At the start of this journey, I wanted to try side hustles to boost my income. The intention was to see if I could balance them alongside my career and the Master’s degree I am currently embroiled in.
The ultimate goal?
To retire early.
Ideally, that means moving to Italy one day and creating enough additional income streams that work becomes a choice rather than a necessity.
I have had some success. Last month was my best month yet, netting around the £1,000 mark. But I am also hyper-aware that many of those income streams aren’t sustainable. If early retirement is genuinely the goal, then I need to find ways to generate income that don’t rely entirely on constant effort.
At the start of the year, I set myself a challenge: each month I would try a different side hustle. Looking back, I can confidently say I underestimated just how much that would involve.
When Side Hustles Become Too Much
The reality is that trying to juggle multiple side hustles alongside a full-time career and postgraduate education became overwhelming.
Some of the newer ventures simply haven’t worked out.
I’m too rural for mystery shopping to be worthwhile.
Data training platforms seem to have locked me out.
Market research isn’t converting into meaningful cash.
At the same time, my education reached its peak in terms of deadlines, coursework and administrative burden.
I wandered out of May feeling somewhat brain-dead and mentally clogged up.
It forced me to step back and re-evaluate what was actually working and what wasn’t.
The Cashback System That Continues to Work
One of my earliest successes, and one that continues to pay off, is the purchasing strategy I developed to maximise cashback, points and savings.
The goal is simple: make my money work harder.
Whether that’s cashback, American Express Membership Rewards points or Avios, I layer multiple strategies together to support my long-term vision of sitting in an overwater bungalow in the Maldives in 2027.
I’ve even optimised ChatGPT to help me with this. Through a dedicated project folder, I can send a photo of something I want to buy, and it helps me find the cheapest price while considering cashback percentages versus Avios earnings to determine the best purchasing route.
This system still saves me around £40–£50 every month.
If you’re interested in building your own cashback stack, the apps I currently use are:
- Sprive
- EverUp
- Cheddar
- JamDoughnut
- Rakuten
- TopCashback
You can also read my complete cashback strategy here: GUIDE 3: Easy Wins (Cashback / Rewards / Etc.)
Don’t Overlook Loyalty Schemes
Supermarket loyalty schemes and fuel station rewards programmes are easy wins that many people overlook.
Not only can they reduce your shopping bill at the checkout, but many points systems are transferable or can be converted into rewards that provide even more value.
The savings may seem small individually, but over the course of a year they genuinely add up.
Overhauling My Finances Changed Everything
I don’t tend to talk about finances in great detail, but this journey forced me to confront something important.
When I started this, I had some minor debt.
Honestly, it was silly because I didn’t need to be in debt. I had simply become fiscally lazy.
I completely overhauled my finances to ensure I held onto my money for as long as possible.
In practice, this meant:
- Opening a current account with cashback features.
- Opening high-interest savings accounts.
- Building an emergency fund.
- Making my money work harder before spending it.
American Express became a useful tool within this strategy. By using my American Express card for spending and paying it off in full every month, I allow my salary to remain in savings slightly longer, generating additional interest. This currently nets me an extra £15 per month, which admittedly won’t fund retirement on its own, but every little helps.
Since completing the introductory offers, I’ve shifted focus towards building my emergency fund alongside investing through Trading 212.
Bank switching can also be profitable by the way but I don’t actively chase these offers because I’m allergic to life admin. However, I always check TopCashback to investigate whether there are worthwhile opportunities available.
The philosophy behind all of this is simple:
Your money is better working for you than sitting idle for someone else.
A Tenner Is Still a Tenner
During one of my Business Economics classes, our lecturer posed an interesting question.
“Would you walk twenty minutes to save £10 on a PlayStation game if you had to redeem the voucher in-store?”
Yes. Of course I would. That’s a substantial saving.
Then came the follow-up.
“Would you walk twenty minutes to save £10 on a £1,000 laptop?”
There was supposed to be a trap there. The perceived value of the discount appears smaller because it’s attached to a larger purchase.
But my answer remained exactly the same.
Yes – I absolutely would. Because a tenner is still a tenner.
The exercise was designed to demonstrate how our perception influences rational decision-making. Apparently, my financial mindset was already firmly established.
Its a bit like the old adage “Take care of the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”. Dont underestimate the power of micro earnings. Once you have set in a system those micro earnings compound. I have an experimental trading 212 pie you can learn about tis strategy here.
Pokémon: My Unexpected Cash Cow
Pokémon has undoubtedly been my biggest financial success.
Ironically, it all started because we were selling unwanted items after moving house.
That experience opened up opportunities that I continue to pursue.
Perhaps more importantly, Pokémon is something I genuinely enjoy.
It used to be a hobby.
Now it’s a hobby that occasionally pays for itself.
One of the lessons I’ve learned through all of this is that avoiding burnout means finding opportunities that align with things you already enjoy or have an interest in.
We all have them.
But unless you start experimenting, you’ll never discover what those opportunities might be.
The Side Hustles That Didn’t Work For Me
Not every side hustle has been successful.
And I think it’s important to be honest about that.
These are the opportunities that haven’t worked well for me so far:
Respondent
The opportunities were simply too infrequent to generate meaningful income.
Prolific
I know many people have success with Prolific, but my own experience has been non existent as I have been waitlisted for 6 months so far.
Outlier AI
Initially promising, but ultimately Ive run in to issues with tracking the work and the customer service has proven unhelpful.
Mystery Shopping
Living in a rural area severely limits the available opportunities.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be evaluating these experiences in more detail. I know in part I need to explore wider in these areas and establish systems that work. But also I think there’s just as much value in understanding what doesn’t work as there is in celebrating successes.
What About Digital Products?
Digital products are another area where I haven’t yet found my footing.
Everywhere you look online, they are marketed as the ultimate passive income solution.
So far, I haven’t managed to make anything stick. That said, I haven’t lost significant amounts of money either. I’ve deliberately approached Side Hustle Sidequest with a risk-managed mindset. Side hustle money exists as its own separate economy within my financial system.
More importantly – I only reinvest what I’m comfortable losing. Which means I can continue experimenting without putting pressure on our household finances.
The Price of Experience
Have there been mistakes? Absolutely. There have been a few faux pas along the way.
But that is simply the price of experience.
The biggest lesson I have learned this year isn’t necessarily which side hustles make money. It’s that sustainable success comes from building systems, remaining consistent and being honest about what you can realistically maintain. For now, I’m stepping back, focusing on what works and I’m building from there. Because Side Hustle Sidequest was never really about finding a magical side hustle that changes everything overnight.
It was about discovering what an ordinary person can realistically achieve while balancing a demanding career, postgraduate education and everyday life.
Perhaps that’s been the real side quest all along.
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