Side hustles in 2015

[lizinbmore]

After some serious analysis of my finances for 2015, I concluded that the only way to reach my goals is to bring in more money.  (I am also still working on reducing expenses of course but that's not the point of this post.)

In my plan for the year:
- selling some extra goods and collectibles to consignment stores, flea markets, etc.   
- starting a side consulting business for 5-7 hours a week after I make progress on the selling off project

My goal is to bring in an additional $500 a month all year.  Anyone have good experiences to share with trying to bring in more money on the side? 

[KaleidoscopeHarmony]

My new side hustle for 2015 is blogging.  I just posted a summary of 2014 financial accomplishments on my new site with totals for my side hustles.  I made over $500 playing around with rewards websites last year.  They are very easy to use and don't require much effort or any type of startup cost. 

http://creatingmykaleidoscope.com/2014/12/31/2014-financial-accomplishments-and-plans-for-2015/

Good luck!

[stache4adventure]

I donate plasma and drive Lyft (similar to Uber)

Plasma = ~$250/month (12 hrs/month but most of it is spent watching Netflix)
Lyft = ~$15/hr depending on your city/mpg/driving expenses (meet new people, learn your city better)

Both are untaxed unless you bring in $20,000+ with Lyft

[Retired To Win]

If you have technical knowledge, consulting can be superlucrative.  My wife gets $175 an hour as a consultant doing the same thing she used to do before she retired.  Of course, you have to know your stuff!

[10dollarsatatime]

I intend to start pushing retail arbitrage through the Amazon FBA program.  I did a small experiment in October and doubled the money I had put into it.  Now that my schedule has calmed down a bit, my goal is to earn an extra $600/month to pay down bills.  Anything I earn extra beyond that, I intend to push back into sourcing. 

I've also been considering plasma donation as well.  I live a whole 2 blocks from the local place.

[Nudelkopf]

I'm planning on bumping up my tutoring of high school students this year. I charge $40/hr, and I've already got 3 students lined up. Over the school year, I'll meet with the students 20-30 times each. So, $2400 to $3600 cash in hand.

I only tutor students that I like, or else I could get way more hours. Tutoring students/parents that I don't like isn't worth it. I like having good relationships with my students.

[Pooperman]

Blog: http://frugalheroes.com/ (might be a side-loss though)
Rewards sites: $500
(frugal) Consulting: $100
Edit: Rewards Cards/Churning: $500

We'll see how these turn out. Others I've done in the past and may do again:
Tutoring Math/Science ($30-50/hr)
Actual Consulting ($80+/hr)
Tutoring (training) what I do for work ($100+/hr)

[kpd905]

I'm hoping for at least $5000 from churning credit cards, in both statement credit and travel. 

I also do Beermoney sites like Swagbucks and Perk TV.  Each one earns me about $100/month in Amazon and Paypal credit.

I am always looking for new hustles.  I get around $50-75 a month from some ebooks I published to Amazon about a year ago.

I added a sheet to my finance spreadsheet to track any side income.  I ended up with around $500/month last year, but most of it was credit card statement credit.

[norabird]

I just signed up for a survey site that the woman at The Prudent Homemaker uses, PineCone Research. We'll see!

[MakingSenseofCents]

I'm all for side hustles! I definitely think you should be able to reach $500 a month.

If you are interested, I talk about side hustles a lot of my blog and often interview others who side hustle. You can find the posts here - http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/extra-income

When I was near the end at my day job, I was making around $9,000 a month from side hustling. Seems crazy, but it is true.

[johnny847]

I donate plasma and drive Lyft (similar to Uber)

Plasma = ~$250/month (12 hrs/month but most of it is spent watching Netflix)
Lyft = ~$15/hr depending on your city/mpg/driving expenses (meet new people, learn your city better)

Both are untaxed unless you bring in $20,000+ with Lyft

Just because Lyft doesn't send you a W-2 or whatever form is used for self employed contractors (I forget which), it doesn't mean it's untaxed. You are legally obligated to self report and pay taxes on all income.
Now what are your chances of getting caught if you're not making all that much? Pretty low for sure. But that doesn't mean it's untaxed. It's called tax evasion.

[cashstasherat23]

Just was inspired by some spam mail in my email to get a new side hustle going! I had signed up for SitterCity a while ago but never bothered setting up a profile. I just set up the profile fully, sent out a few emails to prospective parents today, and already have had a response back for a gig babysitting 3 hrs each Wednesday night. It's $15 an hour, $45 a night, so not big bucks, but could add up to an extra $2K for the year! If I pick up a few more gigs on weekend nights, it could be a pretty solid hustle in addition to my growing Ebay business.

[Retired To Win]

Okay, I'm accepting the challenge to create a side hustle in 2015.  And I think my path of least resistance is going to be sign-up bonus and cash back credit cards.  I can do it all from the comfort of my pc station.

[johnny847]

Okay, I'm accepting the challenge to create a side hustle in 2015.  And I think my path of least resistance is going to be sign-up bonus and cash back credit cards.  I can do it all from the comfort of my pc station.

I'd also throw in bank account signup bonuses: http://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-bank-account-bonuses/

[Retired To Win]

My new side hustle for 2015 is blogging...

Actually making significant money from a blog can be a big challenge.  In my case, I'm just treating my blog as a serious hobby as I concentrate on creating content and improving readership.  Monetizing the blog is not something I'm planning.

[lizh]

I agree that it takes a significant amount of work to make money from a blog.  I was lucky back in 2006 and was in the right place at the right time. (eco-friendly green life) and did quite well for several years.  But it was a lot of work ...fun!! ..but still time consuming work.

Now, I want to create a side hustle helping people fix/update/upgrade/ wordpress blogs.  Any ideas of where I can advertise to find clients?

I did a test with passionfruitads.com  I tried to find a somewhat popular blog who wasn't charging too much money.  I didn't get any bites.

Would love to hear your ideas!
Liz

[The Beacon]

I have a side hustle most people do not have a stomach for.  What about Uber over the weekends?

[cashstasherat23]

I have a side hustle most people do not have a stomach for.  What about Uber over the weekends?

So curious...what is it?!

[Retired To Win]

Now, I want to create a side hustle helping people fix/update/upgrade/ wordpress blogs.  Any ideas of where I can advertise to find clients?

The OBVIOUS answer is to start a website/blog giving advice on that topic and use it to attract and hook clients. (Because lots of people, like me, will find it too technical to do and will be happy to pay you reasonably to get the stuff done.)

[FrugalKube]

Does a side hustle count if you have to spend a little money but make a decent return? I tend to find decent deals at Yard Sales in the way of video games and sell them on the side to pay for some other hobbies

[FIRE2022]

Just did my tax returns, so I know exactly how much my side hustle made me in 2014. I made $1950 in 2014 from my 2 phone apps. They are on Windows phone, so the market is not huge. But on the bright side, I probably spent less than 10 hours for maintenance all year on them.

My goal for 2015 is to port them to Android. That would be an interesting experiment.

[catpartm3nt]

Right now it's freelance writing. I've recently lucked onto a very good opportunity--doesn't take too much of my time or effort, but is padding my salary income nicely. Depending on how this goes I may attempt to pick up another one.

[10dollarsatatime]

Does a side hustle count if you have to spend a little money but make a decent return? I tend to find decent deals at Yard Sales in the way of video games and sell them on the side to pay for some other hobbies

Of course!  My side hustle involves buying whatever on clearance from stores and then selling it.  Same thing.  And it scratches that shopping itch still leftover from my pre-mustachian days.

[Pooperman]

Does a side hustle count if you have to spend a little money but make a decent return? I tend to find decent deals at Yard Sales in the way of video games and sell them on the side to pay for some other hobbies

Of course!  My side hustle involves buying whatever on clearance from stores and then selling it.  Same thing.  And it scratches that shopping itch still leftover from my pre-mustachian days.

Another example being the NJ online casino promotions. Deposit $300, lost $270, get $300 back, profit = $30. 10% return = good. And that's the minimum! So far, around $200 this year.

[vivek440]

Right now it's freelance writing. I've recently lucked onto a very good opportunity--doesn't take too much of my time or effort, but is padding my salary income nicely. Depending on how this goes I may attempt to pick up another one.

I have also been thinking of freelance writing. Any tips,  how to approach it? How to get the first break? 

[lpep]

I'm hoping for at least $5000 from churning credit cards, in both statement credit and travel. 

I also do Beermoney sites like Swagbucks and Perk TV.  Each one earns me about $100/month in Amazon and Paypal credit.

I am always looking for new hustles.  I get around $50-75 a month from some ebooks I published to Amazon about a year ago.

I added a sheet to my finance spreadsheet to track any side income.  I ended up with around $500/month last year, but most of it was credit card statement credit.

How do you make that much from Swagbucks?! I've been using it as a search engine for a week and have made less than $2.

[kpd905]

I'm hoping for at least $5000 from churning credit cards, in both statement credit and travel. 

I also do Beermoney sites like Swagbucks and Perk TV.  Each one earns me about $100/month in Amazon and Paypal credit.

I am always looking for new hustles.  I get around $50-75 a month from some ebooks I published to Amazon about a year ago.

I added a sheet to my finance spreadsheet to track any side income.  I ended up with around $500/month last year, but most of it was credit card statement credit.

How do you make that much from Swagbucks?! I've been using it as a search engine for a week and have made less than $2.

Sign up for the r/beermoney referral contest every week.  If you win you'll get at least 100 referrals.

I don't actually do anything on Swagbucks.  I log in every couple weeks and cash out.

[lpep]

^ Ah, I saw you post about this in another thread. I saw this and thought "Hot damn, more than one person is making this much?!" :)

[ACLR8R]

Currently taking real estate courses to get my real estate license (AZ requires 90 class hours). My parents are buying a new house in the next couple months, so that is a guaranteed $5-7k after I finish. Hoping to do 2-4 houses per year for an additional 10-20k! I'm a teacher so I have summers to work on it.

Plus its something I could do post retirement for some additional cash flow as well!

[tofuchampion]

Commenting to follow! I do Swagbucks and mystery shopping, and lately have been selling stuff on craigslist and eBay as I de-clutter. I used to donate plasma and am planning to start again.

[ender]

Hmmm I'd love to do something on the side. Not sure what.

I wonder if there are any online writing sites I could do, I've become fairly prolific at posting on Stack Exchange (and the other millions of forum posts I've made).

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

Chippewa, can you say more about hubpages? How much time did you put into that for a $20-30 return? Was this monthly/weekly?

[Suit]

Ok, I'm in too. I can't do any legal work outside my job but I love working with kids so I signed up for Sittercity. We'll see how it goes!

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

Thanks, Chippewa! This is on my to-do list for the summer!

[Cwadda]

I started selling things on Amazon. It's incredibly easy. And I've made $430 in the past week.

Yesterday I signed up for 2 mystery shopping companies.

[tofuchampion]

I'm going to start selling things on Etsy.

[lpep]

I started selling things on Amazon. It's incredibly easy. And I've made $430 in the past week.

What "things" are you selling?!

[muckety_muck]

I've been trying to clear out some kids stuff... taking it to the consignment store, making easy $20/wk on random items selling. That's an extra $1k/yr not taxed... very excited.

Probably need to put a few things on ebay, just get them out of the house.

Might look into swagbucks. not sure what it entails.

[Retired To Win]

Okay, I'm accepting the challenge to create a side hustle in 2015.  And I think my path of least resistance is going to be sign-up bonus and cash back credit cards.  I can do it all from the comfort of my pc station.

Well, it's almost June and I haven't even started this.  So it's not my "path of least resistance" apparently.

I can't really use this as an excuse, but I've spent a lot of time these last 3 months optimizing my investment portfolio's dividend flow.  And that's (kind of) a side hustle.  Maybe.

[Cwadda]

I started selling things on Amazon. It's incredibly easy. And I've made $430 in the past week.

What "things" are you selling?!

Sorry for the late response, but I've been selling my old videogames, electronics, and textbooks. You can sell anything on there, really

[Retired To Win]

My wife is developing a mini side hustle: a curbside self-serve egg stand.  (She has 15 laying hens in the backyard!)

[honaras]

i've had success selling my own stuff on fb yardsale groups and craigslist for the last 2 years - about $3K for not much effort on my end (cleaning, taking pics, writing a good listing, communicating with seller and meeting up.)

so i've decided to branch out and offer my services as a personal consignor - i'll do all the legwork to get rid of other people's (saleable) junk.

i'm figuring a 60% commission on final sales price will make it worth my time, while still getting stuff out of other people's houses. :)

any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

[skcook]

I do freelance editing and proofreading for a former employer (publisher of a scientific journal and the occasional book). The work is of course hit or miss - from November to March I had more work than I knew what to do with, as they had an unexpected in-house manpower shortage; since then it has been pretty spotty despite me wanting more work than I currently have. I think I've made about $6000 this year, with $5000 of it concentrated in the first 3 months of the year. I'd love to have another client like this, but it's a pretty niche field and I'm not sure I want to invest huge amounts of time looking for one.

Just signed up for OnlineVerdict.com and VarsityTutors.com, we'll see what comes of them. Thought about signing up for Postmates but after reading some terrible reviews on Glassdoor decided not to.

While technically not a side hustle, I could also pick up extra shifts at my primary job (which I work at about half time), but try not to do that too much due to the stress incurred from doing so. Sigh.

[EngineerMum]

skcook - how does one get started with the freelance editing / proof reading gig? I quite enjoy doing that sort of work within my job, and spend a fair amount of time writing technical reports (and have been told by several managers that I'm good at it), so it's something I am interested in doing as a side hustle. Does it make it easier if you are a professional to work on journals / texts in that field or are they more concerned with publishing / editing qualifications?

[skcook]

Southern Saver, I don't know that my example will be all that helpful, as I kind of fell into the work over a period of years. I started working as an editorial assistant for the publications arm of a public health nonprofit, and gradually worked my way up from proofreading to copyediting. After a couple of years of this, I was valuable enough by the time I left to go back to grad school that I am often still their first call for big projects (years later), and still get some regular work.

To answer your other question, most of the work I see has already been peer-reviewed, so I am not providing much content analysis; I do some basic statistics review but mostly just make sure that the copy conforms to house style. I actually work as a health care provider now, so I have the unique advantage of having some applicable professional experience/knowledge, but the publications experience is much more important/helpful. If I were to ever actively look for another client, for example, I would mention my current occupation but I would also really play up that I am very familiar with AMA (American Medical Association) style. Do you have a particular style of writing with which you are familiar?

[EngineerMum]

Thanks for the response skcook. You're right, probably doesn't really help me, but thanks for giving me the idea for something to look into further.

I'm a civil engineer, so I write engineering technical reports. I don't know if its the same in the US, but in Aus you can get your engineering degree with basically no writing ability, and it shows. I am usually the go-to person in my office when a report has acceptable content but is unreadable or hard to follow.

I wasn't thinking so much of the peer review side, more that we use so much jargon that people not in the industry can't understand what we're saying half the time, so I would think that one would need to understand the language to be able to edit effectively.

[skcook]

There is so much decent research/knowledge out there that is never read because people can't write their way out of a paper bag, it's a shame :)

Our journal has 2 basic ways of dealing of promising research that is poorly written - sometimes the paper is rejected but we point them towards an outside editor who can work with them to make the writing intelligible before they resubmit, or in the less-severe cases the paper is accepted but first assigned to a developmental editor before the true copyediting begins. I wonder if you could parlay your skills into a side business that way - by advertising your services to other engineering firms as a developmental editor?

[Wilmabird]

Found a new side hustle from a reputable source: OnlineVerdict.com $20-$60 payout per case - online juror focus group. Should be interesting, if selected for cases.

I was curious if you've had any luck with this yet.  I read that it can be difficult to get cases depending on where you live.  I'm in one of the top ten largest cities in the US, so I'm hoping I will get some cases, but I wanted to see how someone else's experience with the site is before signing up.

[justajane]

I just signed up for Online Verdict. Thanks so much for the lead!

I edit dissertations and ghostwrite (not academic work, because that's just wrong) for my side hustle. When I started I didn't make very much, but now I make between 5-10K depending on the year. This is very part-time. I'll go weeks without doing one. Sometimes I miscalculate and take a dud of a project, which means I make between $10-15 an hour or even less. That's discouraging, but usually I estimate I make between $25-$30 an hour. It can be very tedious - i.e. someone isn't usually coming to me for help unless their writing is terrible or their ideas lack clarity -- but once in a while it can be extremely rewarding. I've had students come to me and say that I made their dissertation 100% better and that their committee had high praise for the result. That's always nice.

I wish I could make more, but for me to do that, I would have to find the clients myself and do the billing myself. Now I work with an agency, so all I do is edit. I could take on more work than I do, but it can really tax the brain. The benefit of being a freelancer is that I can say no, and I do all the time. I've turned down projects for random reasons. Once I turned down a dissertation because there was a grammar mistake in the title. Yes, in the title. I figured that one would be highly unpleasant to edit, so I passed.

[Kitsune]

I'm not sure this counts as a "hustle", but I manage all our household expenses and purchases. Between rewards on credit cards, ebates, and local store programs, I average about 1200$/year in cash back. We don't spend much - I mostly manage to stack up 3-4 rewards programs and rebates for every purchase, and then add coupons and online rebates. So, say I need pharmacy things. I'll wait for a coupon day at the pharmacy (nothing less than 30% cash back) and do all my shopping online then. Then I'll get cash back on the credit card, cash back through ebates when applicable, and then add coupons for specific items if applicable. Overall, I'd say I spend maybe 1-2 hours a month total coordinating our household expenses (in 5-minute shots - none of these tricks take more time than scrolling through email slush folders for coupons or clicking through a link), which means I'm averaging returns of 50$/hour, tax-free. Easy money. :)

Note: in the total above, I don't count the money "saved" by sale shopping, because I buy things at the price I'm willing to pay for them, and it's still money out of my bank account when I buy a thing, so I'm not "saving" money, just spending less. The 1200$ figure is the money back I actually saw come back (500$ from one credit card, 250$ from another credit card, 100$ from Costco, 225$ from a pharmacy rewards program, and the rest from ebates and a few other "minor" places.)

I'm starting a few other minor side-hustles, but they're not profitable yet (though they are enjoyable), so we'll see which ones actually make money above minimum wage. ;)