Making £5k in 5 months: £10k Side Hustle Challenge Update

5 months in and I’ve hit the 50% mark on my 10k Side Hustle Challenge! Over the moon right now!! Plus if you’ve read one of my previous challenge updates you’ll know I only count payments that have actually hit my bank account so in terms of made income I’m much closer to finishing the challenge! But how exactly did I make £5k in 5 months from side hustles? Keep reading to see where every single penny came from.

Last year I did a similar challenge but the goal was 5k because I wanted to match my gap year budget and 5k sounded achievable. Like with this years challenge, I gave myself a 12 month timeframe to complete the challenge and ended up completing it in 7 1/2 months. So the fact that I have hit that same amount in just 4 1/2 months is mind blowing to me!

I’ve been sharing monthly progress reports since the start of this challenge, which you can check out here…

January – £264.22

February – £750.22

March – £937.54

April – £1,769.47

May – £2,071.05

June – £1,259.87

July – £524.30

But how did I make £5k in 5 months? Let’s break down every single penny, how you can get started and the tax burden I will face from this…

{Disclaimer – this post contains referral and affiliate links which means I might earn a commission if you follow the link. This comes at no extra cost to you! I will be discussing tax in this post – I am NOT a tax professional!! All my comments are from my personal experience and research and I’m UK based – please do your own research!!!}

Interest

High Yield Savings Accounts = £95.93

I have around 4 different High Yield Saving Accounts where I keep my emergency and various sinking funds. I’ve clubbed the interest together on these as I’m regularly shuffling my money around and chasing better rates so it would get confusing to break it down further. But for a little more context, this year I’ve kept anything from £2k-£6k in these types of accounts earning me 4% on average.

Taxable? Yes and no. Interest earned from your bank accounts is taxable but has it’s own allowance separate from your regular earnings. This allowance is currently £1000 which I’m not on track to hit so it is effectively tax free money for me.

Lifetime ISA Bonus = £1213.79

Have I mentioned that I love my Lifetime ISA? I feel like all I do is talk about it and try to convince all my friends to open one asap!! I mean tell me another account where you get a guaranteed 25% return within a month – I’ll wait 😂

The only downside is that the amount you can add each year is limited. Currently this limit is £4000 per tax year. I didn’t do a great job of contributing to this account last calendar year so my number one goal this year was to max it out before I lost the allowance in April. I also added a chunk of money from my tax return at the start of the new tax year. So that combined meant I’ve gained £1213.79 from the 25% bonus so far this calendar year!

Taxable? Nope! Any earnings from an ISA is tax free, including the bonus!

Moneybox Offer = £25

Moneybox was the first app I ever invested through so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I’ve come along way since I opened a Stocks & Shares ISA with them in 2019 and set up a £2 per week direct debit. I still have this very same account and make sure to check in on it regularly. One day in January I was checking the account and saw a pop up offer that I jumped straight on. “Open a Cash ISA, deposit £500 and get a £25 reward within two months”. I’m not going to say no to free money, so I did a little money shuffle and the £25 was mine.

Taxable? No! Like mentioned earlier any earnings made off an ISA are tax free.

Regular Saver = £133.80

I’m very partial to a Regular Saver as they often come with a higher interest rate and I’m not opposed to locking a portion of my money away for a year. Typically with a Regular Saver you can add up to a certain amount each month (mine was between £25-£300) and then when your account matures at the end of the term (this one was 12 months) your interest is paid out in a lump sum.

Off the back of a bank switch I did last March, I was eligible for a 7% Regular Saver through First Direct. At the time, the market was a little crazy so I took a punt and sold £3600 worth of my investments so I could fund this new account with the max of £300 per month. This ensured I earned the most interest off the deal. Plus the excess money was being stored in an ISA earning 3% so it wasn’t like it was doing nothing. All in I profited £133.80 in interest from jumping on this deal.

Taxable? Yes but like with the interest from my HYSAs this would fall under the interest allowance so I’m not likely to actually have to pay any tax on this income.

Interest Total = £1468.52

Bank Switching

Bank Switching is one of my favourite ways to make extra income with minimal effort or time investment. Banks will literally pay you hundreds to switch to them. You do usually have to complete a few steps (transfer in a certain amount, have direct debits etc etc) but these are super easy to do once you get used to them. I ignored these offers for years because they looked like too much admin – oh how naive I was! Since I actually started putting in the minimal effort, I’ve made over £1000 from these offers since March last year. Don’t make the same mistake I did by sleeping on these ace offers. This boost really helped me make £5k in 5 months. So far this year I’ve completed two bank switch offers…

TSB = £125

There was about an hour where I thought I was going to cry over this offer. I’d waited the long 90 days that they’d said it would take to get paid out and still no sign of my welcome bonus. So I message them on the app and was told I didn’t qualify because technically Spotify isn’t a direct debit. But then like 6 hours later the bonus was added to my account and no one said a thing. So I transferred it out asap and didn’t mention it 🙊

Taxable? No. Slightly grey area but from my research bank switching is classed as cashback so it’s tax free.

Santander = £210

I boosted this bank switch offer by going through TopCashback (mentioned further down) to get £25 cashback on top of the £185 offer.

Taxable? No. Slightly grey area but from my research, bank switching is classed as cashback so it’s tax free. Plus the offer from TopCashback is definitely tax free.

Bank Switching Total = £335

Market Research

So far this year I have completed 11 market research projects which is incredible. The market research gods are being good to me and really helped me make £5k in 5 months!! 9 of them have been paid out and I got paid from one I did last year as I finally hit the payment threshold. I’ve broken down the earnings by the agency I was recruited through…

Trend = £210

Podengo = £50

Indiefield = £40

Vocal Views = £90

Testing Time = £15

Research Opinions = £80

Market Research Total = £505

Taxable? Yes. Market Research is taxable income. But if you just do a little bit of side hustling you can take advantage of the £1000 trading allowance. Which means your first £1000 earned outside of your job is tax free and doesn’t need to be declared.

Online Tasks

Cashback.co.uk = £74.24

The predecessor to this site was my first introduction to the world of online side hustles and I haven’t looked back since. Essentially you have to work through 15 different levels, from taking out a free trial to ordering a pair of boxers, you get paid to complete these tasks online. Once you have completed at least one task per level you can cash out your earnings.

I’m not new to the world of online tasks and as a lot of them are a one and done thing I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to complete nearly £75 worth of tasks on this site.

Use my link to sign up and get a £5 welcome bonus!!

Taxable? Grey area. Cashback is tax free as it’s considered a discount but as you are being paid to do something I’d declared any profits to be safe so this is taxable income for me.

Santander Offer = £5

I love discovering random offers! This one was one I saw on Instagram and it took no joke 2 minutes to complete and I got a £5 Starbucks voucher off the back of it. I essentially just had to fill in a home insurance quote and then a week later got sent the voucher via email. Easy peasy.

Taxable? No, as it was paid out in voucher form.

WeAre8 = £8.10

WeAre8 is an app that pays you to watch ads and answer a couple questions. I first downloaded this app a couple years ago but never got into using it as I found it super slow. But now I’ve figured out how to actually use it effectively and love it. I try to check it first thing in morning and sometimes again just before bed and watch whatever ads are available. Although the earnings per ad are super low, the pennies add up and I’ve been paid £8.10 from this app so far this year. And I’ve maybe spent a combined time of an hour on the app, if that!

Taxable? Yes. But again this would come under your trading allowance if you earn less than £1000 in a tax year.

Coinbase = £28.37

I finally cashed out from all those lessons I did on Coinbase Learn back in 2021. I’d just left in them and kinda forgot about them. But when I was doing an audit of all the sites and apps I use I decided it would make more sense to cash out (even though I had to pay fees) and put that money to use somewhere else. The alternative was leaving the pennies in each random alt coins on the off chance I become an overnight crypto millionaire 😂

Taxable? Yes. But as you are selling an asset this income would come under the Capital Gains allowance (yes another one) so for me it will end up being tax free as I don’t foresee hitting this allowance.

OhMyDosh = £34.49

From the same creators as Cashback.co.uk, OhMyDosh is another Get Paid To… site which rewards you for doing random tasks online. I’ve only done one task so far this year and that was one of my favourites, a bingo task. I got paid £12.50 from OhMyDosh to join Heart Bingo and play through a £10 deposit. But whilst playing through the funds, I actually won £21.99 so got paid a total of £34.49 from this offer.

Taxable? Like with their other site, it’s a grey area as they consider it cashback but I would declare the profits as earnings.

Guava = £5

I love a no-spend sign up offer! MyGuava is a payment app offering new customers a £5 welcome bonus when they create an account and verify their ID. This offer took minutes and the fiver was paid out pretty quickly.

Taxable? No. This type of sign up offer is considered cashback so not taxable.

Online Tasks Total = £155.20

Freelancing

I kinda fell into freelancing at the start of my gap year when a too good to pass up opportunity fell into my lap. And I’ve just run with it. I always get a tonne of questions whenever I mention freelancing and what I do can be summed up as a Virtual Assistant. This year (so far) I’ve got three different freelancing gigs and I’ve broken down my earnings to date below…

#1 = £712.50

#2 = £532.45

#3 = £82.50

Freelancing Total = £1327.45

Taxable? Hell yes! Freelance income is 100% taxable income. If you earn over £1000 in a given tax year you must declare it and pay the necessary taxes. The actual amount of tax you will pay is dependent on your other income and the tax bracket you are in.

Sharing Data

YouGov = £100

When I tell you I was devastated to hear that YouGov Finance was ceasing to exist, I was bummed. You used to be able to earn £5 per bank account connected (up to 10 accounts) every 90 days – translation: £50 every 90 days for sharing your finance data. Thankfully I’d set a reminder and had just updated my connections before I got the email. But still sad news as this was a great little bonus earner.

Thankfully they haven’t got rid of YouGov Safe too so you can still take advantage of that feature. YouGov Safe pays you for sharing your streaming data like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ etc. You can get 25p per streaming site each week so not tonnes but the points do add up.

Taxable? Yes and no. If you claim your points as cash then it’s taxable and would need to be declared if you earn over £1000 in a tax year. Alternatively, you can redeem your points as a voucher from a range of options.

Amazon Shopper Panel = £10

One of my only truly passive income streams, Amazon Shopper Panel is an app that is set it, leave it and enjoy the benefits. Essentially you are sharing your ad data with Amazon and as a thank you they add £2 to your Amazon balance at the start of each month.

Taxable? No. As it comes through as a voucher it’s not taxable.

Sharing Data Total = £110

Cashback

I’m always on the fence about whether to count cashback towards my side hustle income as technically I’ve had to spend money to get the cashback. It’s more like a discount after the fact. So should it really be considered a side hustle? I think not. BUT occasionally these cashback sites will have offers on which mean you earn more than you spend – like sign up bonus’ or extra cashback. And I’m not in the habit of spending more money than necessary just to get the cashback so I’m going to count the payment as additional income.

Taxable? No! Cashback is considered a discount so is completely tax-free.

TopCashback = £10.88

TopCashback is my all time favourite cashback site and I make sure to check it before purchasing anything online. I also always try to take advantage of their cashback boosts where you can get £2 back on a £5 purchase. On top of this I also got £25 from TopCashback for the Santander switch I did but I’m counting that under the bank switch category.

Jam Doughnut = £9.83

Jam Doughnut is a cashback on voucher app. It has good rates but as I’m team credit card I rarely use the app. However, I have used it a couple of times this year when out for dinner with a group as it’s my sneaky hack to getting a discount for the group.

Use code BA3B when you download the app to get a £3 bonus on your first purchase!

Shopmium = £3.15

I love Shopmium and try to remember to check it before I go food shopping. I mostly look out for the 100% cashback offers meaning I can claim a freebie. Plus I did have some app credit from referring people so got a few extra 100% cashback deals.

Use code 87u8x8 when you download the app to get a FREE bag of Cadbury Giant Buttons!

Quidco = £15.55

I got a £15 sign up bonus plus 55p cashback for a £10 Spotify voucher I bought to qualify for the bonus. This was kinda a frugal fail as I didn’t realise you can’t redeem Spotify vouchers against a family plan so I ended up gifting this voucher instead. But I still technically made £5.55 from this offer and made someones day so not a complete fail.

Use my link to create a Quidco account and get a £15 bonus once you have earned £5 cashback!

Chase = £2.63

My Chase card is my current go to when travelling because it’s fee-free and you get 1% back on most purchases. So far I’ve cashed out £2.63 from this perk.

Cashback Total = £42.04

Surveys

Prolific = £166.74

Prolific will always be my number one when it comes to surveys!! You rarely get screened out, the studies are actually interesting and they pay well-ish. It’s one that I like to have open when I’ve got a slower day so I can dip in and out of what comes up. So far this year I’ve cashed out £166.74 from the site which isn’t bad as it feels like I’ve spent hardly anytime on the site at all!

Branded Surveys = £3.97

I only really use Branded Surveys now for the daily poll so earnings are slow growing but it takes like a second each morning. I’ve cashed out once so far this year for a total of £3.97.

Opinion Outpost = £5

I had some points sat in my Opinion Outpost account that I’d forgotten about so one afternoon I committed to cashing out. And I did it! It took about an hour with all the screen outs but I gained enough points to cash out a £5 voucher from the site.

The Viewer = £3

The Viewer is one of those survey sites that I signed up for and then forgot all about. They’re different from the norm in that they send you the surveys via email. For so long I didn’t realise and just deleted the emails thinking they were spam. But one caught my attention and I actually read what it said and got paid £1.50 for a 10 min survey. Another one popped up a few weeks later so I’ve been paid £3 from this site so far this year.

Survey Total = £178.71

Taxable? Yes! Survey income is taxable when received as cash rather than a voucher reward. It would only be tax free under your trading allowance if you don’t make more than £1000 in a given tax year.

Playing Games

SwagBucks = £64

I’ve completed a couple game offers on Swagbucks this year and cashed out a collective £64 so far. I always keep an eye out for the easy win offers.

Tester Buddies = £7

I came across Tester Buddies at the start of the year. It’s an app that pays you when you reach certain levels on specific games. I’ve been paid £7 from the app but am still waiting for £87 that I cashed out in January so a little miffed at the app right now.

EverUp = £1.78

I used to absolutely love EverUp a couple of years ago and even kept my gap year fund in there but when they got rid of the cash accounts I stopped using it. Then I realised you could still get the free daily games so I started using it again. I just play the daily games but you can buy gift cards off there and get cashback plus coins to play with. So far I’ve won £1.78 on the app which I withdrew as an Amazon voucher.

Playing Games Total = £72.78

Taxable? Yes! Income from Game Offers is taxable when received as cash rather than a voucher reward. It would only be tax free under your trading allowance if you don’t make more than £1000 from side hustles in a given tax year.

Blogging

Blogging is one of my side hustle focuses for 2024 and I am committed to making this work after 4 years of messing around. I currently make money in three different ways from blogging; referrals, affiliates and free shares. Breakdown of each source below…

Referrals = £65

Free Shares = £200.60

Affiliates = £49.37

Blogging Total = £314.97

Taxable? Yes! Most of my blogging income is without a doubt taxable and would need to be declared. The only one that differs is income from free shares as technically you are disposing of an asset so it would come under your capital gains allowance which is tax free up to £6k.

Selling Bits

eBay = £61.86

I sold my old phone on eBay and got paid £61.86 for it. Decent considering how battered it was. I listed it as an auction item as I wanted to see how much I could get for it. I was hoping for £50 so super happy with how much it sold for in the end.

Ziffit = £4.03

I used the Ziffit app to scan and sell some CDs which paid out £4.03 after their quality checks.

Selling Things Total = £65.89

Taxable? No. Selling your own things for less than you paid is tax free income and you don’t have to declare it. If you were selling things as a business then it would be taxable.

Housesitting

After my gap year of housesitting around the world in exchange for free accommodation, I decided to give housesitting for money a go. Well I didn’t like the process of finding clients as much and decided to ditch that idea pretty quickly. But I have still housesat twice so far this year for family & friends.

Taxable? Yes. This income is taxable but again it would count towards your £1000 trading allowance.

Gig #1 = £20

Gig #2 = £100

Housesitting Total = £120

Mystery Shopping

iShopforIpsos = £321

I took full advantage of the alcohol mystery shops on iShopforIpsos this year. Typically get approved for 2 a month and have been paid £321 in gross income from this site. I say gross because I have to pay for the product but most of the time my Amazon credit covers the cost.

Mystery Shopping Total = £321

Taxable? The profit from this offer would be taxable but as it’s an expense reimbursement it’s a grey area.

Grand Total = £5016.56

To date in 2024 I have been paid £5016.56 from side hustles. Crazy that I’m already 50% of the way towards my big 10k goal!

I originally set this goal on a whim as I loved doing my £5k side hustle challenge last year and wanted a bigger challenge. My favourite thing about these types of challenges is proving just how much little amounts add up. It’s still mind blowing just how much money you can make from all these random things online! And let’s be honest I earned the majority of this money sat on the couch in my pjs! The dream!

How are your side hustles going? Do you have an income goal for 2024? I’d love to hear all about what you’re up to!