10k Side Hustle Challenge – Month 3 Update

Another month gone! I honestly can’t wrap my head around how fast 2024 is going. Ridiculous! But with the end of the month comes another 10k side hustle challenge update. March was a really good month for making money online – I smashed my £833 target and made over a £1000! Plus on the flip side it was a decent month for incoming payments – highest month so far in the challenge!

Right before I breakdown all incoming payments in March, let’s me explain exactly what my 10k side hustle challenge entails…

The Rules

This year I will have two main sources of income, my summer job and my winter job. And as this is a side hustle challenge I won’t be counting any earnings from these two sources towards my total. But everything else is up for grabs! Including any freelance income outside of these two jobs, my passive income streams like bank interest and all the ways I make money online.

I went back and forth but have decided to count both cash income and voucher income towards the total. I only counted cash in my £5k hustle challenge as the goal was to match my gap year spending pot. But the goal for this challenge is to push myself and test the earning capacity of various side hustles. So I will be counting both cash and vouchers when I have received them.

The minute they hit my bank account/inbox they will be counted towards my total. Before then they exist in limbo and my daily hustle tracker.

Check out my previous updates…

Month 1 – £264.22

Month 2 – £750.22

Ok, so now we’re clear on what the challenge is and the rules, let’s get into where the money came from in month 3…

Watching Ads = £1.12

I’ve been loving Weare8 recently and make sure to check it every morning. It take minutes and the pennies earned for watching the ads really do add up over time. I managed to cash out £1.12 in March and have over £4 pending on the app which I’ll be able to withdraw next month and add to the challenge pot.

Sharing Data = £2

I use an app called Amazon Shopper Panel to get paid to share my ad data. They add £2 per month into my Amazon credit as a thank you for sharing this data.

Cashback = £4.10

When I bought my new phone in January I made sure to go through TopCashback and this payment cleared and became payable this month. It was only 1% of the purchase price, but every little helps right.

Surveys = £49.96

I’m still loving doing surveys in my spare time, especially when I’m sat in front of the telly procrastinating doing any of my actual work. One of the easiest ways to start making money online. As always the majority of my earnings came from Prolific, hands down the best survey site out there.

Mystery Shopping = £60

Still taking advantage of the iShopForIpsos Amazon alcohol mystery shops. I did two in March and these got paid out pretty quickly.

Market Research = £70

The market research gods were looking down kindly on me in March and I did a handful of studies. One paid out pretty quickly, within a week of doing it which is this £70. The others haven’t been paid yet but hopefully I’ll be able to add those to the challenge soon. Market research is one of the highest hourly rates I’ve found for making money online with the least amount of effort.

Housesitting = £100

I spent a weekend housesitting at the start of the month and got paid £100 for doing it.

Bank Switch = £125

The TSB bank switch that I started in January finally paid out towards the end of March. I had a slight worry that this wasn’t going to be paid because they queried my direct debits but for an unknown reason they changed their mind and the incentive was paid out. In typical Jess fashion, the minute this was paid out I got the ball rolling on another switch.

Freelance VA = £165

This was the total paid out from my freelancing in February.

Interest = £176.50

Aside from my easy access savings account interest, the 7% regular saver account I set up last year matured this month and paid out £133.80. Not too shabby! I also had a £25 interest bonus from an offer I did through Moneybox. All these offers really do add up!

Referrals = £183.86

Some free share referrals paid out in the month of March. Thank you to anyone who uses one of my referral links!!

Month 3 Total = £937.54

Challenge Total = £1951.98/£10,000

3 months in and I’m almost 20% there! And this is just counting income that has physically hit my account not all the other stuff I’ve done that I’m waiting to be paid for. To give you an idea here are some of the other payments currently on their way to my bank account…

Freelance Hours – £240

Tester Buddy – £87 (yep still waiting! maybe I should give up)

Market Research – £105

Free Shares – £145

Pending LISA bonus – £161

Total incoming = £738

So if you include the payments on there way to me, my total is looking more like £2690. Clear to say I’m really happy with my progress in this challenge. When I first decided this was going to be my new focus, I make so many plans to make sure it was going to be feasible and I’m finally starting to believe the maths.

Are you doing a money challenge in 2024? I’d love to hear all about it!