I Turned 99p Website Into £30,000 Side-Hustle - Here’s How I Make & Save Money
- Emma, 27, turned a 99p website purchase into a £30,000 side hustle
- She lives in the home she bought despite only working part-time
- The savvy spender reveals top money-making and money-saving tips
- Topics include food shopping, household bills and getting on the property ladder
Making and saving money can feel like an uphill battle if you’re working part time, on a small wage or struggling in general with the cost of living crisis. However, one savvy spender has revealed how she turned her 99p website purchase into a £30,000 side hustle - as well as how she has managed to make and save enough money to get on the property ladder despite only working part time.
Emma Jackson, 27 from Sheffield, managed to buy her first home by saving up a £36,000 deposit in five years. She worked as a cleaner, babysitter, lifeguard and personal trainer during her University studies. By combining her incomes with smart spending and blogging in her spare time on Bee Money Savvy, she has now generated a profitable business - and is looking to upgrade to a bigger living space.
Emma, who shares her financial tips on Instagram, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I was very much on a budget when I founded beemoneysavvy.com. I bought the domain name for 99p and paid £30 for 12 months of hosting. It was 3 months before my website made its first £10 and within 6 months it had its first £100 month. In my first year of blogging, I earned £1,500. That’s grown each year and this year I have earned £30,000 as a blogger.
‘The majority of the income generated from my blog is from sponsorship deals – this usually involves me writing a blog post where I review a brand, service or product. It’s only recently that I’ve started to get paid from affiliate networks. I also have adverts on my website that generate a regular monthly income.
‘I definitely started out populating the site by writing posts when topics came to mind, but as my blog has grown I’ve revisited old posts to see how I can improve the SEO. It’s not my biggest strength, but SEO is something I’ve had to learn along the way.
‘If you have a creative skill such as writing or design then there are some lucrative freelance opportunities. If you’re a teacher, tutoring can be a great side hustle. If you don’t have much time, you can often find surveys and online work to fit around your schedule. Market research and mystery shopping are some of my favourite hustles but they don’t usually pay well (you’re often paid in the form of a free meal). Blogging has been an incredible side hustle for me but it can take years for it to start generating income and requires a significant time investment to get started.
‘A side hustle that puts your existing skills to use is often the best. Talk to colleagues and friends to see if they can put you in touch with some additional work in your field of expertise.’
If blogging isn’t your cup of tea, or you’re looking for job opportunities you can take on right now, Emma recommends doing the part-time work she used to do - and you don’t necessarily need experience or references. ’In the past I would babysit for my next-door neighbour so they never asked for references but they knew that I regularly worked with children – I used to coach sports in a primary school. The cleaning job was through a website called RedWigWam, they offer temporary work and I saw that the cleaning job was local to me so I decided to give it a try – again I wasn’t required to provide a reference and I didn’t have any qualifications.
For those who aren’t able to work, or want to focus more on cutting back financially, Emma has some top tips. ‘A great place to start is reviewing your current spending. Print out your monthly bank statements and highlight any non-essential spending to see where you could cut or reduce the cost. There are some essential bills that we can’t avoid (e.g. water, council tax, and energy) but take a detailed look at each one to see if you could be eligible for a discount.
‘The cost of food is an area I try to keep as low as possible but this is increasingly more difficult with rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. I do a weekly shop and the average cost of this is £50-£60; I then split this cost with my partner so I spend around £100-£120 on food in a typical month. There are a few ways I do this: I buy unbranded food, I meal plan, I freeze leftovers and I claim free food to top up my supplies. I use a few different apps to find free and discounted food, including Shopmium, Green Jinn and CheckoutSmart.’
What about bills? ‘It’s always worth trying to haggle with your broadband and mobile providers. Most of these providers will move you onto a more expensive deal once your contract ends but if you take a look at a comparison site you can often find a better deal elsewhere. I usually find the best deal available to me then call my current provider and tell them I want to leave as I’ve found a better deal. Often they’ll try to match the deal I’ve found or offer me something else to get me to stay with them.’
Emma was able to put down a 45 percent deposit on her flat and get approved for a mortgage despite her low income. Now she’s looking to the future. ‘I was living off a part-time wage and struggling to get a mortgage offer. I managed to get my mortgage by talking to a really great mortgage broker, he talked me through my affordability and I started looking at properties that were within my budget. I had to make some small compromises on size and location but I’m glad I did because now I have my first home and can look at upgrading in the near future when I’ve managed to build up my savings some more.’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘I think there are many people out there who believe they will never get a mortgage because they’re working part-time or have a low income. Emma will be an inspiration as she shows it’s possible to get on the property ladder despite these factors. Plus, I’m glad to hear about a fellow haggler. Never be afraid to negotiate prices, whether it’s food, bills or anything else. The worst anyone can say is no!’
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