How I Made £16,446 from Side Hustles

There is only so much you can reduce and cut from your budget! Eventually you will reach a certain point where to save more you need to make more. Entering the side hustle!!

What is a side hustle?

There are many different definitions out there but I class a “side hustle” as anything I do to make money beyond my primary source of income. Currently, my primary source of income is my student maintenance loan, paid to me by the UK government to cover all living costs. I started on my side hustle journey exactly 2 years ago, which was just after I had been made redundant from my job and was stuck at home. Here are the six side hustles I have tried, how much effort they take and exactly how much I have made from each one.

Hospitality

At lot of people assume to have a side hustle you need to start a fancy online business or get good at day trading. Whereas in reality, a lot of people simply take on a second job to create a decent amount of side income. This is definitely the case for me!

The majority of my side hustle income comes from my hospitality job which fits perfectly around my student schedule. My hours change each week but range from 15-40 hours depending on what I have on. When I took this job a year ago, the pay was £7.50/hour but I soon took on extra responsibility and I am now on £10/hour. Over the past 12 months I have made an average of £950/month from this side hustle.

Total Made = £11,500

Student Ambassador

This is probably my favourite side hustle (not including my blog obvs!) as it is fun, easy and very rewarding. My job as a student ambassador for my university encompasses a range of roles and there are always new opportunities cropping up. Like today, when I had a five hour ambassador shift being an extra in some photos being taken for university promo – like the website, prospectuses etc. Most of the time we were just sat around waiting for the next shot – crazy that I will get paid over £50 for this shift!!

Other things I have done for this job include; campus tours, trips away for HE fairs, setting the uni up for open days, Q&A panels, webinars and so many other random things 😅 Shifts for this job are very unpredictable but I try and pick up at least 20 hours a month.

Total Made = £3,300

Poll Clerk

This one is a lot less frequent than the previous two! In fact I have only done this once but have been offered other shifts which I was unable to take. Becoming a trained poll clerk is a great way to make a little bonus income once in a while as the shift opportunities only arise when there are elections happening. However, when they do come around it is a good little earner. I made £175 in one day as a poll clerk!

Total Made = £175

Surveys

Looking for a side hustle you can do in your downtime, in front of the TV with little to no effort? Surveys is the perfect gateway side hustle – well it was for me! There are so many surveys sites out there and let me tell you they were not all created equally. Some are to be honest a complete waste of time BUT there are a few that can be very profitable. Read this blog post to find out which ones I use and love.

I got big into surveys during the 2020 lockdowns as, like the rest of the world being stuck at home got old real quick! Through testing out a range of sites, I made £487 doing surveys in 2020, across eight months. I did continued this little side hustle into 2021 but dedicated a lot less time to it. Yet a few hours here and there across the year added up to £304 in extra income. So far in 2022, I think I’ve spent a total of 2 hours completing surveys and have made about £40 so far – not a bad ROI.

Total Made = £831

Online Tasks

Like surveys, this one won’t make you rich but you can make a little extra money from it. My favourite site for online tasks is 20 Cogs but this one is a one-time deal – as once you complete all the cogs and cash out that’s it, you can’t go back! This was the first online side hustle I did and making £150 in one day online was mind blowing to me – so although this was a one time deal it really kickstarted my side hustle journey!

I also helped a member of my family complete 20 Cogs and they “paid” me 50% for doing the work for them 😂. Beyond this I also used 20 Cogs partner site OhMyDosh to complete more tasks.

Total Made = £270

Budget Student Traveller

This is the one side hustle which I am trying to build for long term income. It takes more work upfront and so far I have barely broke even but I know it could pay off greatly in the future if I stick with it. Therefore, I am willing to invest more time and money into it. It helps that this is also a passion project of mine! Incredibly, I made £370 profit in the 2021/22 tax year from all things BST.

Total Made = £370

So that is it!! A complete breakdown of how I have made £16,446 in extra income from side hustles over the past two years. I hope this post has shown that taking on a side hustle does not need to be complicated. It can be as easy as taking on a weekend job or picking up extra shifts.

I would love to know if you have any side hustles of your own. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!