How I made $500 in a month from side incomes and gigs

I absolutely love odd jobs. Even if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still browse the 'gigs’ section of Craigslist daily.

(Mostly because some of the odd jobs on there are insane and reading about them is hilarious)

I also love reading the blog The Financial Diet. It’s a women-owned website with such good content about how to save money, make money, negotiate, and there are also just fun posts on there as well. (“How to save money based on your Enneagram Type”? I love anything personality quiz related)

I do enough odd jobs here and there that I decided to get organized and track it all into a sheet, which was when I realized that I made over $500 a month in odd jobs and ‘side hustles’ (ugh, don’t you hate that word?)

I broke it all down in this screenshot, but I’ll go through and share my tips of what drove the most money, which of these tasks were the most (and least) time intensive, and which gigs I would suggest for you to try, too!

The categories I have on here are:

• Flatiron Expenses: Anything your 9-5 job would cover

• Sell: Clothes or furniture, anything I sell

• Focus Group: Research and focus group testing

• Adsense: The pennies I make off of this blog haha. I haven’t even reached $100 so it’s not on the list as an item!

• Amazon: The pennies I make off of Amazon affiliate links

• Craigslist: Any ‘gigs’ or jobs I did from Craigslist

Let’s start with the biggest money maker: focus groups

I had heard of focus groups before, but didn’t really know what they were. You go into a room, eat a candy bar, and tell people what you think of it?

Then I read this piece by The Financial Diet and it encouraged me to sign up for some focus group websites and see if I could get into any.

The (only) benefit to COVID is that all focus group studies are now online, and they are so much easier to access than having to go in person

The main group I use is called User Interviews, and I’ve done focus groups on so many random things. I once got $100 for doing an hour long focus group about hydrafacials where I talked about the facials I’ve gotten at spas for an hour with other women, and then boom $100 on PayPal the next day. So easy, and um…that money is going to my spa fund directly haha.

My trick for this - apply quick and apply to niche groups if possible. The likelihood of you getting into the “test our food” group is small, but if it’s about something very niche that you know (or even something technical) you’ll probably be selected.

Also, they tell you the price upfront which is great. I don’t do any focus groups for less than $90. Some of them will be an hour for $20 which is horrible but some will be an hour for $150 which is fantastic.

Up next: Save $75 every month by using Arcadia instead of Con-Ed

Honestly, this should be its own post, but I’m nervous it would take off and then this sweet, sweet deal would go away and I can’t have that!

I wrote in my previous blog post about money (linked below) about ways I saved money, and one of them was by signing up for the app TrueBill.

What I love about the TrueBill app is that it tells you which subscription payments are coming up (with Netflix and Hulu and everything, don’t we often forget what we’re subscribed to?) and it also gives you little hints here and there on how to bring down your monthly spending. Candidly - I pay $5 a month for the app and it’s saved me a lot over the months.

So I got this email from TrueBill the other month about something called Arcadia.

Now, it’s only available for New York and Boston residents (so far) but it is incredible. Basically, you pair Arcadia to your Con-Ed account, and they have all of your energy used in places that use renewable energy. So right now, all of my energy is being used from a place that has solar panels in Queens.

Then, because of this, Arcadia takes care of your Con-Ed bill every month, and deducts an amount (for me, $75 dollars) because of the renewable energy.

It’s incredible. Any New Yorker knows that Con-Ed bills are always over $100 every month, and this month my bill was $12.

I’m in love with Arcadia. I also don’t known 100% of how it works, so if anything changes over the coming months, I’ll update it here.

If you live in any of their areas and want to apply, you can use their website to do so, and you can use my referral code to get early access into the program: shannon78087.

Another great hack to save money: dig deep into what your job or company pays for.

There were so many things my company paid for that I had no idea about! Granted - I work for an amazing company.

But, most companies will always pay your monthly phone bill (hot spots, using data while traveling, it adds up). That alone is $59 a month that you could be saving, which is basically a nice dinner out.

Some other things your company could be paying for that you don’t realize are things like mental health benefits (therapists, sometimes companies will even cover the cost of mental health apps like Headspace or Calm), personal learning or development (paying for sessions with career coaches, or classes you want to take).

Take the 10 minutes to dig deep into those HR documents you’ve never looked through, it could save you a good amount!

Another tip: Referring people and reaching out to companies if you get a faulty item

I used to shy away from referrals and confrontation because…I don’t know, I’m a woman? I hate to prove Jordan Peterson right haha, but women do naturally steer away from things like that.

But lately I’ve been engaging referrals more and I’ve realized that it’s normal and people don’t mind it at all. I’ve started using referral links on the blog, and doing it over email as well.

I’ve also gotten money back from companies when I get a product that’s faulty. I used to just suck it up, but emailing a company on Amazon that your product was damaged (when it was!) or a clothing company that you’re returning the item because it was uncomfortable, etc., will garner you some money back here and there which I didn’t know existed.

So if you did everything on this list (hoping you’re a New York resident and can use Arcadia)

• $59 for your phone bill

• $75 for Arcadia power

• $100 from one focus group

• $10 back from a company

You could be saving (or making) $244 a month! Not bad. That would cover my monthly Equinox cost, and a light breakfast after haha.

So let me know in the comments below if you’ve ever tried any of these methods to make - or save - money, or if you have any tips of your own! Also, feel free to check out my other blog post about saving money.

Until the next one,
S