How I Made Over £2k From Side Hustles In May!

Holy moly, May was THE month for side hustles. It was my last full month before heading back out to WV for another summer at camp so I knew I had to make the most of it. And I was all over the place – 2 weeks at home, a week working in my uni town, a weekend in Oslo and a staycation with friends. But drum roll please… I made £2287.96 from side hustles!! Let’s break down exactly how in my side hustle earnings report!

My best month so far this year!

Heads up! In my side hustle earnings report I count every penny earned in the month of May not necessarily money that has hit my account. Let’s take freelancing as an example: the total you see in this post is the hours I worked in May but I probably won’t see this money until June as I invoice my hours at the end of the month. If you want to see how much I was paid out from side hustles check out my £10k challenge updates!

_{{Disclaimer – This post may include affiliate or referral links sprinkled throughout. Meaning that I could earn a commission if you were to click through a link. This comes at no extra cost to you!}}

So let’s break it down! From the smallest to largest, here’s how I made over two grand from side hustles in the month of May…

Cashback ~ £2.35

£2.35 made in cashback through a bonus offer on TopCashback. This is probably my favourite (and most used) cashback site and they often run bonus offers. The most common one I see is a £2 bonus on a £5+ spend. I tend to buy a gift card to activate this offer. In this case, I bought a £5 Costa voucher and got £2.35 back.

Sharing Data ~ £2.85

On top of my usual £2 from Amazon Shopper Panel, I also made 85p from sharing my streaming data on YouGov.

Watching Ads ~ £3.81

I’m still on a WeAre8 streak and loving how the little amounts add up. I made £3.81 from watching ads on this app in May. Obviously this app isn’t going to make you rich but every penny counts and the effort is super low.

Surveys ~ £6.49

Slow month for surveys but I didn’t really dedicate much time to them at all. I did my normal daily polls and answered a couple extra but nothing much more than that.

HYSA Interest ~ £21.73

Love love love passive income! I keep my emergency fund and short term savings in various easy access savings accounts where I earn ~4% interest.

Mystery Shopping ~ £38

I did two mystery shops through iShopforIpsos in May. Both of them were at home mystery shops which I prefer. I got paid £30 to order alcohol off Amazon and review the process. Then additionally I got £8 for calling the NCS Careers hotline and review their services.

Playing Games ~ £46.75

I completed a game offer on Swagbucks during May. This was a tiered offer (my favourite kind) so I got rewarded for hitting three different levels in the same game.

Market Research ~ £50

I completed one market research project in the month of May which paid £50. This was a diary project on the topic of sustainability. I probably spent a total combined time of 2 hours on this project so it worked out as a good time ROI.

Sign Up Offers ~ £85

I love a sign up offer! But find they are popping up less and less so whenever I see a good one I jump on it immediately!! In May I came across three good offers; Zing, Wealthify and Rakuten. I got £20 for joining Zing, £50 for investing £250 with Wealthify and £15 cashback bonus from joining Rakuten. £80 in the bag for less than 10 minutes of effort. Decent!

All three of these offers are still live, just click each of the links to access them for yourself. Plus I have a page dedicated to these types of offers which I try to keep as updated as possible! Currently this list has offers worth hundreds in potential earnings. Check it out HERE!

LISA Bonus ~ £148

I’m still chipping away at that £4k LISA contribution. The bonus is a nice boost to my monthly side hustle total.

Bank Switch ~ £200

Another switch in the bag! This time it was through Nationwide. Bank Switching is one of my favourite ways to get a quick cash injection with minimal effort. It is genuinely soooo easy to do and the ROI on the time investment is crazy high.

Freelance VA ~ £382.50

I did work for two clients in the month of May, earning a total of £382.50. Not bad at all!

The Frugal Explorer ~ £400.78

One of my main goals for 2024 was to grow TFE to the point that it starts making regular income each and every month. This month feels like a good sign of progress towards this goal! In May, The Frugal Explorer made money from referrals, affiliates and display ads.

Waiting On ~ £900.70

I picked up a bunch of shifts waiting on at a pub I used to work at. They needed help during a busy season and I was free so it worked out really well. Over the week or so I spent up there I made £900.70 which includes about £100 from tips.

Grand Total = £2287.96

Over the moon with my side hustle total from May! Other than the waiting on shifts, it didn’t feel like I put in much more effort compared to previous months but the earnings all snowballed.

I hope you found this side hustle earnings report useful! Do you do any side hustles? What’s your favourite way to make additional income? I’d love to hear all about it!