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Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

October 2022 Side Hustle Report – $1,131.79

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Hey everyone. I hope you’re all doing well! If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been pretty slow with posting lately. That’s because I have some big news. 

We added a new member to our family in October – a healthy baby boy. That means I’m on paternity leave for a bit while we settle into our new household. With an active two-year-old and a newborn, things in our house – as you can probably imagine – are hectic for us.

That being said, I wanted to try to get a life update out there for everyone and put together my side hustle numbers from last month. I also wanted to share some recent cool purchases I’ve made, which I hope to talk about more in future posts.

Let’s get into it.

Side Hustle Income for October 2022

Total Side Hustle Income for October 2022 = $1,131.79

October was a decent month for side hustling. Looking back at it, I wasn’t sure I’d break the $1,000 mark, so I’m glad I was able to do that. Most of my earnings for the month came from DoorDash, Uber, Eats, and Grubhub, with Rover, eBay sales, and secret shopping making up most of the remainder. 

Below is a pie chart breaking down my earnings. 

I find it interesting that the “other” category (which includes secret shopping and eBay sales) made up such a large percentage of my earnings. These aren’t things I think of as my main earners, so it goes to show you that money from any source – even small ones – can make a difference.

Going back to my personal life, beyond the new addition to our household, we also made some big purchases that I think are worth mentioning.

The big purchase we made was an electric car. Last month, we ended up trading in our Toyota Prius and bought a 2022 Chevy Bolt. I don’t think electric cars solve the climate and transportation problems we have (after all, they are still cars), but the way I see it, if we’re going to have a car, I’d rather it be electric. I’ll write a post in the future about how we decided on the Chevy Bolt and the numbers behind the purchase.

The other big purchase we made was the Urban Arrow. This is an electric box cargo bike (commonly called a Bakfiet). Regular readers know that I’m extremely high on electric bikes and how valuable they can be. A bike like the Urban Arrow is a complete game-changer, doing almost everything a car can do. This is a massively expensive bike – I paid $9,000 for this one – but if you use it as a car replacement (which is what I do with it), it’s a bargain. I’ll work on writing a post about the Urban Arrow and explain the math behind it and why it makes so much sense to me.

Anyway, with that brief life update out there, let’s look into my side hustle earnings for the month. 

 

Rental Income: $2,400  

The rental property continues to cash flow well and things have been running smoothly. There are a few smaller projects I’m hoping to complete, so I’ll probably see about getting some work done on the house in the next few months. 

One interesting thing about this house is that I refinanced it to a 2.75% interest rate. Online high-yield savings accounts are now offering around 3% interest, so banks are now outearning the interest rate on mortgages for those of us that got in when they dropped into the low 3s and 2s.

 

Rover Income: $137.25  

Rover was slower for me last month, most likely because I blocked out a few weeks in October for the anticipated birth of our child. I ended up watching one Boston Terrier for a few days in the middle of the month and did a few drop-in cat visits for a regular client of mine. 

For the year, I’ve made over $4,000 from Rover, which is looking to be a new record for me. A lot of this has to do with the move to the new neighborhood we’re in, which is more affluent and has led to more demand for dogsitting and catsitting services. 

 

DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub Income: $674.56 

I made a decent amount from the food delivery apps in October. Here’s what I earned with each delivery app for the month: 

I did most of my deliveries during the lunch hour using my Urban Arrow. This is not a normal bike you’d use for food delivery, but the fact that I’ve been using it for food delivery works out well since it’s a way for me to recoup some of the cost of the bike. 

After years of wanting to do it, I finally got around to starting a YouTube channel that shows how I’m doing these deliveries and managing all of these different apps. If you’re interested, check out my YouTube channel and subscribe if you like what you see. 

 

Flipping/Trash Income: $133

I had some good eBay sales last month. Here’s a look at some of the interesting things I sold on eBay last month: 

  • Traeger Grill Cover – I bought a grill during the summer and received a cover for free. However, the company sent me two covers by accident, so I was able to sell one of them for a nice profit.
  • Settlers of Catan – I found a sealed Settlers of Catan game at Goodwill and was able to sell it for $37. It cost me about $10 to buy it, so I made a good profit from this sale. 
  • Two Old iPods – I went home to visit my parents a little while ago and found two old iPods in their house. One was broken, so I sold it for parts (someone bought it for $15). Another was in perfect working condition and sold for a solid $45. I

 

IVueIt/ProxyPics Income: $48  

I made a solid $48 from IVueIt in October. One of the gigs was my usual “dark store” gig where I take photos of a vacant coffee shop. The rest were easy landscape gigs where I take photos of a business to see what condition the exterior is in. I was able to do all of these gigs while I was biking with my son, so it was a nice way to earn some extra income during our commute home.

 

Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q Income/Facebook Viewpoints: $12.28 

It was a relatively slow month with the survey apps, but I was still able to make a little bit of money from these apps. Here’s what I made with each app.

Google Opinion Rewards is the best of these apps, with 1Q being the second best. Facebook Viewpoints is too inconsistent, but when there are surveys, they pay well. Surveys On The Go could be a good app, but the annoying thing is how slow the app is, which makes it more difficult to use. 

 

Secret Shopping Income: $114.50 (plus free food) 

These days, I do a lot of secret shopping with Marketforce, not even for the food, but mainly because the gigs pay well. All of the gigs pay me at least $10 and can climb as high as $25. I get fully reimbursed for the food too. For the year, I’ll probably make over $1,200 from secret shopping, along with getting thousands of dollars in free food (yes, I’m not exaggerating, I’m getting thousands of dollars in free food for the year). 

Check out the below posts for more information about how secret shopping works.

 

ReceiptPal/Receipt Hog/Fetch/CoinOut/Amazon Shopper Panel Income: $12

I made $12 from Amazon Shopper Panel. The other apps are slowly accumulating and eventually, I’ll cash out some earnings from those apps. If you’ve never used these receipt apps, I recommend downloading them. It’s an easy way to monetize the receipts you’re already collecting anyway.

 

Medium Income: $0.20

Medium generates a few cents for me each month based on the posts I put on it. This is technically passive income. That being said, Medium isn’t worth my time since this blog generates a good amount of income, so I don’t focus on Medium at all.

 

And that concludes the October 2022 Side Hustle Report!  

October was a busy month for me. We had a new baby to add to our household. And we made two big vehicle purchases – a Chevy Bolt electric car and an Urban Arrow cargo bike. 

I’ll do my best to get some more posts out there, but time is pretty short for me these days. I’ll for sure have some posts breaking down our Chevy Bolt and Urban Arrow purchases, and I have some “thinking” posts I’d like to get out there too.

Stay tuned everyone and thanks for reading! 

More Recommended Ebike/Scooters

Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:

  • GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
  • Himiway Escape Bike – 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 Bike – 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.
  • 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 $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
  • Moomoo (5 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 5 free stocks (usually worth around $75-$100) if you open an account using a referral link and deposit $2,000. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
  • Webull (5 free stocks) – Webull also gives you 5 free stock 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 stocks using Webull.
  • 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.

Recommended Bank Account Bonuses

If you’re looking for 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.

  • GO2Bank ($100) - 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 $100 referral 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 ($750) – 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.
  • SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
  • Fifth Third Bank ($225) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
  • Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – 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.
  • Netspend ($40 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $40 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $40 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
  • 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.
  • Digital Federal Credit Union ($20) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
  • 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 ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 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 $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
  • US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $750 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.
  • DCU. Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a savings account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000.
  • Personal Capital. 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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Vivian says

    I’ve been a long time reader of your blog. Let me be one of the first to congratulate you on a new baby! I’m so happy for you and hope you and your wife are getting enough sleep. Thanks for continuing to update us; the Side Hustle Reports are one of my favorites to read.

    Reply

    • Financial Panther says

      Thank you so much! It’s busy in our house. The second one is both easier and harder at the same time, mainly because we have a toddler that makes things harder (compared to the first one where we didn’t know anything, but it was two of us and we didn’t have to worry about any other kids).

      Reply

  4. Steveark says

    Babies are the best, we had three and now they are full grown adult millennials! Congrats on over a thou in side hustle income! That is a lot of cash. And the ebike is quite cool, I’ve never seen one of those, but this is Arkansas… I’m going to have to sit down and rest after reading about all that activity!

    Reply

  5. Ryan Gibson says

    I’ve been a long-time reader of the blog from the UK and I wanted to say congratulations on the new arrival. I hope all have settled in nicely and your partner is doing ok?

    The bike looks brilliant. A friend of mine in here has just purchased one also and he waxes lyrical about it. Reading your blog we very much align with our beliefs of promoting active travel as a way to improve climate change, overall quality of life and health so it’s great to see you fighting the corner in the US.

    We are an active family and cycle/walk most of our journeys so I eagerly await the write up on your new bike 🙂

    Reply

  7. Lindsey says

    Congrats on all the new things you brought into your house this month: baby, bike and car. An embarrassment of riches!!

    Reply

  10. Callahan Francis says

    Congratulations on your baby, you will always get the best things you are happy for. i’m a long time reader of side hustle reports and I just want to thank you for the updates.

    Reply

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