Top Side Hustles From Your Phone

Read this next sentence and fill in the blank in your head...

Time is __________.

Did you think of money? If yes, then your mind is in the wrong place! Money can come and go, but what can you never get back? TIME! Time is NOT money... Time is priceless, time is precious, and if your time is solely focused on money, then you're spending your time wrong!

I want to start with the disclaimer that all the side hustles I will be talking about in this article will all require little to no background experience, expertise, or specialty.

Are you working long hours during your summer break? Are you trying desperately to pay off those pesky credit card bills that have stacked up from your semester bar tabs to blow off that classroom steam?

Working your hourly job during the summer just doesn't cut it enough when it comes to having enough cash in your account, ESPECIALLY when the summer ends. Let's face it, we work so hard during the school semester with limited extra hours to work at a job (and limited motivation to spend your minimal spare hours at an hourly job), so summer is all about recharging. But how can we recharge if we are just replacing our school stress with other stress?

How can you balance money to save for the school year, but also have summer fun money to enjoy doing things that help you get back in touch with yourself?

One way is to have easy side hustles!

What is a side hustle you may ask?

A side hustle is a simple task that you can complete for compensation with minimal to no commitment. So basically working on your own hours, when you feel good and ready! You may be thinking, "sounds like more work to me!"

Stick with me here....

These side hustles are not to replace your work-life, but it's to help you balance your money, so you can finally pay your bar tab with your debit card, and have fewer bar tabs on your credit card!

Let me break down the normal student work-life here before I jump into the balance of play!

Let's just begin with the total hours we have in a full seven-day week for full transparency and simplicity... We have 168 hours in a full week, and now lets narrow down and say we sleep 6 hours a day (probably less because of college), that requires 42 hours of our week.

We now have 126 hours possible in our 7-day week, so now let's factor in school.

During a school year, you're obligated to have a minimum of a 12-credit hour schedule to get any financial contribution (you can read about dealing with college debt in my article 'How To Not Fret About College Debt'). This means that total during the week you're spending about 12-hours in class, and approximately two to three hours out of class for every hour you're in class. This means about 24 to 36 hours of your week is taken up by studying, along with an extra 12 hours in class.... This brings us to a total for 48 hours a week (at minimum for a full-time student). Now we have 78 hours left in our seven day week!

78 hours left to yourself in a week to do as you please! 78 hours is not a lot of time if you think about it, so it's important to balance how you make your money in order to not work yourself to death!

This article will help you manage those precious 78 hours you have to yourself during the semester, while also having money to do fun activities during your summer!

Over the summer if you're able to master the art of side hustling, you could save your hard earned work money to spend during the school year, and use your side hustle money for fun things like a day-cation, bar crawls, and more! So now... For what you've been waiting for, lets talk about some side hustles you can do!

I'm going to start by talking about the app Acorns!

I start with this application, because this app can help you achieve other side hustles! For those of you who have not heard of Acorns, or aren't familiar with what it is, Acorns is an app that takes your spare change and invests it for you. While this is a passive way to save, it does not have high yield rewards in a small amount of time, but you can utilize this app for some fast cash using their found money option!

Found money on this app is money you can make by doing different things, or from buying different things! Certain companies will give you a certain amount of money for signing up. For example, if you open an account with the Wall Street Journal (right now there is a promo for $1 a month) through Acorns, they will invest $10 right into your acorns account!

You can also get $30 for signing up for DoorDash through Acorns! This brings me to the next side hustle for fun money... Delivery services!

Before I begin, if you're thinking about using the Acorns app use this link to receive a FREE $5 in your account.

Moving on...

DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub, and more!

These are all good ways to make some extra fun money on the side! This option requires a little bit more activity on your part, but is still a great way for some side cash! Even if you do a couple of orders on your way home from work, you can earn an extra $30 an hour with tips! I have tried this option before, and quite liked it! I tried this option for a couple of weeks to review, and I'll give you the rundown of how it went!

Every day for a week I set aside two to three hours a day, turned on my favorite podcast, clicked on the Fleet app (the user platform for the person making deliveries), and explored the city delivering food through postmates! This was a great opportunity for me to find different cool restaurants around my city, and occasionally get a free meal when people cancel their orders! Throughout the week I made a total of $562.34 that I dedicated to my "fun money," and went on a daycation to Chicago! If you want to try this option, sign up using my referral code FL-klamm to make an extra $165!

My next side hustle is an app called Job Spotter!

I think this app is really cool in that any time you see a Hiring sign and take a picture of it through this app, it pays you through Amazon credit! I think this is one of the easiest ways to make some extra spending money, and who doesn't like Amazon? On average, you get about .87 per picture, but this really adds up! You'd be surprised how many Hiring signs you pass in a day! You could potentially be setting up your entire Amazon account for your school year by simply taking some photos!

My next side hustle is another app called SoLo!

SoLo is an app that lets you loan money to other people. These people will request a dollar amount, tell you how much they will tip you, determine the due date before making the deal, and even tell you what they need the money for. So for example, if someone needs rent money for about $200, they can request that amount, promise to have it paid within one week, and a lender tip of $20 to you! This is a quick and simple way to make money off of your savings! This app itself I have only utilized one time and it worked swimmingly! I looked at the Marketplace on the app (where people post their requests), reviewed a request of $100 with the description of "Groceries." I also saw on the request that they have previously repaid six other loans through SoLo (a reliable sign), and that they would repay me within 11 days, and a lender tip for $45 (I also want to make note that lender tips can be negotiable if you feel you deserve more). I went ahead and proceeded and lent this person the $100, and the deal was done in 11 days and I made a $45 profit for clicking a few buttons!

My next app to review as a side hustle is WeAre8.

WeAre8 is a fun way to make some money, while also boosting your social media game! Everyone these days wants to be a social media influencer, and how cool would it be to also make some money while trying to get seen? Using the app WeAre8, big companies will pay you to make posts about their product! For example, right now Nutella is looking for sponsors through WeAre8! If you make a post of a picture or a 15-sec long video, Nutella will pay you $5!

So there you have it! You now have not only a better concept of how time works, and the pricelessness of it, but now you have a better understanding of how to use some of that time to benefit your time allocated for play! Life is not about working, but working is about supplying your life! Discover your passions, explore different possibilities, and always prioritize your memorable time over money! Money comes and goes, but your time does not!