5 Simple Side Hustles to Increase Your Savings

I am big on passive income. I love the idea of being able to make extra money when I would probably be doing nothing productive with my time anyhow. 

There are so many benefits to working a few extra side-hustles and making some additional money. For starters, it can help you to pay off debt a lot quicker. It can also help you to prepare for the future a little bit better, or to just use it as a little extra spending money. 

Regardless, it’s always a smart idea to pick up an extra side-hustle. Sometimes, I have found myself doing two or three side-hustles at once while maintaining my full-time job. 

Today, I want to share with you these 5 simple side hustles to help you increase your savings… or to do whatever you want with the extra money. 

1. Deliver Groceries With Shipt. 

I have talked about Shipt before, but Shipt is really a great way to make some extra money on the weekends, especially during the holiday season. 

Shipt is an online grocery delivery service. Think of it as Uber, but for grocery deliveries. Everything is done through an app on your phone where customers will put in their order, you claim the order, shop for it, and deliver it to them. 

What’s nice about Shipt is the pay. During the holiday season, you can often find $20 bonuses just to get the delivery to the customer on time. So you would get the $20 bonus, the delivery fee ($5 + 7% of the grocery bill), plus tips. Shipt members usually tip an average of 8 out of 10 times. 

There were weeks during the holiday season where I would deliver one day on the weekend for around 4 or 5 hours, and I would make $150. Every Friday, the money I earned from the week before would be deposited into my bank account. 

If you are looking for a good way to make money, try Shipt. Especially in this pandemic, there is going to be a lot less competition to get high-paying orders, and people are going to be tipping incredibly well. 

2. Teach a Class on Skillshare

Another great way to make some money is by teaching a class on Skillshare. Skillshare is an online teaching-based platform where individuals can either take unlimited classes for $12/month, or teach classes on their expertise. 

There is a UK doctor who is currently making an average of $200/day on Skillshare. He isn’t teaching about medicine, but about video editing for YouTube videos. That’s right, he has a side-hustle for his side-hustle and is making $200/day of strictly passive income. After one day of recording the video and one day of editing it, he hasn’t had to touch a thing. 

Everybody has different skill sets in which they can share with the world. Think of something you are good at and give Skillshare a try. 

3. Drive Others Around with Uber/Lyft

Surely everybody knows about Uber and Lyft by now, but if you are in need of a weekend or nightly side-hustle, give it a try. I tend to prefer Shipt just because I am more of an introverted person, but if you like chauffeuring people around, try Uber and Lyft. 

There are ways you can make additional money with either. First, be sociable. Make it a good experience for the rider. Second, keep a cooler of cold waters or sodas in your car and offer the rider a drink when they get in. Third, ask them if they have a preferred radio station. 

Doing small things like this may not seem like a big deal, but the chances of you getting a better tip at the end will significantly increase if you go out of your way to make their experience as good as possible. 

4. Write on Medium

If you are someone (such as myself) who enjoys writing, write on Medium. Seriously, it’s a good way to make a few extra dollars. 

Personally, I make less than $100/month, but I will admit that I also don’t put much time into it. I tend to focus more on my personal blog which isn’t monetized, and will then just share my blog post on Medium. Essentially, it’s an additional five extra minutes of my time and some of the posts I publish can make a decent amount of money. 

Don’t let me statistics fool you though. There are writers who are making thousands, even upwards of $10,000/month just from writing on Medium. Granted they are more established authors with a larger following, it just goes to show that you can make a living from an app on your phone. 

5. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast

Last but not least, start a YouTube channel or a podcast with Anchor. 

YouTube is a little more challenging to get monetized as you need 1,000 subscribers and 40,000 hours of watch time, but there are individuals who make millions every single year just from YouTube Adsense. 

If YouTube isn’t really your thing, try podcasting. I recently just monetized my podcast through Anchor, and while it’s not making a lot of money, I also just enjoy podcasting in general, so the fact that I’m able to make anything is just an added bonus. 

Before You Go

There are so many simple side hustles you can do to increase your savings. Really, your imagination is your only limitation.

Whatever your current situation is, I encourage you to start a side-hustle and make some extra cash. It is honestly the best and easiest thing you can do to make more money and start achieving financial independence.

Michael Bonnell