It’s time once again to update my Alternative Income. For the first time in a few months, I actually made more money that the previous month.

For the first time in quite awhile, it makes sense to break out the revenue numbers vs. the net gain. My revenue jumped from $1491 to $1611 this month. However, because I bought a logo I’m in love with from Lost Spots, I have to factor in that cost. I’m choosing to amortize those costs over some months. By the way, if you are looking for a logo design and go with Lost Spots please let them know that I sent you.

Why has there been a decline in recent months? As you may or may not know, a large percentage of my alternative income is income from my websites (not just this one). A few months ago, I had sponsors and referral income from Lending Club, which has since gone to zero with their quite period. I’m making 1/3rd of what I made four months ago with Google AdSense – for reasons I haven’t entirely figured out. Those are two major impacts as they’ve been a large part of my income in the past.

What has changed this month? My readers made at least $1250 by starting accounts at Revolution Money Exchange. Some of them, like one reader who is a good friend of mine, got his free $25 for signing up and made over $100 referring his other friends. Revolution Money Exchange gave me $10 every time someone took advantage of their free $25 offer (still available) – a lot of small $10 deposits add up quickly. It confounds me that they are still able to offer this promotion. Simple math says that you can’t give away $35 to anyone willing to take the 2 minutes to sign up (that’s their claim and I found it to be true for myself) very long before you go out of business. I would be quick to act – before they realize how ridiculous the promotion is and have to cancel it.

So with declining revenue from some sources, new revenue from other sources, and the amortization of the costs of logo design, I ended up grossing $1511.80 for the month after taxes – not near where I want to be, but enough to pay most of my monthly expenses.