How I made over $5,000 on the side in 2018!

As a stay-at-home mum, plus being a single-income household, I’m always on the search for side hustle jobs from home to earn some extra income. Here’s how I made over $5,000 on the side in 2018, which is totally separate from our regular salary and investment incomes.

 

Online Surveys & Market Research – $2,930.30

I have been completing paid online surveys and participating in market research for several years now. I wasn’t as diligent in completing them in 2018, so the total is a little lower than previous years. 

 

Sign-Up & Referral Bonuses – $125.00

This was earned through ING Bank, Raiz and Spaceship investing referrals/sign ups. Find a list of all the Sign-Up and Referral programs I use here.

 

Cashbacks – $561.56

I know cashbacks aren’t technically a side hustle, as it is simply cash returned from money already spent. However, I like to include it as all the purchases made were necessary, and being in a regional town, I rely a lot on online shopping sites to get what I can’t source in town. I even used cashback sites for booking accommodation and hire cars for our USA holiday. You can find all the cashback sites I use here.

 

Free Products – $200 approx

Once again, not technically a money-earner but rather a money-saver, as free products and samples do help out with running a tight budget. I was lucky enough to participate in some interesting product trials throughout 2018. You can find more information on product sampling here.

 

Mystery Shopping – $36

Between moving to a regional town with not a lot of mystery shopping jobs available, and just general life ‘busy-ness’, I didn’t complete many mystery shops this year. You can find my post on Mystery Shopping here.

 

Cash For Containers – $90.00

The Cash For Containers scheme started here in Queensland in November, however we had been saving up all our empty cans and bottles well before then. It’s easy money for something that was just going to be thrown in the recycling bin anyway, and the kids love counting them all out.

 

Selling – $643

While I try to keep a fairly minimalist household, with 3 young kids there is always going to be an excess of stuff to move on to a new home every year, such as outgrown clothes and toys. We also moved house twice last year, so there were a few bits of furniture I sold that didn’t fit or suit the new house. Check out some suggestions for selling here.

 

Competition Winnings – $500.00 approx.

I have been an avid comper for many years, however last year I was really slack on this front. Between kids, study, moving house, holidays and other events, I simply didn’t get the time needed to dedicate to comping, and I really missed receiving surprises in the mail! I did manage several small wins (books, fuel vouchers, gift cards and clothing). I’m hoping to get back into comping more this year! You can find my post on entering competitions here.

 

Check out the Making Money section for more side hustle ideas!

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