£10k Side Hustle Challenge Update 12
Here it is… the final 10k challenge update! How fast has this year gone, it’s actually insane. I am actually so proud that I completed the challenge, exceeded my goal and kept up these updates. When I first set myself this challenge, I spent hours planning and forecasting how I could hit my crazy goal. So to write this now knowing my total, it’s insane!
Ok enough gushing, let’s get into the numbers.
Before I breakdown all incoming payments in December, let’s me explain exactly what my 10k side hustle challenge is…
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 and my passive income streams like bank interest.
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 and included in my side hustle challenge update posts. Before then they exist in limbo and my daily hustle tracker.
The Progress
I’ve been publishing updates every month since the beginning of this side hustle challenge. You can read them here…
Ok, so now we’re clear on what the challenge is and the rules, let’s get into where the money came from in my final 10k challenge update…
Interest = £100.39
I love earning passive income each month just for keeping my money in certain accounts! The majority of this came from my final Lifetime ISA boost of the 24/25 tax year, as I have now maxed out my allowance. But I did also get a good chunk from High Yield Savings Accounts I have and a little bit from a P2P Lending deal I did.
Referrals = £115
Referrals is one of the ways I make money from blogging and I’m always thankful to anyone who decides to use any of my referral links. It means the world! This month a couple of different referral schemes paid out and I banked a total of £115.
Affiliates = £116.28
Like referrals, affiliates is another way I make money from blogging. Typically affiliate payments take 90 to 180 days after the purchase to clear and actually hit your bank account. So the £116.28 that hit my account in month 12 of this challenge was made back in October.
Freelance VA = £367.50
December was a super busy work month for me. My main income currently comes from working two seasonal gigs and December is one of my super full time months. Think working 80 hour weeks and hardly having time to facetime my family let alone side hustle. But I made a point to prioritise my freelance VA work as I’d made a commitment to my clients and didn’t want to let them down. I typically work a month in hand so the £367.50 that I was paid out this month was from work completed last month.
Month 12 Total = £699.17
Challenge Total = £11,469.10
And we’re done, the final 10k challenge update is complete!! 12 months later, this challenge is officially over and I’ve absolutely smashed my 10k goal coming in with a final total of £11,469.10 🎉
I am over the moon with how this challenge went, not only because I hit my goal but because it’s proof that you can make a decent amount of money without working a typical 9-5 job. As mentioned before, I only included side hustle payments in this total so this £11.5k doesn’t include any income from my main job. My main income in 2024 was my two seasonal gigs. If I was to combine the two, my total income in 2024 was just under £24k which is pretty much the equivalent of if I was to work a full time grad job.
This is insane to me! As this year I have travelled/lived in 8 different countries (5 of which were new to me), read 149 books, spent two weeks at Spanish school, learned how to run, spent quality time with my friends & family, had hundreds of lazy slow mornings and just genuinely felt like I had full control over my time!
The result of this challenge is the permission I needed to continue pursuing this crazy lifestyle I have created for myself!
Were you doing a money challenge in 2024? How did you get on? I’d love to hear all about it!
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