5 tips to save money when starting a side hustle
Everyone wants to start a side hustle to start making a little extra money, but it can seem daunting when there is usually almost always costs to get started! So you might be thinking, how do I save money when starting my side hustle? While sometimes forking out some cash to begin is inevitable, it doesn’t mean that you cant be thrifty and save money along the way. Read our 5 tips below on how to save money and start saving from the get-go!
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Our top 5 tips to help you save money when starting a side hustle
1. Buy In Bulk When You Can
Sometimes it makes it more affordable to purchase larger quantities of things as the per unit price drops considerably. This is true for companies where it’s more efficient for them to sell you more, rather than less and you save more money the larger you go.
For example, printing is one of these services where it’s usually the case. Business cards in VistaPrint are much more affordable to buy 200 or 500 of, as opposed to just 50! This is becuase the setup fee for the artwork is spread across a larger amount of prints and makes it more cost effective to get more at once.
A bit of a trick with the printing, If you’re thinking that you don’t quite need that large of quantities, think of how you could re-purpose or multi-purpose things. For example, with business card printing – make one side loyalty cards or review prompters and the other your business information.
This is similar with packaging items such as bags and boxes, stickers, craft materials and buying subscriptions for longer periods such as annually instead of monthly.
2. Find & Use Discount Codes at Checkout
Many online stores have discount codes sitting in their system just waiting to be used! They often have codes ready to send when sometimes abandons full shopping cart, for example you might be offered 5% or 10% to come back. There may also be a sale promoting a code via email, but if you didn’t read the email you don’t know about it! These codes can still be found and accessed by you though!
To find out if there are any codes that will work, but you don’t know about – you can install an extension onto your browser like Honey (I use Chrome) which does the hard work in looking for the discount codes for you. It automatically applies the best deal to your cart, and can save you heaps on your products, services or shipping costs!
I have Honey applied to my Chrome browser which is very handy as it pops up and lets me know where I could be saving some $ when I visit websites! Probably one of my favourite online shopping hacks ever, or a very close second to ShopBack (more about this below!)
3. Use Shopback or Cash Rewards
These cash-back style apps are fantastic as they offer a small percentage of your purchase back into your account. Depending on your side hustle, it can get costly to start-up as you haven’t started getting any income yet, but these help you get a little bit back in your pocket to use later. All the small purchases certainly do add up and could get you some free or discounted goods at a later date (it does take about 90 days for the cash back to be useable). I have used Shopback frequently with all of my online shopping – including for groceries, updating my wardrobe and gifts for family – had over $250 in my account I could use after a year! Just keep in mind that sometimes if you use certain discount codes or buy gift cards, the Shopback or CashRewards bonuses may not apply so just be sure to check the specific details before shopping with each store.
4. Look for people selling second hand
I have come across many great bargains from people who are selling equipment or excess stock through second hand sales websites like eBay, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. People may have excess stock, ordered wrong sizing, changed packaging, upgraded equipment or have decided they no longer want to continue their side hustle etc. I have seen people selling boxes for candles, gardening equipment, craft machines (like Cricut machines), bulk lots of mugs and shirts, and other items that have only been used a handful of times for personal projects. Keep an eye out for some bargains!
5. Buy quality items
This may sound counter-productive, as quality items generally cost a little more, however it’s no surprise that higher quality items generally last longer, which overall saves money in the long run. Spending a little bit more to buy a premium product can both increase productivity, output, usage life and resale value should you wish to sell your hustle or equipment in the future.
We hope these 5 tips will help you to save money when starting your side hustle! If you have any other ideas, please feel free to share them with us at hey@mamahustles.com. We would love to hear from you!
Remember – the only side hustle that can’t make money – is one that hasn’t begun yet.
