A woman has revealed she earns an average of £2,000 a month from her “side hustles” – which includes cat sitting, taking online surveys and mystery shopping.
Gemma, 33, from York, has always been “frugal” having always had minimum wage jobs.
Wanting to be her own boss, she started her crafts business, Gembobs Crafts, in 2014, selling handmade goods online.
While it wasn’t the most lucrative job, Gemma decided to look for other sources of income to supplement her salary.
She started doing mystery shopping and online surveys – which paid a small fee each time.
As the online market grew, Gemma found new streams of income on Instagram with the help of fellow money-saving bloggers, and has now built up an established network of several “side hustles” which she does alongside her crafts business.
She now takes part in focus groups and cat sitting, which she estimates combined rakes in £1,000 a month, mystery shopping for £400 a month, online surveys, which net her an additional £100 a month, and other online pursuits.
On average, the side hustles earn her £2,000 – with some months going up to £2,5000 – on top of the profits she makes from her own business.
“My crafts don’t make me much money – I have been doing this as a hobby and job for years and have come to realise it’s not going to make me lots of money,” Gemma told NeedToKnow.
“I started looking at different ways to make a side income and I taught myself whatever I could.
“My normal income is way, way less than my side hustles. [I spend] most of my time on them – applying for things such as market research, doing surveys, out and about mystery shopping and listing things on eBay.
“I live alone and what makes me feel good is being productive and active.
“Doing these things really helps me mentally as I have struggled massively with this in the past.
“Full-time work and being restricted doesn’t work for me so I have created something that does.
“It allows me to be flexible and I learn so much from the variation.
“I have grown in confidence as I am regularly doing things out of my comfort zone – especially mystery shopping – and I do things you normally wouldn’t do.
“I get lots of exciting freebies and talk to people from all over the word via Zoom.
“I get far too bored in normal jobs.”
Gemma started sharing her experience on Instagram (@helpsavemoney), where she shares breakdowns of how much she can earn in any given month.
She has also picked up plenty of tips and tricks from other money bloggers.
She said: “Instagram has helped massively and I keep learning new ways to make money – such as testing websites, referrals, animal sitting, survey apps, mystery shopping, estate agency, focus groups, market research, blogging, selling digital products and more.”
