Much like the mortgage overpayments for this year, having a baby naturally meant that side hustles had to take a bit of a back seat.
As you'll see below, in the end I wasn't too far off last years total! I'm quite surprised but one good thing about being on maternity leave with a good sleeper is that I had a bit of time to do extra random money-making tasks during naps, and that had a bigger impact than I realised.
Breakdown and total
Talks- £215.30
Other- £127.32
Surveys- £115.18
Cashback - £32.33
Receipts - £20.00
Total - £510.13
Sources
Talks
Another year in which talks are my most profitable side hustle. This is also where my maternity leave lost me the most money. I did have two talks booked for early in the year but my Mum gently persuaded me to cancel them as there was a chance I'd be too tired for them. I'm glad she did as my iron levels were quite low at the beginning of the year and I felt wiped out by the early afternoon. I definitely couldn't have done a good job with low energy levels.
Other
This is a category that I think I'll change a bit next year. "Other" is all the things that tend to come in with minimal effort on my part, or that I don't really participate in regularly enough to consider as a separate category.
This year it has covered some ebook money (my ebooks were published nearly 10 years ago but I still get the occasional purchase or KENP read), some sales on eBay, and a payout from Zazzle. I think for 2024 I'll try tracking "sales" as a separate category in its own right. The eBay sales have actually been more consistant this year and I'd like to try and increase them next year, as well as try selling outgrown baby things on FBMP.
Surveys
Being on maternity leave really helped with this. During naps I could pop on to Prolific and do a few quick tasks. Prolific has always paid well due to their rules around minimum amount per hour, and doing 50 pence here and 20 pence there, for tasks taking less than 10 minutes, meant that I could build up a decent chunk each month.
I also finally had a Yougov payout of £50. I have been doing it for years (literally) and while the £50 is a big chunk in one go it simply is not worth all the time and effort I put into it. This is one I am not going to be returning to.
Cashback
This continues to be a bit of a slow burner but it's worth it for the occasional payout. I've had payments from Shopmium, Greenjinn, TopCashback, and Hashting. In some cases the cashback has been the amount I've spent on a grocery item so we've effectively got something for free.
Receipts
If "Sales" are going to get their own category next year then I'll lump "receipts" into "other". This used to be a bigger earner but with the closure of ReceiptHog and some difficulties I've had with SnapMyEats, I've given up and just stuck to Shoppix. I always cash out an Amazon voucher as it can just sit in my account and cover the occasional ebook purchase.
Next year
For 2024 I'd like to try and see how close I can get to £600. I'll be going back to work next year so we'll see how much time I have between that and the baby, but I'd certainly like to increase the amount. Perhaps £550 would be more realistic?
