How I Made £1989 In Extra Income in April

Start of a new month means only one thing here, it’s time to add up every penny from the wide array of the random side hustles I do each money to bring in some extra income. For some context, I currently have two seasonal jobs which take up 6 months of my year and then I have 6 months to do with what I please. I like to top up the income I make from these gigs with a range of online side hustles. And I’m going to share them all in this post and break down exactly how much they each brought in.

How does this income report differ to my 10k side hustle challenge update?

I have decided to start not only posting a 10k side hustle challenge update but to also share my side hustle earnings report and yes they are two different things. My 10k side hustle challenge updates only include income that has actually been paid out – meaning I have the extra income in my bank account. Now with most of the side hustles I do, there is often a delay from when you actually earn the money to when the money is paid out. Sometimes this can be as long as 90 days.

To get an honest picture of how I’m doing, I like to track my extra income both when it’s earned and then paid in two different trackers. I track earned income daily, as in I make a note of when I’ve made money. And then I track paid income in my budget tracker as that money can actually be used and allocated.

Let’s use surveys as an example.

Most survey sites require you to have a minimum balance to cash out the money – typically £5-£10 but sometimes as high as £50. So in some cases it might take months before I actually see the cash I am earning but that doesn’t reflect the effort I’m am putting in. Therefore, I like to track the survey earnings as I take the survey. Say I’ve just answered a 2 minute survey and got paid 20p – I would add that 20p to my side hustle total for the day. But I wouldn’t track that 20p in my budget until it was paid out. You see the difference?

So whilst they might seem like the same thing, these updates and my 10k side hustle updates are slightly different and both valuable numbers to track in my opinion.

Ok massive explanation done with, let’s get into how much extra income I made in April…

Cashback ~ £0.60

I’ve been loving using my Chase card when I’m abroad as they don’t charge any foreign transaction fees and then give you 1% cashback on most purchases. This 60p cashback cleared from a couple purchases I made in March.

Watching Ads ~ £2.19

I’m still making a point to check WeAre8 every morning as part of my morning side hustle routine. Most days I spend less than 30 seconds on this app which makes it a really easy way to bring in a couple extra pennies each month.

Playing Games ~ £5.61

I hadn’t seen any good playing games offers recently but I jumped on one from Swagbucks at the end of the month and have made it through a couple of the levels. If I complete all the stages the offer is worth £62.50 so it will be worth my time in the end.

Online Tasks ~ £5

I jumped a good online tasks offer I saw on Instagram and got a £5 Starbucks gift card from filling in a home insurance quote. Took minutes. My favourite type of online task!

Sign Up Offer ~ £5

Like with the game offers, I haven’t seen maybe sign up offers doing the rounds. It felt like were constant last year so I was happy to see this little £5 one in April. It was for signing up to a payment app called Guava.

Sharing Data ~ £36.85

I was gutted when I got the email that YouGov were discontinuing their YouGov Finance rewards. But so so happy that I’d remembered to renew my connections about a week before the news broke. In April I made £34.85 sharing my finance data and then my normal £2 from Amazon Shopper Panel.

Surveys ~ £47.86

My bread and butter surveys are still serving me well. I’m averaging £50 a month so far this year which is great for the time I’m dedicated for them.

Mystery Shopping ~ £68

I did my normal alcohol mystery shops and picked up an extra phone mystery call with the same site. These three netted me £68 which for the minimal effort they take keeps mystery shopping as one of my favourite side hustles right now.

Market Research ~ £150

I’ve been on a streak with market research these past few months. I completed three studies in April that bought in £150 in combined income.

Bank Switch ~ £185

The minute my TSB bank switch cleared and paid out I jumped straight on the Santander one. I started the process towards the end of March but didn’t class it as made income until I’d completed all the steps which was at the start of April.

Freelance VA ~ £210

I racked up £210 in billable freelance hours doing Virtual Assistant work throughout April.

The Frugal Explorer ~ £264.57

Between referrals, affiliates and display ads I made £264.57 from The Frugal Explorer in April. I’d set myself the goal of making £250 so I’m over the moon with this. Happy to be seeing progress with my 2024 side hustle focus.

Interest & LISA Bonus ~ £1008.96

£11.25 of this was from my various easy access savings accounts and the other £997.71 from the 25% LISA bonus. Super high amount this month as I maxed out the account for the 23/24 year and have already half maxed it out for the 24/25 tax year.

Total = £1989.64

Super happy with my hustle total this month, especially because I pretty much took a full week off whilst I was happily sipping a pina colada on a sun lounger in Greece.

How did your April side hustles go? Did you hit your goal?