• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Financial Panther

Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Side Hustle Reports
  • Best Credit Card Offers
  • Current Money Bonuses
  • 70+ Side Hustle Apps/Gigs
  • Bank Account Bonuses
  • Ebikes
  • Archives

September 2016 Side Hustle Report

Last Updated on August 9, 2021October 2, 2016 26 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

A new month means it’s a good time for another side hustle report!  For those of you that are new to the blog, each month, I document what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy websites.

My purpose in writing these reports is to show you the type of money that you can make using some of the skills and assets you already own.  Even small amounts of side hustle income can add up to a large sum of money given enough time.  The beauty of a side hustle, in particular, is the huge impact it can have on your savings rate.   This is because every dollar you earn in a side hustle can be saved.

Homer likes making a little extra cash.

The goal of these side hustles isn’t to replace my day income.  It’s to make a little bit of extra money while doing things that I’m already doing or that I think are fun.  Because of this fact, whenever I start a side hustle, I always follow three basic principles:  (1) I find a side hustle that’s fun to do; (2) I find a side hustle that generally incorporates tasks that I’m already doing; and (3) I find a side hustle where I derive a benefit from it beyond just making money.

For example, I already own a dog, so taking care of a second dog for a few days doesn’t add much additional work to my plate.  I basically can make extra money doing the regular dog care tasks I’m already doing.  The same goes for making food deliveries on my bike.  I enjoy biking around town and exercising, and fact that I can get paid to keep myself in shape is a bonus.  Or when I sell trash finds, I help prevent waste and give new life to something that otherwise would go to a landfill.

The good thing about these sort of side hustles is this.  If you find out they aren’t for you, you can just stop doing them.  There’s very little capital required to begin your side hustle using these sharing economy websites.

I primarily have four sources of side hustle income:

  • Renting out a spare guest room on Airbnb
  • Dogsitting using DogVacay or Rover
  • Making deliveries using Postmates
  • Selling trash finds using Craigslist or OfferUp

Side Hustle Income for September 2016

I calculate side hustle income based on the payout date.  Accordingly, if I perform a side hustle in August, but get paid for it in September, I count September as the date the income was earned.

For September, my side hustle income was as follows:

  • Airbnb:  $874
  • DogVacay/Rover: $42.50
  • Postmates: $307.12
  • Selling Trash Finds: $111

Total Side Hustle Income for September 2016 = $1,334.62

Postmates was a bit higher than usual this month.  Ms. FP went out of town for a weekend and since I had nothing to do, I decided to spend the entire weekend biking around town making deliveries.  It was a ton of exercise and a great way for me to get outside and enjoy the weather.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of how I earned my side hustle money this month.

Airbnb Income

September brought us a mix of folks coming into town.  One of the things we like about Airbnb is learning about our guest’s adventures.  And we had a number of interesting travelers stop by our humble abode this month.  These included:

  • A best selling Australian author
  • A guy doing a motorcycle tour of all 48 states
  • A pair of girls that had just done a cross country road trip across Canada and were making their way home through the US.

Our Airbnb income was a bit lower than it could have been because we had to block out one weekend for a buddy that was coming into town.

This flexibility to block off days for myself is what makes Airbnb such a great platform for folks that are trying to extract a bit of income out of their home. It’s a totally different feel than going out and finding a roommate.

DogVacay and Rover Income

The dog-sitting business had a very weak month.  We ending up only hosting one guest for the entire month – a repeat pup that we had watched last month.

You’ll notice Financial Pup curled up to the right. She appears to have melted into the couch.

I did have a meet and greet with another potential guest for a stay in September, but that one didn’t pan out.  It seemed like the owner wanted someone who would be home 24/7.  As I’ve mentioned before, my goal with dog sitting is to be able to make some money doing the dog care tasks I’m already doing.  Staying home 24/7 just isn’t something I can offer.

One thing I need to look into is how to drum up more business in my area  My neighborhood appears to be super saturated with sitters (lots of college kids with dog sitting listings), so I think I’m just getting lost in the shuffle. October looks to be a better month already, so I’m hoping this was just a down month.

If you’re interested in becoming a host on Rover or DogVacay, consider signing up for Rover using my referral link here. You should also list yourself on DogVacay as well, in order to get your profile out there to as many people as possible.

If you’re looking for more information about my dog sitting side hustle, check out my previous post where I go in-depth about how I make money dog sitting.

Postmates Income

This was a pretty big Postmates month for me.  Early in the month, Ms. FP was out of town at a dental conference, so I found myself with an entire weekend with nothing to do.  Postmates was offering a $60 bonus for Postmates couriers that completed 30 deliveries over the course of the weekend.  I’ve never actually tried to collect any of these bonuses before, since I do Postmates sparingly, primarily for the exercise.

This time, I thought I’d give it a shot.   So, after work on Friday, I went ahead and made 7 deliveries.  I then went on to make 16 deliveries on Saturday, and then 7 deliveries on that Sunday morning/early afternoon.  I didn’t track the mileage, but I must’ve biked at least 40 miles total over the weekend.  Not too bad.  Why pay for a gym if I can just bike around and make some money.

Okay, I didn’t actually have to go off-roading to make deliveries.

I do have a funny story to share about my Postmates adventures from that weekend.  On one Friday night, I grabbed an order from a high-end steak restaurant downtown.  The total cost of this order was $438, so I was thinking I could snag myself a huge tip!

On my way into the restaurant, I ran into a partner at my old law firm.  Talk about awkward!  He asked me how my new job was going and what I was doing downtown.  Flustered, I made up a story that I was going to see a buddy at the restaurant.  I didn’t really want to share that I was out being a lowly bike messenger!  He might think that things weren’t going that well for me…

After getting out of that awkward situation, I walked over to this fancy, high rise apartment building, went up to the 30th floor, and delivered this huge order of porterhouse steaks and salmon  The guy went ahead and gave me no tip!   It’s not the first time I’ve been stiffed on a tip for an order from an expensive restaurant, but it really confuses me when folks living in extremely expensive apartment buildings order tons of food and then leave no tip. Does this guy do this to pizza delivery drivers?  Does he stiff waiters when he’s at a restaurant?

If you want to learn more about how I use Postmates to make some extra money and stay healthy, then check out my post on my Postmates side hustle. 

Trash

It was college moving season back in August, so Ms. FP and I are slowly working our way through all the trash we found.  Here are some of our highlights for this month:

I sold this coffee table I found right away for a quick $15.

September 2016 Side Hustle Report 3

I also sold these weird chairs I found.  This is the type of stuff that most people won’t even think about picking up.

"<yoastmark

However, Ms. FP and I, being the curious type, decided to take a closer look and realized that these chairs were made of rubber. This meant that a quick wipe of a rag, and they were perfectly clean!  I ended up selling them to a teacher who needed them for her class room.  They were perfect for her since they were made of rubber and her students couldn’t mess them up.

These chairs are exactly why I say that people will buy more stuff than you think.  I’d never want chairs like these, but you never know what others might need.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?

We still have a ton more trash to sell, so our plan is to get this stuff moving over the rest of the year.  I think $100 per month in trash sales for the rest of the year is entirely reasonable, given what we saved from the dumpster during the August move-out season.  And we feel pretty good about saving this type of stuff from the landfill.

If you’re interested in learning more about my trash side hustle, I encourage you to read about how I made over $1,000 selling trash last year.

And that concludes my September Side Hustle Report.  There are a lot of ways to make extra income over the course of the year, and it doesn’t have to take up much of your time or energy.  Think about your underutilized resources or the things that you are already doing, and figure out how you can make money from it.  Over time, your side hustle income can really add up.

Be sure to check out my side hustle report page, where you can find all of my monthly side hustle reports.

This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

More Recommended Ebike/Scooters

Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:

  • Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
  • Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
  • Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
  • Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
  • Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
  • KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
  • Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
  • Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
  • Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
  • Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
  • Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
  • Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
  • Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
  • Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.

More Recommended Investing App Bonuses

For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:

  • M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
  • SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
  • Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
  • Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
  • Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
  • Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.

More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses

If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.

  • Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
  • Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
  • Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
  • Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
  • US Bank Business ($900) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
  • GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
  • Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
  • Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
  • Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
financial panther

Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.

Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.

Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:

  • SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
  • 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
  • US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
  • M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
  • Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.

Feel free to send Kevin a message here.

Filed Under: Side Hustle

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lila says

    October 5, 2016 at 5:39 pm

    Dude, you’re motivated! Yea a lot of people will throw out stuff that is like-new or new in its package with tags on them. It’s crazy man. I was reading the Frugal Woods blog and they find a lot of decent stuff in the trash. Mrs. Frugal Woods once said she went like 2 years without buying new clothes.

    Also, people do interesting stuff with trash like they do installation art, upcycled art, etc. People get totally creative with it. I was watching a video with Cat Alford, she’s a PF writer, and she said in a video that someone bought a broken lamp from her once. You just never know!

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 6, 2016 at 9:49 am

      That’s exactly what I say about the stuff you find. Even if you think its worthless, there is probably someone out there who thinks it isn’t. I once sold a bunch of Voss water bottles I found in the trash to someone who wanted them for an art project. I sold a broken playstation I found in the trash for $20. I’ve also sold broken flat screen TVs. There are people out there who know how to fix things or have use for broken things for the parts. And if you got it for free out of the trash, any money you make from it is a profit.

      Reply
  2. MrSLM says

    October 4, 2016 at 10:48 am

    Really impressive side income you’ve got going on here, especially love the trash selling! In Quebec, they have what’s called “Moving Day” every July 1, where a significant portion of renters decide to move all on the same day. Seems like you could make a killing wandering around in the following days picking up gems to resell.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 5, 2016 at 10:04 am

      We actually have that same thing here! I live in a college neighborhood, so in August, all the college kids were moving out of town. Ms. FP and I just went around the neighborhood picking up every good piece of trash we could find. The great part is, during moving season, you can grab trash with no shame, since we just look like college kids finding furniture for our house. I actually ended up collecting so much trash during the moving season that we are slowly working our way to selling all of it. Will probably have enough trash to keep us busy through the end of the year.

      Reply
  3. Mustard Seed Money says

    October 3, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    I love dumpster diving and finding new treasures. Isn’t it amazing what you can find and resell? Most of the time I only need to clean the items and it’s good to go. We recently found two double strollers laying next to our neighbors trash. We took them home and cleaned them up. There was NOTHING wrong with them. It turns out the going rate for them on craigslist was $200 each. Easiest money we ever made 🙂

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 5, 2016 at 9:56 am

      That’s awesome! I think I remember you saying that you had found these in strollers before, so I’m glad to see you got it sold and that someone else can use them now, instead of them ending up in a landfill!

      And $200 for something you found on the street!? It’s like someone left you two $100 bills, in a way!

      Reply
  4. Mr Crazy Kicks says

    October 3, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    Nice work, Panther! Another excellent side hustle income, and awesome that you’re making money exercising. It’s nice to have flexible side hustles that you can do as you choose.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 5, 2016 at 9:53 am

      Thanks Mr. Crazy Kicks! It’s been a ton of fun doing this side hustle experiment and it’s pretty interesting to see how that money adds up over the course of a year.

      Reply
  5. TJ says

    October 3, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    I wasn’t aware of PostMates. This is an intriguing side income opportunity!

    Have you guys had any monthly visitors yet with AirBNB?

    I see the huge discounts and my eyes light up when planning my upcoming road trip, I feel like staying in a few different spots for longer period of times will be a nice break from constantly being on the road, and a way to cut my costs…

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 4:48 pm

      Hi TJ! We are getting regularly booked with Airbnb. It seems like any day we have available gets filled eventually, which was very unexpected to me.

      If you’re traveling and just need a place to stay, just finding a guest room that someone is renting out is really the most cost effective way to get around. Obviously, you lose the privacy aspect of a hotel room, but if you’re like most of the travelers we have stay with us, you’re probably only going back to the house to sleep. Our guest room has been hosting a lot of folks who are in town for a day or two interviewing for grad school programs or attending conferences.

      I plan to have some posts coming up on my Postmates and Airbnb experience, so stay tuned if you’re looking for additional info!

      Reply
  6. Aaron says

    October 3, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    This is the first time of read one of your side hustle reports, I found it very interesting, some of the hustles wouldn’t necessarily work for me (in the UK) but it’s encouraged me to be a bit more open to other opportunities.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 4:42 pm

      Thanks for reading Aaron! Glad you found this post helpful. There’s alot of way out there to make some extra money. I think the key is to be open to trying them out (you also have to be a bit of a wierdo like me – what kind of young professional does bike messenger deliveries on the side, right?).

      Reply
  7. Stefan - The Millennial Budget says

    October 3, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    That is an extra 1,300 going straight to retirement, or whatever your desires may be! I like how you pointed out the flexibility you have with AirBnB. This is something you do not get with renting which makes this such an interesting concept that I feel many people can take advantage of.

    Looks like Postmates is not only going to get you into incredible shape but they can easily cover your grocery services, which is ironic.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 4:39 pm

      That’s definitely why I like Airbnb right now. We get more income than we would get with getting a roommate, but we get a ton more flexibility. Guests that stay with us know they are guests, so they are super respectful and quiet. Another side benefit – we keep our house really clean now! I don’t know about you, but before we started Airbnb, it was pretty easy for our house to just get really messy just from being complacent. But since we have guests staying in our house regularly, we’re regularly keeping our house clean since we don’t want people to think we’re slobs. It’s a personal pride thing really.

      Reply
  8. Amanda @ centsiblyrich says

    October 3, 2016 at 11:17 am

    I love reading your side-hustle reports! An extra $1300 is nothing to sneeze at.

    Interesting you didn’t get a tip from the expensive meal. My 16 y.o. said one of his friends doesn’t leave tips at restaurants. Now that’s one thing, but when you’re ordering a $400+ meal, there is just no excuse for it.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 4:37 pm

      Thanks Amanda! It’s been pretty fun seeing all this money add up. Not tipping on that $400+ delivery was pretty crazy to me. Maybe he just figured my money was made from the delivery fee or something. It’s odd because I’ve gotten stiffed a few times now on deliveries from expensive restaurants, which makes me wonder why these customers are ordering from these restaurants in the first place if they can’t afford to/don’t want to tip.

      Reply
  9. Andrew@LivingRichCheaply says

    October 3, 2016 at 9:02 am

    Interesting…I was wondering about Postmates and I think Amazon supposedly is coming out or maybe has already come out with a delivery service for those who want 1-day delivery. I haven’t really looked into it that much though because I’m a bit lazy and time-crunched…with 2 little ones…and I also do wonder if I might get caught up in a similar awkward circumstance. What if you knew the person ordering the delivery?? And pretty messed up that you didn’t get a tip!

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 10:37 am

      If you have 2 little ones and are busy with other things, it might be hard to carve out time to bike around town making deliveries. Although, we all need to do some exercise, I suppose.

      I’ve actually been in several situations where I made a delivery to someone who I knew. I’ve made two deliveries to a guy who was a teaching assistant when I was in law school, but I don’t think he recognized me. I’ve only had to explain myself to one guy who I saw in an apartment building while I was making a delivery to someone else. I knew the guy from a lawyer event, and when he asked me what I was doing, I just explained that I sometimes Postmate on the weekend for fun and exercise. He laughed and thought it was funny.

      Reply
  10. Finance Solver says

    October 2, 2016 at 10:45 pm

    Your report inspired me to check out something similar to Postmates that’s in my city. Not a whole lot of money but an extra $20 here and there is so valuable. Thanks so much!! I needed to be reminded.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 10:22 am

      No problem Finance Solver! One thing I do recommend is to stick to services in which you can bike around town, rather than using your car. As you noted in your recent post about staying healthy, your body is your greatest weapon. Being able to bike around town, exercise, and get paid to do it, is a great way to make some side money while exercising.

      Reply
  11. Ms. Montana says

    October 2, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    I love it! Your reports are always awesome. When I worked for a furniture store, I did notice that the folk who spent $20k on furniture were LESS likely to tip vs the people who were spending $1k-$2k. I would often remind the more wealthy customers so the delivery guys didn’t get stiffed.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 10:19 am

      Thanks Ms. MT! I’m glad you enjoy these reports!

      I wonder if the lack of tipping is simply not understanding how these type of workers are compensated and how important tips are to making a decent wage. One thing about doing a “low level gig” like this is that it has really made me humble and made me understand how important tipping is in service based industries like this. It’s a good way to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

      Reply
  12. SomeRandomGuyOnline says

    October 2, 2016 at 5:21 pm

    Great job on the side hustles! You make a great point in that small amounts of side income can add up to great savings over time (or be used to pay of debt quicker).

    My wife and I have done Rover a couple of times. It’s a pretty low effort way of making some extra money since we’re already taking care of our dog. We haven’t considered Airbnb yet, but it might be something we can consider in the future.

    Anyway, great update. Keep the side hustles coming!

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 10:07 am

      Thanks SRGO! I’ve had a great time doing Rover and DogVacay so far, although it’s definitely nothing more than just a bit of side money. But it’s fun and who doesn’t like playing with dogs?

      If you have a house, you should definitely consider putting up a room on Airbnb just to see if its for you. When we first started, our plan was just to experiment with it and see if we liked it. At first, we found it a bit awkward and were planning to stop, but after a while, we just got used to it and found it didn’t interfere with our life very much. People are just genuinely nice, it seems, and are happy that you are sharing your home with them, even if it’s a business transaction.

      The good thing, if you start up one of these type of side hustles and find out its not for you, you can just stop, and all you’ve lost is the time it took to get started. I tried out Instacart, for example, and after doing it once, I realized that doing grocery deliveries wasn’t for me, so I just quit doing it.

      Reply
  13. Adam @ CrispyCabbage.com says

    October 2, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    Really impressive the side income you can make in the sharing economy. I really need to explore some of these options.

    I love the sustainability angle of this too. The benefit stacking of the Postmates gig and Craigslist hustle. It’s really fun to see your reports

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      October 3, 2016 at 10:03 am

      Thanks Adam! I’m just trying to have some fun out there with these gigs. They aren’t going to make me rich by any means, (or maybe they will?). Glad you enjoy them. My hope is just to show people that you can make a little bit of money out there with these gig economy apps.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Close
Side Hustle Income(View Reports)
chart-icon
$166,465
Get exclusive content delivered right to your inbox.
My Reviews
Bank Signup Bonuses (Step-by-Step)
Upgrade Bank Bonus ($200) Raisin Referral Bonus ($200) Ally Bank Bonus ($100) Fairwinds Credit Union Bonus ($175) Chime Bank Bonus ($100) US Bank Biz ($500/900) GO2Bank ($50) Current Bank Bonus ($50) Novo Business Bank Bonus ($40) Varo Bank Bonus ($25)
Other Signup Bonuses
M1 Finance ($100) Webull (20 shares) Moomoo (15 stock shares) SoFi Invest ($25) Arcadia Power ($25)
Side Hustle Reviews
Doordash Uber Eats Grubhub Rover Pet Sitting Wag Dog Walker Shipt Grocery Shopper Airbnb Lime Scooter Charger Observa IVueIt
Most Commented
Popular
  • Insight Card: A Step-By-Step Guide to 5% Interest(690)
  • Netspend Account: 5% Interest Savings and $20 Signup Bonus(680)
  • The Ultimate Guide to Bank Account Bonuses(142)
  • Bird Charger and Lime Juicer – Side Hustling As An Electric Scooter Charger(125)
  • My Postmates Review: Getting Paid To Bike Around Town(78)
  • I Quit My Job – Rejecting The Clear Career Path And Going Out On My Own(76)
  • Barista FIRE: Not Quite Financial Independence, But Pretty Close
  • The Reverse Latte Factor – How You Can Side Hustle Your Way To Financial Independence
  • Where To Get 5% Interest Savings Accounts Now That Insight Is Gone
  • Monetize Your Life And Get Paid To Live
  • The Ultimate Guide to Bank Account Bonuses
  • Over 600,000 Miles Earned In One Year – A Recap Of My First Year of Travel Hacking
Image of hands holding up phones
Personal Finance Blogs logo

Footer

Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

Company
About
Press
Media Kit
Contact

Resources
All Posts
Financial Independence
Side Hustles
Bank Bonuses
Ebikes
Deliveries
Articles

Legal
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
Affiliate Policy

  • About
  • Blog
  • Side Hustle Reports
  • Best Credit Card Offers
  • Current Money Bonuses
  • 70+ Side Hustle Apps/Gigs
  • Bank Account Bonuses
  • Ebikes
  • Archives

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Financial Panther © 2024 All rights reserved.