I’m a mum & I earn extra £500 a MONTH with 15 minute side hustle – I do it while my son is napping
A MUM who earns an extra £500 a month with a 15 minute side hustle says she does it while her young son is napping.
Phe Edwards, 27, a project manager from Lancashire, claims it helped her dodge falling into £3,500 of debt during her maternity leave.
And her new side hustle is not only lucrative but extremely time efficient.
The mum revealed that her method was to use survey sites to earn up to £500 a month.
The length and amount of cash she gets for each survey varies but Phe swears by her method.
Phe told the Mirror: “I started in October. It takes a while to get going.
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“I only made £85 in October as I was on holiday, then I made £250 in November. By December I made £500 – it was amazing.
“They take 10 or 15 minutes to complete. I can do them while my son is napping.
“Between October and returning to work in December I would say I had an extra £1,000 in savings I wouldn’t have had.”
Having her son in the midst of a global pandemic, Phe found it hard to curb her spending habits and in October 2022 was forced to renew her budgeting.
“I was struggling with my mental health and had postnatal depression,” admitted Phe.
“I was just buying, buying, buying, trying to make myself feel better. I was originally going back to work in September but I pushed it back to December.
“I was going to be living on savings at that point, but it didn’t feel right.”
So the young mum said she took on a new way of life with strict budgeting to better her financial situation.
Phe added: “I cleared out my emails and unsubscribed so I wasn’t tempted. That helped me make massive savings.
“I started doing zero-based budgeting, which is budgeting by justifying and approving all expenses, rather than basing it on your past spending.
“So I’d have my figure and allocate everything like the bills to fit. I had a £1,000 budget.
“I managed to double my savings to £800 per month and went on maternity leave with £5,000 in my savings account.”
Also, by purchasing a dehumidifier in September 2022, Phe slashed her energy bills by up to £65 per month.
The mum explained: “We have high ceilings so it takes our washing three or four days to dry.
“It made the house cold and meant we had the heating on an extra three hours a day.
“The dehumidifier cost about £120. It’s really efficient, our washing dries within a day and we don’t need the heating on extra.
“We save between £50 and £65 a month. So it adds up to a pretty big saving on our energy prices.”
Alongside slashing her household expenses, Phe also sold her son’s old clothes on Vinted.
The mum says that cashback apps can be the key to everyday savings – and are a “no-brainer”.
Phe said: “I was giving bags and bags of my son’s clothes to charity shops.
“I still send some stuff to charity shops, but if I have a nice piece I put them on Vinted. In five weeks I made £200.”
It comes after a barista revealed how she makes an extra £7,000 a month with her very unusual side hustle.