2018 was a pretty good year for my side hustles. Actually, it was more than that – it was my best year for side hustles. But while I’ve been pursuing these for many years, this was probably only the second year in which I have been doing so terribly seriously.
So…let’s talk about what I did, and how my results differ from those of others.
Is That All?
I get it. You’ve seen the headlines from others who earned about two (or three!) more digits through side hustles (or full-time ventures which started out as side hustles). Why am I so excited about $4500? And what makes my experiences different from anyone else’s?
Well, for starters, I’m a working dad with several kids, so perhaps I haven’t put enough time into these side hustles as I ought to be doing. (Having better time management skills underlies several of my 2019 goals.) So…when my few hours put into these things end up paying that much extra, I’m going to crow about it.
By Far My Best Side Hustle
2018, I suppose, could be considered the Year of the Paid Trivia App. I wrote about it very early last year, when there were only two apps of which I knew. I will undoubtedly have to revisit this topic soon, seeing as there are several other apps which have arisen since then.* Suffice it to say that these apps were rather good to me in 2018. I have won several of these games and continue to play them today.
Total won from paid trivia apps: $3,512.60
Do you play live trivia apps? Are you interested in hearing which apps I recommend? Let me know in the comments!
The Most Time-Consuming
Another side hustle I have used quite a bit has been Uber. Now, I drive a two-seater (long story), so I can’t drive people around, but I can certainly deliver food.
Now, there were long periods in which I did no driving for Uber Eats. One of the reasons was a bit of dissatisfaction at how a particular “quest” was handled. However, I continued to deliver off and on through the year. I especially preferred to do so when there were better paying “quests”.
Total earned from Uber Eats: $857.32
Sign up to deliver with Uber Eats by clicking here and earn $150 after your first 30 deliveries (terms apply)!
Small payments over the past year added up nicely.
…And The Rest
Most of the other side hustles were things requiring very little spare time. Let’s run through them quickly:
Survey Programs. I don’t do a lot of surveys these days. Quite honestly, the return on investment of the time required for most surveys does not make it the best use of my time. Even my second-best payer, Survey Junkie, mostly tries to steer me toward surveys which pay less than a dollar for 20 minutes of my time. Not worth it, sorry.
Regardless, I was able to earn $60 from Pinecone Rewards ($3 surveys, no referral program), $52.21 this year with Survey Junkie, and $12.75 from the 1Q app, which usually sends surveys one question at a time. Not bad for something I do in my spare time while we’re watching TV.
Total earned from surveys: $124.96.
Click here to join Survey Junkie!
Lockscreen Apps. If you can stomach seeing ads every time you unlock your phone, you can make some amount of money. I will say that this does not seem to be the most stable of industries, as evidenced by the fact that two of the three apps that paid me last year were no longer in existence by the end of last year. So, I said goodbye to Surveycow** ($30.75) and AdMe ($20.10) but am still earning with S’More ($10 Starbucks card, though I’m only counting cash/Paypal earnings here).
Total earned from lockscreen apps: $50.85 (not counting the Starbucks card).
The Final Total
So, not counting non-cash items (such as the aforementioned Starbucks card), and also not completely counting the perennial Swagbucks,*** I did fairly well overall. My final total: $4545.73. Hopefully, 2019 will be even better.
How’d your 2018 go?
* Some paid trivia apps have even come and gone since then.
** Yes, they were much more of a lockscreen ad app than they were a survey app.
*** Swagbucks will only give me a total amount earned for the past six months, and besides, a lot of what I made there fell under the trivia app earning, thanks to SwagIQ.
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