City Side Hustles
I needed extra cash to purchase an engagement ring. A Google search suggested the engagement ring needs to be at least 2x your take-home monthly salary. WTH!? Furthermore, Personal Capital recommends saving enough cash to cover at least 6 months expenses in the event that you get laid off or cannot work for some unfortunate reason (rainy day fund). That’s a ton of cash. Do you have that much saved? I certainly did not. I needed many City Side Hustles.
Let’s say you live in The City. You make $80,000 per year at your day job. That is $6,153/month. After taxes, health benefit costs, 6% 401K contribution, your monthly take-home is around $4,200/month. So, do I have to spend $8,400 on an engagement ring? No, you need to evaluate your finances and figure out what’s right for you and your loved one. That said, if you were going to spend $8,400 on a ring, how would you save up enough money? Additionally, how are you going to save up enough cash for your 6-month rainy day fund?!
Let’s break down your monthly expenses:
This is a conservative estimate of expenses.The amount remaining each month is probably a lot less if you are living in an expensive city, want to go out at night, adventure during the weekend, book a flight home, or even invest in your future. You know that you are going to spend more that $600 a month on food and drinks in The City. Hell, I sometimes spend that in two weeks! But for the sake of this exercise, let’s assume everyone is better than me and will have $1,600 after monthly expenses to save.
To buy that $8,400 ring, it would take you over 5 months to save ($8,400/$1,600). This is doable, if you have patience. But what about that 6-month rainy day fund/safety net? Do you have $15,600 (monthly expenses $2,600 x 6) saved up? If you are like me, you would have nothing saved and thus are starting from scratch like the majority of us millennials. It would take you over a year and three months to save up for a ring and a rainy day safety net. This would take extreme dedication and disciple. No movies, no new clothes, no date nights, no eating out, no avocado toast for over a year!
So, how can I speed up my savings? Answer: The City Side Hustle. You need to make more money, and fast!
There are a million blogs or financial guides about side hustling. My favorite financial independence blog is Millennial Money. Since there are so many options out there, it is sometimes hard to figure out what is right for you. One that you will have time for, the will, or the patience (like starting a blog). Im going to tell you what worked for me in The City.
Below are two easy City Side Hustles that helped me earn enough money to buy my fiancée an engagement ring and save up for my 6-month rainy day fund in just under six months. That’s less than half of the time we estimated above. They are so simple, and they will not take away from your day job or quality time with your friends and family. For additional City Side Hustle ideas, sign up for my newsletter! I also wrote about which City Side Hustles are a waste of time.
1) The City Side Hustle Delivery
I work a 8am-5pm job. So when would I have time to side hustle that didn’t take away quality time for myself, friends, or family? I decided that the lunch hour was a good compromise for time. If you live and work in The City, you know that lunch is a bustling time, and many offices have food delivered. These days, as you all know, there are apps that allow you to work as a food delivery person at your own pace. I never thought I’d become a delivery person, but it was just way too easy to make $30-$50 extra every day of the work week. That’s an extra $600-$1,000 a month for walking out of the office to deliver food for an hour. Some people I shared this with looked down on me, thinking ‘why is this employed professional out delivering food’? This is a stigma that our generation needs to abolish. No one is better than anyone, all jobs created equal! Everyone was pretty jealous after I showed them mad tips I made on each delivery.
I used Postmates, but I’m sure I would have found success with many delivery services (UberEats, DoorDash, etc.). The great thing about Postmates is that you can deliver on foot or bicycle. It’s hard to find parking in The City, so having the option to be mobile was great. Each day, as soon as it was noontime, I would head outside, turn on the app, and accept an order. When on foot, the orders are typically within a 5 minute walk. I was able to do 2-4 deliveries per lunch hour, and be back in my seat by 1pm. The larger the order, the larger the tip. The great thing about the Postmates delivery app is that the customer is encouraged to tip at least 10%. On the app, you have to actively select an obscure no tip option. Of all my deliveries, only one customer did not tip and it happened to be an extremely wealthy individual. What is it about rich people and tipping? The most generous people have the least to give, but they still give.
The cost of entry was minimal. I signed up, downloaded the app, attended a 15 minute tutorial, and was delivering within 3 days. In 6 months it is possible to make $6,000 on top of your monthly salary delivering with Postmates during lunch. Sometimes, I would get on my bike after work and do a delivery prior to heading home. That engagement ring that was glimmering out of reach was here in no time. You can do it too!
2) The City Side Hustle Bedtime Website Reviews
I can’t speak for everyone but I’m fairly confident in saying that people spend a lot of time scrolling through Facebook or Instagram on their phones before going to bed. I know I spend at least 20-30 minutes mindlessly going down the social media rabbit hole while waiting for my partner to finish getting ready for bed, or even to go out at night. This time can be converted into productive time. I spent many nights trying to figure out how to make money in those 20-30 minutes before bed. I finally concluded that UserTesting is the best way to make an extra $10-$20 before bed.
$70-$140 extra per week > your ex-lovers instagram story
UserTesting is a platform for reviewing company websites. You can utilize your laptop, smartphone, or tablet. In fact, you will get to review more sites if you can utilize all three. You probably have some questions:
- What does a website review entail? Basically, you scroll through a webpage and verbally answer questions the site posts. Most of them are, “How easy is it to navigate?”, or “Where would you click to navigate to x.” Really you are just saying your thoughts aloud, which may be pretty funny to your roommate or partner in the other room.
- How much can I earn? Each review (or ‘test’ as they call it) will earn you $10. Sometimes you can be part of a panel, or longer test, for additional return. I once made $70 for around 45 minutes of time. Within a week’s time, your funds arrive in your PayPal account. Note: Tests are issued based on your demographic background and ratings of your review. Don’t get frustrated if a test is not available at first. They will soon show up, sometimes throughout the day.
- How long will it take to complete a test? They say each test will take around 20 minutes. I’ve had a few tests take 20 minutes, however, the majority of them took less than 5 minutes. $10 for 5 minutes of time is the same as $120/hour. Most likely you will not be able to take 12 tests in an hour due to availability/demand, but hey, you might get lucky!
Did you know?:
- The average millennial has around $27,000 of student loans to pay back. I paid off all of mine in my 20s. In a future post I will share with everyone how I managed to do this. My fiancee still has massive student debt, and will be paying it back well into her 40s. She had a few high interest loans, but we refinanced and consolidated her loans with SoFi and reduced her overall interest rate by 2%. That’s a massive savings over the term of the loan. Check them out!
- I bought our engagement ring from Brilliant Earth. I really like their mission: “Brilliant Earth provides fine jewelry from ethical, pure sources— jewelry that you can truly be proud to wear.” I bought a ring that would typically cost $8,400 for $6,000. In a future post I will describe my selection process and some cost-saving tips! Sign up for my newsletter to read more.
If you’re hungry and want to order food on Postmates, click here