I’m a mum-of-five and boosted my income by £3,588 a year including easy online side hustle – how you can too

A MUM-OF-FIVE has revealed how she boosted her income by thousands of pounds, including an easy side hustle and the EE Airtimes Rewards app.

Jess Warner, 38, from Brighton has cleaned up from having regular clearouts selling old clothes and furniture online.

The full-time online content creator decided to look for other ways to make cash after the pandemic and before the cost of everyday essentials shot up.

She told The Sun: “Before the cost-of-living crisis hit, we felt we were finally catching up with life financially and were planning on travelling more and upgrading our car. 

“Although these plans ground to a halt, I still wanted to be able to treat the family.

“I looked at the ways I used tech to get better value and set aside a pot of money for things like family trips.

“I never expected they’d add up to over £3,500.”

She also said that while they weren’t struggling massively financially, she’s always looked for ways to make extra cash.

“Saving and hustling is how I was raised,” she added.

“I come from a family of antique dealers and market traders, from Brighton’s Open Market, so haggling, getting a good price and more value where I can is second nature to me.

“To add to this, I was raised by a single mum, so financially things weren’t always great – there were peaks and troughs, so we had to make money go further and get more value where we could.”

Jess, who lives with her husband Russel and three sons and two stepsons Noah, 8, Marley, 15, Hugo, 16, Bruno, 19 and Casper, 21, has also made simple changes to everyday habits that have brought in hundreds of pounds extra.

Using reward apps from supermarkets and her phone provider, along with selling secondhand items online means the family of seven have boosted their bank balance by £3,588 a year.

Here’s what she did – and how you can do it too.

Selling clothes on Vinted, eBay and Depop – £3,204

The main way that Jess has made the majority of her extra cash is through selling clothes secondhand.

She makes use of apps like Vinted, Depop and eBay and put as much as she could on there – she even got her sons involved.

She went through not only her own wardrobe but also her five sons’ to see what no longer fit and was no longer worn.  

Jess said: “I’ve found Vinted to be the most user-friendly in terms of uploading items and shipping them, plus there are no seller fees.

“Last month I made over £385 from clothes I’ll never wear again.”

This amount comes from selling around 25 items which include her own things as well as her sons’ unwanted items.

She also finds eBay great for selling homeware.

“I once bought a pair of chairs at Ardingly Antiques Fair for £80,” she said.

“They sat in my garage for two years before I decided to stick them on eBay.

“It turned out they were made by a really sought-after mid-century designer, and I managed to sell them for £1,200.”

Using Airtime Rewards apps – £180

Another way Jess has made extra cash is by making use of EE’s Airtime Rewards app for shopping and online.

Airtime Rewards allows customers to earn cashback and then use that cash towards money off their phone bill.

It links your debit or credit card with your phone account and every time you spend money with a participating retailer, you earn cashback which can then be used to get money off your next bill.

While you can’t transfer the rewards into cash to spend elsewhere, it can make a big difference to expensive mobile phone bills.

Jess is with EE and links all her debit cards to her EE account.

She can then turn rewards into cash and use it for money off her next phone bill.

She links all her debit cards to her EE account and every time she makes a purchase with a retailer, she earns money back which can go towards her phone bill.

She said: “I made £7 in my first week and I’m expecting this will generate about £180 a year.

“It’s such an easy way to make cash with no fuss.”

You can use airtime rewards on mobile networks including EE, Three, Giffgaff, Lebara Mobile, Lycamobile, Now PAYG, O2 and Vodafone.

Supermarket rewards apps – £204 a year

Finally, Jess makes use of as many supermarket rewards schemes as possible.

While this doesn’t necessarily boost her income, it helps her save roughly £204 a year.

She explained: “I am not a loyal supermarket shopper whatsoever.

“I have all the apps on my phone, so I could be saving at Tesco with Clubcard prices one day, taking advantage of my Sparks card offers to get better value, or using Waitrose vouchers through the app.

“This saves me an additional £200 per year.”

Tesco shoppers earn points as they shop which can then be turned into vouchers for money off food or other partner schemes. 

Each time you spend £1 in store and online, you get one point when you scan your card or app.

You also get one point for every £2 spent on fuel.

Most supermarkets offer loyalty schemes for shoppers to sign up to.

They can then get money back, discounts on items or even use points to go towards family days out.

For example, Sainsbury’s Nectar card gives customers one point for every £1 spent in all stores and online.

You can also get one point for every litre of fuel at Sainsbury’s petrol stations. One point is worth 0.5p when shopping with the retailer.

In comparison, Asda Rewards, which launched last summer, gives shoppers money back when they buy “star products” or complete spending missions.

These offers are personalised, but typically a new customer might be offered £1 for spending £75.

My Morrisons offers money off certain products and percentages off a particular category, like £1 off frozen desserts and 15% off baking products. 

When a customer scans the app or swipes their card they get a chance to “bag a bonus”, which might be money off a shop or a treat from one of our Market Street counters.

We’ve got the full list of what each supermarket offers, plus you can compare which ones will get you the most bang for your buck.

In terms of choosing which offers to choose from, she usually just wings it.

“As much as I’d love to be a savvy supermarket buyer to save extra money, as a working mum of three boys with hectic football schedules, I simply don’t have the time to shop around, so it tends to be a case of whichever supermarket has an available delivery slot to my home on a day/time that suits.

“I do however find that meal planning and making a shopping list to stick to, hugely helps keep our food bill – with very hungry boys this can be huge.”

Jess added: “I’ve got the whole family excited about finding ways to make money through tech using what they already have.”

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk