7 Side Hustles to Boost your Bank Balance

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Ever do jobs around the house in exchange for cash as a kid? Offer car washes to your neighbours? Kids have got the art of side hustles down! But it’s not just kids who can benefit from a bit of hustling. We might not have those cute dimples and puppy dog eyes to pull in the punters but plenty of  people make a decent amount from money making side hustles.

There are tons of interesting and varied ideas for making money on the side. Some things you might never have even thought of! For example, I have a friend who sells her used shoes and, er,  photos/videos of her feet in them. A little outside the box maybe, but she makes good money for things that would’ve just been chucked out and a couple minutes effort with a camera. Some people even take it even further and make money talking on adult chat lines!

If that’s not up your street, here are seven other ideas to start making some cash on the side.

Side Hustle Ideas To Make Extra Money

1. Take Surveys Online

This is something that ANYBODY can do. Surveys are commissioned by companies to carry out their market research. Each survey will want to target a specific demographic, so you won’t qualify for every survey out there but there are plenty to go around!

Here are a few of my favourite survey sites:

Qmee – You can take surveys on their website or download the app.

Prolific Academic – get paid for taking part in academic research studies.

InstaGC – a get-paid-to site where you can take surveys alongside other activities.

For more info about making money taking surveys you can read my post about survey providers that I use to make £50-£200 a month.

2. Mystery Shopping

Want to get paid to eat out or go shopping? Mystery shopping is a fun way to earn a few pounds. You generally get paid a fee to carry out the assignment and reimbursed the cost of whatever you had to buy. You can then usually keep whatever it is you’ve purchased, or if it’s a restaurant assignment you get reimbursed the cost or partial cost of the food. You’ll be told how much you’ll be paid and reimbursed in the assignment details.

You’ll need to have a good eye for details and be able to remember them well in order to fill in your report. Some companies will ask you to complete a test assignment online first, to check your ability before allowing you to take a paid job.

There are quite a few Mystery Shopping companies you can work for. Some of the most popular are Market Force, Red Wigwam, and GBW.

3. Sell your services

Are a fab photographer or good at graphics? Can you code, or have a great eye for proofreading? Whatever your skills, you can use websites such as Fiverr to offer your work to hundreds of potential customers. Just sign up as a freelancer, set up your ‘gig’ and let the customers come to you. Talk through the details of each project with the customer and get paid on completion. There are no fees to join and list your services, but Fiverr will take a fee from your sales. You keep 80% of each transaction.

4. Become a language tutor

Did you know you can get paid just to chat to people in English, so they can practice their language speaking skills? Sign up to a language site such as Cambly and you can get paid an hourly rate of just over $10 for helping people learn English via Skype. You don’t need any experience, and you can set your own hours and work as much or as little as you want. This really is a great option to fit flexibly round your life!

5. Sell your crafts

Are you crafty? Why not try selling your crafts on Facebook or Etsy? It’s simple to make a Facebook page or Etsy shop for your crafts and get paid to do something you already enjoy. People love to buy and gift handmade items.  A great idea is to start selling just before special holidays such as Christmas/Easter/Mother’s Day – when people are searching for gifts to give.

6. Reselling

Do you have a keen eye for a bargain? Plenty of people are making good money reselling via Ebay or Amazon. If you think you can spot things that will sell for more, why not start your own reselling business? Check out local charity shops and car boot sales to snap things up for low prices and sell them on to make a profit.

Not sure where to start?  You can read an introduction to Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) here.

If you don’t fancy reselling why not have a declutter and try selling some of your own things on to make money? There are loads of places you can try selling, such as Ebay, Facebook, Gumtree, Preloved etc. Clare from My Money Cottage has written this great guide on how to sell your unwanted things with Preloved.

7. Rent out a room

Do you have a spare room? Why not rent it out using Airbnb? People use AirBnB to find places for short stays that saves them money on the cost of a hotel room.  If you have a room that is currently unused, you might as well make some money from it. When you become a host you can control your availability, pricing, house rules and how much interaction you’re willing to have with your guests.

Hopefully there were some side hustles there that have inspired you to start earning some extra cash or maybe you already have a super duper side business going on? I’d love to hear if you have any other great suggestions. You could also check out this great post about money makers by Corinna from Inspiring Life Design.

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2 thoughts on “7 Side Hustles to Boost your Bank Balance”

  1. Another option might be to take in a lodger. You can earn a good amount each year tax free doing this. It does have to be a genuine lodger though rather than AirBnB but worth a look?

    1. Miss manypennies

      Great idea! We actually did have a lodger before we had children, it’s the government Rent a Room scheme that lets you earn tax free if I’m remembering right? No space to do it now and honestly somebody would have to be crazy to want to live with us – 3 children later our house is VERY loud!

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