£10k Side Hustle Challenge – Month 5 Update

Month 5 was the best month yet so far in this side hustle challenge! Both in terms of money I made from side hustles and the payments that actually hit my bank account. I was determined to have a good month as I knew my summer months were going to be a struggle. Camp is a 24/7 type of job where pockets of free time are limited so I wanted to get ahead on my goals in preparation.

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

The Rules

This year I 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 & sharing data.

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.

Progress Reports

Since the start of this challenge, I’ve been sharing monthly updates which you can check out here…

January – £264.22

February – £750.22

March – £937.54

April – £1,769.47

50% Point Update

June – £1,259.87

July – £524.30

Ok, so now we’re clear on what the challenge is and the rules, let’s get into all the money I was paid from side hustles in month 5 of my challenge…

Watching Ads = £2.23

I use an app called WeAre8 to get paid to watch ads. You earn pennies for each ad watched and the payments take 30 days to confirmed on the app. So this £2.23 was from ads I watched back in April. This little side hustle is obviously never going to make you rich but the pennies do add up and the time investment is minimal so I like it.

Cashback = £13.34

I love cashback as a bonus way to get discounts on things you’re already buying! In May, I cashed out from three different cashback sites and got paid a total £13.34. Most of this (£9.83) came from the Jam Doughnut app, £2.35 came from a boosted cashback offer on TopCashback and the rest (£1.16) was directly from Chase.

Surveys = £19.26

Surveys were my first online side hustle back in 2020 and now they are probably my least profitable one but I still like to dabble. I cashed out £19.26 from 4 different sites/apps in May. I finally hit the minimum payment threshold on Eureka and Survey Spin which paid £4 each. £3 came from the Swagbucks daily poll in the form of an Amazon voucher. And then £8.12 from Prolific, hands down the best survey site I’ve found!

Bank Interest = £21.73

The 1st of the month is my favourite day for two reasons; I love that fresh start feeling and waking up to interest notifications is the best note to start on. I have several different easy access savings account which I current make 4% on average from.

Mystery Shopping = £38

I love doing Mystery Shops through iShopForIpsos because they are very simple, you can do most of them from home and they pay out within 2 weeks of completing them. I was paid for two shops in month 5, both of which I completed earlier in the month.

Market Research = £50

I did a market research diary project towards the end of May which paid out pretty quickly. Market research is one of my favourite side hustles as the hourly rate is so high and it’s super easy to do.

Sharing Data = £52

I was paid my usual £2 from Amazon Shopper Panel for sharing my ad data with Amazon. On top of this I also cashed out £50 from YouGov. I’d accumulated the points for this cash out from sharing data through YouGov Finance (RIP 😭) and YouGov Safe. This is much better use of the site than surveys.

Playing Games = £55

I finished a game offer on Swagbucks and was paid £55 from the site during month 5. Like YouGov, the surveys on Swagbucks are kinda a waste of time and effort so I only really use the site for their game offers and their daily poll.

LISA Bonus = £148

My all time favourite savings account is my LISA (Lifetime Individual Savings Account)!! I’m determined to max this out and get the entire 25% bonus every year! I transfer 10% of every payment I receive into this account so the bonus is being drip fed back to me, which I kinda love.

Bank Switch = £210

Second bank switch of the year in the bag! This one was with Santander and I boosted it by going through TopCashback to get an extra £25 on top of the switch incentive. I still can’t believe I ignored bank switches for so long!

Referrals = £268.29

Referrals is one of the main ways I make money from my instagram and blog. All the referrals I cashed out in May came from free share schemes. Check out this page if you want to get some free shares of your own!

Freelancing = £292.50

I freelance as a VA to a few different clients and love how the little bits here and there add up each month. Some of my clients pay me weekly, some monthly so the amount I get paid each month is a combination of work done that month and the month before.

Waiting On = £900.70

I spent just over a week in my uni town helping out at the pub I used to work at. Between the hourly pay and tips, I made £900.70 from these shifts. Good challenge boost which was much needed ahead of my summer back at camp.

Month 5 Total = £2071.05

Challenge Total = £5792.50/£10,000

Insane progress this month!! Last year I did a £5k side hustle challenge and managed to smash this in 7 1/2 months so to be able to make the same again in less than 5 months is CRAZY!

I went from 37% to 57% complete in the month 5 of my 10k challenge – insane! May was a really good month both in terms of money made from side hustles and payments that actually hit my account.

Now like I explained in the intro, I’m only counting income that has physically hit my bank account towards my challenge total. Which means I have a bunch of income either pending or in balances which I can’t cash out yet. If you want an idea of how much I actually made in May (not necessarily paid) then check out this side hustle update next.

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