When you first start thinking about financial independence the obstacles are what seem insurmountable. How am I going to save enough money to retire, how am I going to save £100 a month, let alone reach savings and investments of half a million pounds or more? It starts out tough, and that’s why most people do nothing. But if you’re reading this you already have some motivation and I want to light that fire up under your ass.
For me the kick start was investing that first £1000 and seeing it grow to £1180 in a year. That was £180 I didn’t need to earn in the year….ok it’s not much but that’s £180 closer to my second £1000 invested. And it really does keep growing from there and before long you’ll be looking at your finances in a whole new light.
So enough of my waffling – your first project – £1000 in a month
In the coming weeks, months and years you’ll delve deeper into money saving, money earning and income. But for now its about getting started. So your challenge is this £1000 IN A MONTH! I’ve included ten ways to make £1000 in a few hours each week and a combination of them all is going to let you get there fast.
Step 1 – Switch your bank accounts
Thanks to new legislation switching banks is bloody easy. And banks want your business. At the time of writing HSBC is offering £175 for switching to them. So switch your bank account and you’ll have £175 earned – ok it will take 6 months for you to be credited but shh free money is free money.
Pot Money: £175
Step 2 – Sell One Possession
Most of us have a few possessions that we don’t need, or are highly costed compared to the value they bring. Whether it’s the games consoles sitting in a cupboard, the expensive second car sitting on the driveway, the collection of records – sell them. Ebay them, Facebook Marketplace them or car boot them, learn to let go of your stuff. The more you need the less wealth you’ll have. As you start exploring this you’ll find that you actually have thousands of possessions that are worth money you can sell….most of which you don’t actually use or need. I myself have raised over £10,000 in the last year selling off unwanted collections, books, games consoles and the other clutters of life.
Pot Money: Minimum £200 maximum who knows
Step 3 – Pick up some Freelance Work
Now this is a bit of a cheeky one as I’ve been freelancing for 10 years now and I absolutely recommend it. I think everyone can pick up some sideline income and its really a lot easier than you’d think. There are giant sites on there including PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, Elance and a million more. Whilst you may not be able to get a lot of high paying work initially it’s very easy to pick up some work writing articles, doing data entry, web based research. Create an account on PeoplePerHour or one of the other sites, and start applying for work. If writing or computer work isn’t your thing, then ask for some extra hours at your job, an extra project, or go out and apply for some bar work or something else. There’s so many part time jobs out there if you’re happy to look.
Pot money: Sky’s the limit but month one just aim for £100-£200 you’ll be happy you did
Step 4 – Start Matched Betting
There’s a full and in-depth guide coming on this but matched betting is a sure fire way to increase your income. It’ll take you a day or two to learn the basics but it’s really very simple.
In matched betting you make a bet with one provider. You make the exact opposite bet with another provider. In either case you break even.
As bookies want you to bet with them they offer free bets when you bet.
Your first matched bet nets you no money but unlocks a free bet.
So you take your free bet and then do exactly the same. You make a bet with one provider. You make the opposite bet. Except one side of your bet is free. So you make profit.
You can get started on this right now by signing up with OddsMonkey – who have massive amounts of tutorials on how to get started. It’ll cost you £15 a month but you can make thousands of pounds a month.
Pot money: if you work at it a few hours a night this week you could easily have £4-500 in your account by the end of the month.
Step 5 – Cash in your media and books
There are tons of sites and shops like CEX that will pay you for all those DVD’s, CD’s, games and books taking up space in your life. Most of which have probably been sitting on the shelves since Netflix and iTunes became a thing. Clear all this stuff out. For books I recommend WeBuyBooks as you can sign up, download the app and then all you need to do is drop off your parcel (postage paid). For CD’s, DVDs and games either nip down to your local CEX or try Music Magpie online.
This will take you at most 3 hours and save a bunch of space.
Pot Money: £100-300 really depends how much crap you have lying around!
Step 6 – Rent out your space
This might not apply to some of you shared living but if you’ve got a spare room rent it out this week. Yeah living with more people in your house can be a pain (I have 4 housemates) but boy does that income help take the sting off my mortgage…..plus boardgame nights, dinners, company and weekly trips to the pubs are definitely upsides. A room in most houses will go for at least £250/month which is going to add a lot of capital to your savings (plus renting out a room in your house is tax free up to £7000/year).
Step 7 – Cut your Non-Essential Subscriptions
TV-License – no thanks, SkyTV – Nope, Gym Membership nope. Magazine subscription – hell no. My own subscriptions are now down to Amazon Prime £7.99, A game I play daily £3.50 and Odds Monkey £12 which i use for matched betting. This is really easy to quickly trim and we’re going to go more into this in step 3 getting your bills in order so if you want to make this part of your main strategy to get to the first £1000 then head over to that post now.
The reality is that with a couple of days work most individuals and families in the UK can get a thousand pounds in the banks within a month (or at least in the pipeline for a few months down the line). Once you have this first thousand I want to get you excited about investing it – let’s watch that money grow!