2018 Side Hustle Income Report Month 1

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more information.

Well, I have a little announcement, I got a new job! Earlier this year I accepted a full-time writing position at The Penny Hoarder. I started last week and I’m loving it so far.

Since I’ll be doing more writing at my day job I’ll be trying some new things on the blog including this side hustle income report!

Even though we’re done paying off $78,000 of debt, we haven’t abandoned the side hustles that helped us get there. All the time we spent saving money by not going out or taking vacations, we filled with side hustling.

I think one of the best ways to save money is to fill your time making it. It better taught us the value of a dollar and has helped us discover passions that have literally changed our lives.

So I want to share with you what we’re making on all these side hustles so you know what to realistically expect. I will only include income that’s deposited into my account so sometimes it’s from stuff I did a while ago but none of it is speculative.

Airbnb: $1257.46

In December we began renting out the front room of our house on Airbnb. It’s been the best decision we’ve ever made, I wish we’d done it sooner.

Our guests have been so fun and it’s been such easy money. The most work I do is extra laundry and making the bed (I don’t make my own so it’s too much more work!)

People always have a lot of question about hosting people in our home. Airbnb has a lot of features to make sure we’re 100% comfortable with bookings and they offer a $1 million host guarantee that covers theft, property damage, and other accidents that could occur with a guest. If you have questions feel free to drop them in the comments and I’d love to answer them.

If you want to rent out one of your rooms then sign up through this link and you’ll help us earn a little extra too!

T-Shirts: $782.56

Last year I spent a lot of time working on Merch by Amazon. It’s a print on demand t-shirt business where you design the shirt and Amazon takes care of printing, payment, shipping, and customer service.

I have 120 shirts and they make me passive income of up to $2000 per month. This is income from December which was universally dismal for everyone on Merch. It’s definitely got me considering taking some of my designs to Etsy which I’ll have more time for in March.

Here’s an example of one of my shirts.

Book: $370.20

This is income from The No-Spend Challenge Guide’s launch in November. I was really pleased by how much the book made initially which is why I started so quickly on Meal Planning on a Budget.

I’m hoping book income will steadily increase but I’m taking a break from self-publishing again until the fall. I have an idea for a book I really want to invest some time and energy into.

Furniture Flip: $250

Travis bought a king-sized bedroom set on Facebook Marketplace in pretty good condition for $150. He bought a $6 wood stain marker to pretty it up a bit and sold the whole set for $400. $250 for about two hours worth of work (1 hour transporting it and 1 hour refinishing) was a pretty sweet ROI.

Mystery Shopping: $45

We got reimbursed for 4 mystery shops in January. One was only reimbursable and three paid $15 plus reimbursement. So we were paid $234.12 but really only made $45.

If you want to learn more about mystery shopping you can read my post about it.

Blog Ads: $128.37

Here’s my juicy blog income y’all! I know, blogging is so lucrative right!? This is mostly Amazon affiliate income with about $30 from ads.

Travis’s Side Job: $28.39

Travis fills out aircraft paperwork for a private jet owner who has the hangar next to his day job. Sometimes they need him a lot, sometimes not so much.

Total: $2871.88

Expenses: I’m a frugalprenuer (new term?) so I keep my expenses low but there are some that are unavoidable.

Canva: $12.95

I use Canva Pro for it’s upgraded features for t-shirt design and Pinterest images.

Airbnb: $118.82

Somebody canceled to close to their scheduled date and Airbnb withdrew money from them and it was deposited into our account. Technically they should’ve had to pay but she was nice so we gave her the refund when she asked.

Book Expenses: $102.75

Meal Planning on a Budget is brought to you by my fantastic editor Julie who I found on Upwork. Seriously if you’re going to self-publish a book you need an editor, one who speaks English as their first language.

My book is small so the expense was smaller but good editing is worth every penny.

Other Expenses: $11

I bought fonts for shirts and a workbook template for the book freebie.

Total: $245.52

Set aside for taxes: $600

JANUARY GRAND TOTAL: $2026.36

Goals for the rest of the quarter:

I’m still reeling from the launch of Meal Planning on a Budget. I wanted to take a little break and work on something more relaxed so my friend Jill and I are going to start a podcast!

It’s called Frugal Friends (website to come) and we’ll talk about saving money and spending less in all areas of life. There’ll be some minimalism, side hustling, and fun segments intended to make us laugh but I think you’ll probably laugh too. I hope.

So my goals for Month 2 are:

• Get up to 130 shirts on Merch
• Plan the first few episodes of the podcast
• Record the podcast pilot with Jill
• Have a glass of wine and celebrate the book launch!

What’d you think of the first side hustle income report?