A mum has shared how she managed to clear £5,000 in debt in less than a year using cheeky side hustles – with most of them done from the comfort of her sofa.
After over two decades of trying to chip away at her debt with regular payments – and with thousands still on the balance sheet – Lisa Ebbsworth decided it was time to do something different.
Urging others not to stay idle, the 42-year-old from Warrington has gone viral on TikTok, after clearing over five grand in just nine months.
How did she do it? Side hustles.
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After she put her kids to sleep each night, Lisa tried everything – from being a secret shopper to taking surveys, and reselling items online to flogging second-hand books and even recycling for cash.
And now the ‘The Side Hustle Sister’ is sharing her secrets so others can do the same.
“For me, side hustling is like diets – they all work, but they might not all be the right one for you to stick with,” Lisa told What’sTheJam.com.
“Twenty-one years after graduating from university, I still had almost £5,500 left to pay.
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“Along with a car loan of £6,800, I decided to lump the two debts together and make it my mission to pay off this £12,500 of debt in 12 months through side hustles.
“I’ve tried lots of different ones along the way, including surveys, market research, secret shopping, affiliating various products [on my social media], selling second-hand books, recycling for cash, and much more.
“I tried to get to £3 each day – if I did that then I knew that I would make £90-£100 per month from [one] side hustle alone.
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“The bit that surprised me though, was that once I mentioned that I was doing surveys on my TikTok, loads of people signed up too, using my referral code.
“I would make 20p for every person who signed up.
“The feeling that you get when you hear a ‘ding’ on your phone and receive a notification that you’ve made a commission is fantastic!
“With surveys and referrals, I’ve made over £1,500 since March.”
Lisa also loves secret shopping – which has made her £300.
She said: “I’m signed up to a few different platforms and check in most days to see if there are any jobs in my area.
“They tend to pay £3 to £10 each and most of them are pretty easy money.
“I had to do a shelf check on Viagra once at a chemist – I felt a bit silly but it only took me a few minutes to do and it made me a tenner.”
Despite pulling in the pennies through these gigs, the best and easiest side hustle she’s found is actually sharing her experiences on TikTok (@lisamakesmoney ).
She said: “Once I reached 10,000 followers, I was able to apply to the creativity program and get paid for the view on my posts.
“I’ve had a couple of videos that have had over 1m views and I’ve made around £1,000.”
Lisa also made an additional £2,000 from creating items to promote her brand, like an eBook with her tips and tricks.
Having caught the side hustle bug, she has no plans to stop.
The next goal? Get mortgage-free.
She added: “I’m nine months into this 12-month journey and I’ve just made the final repayment on my student loan – 22 years after I graduated and it feels fantastic!
“I’ve got £4,000 of my car loan left to pay.
“I still plan to have the whole thing repaid by the end of March this year, so I have to double down on my efforts but I’m confident that I can make it happen.
“Once I’ve paid off the last of my car loan, I can’t see why I wouldn’t carry on using side hustles to earn extra cash.
“Being mortgage-free would be incredible, so maybe that can be my next goal.”
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