnings. In addition to that, I have been working diligently on this blog and some other start-ups which will hopefully pay off in 2021!

Here’s where the extra money came from:

$6458.00 – Newspaper Delivery

$1258.95 – Coupons

$1100.00 – PC Optimum Points

$979.11 – Credit Card Cash back

$830.00 – Facebook Sales

$435.00 – Swagbucks ($40 in USD)

$420.30 – Blogging

$322.66 – Moka

$273.58 – Treasure Trooper ($201 in USD)

$250.00 – Car sold for junk

$217.77 – Pizza Pizza Rewards

$169.00 – Lottery Wins

$165.00 – UGO Gift Card Promos

$134.63 – Uber Eats Promo Codes (use promo code eats-elenaf1414ue when signing up)

$110.00 – Walmart Promo Codes

$105.35 – Flash Food

$100.00 – Focus Group (follow moneysavvyme on Facebook for Focus Group opportunities)

$96.13 – Costco Membership

$85.00 – Moola Promos

$80.00 – Airmiles

$78.28 – Ampli

$77.15 – Avon

$60.44 – Ebates

$55.00 – Picture Pic (use promo code aNcED when signing up)

$51.60 – Caddle

$51.27 – Insurance Refund

$50.00 – Maru Voice

$47.03 – Checkout 51

$45.00 – Children’s Place Cash

$45.00 – Drop

$42.74 – McDonald’s Rewards

$40.00 – Plum Points

$40.00 – SBKC

$37.00 – Skip the Dishes

$35.00 – Contests

$24.00 – Real Canadian Superstore Spend Bonus

$21.06 – CoinOut (USD)

$20.81 – Google Opinion Rewards

$20.00 – Leo (formally Legerweb)

$20.00 – Driscoll’s Consumer Panel

$19.20 – Mail in Rebates

$16.77 – Door Dash Promos

$15.00 – Receipt Hog (use promo code breg8800 when signing up)

$15.00 – IPSOS

$15.00 – SCOP

$10.00 – Prize Rebel

$10.00 – Scene

$7.45 – Wish (forgot to track most of the year) (use promo code qjycnmp when signing up)

$6.99 – Dairy Queen App

$5.02 – Amazon Ebook Sales

$3.16 – Etsy Sales

So even though I came up significantly shorter on my $21,000 target, I’m going to keep that goal for 2021. I’m expecting the work I’ve put into some new side hustles to start paying of in 2021 and of course am expecting a year with less illness sidelining me from work!

What was your biggest money maker in 2020?

Be sure to follow my journey on Facebook and here, as I share my journey each month!

Did you miss a month? Here’s my 2020 Extra Cash Reports:

January February March April May June July August September October November December