extra income – One Dollar Allowance

Year in Review

May 14, 2026May 7, 2026mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

MY YEAR

This year was nothing like I expected it to be going into it. I’m not usually one to say it’s been a hard year or look for a “new start” with a new year, but this last year was challenging. For one, raising 3 kids is not for the weak. But I started the year on an HOA board, working as a financial consultant for a few hours, and serving on the city’s Landlord Advisory Board. I eventually handed the Landlord Advisory Board off to Mr. ODA and let go of the financial consultant work, but ended up on 3 HOA boards. Lucky for me, one of the boards has someone who works even harder than me, so that’s requiring very little time of mine. The last board sucked me in because the same management company works with me in my own neighborhood, but that also doesn’t take much time. And with all that, let’s not forget that I took on a part time job.

When I left my career in 2019, I had no intentions of working “long term.” That was the goal from the start – get rental properties to cover my salary, and not work again. Well, it turns out, my brain likes a challenge (and a different one than figuring out why a child is whining for the 687th time today). I’ve held several temporary positions (e.g., Census, horse race meets) that fill some time, make a little money, and then I move on. When I was approached with an offer to work in an office on a set schedule, I cried. That was the furthest thing I wanted. I laid out all my expectations, particularly that my kids come first and I quit working so I could be at all their activities, and they obliged. I’m severely overqualified for the position, but I know I’m helping. I have a strong desire to help people. Ten months in, and I’m still there about 22 hours per week. It doesn’t seem like it’s a lot, but it takes away my flexibility. Having to coordinate that I want to be at a kid’s activity during work hours is frustrating. The work that I’m doing have daily deadlines, so even on the day’s that I’m only supposed to be putting an hour or two in, I still have that hanging over my head.

On top of all the things I was managing, Mr. ODA took the Deferred Resignation Program. He stopped working on April 30th, and we collected a pay check until the beginning of October. It was a blessing that he wasn’t working because we didn’t need to figure out childcare for the kids over the summer while I was working part time. But it’s had its own challenges navigating the change in expectations and daily dynamic that we’re still learning.

FAMILY

We basically let the kids do one activity each, but there’s wiggle room. So during the last school year, our oldest did an after school activity that met once per week (e.g., checkers, kickball) and baseball. I absolutely love going to the ball field. Our middle has held steady at gymnastics for just over a year, which is once per week. Our youngest is gigantic and athletic, but he only just turned 3 so he hasn’t been eligible for any sports yet. His big news of the year is that, after being waitlisted at the start of the school year, he’s now going to preschool twice per week. He started that in December, and it’ll go halfway through May.

We tried our hand at camping with the kids and dog, and it went very well. We went on a cruise and visited western KY, WV, NY twice, and OH. We took the kids skiing multiple times, and they did really well.

FINANCIALS

Mr. ODA had a 6 figure job with the government. That pay check, as I mentioned, covered through the end of September. I worked as a consultant for a school startup, worked part time nearly all of the year, and subbed a few times at the kid’s old preschool; these things brought in over $22k.

We did quite a few things to bring in extra income throughout the year too. I consigned some of kids things and brought in about $800 to offset Christmas. The credit card rewards we took in was over $2k. Mr. ODA does ‘shops’ (secret shopper), which brought in just under $1500. Some of that payment accounted for food reimbursement, but we see it as a way to eat at a restaurant as a family of 5 without it being ridiculously expensive. Then other random reimbursements from companies that we were owed are added in, and our “additional income” (i.e., income that I did not project at the beginning of the year) totaled over $43k. Each year, it ends up being around this number that we bring in outside of wages and rental income.

SUMMARY

This is really just a way to account for the crazy that was 2025. We accomplished a lot. It came at a cost of family dynamic and happiness. But now that we’re a few months into 2026, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. We have some changes that we’re making, and I am hopeful that I’ll have my flexibility back, and the ability to do things that brought me joy back in 2024.

2025 Extra Income

April 9, 2026January 19, 2026mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the credit cards we have and how we manage using them. I seem to be caught in multiple conversations around me lately about how people feel credit cards are bad, so they use debit cards. I understand that some people have a bad history where they weren’t disciplined enough, but don’t you think after several years, you’re older and wiser and could likely teach yourself discipline? My last post was about how you could make $500 in a year just by putting an expense on a credit card and paying it off each month if you have 2% cash back. So let’s dive in to what we made in 2025. There is one caveat: we have a lot of credit cards and we put a lot of effort into using the categories; I fully understand this is more effort than nearly anyone else is willing to put in. But hopefully you can take just one thing away from this teaching and information.

You need to find your why. Your why is your driving factor on everything. Put things in perspective of “if I hadn’t spent $10 on that coffee, what could that have gone towards to provide me with longer term satisfaction?” I admit that I’ll go to Starbucks for a drink, but I buy about 5 of those $6 drinks (I get a very basic thing) in a year.

INTEREST EARNED: $1,191.42

The easiest way to make your money work for you is through interest on a bank balance. Currently, savings rates are hovering around 3.25%. I’ll just jump right into it: compound interest. Even if you have $500 extra, put this money in a savings account. At this interest rate, you’re earning $16 in a year, but that’s $16 more than you had at the beginning of the year. The mentality that $16 isn’t “worth it” is the type of thought process you need to move away from. If that balance was $5000 instead of $500, then that’s $162 in passive income.

TREASURY DIRECT: $2,098.14

This is more advanced interest income. You can create an account here and invest your money in short term securities (think CD type things at a bank). The rate is currently about 6.25%. You’re tying your money up for a period of time (4 weeks through 30 years), and the rate is tied to the term of investment, but we are actively managing our investments in 4-8 weeks segments, earning about $50 at a time.

CREDIT CARD REWARDS: $1,947.75

We have several credit cards. Some are a flat percentage for all purchases, and some have categories that earn an additional percentage back. The amount that I have here is only related to what we cashed out. More was earned, but we keep some in our Chase account balance so that we can get a bonus if we book travel through their portal.

If you don’t want to manage categories, go for the Citi Double Cash card. It gives you 1% on a purchase and 1% on a payment. The key here is that you can’t claim a statement credit because that doesn’t count as a payment, meaning you don’t get your 1% on that amount.

Without giving too much away on the cards we have, here’s a snapshot that I keep in my phone to remind myself what card to use for each purchase. The 5% category there changes quarterly. Usually, if I can’t use my Citi card, then I’m checking this graphic to see what the next best percent back for “everyday purchases” would be.

SUMMARY

This is “passive” income we’ve made. We had other avenues that brought in other income, but this is where we basically just spent money or kept money in certain accounts and brought in an extra $5,237.31. That’s a big number, and I’m sure that type of money can make a difference in your life or pay for a trip you want to go on.

Additional Annual Income

January 9, 2025December 31, 2024mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

Every year, I like to look back at ways we earned income outside of a W-2 or our rental properties. These things include interest earned, dividends paid, and bonuses received on credit cards.

CREDIT CARDS

We opened a new credit card to give ourselves a 0% interest loan when we purchased the hot tub. I’m a broken record on this, but I’ll keep pointing out the availability of this option. Yes, we made this purchase because we could pay for the item outright, but it would be nice to pay for the hot tub over time while letting our money earn more money in other accounts. A sign-on bonus for that credit card and the immediate high purchase led us to $489 earned for doing nothing expect spending money and opening that new card.

Outside of that credit card reward, we deposited almost $1,200 worth of rewards from other cards into our checking accounts. Then we have some cards that earn points instead of cash. These are kept in that credit card’s “bank” of points because they can be worth more if they’re used within the rewards portal (e.g., booking a hotel). Essentially, 100 points equates to a dollar, but it’s not always that because of the bonuses available. With that said: we earned 18,683 points between 3 cards and $73 on another card.

INTEREST & INVESTMENTS

We have two accounts that pay out dividends in December of each year. This year that totaled over $4k. Between two savings accounts, we earned $2,500 of interest payments.

Mr. ODA invests in Treasury bonds. Instead of withdrawing the money after each 4-6 week period, he rolls it over and the interest earned gets deposited into our account. That’s paid us $2k this year.

ODD JOBS & RANDOM INCOME

On top of the things I can project like interest earned and rewards, I also do a few odd jobs throughout the year. Between a part time substitute teacher position, doing surveys, and selling kids clothing and toys to second hand shops, I brought in another $1600. I use this concept as an ‘offset’ in my mind to cover gift giving throughout the year. Mr. ODA brought in nearly $1,000 doing mystery shopper activities for restaurants. Betting on games and doing fantasy football brought in another $700.

SUMMARY

So with minimal effort, we brought in about an additional $14,000 in the past year! That more than pays for our hot tub purchase. It more than pays for our Christmas gifts, and even birthday gifts paid for through the year.

When I consign, it takes several hours to prepare. But I do those items that way because I can earn more money with less stress. For consignment, I’m preparing my items, logging them, printing labels, and then dropping off. Once I drop off, all I do is watch my sales. If I try to sell these items on mom-to-mom type forums, then I have to manage each individual item, follow up on people who need to pay/pick up, and then set out my items and wait for them to actually follow through. It’s just a lot more mental energy even if it may be less physical hours of work.

Outside of the consignment effort and my very part-time job, everything else was fairly passive. We earned a lot of money just by buying other things. We earned a lot of money by just having a savings account with a decent yield. We earned a lot by Mr. ODA investing in Treasury bonds, which takes a few clicks every few months.

The first step should be to ensure your money that’s not in use is in a saving account and earning interest. After that, a credit card with rewards earned should be used. Teach yourself discipline to count your credit card swipes the same as swiping that debit card in your checking account. You’d be amazed at how much those small bits add up.