But it's not too late to join the extra money party. In this guide you'll find our top side hustle ideas right now as well as a list of side hustles broken down by category.
Want some ideas on what side hustles to try first? We've picked out 3 of the best side hustles based on things like accessibility, upfront costs, flexibility and average hourly rate.
There'll never be a shortage of people looking for help putting things together. You can get paid to complete manual tasks that other people don't have the skill or time to do themselves.
This could be as simple as assembling Ikea furniture or as complicated as installing a washing machine.
One great example is trampolines.
Most people aren't going to have the know-how to put up a trampoline out of the box. If you're experienced at assembling them you could make around $100 for only 30 minutes work.
Demand is especially high during holiday periods, which means you could easily make $500 over the course of a weekend.
Of course, trampolines aren't the only option. You could provide a service to fix or install blinds, repair fly screens, replace lights or any other domestic odd job that people will happily pay not to do themselves.
How to get started: you can check out sites like Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace for anyone looking for a specific service, or start advertising your service on there yourself. Once you start picking up jobs, you should find word of mouth helps the work keep coming in.
Pros: good hourly rate, flexibility, no real upfront costs.
Cons: you'll need to have or develop a skill, you may need pay to advertise your service, you'll need your own transport, work will be seasonal.
The hardest part about planning a holiday as a pet owner is finding someone to look after them. Thankfully, this makes it a great side hustle for those in a position to offer that service.
If you have an appropriate house, you can get paid pretty well to look after cats and dogs. You can even look after multiple pets at the same time and compound your profits.
You can generally charge around $50-60 per day per pet, and things like food and equipment will normally be provided by the owner.
How to get started: if you're interested, take a look at Pawshake or Madpaws. You can set up a profile, advertise your home and then be matched with pet owners looking for someone to mind their furry friend.
Pros: you get the company of pets without the responsibilities of ownership, you don't need to leave your house, you can make easy supplemental income.
Cons: you'll need a suitable property, looking after animals can be demanding, work might be seasonal, you may need to pay a commission to the pet-sitting platform.
There are millions of people around the world who want to increase their skills in many foundational areas such as language, maths, science and even into more complex topics such as business management and medicine.
If you hold strong knowledge or, even better, an education background, then you can use this as a side hustle with very minimal outlay.
Of course, you don't need to be a mathematical or literary genius to become a tutor. You could instead choose to help primary school students with their maths or English homework.
Depending on the academic level and subject you can tutor for, you could easily charge $50 an hour and take on as few or as many students as works for your schedule.
How to get started: You can either sign up with an existing tutoring service like Superprof or Learnmate, or advertise your service directly on Gumtree, Marketplace or even local school-based Facebook groups.
Pros: no upfront costs, flexibility in how much or how little you work, relatively low stress, good hourly rate.
Cons: you'll need a level of aptitude, you'll need your own transport, work may be sporadic.
We found so many great side hustle ideas we lost count (ok, there's actually 38).
To make it easier, we've sorted these side hustles into broad categories to help you find the one that's going to work for you, and generate the most profits in your situation.
For example, don't have a car or don't like driving? Skip the "driving and vehicles" category. Got a bit of a creative spark? See if you could turn your hand to making something.
Where available, we've also added some data around how much you could expect to make from each side hustle.
According to Finder data, these are the 5 most popular side hustles for Australians (and how many people do them):
Driving
If you have a car and a bit of free time, you could offer your services as a driver.
Rideshare apps like Uber and Didi are the obvious place to start.
You could also sign up as an NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) service provider and use your vehicle to transport people to medical appointments or to get groceries in your spare time.
Delivery services
Make extra money by delivering takeaway food to your local community today.
Simply sign up to apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash and you can get paid to run errands and deliver food, groceries and other similar items to people.
It's a cool idea if you are already running around on a bike on your regular commute.
You can work in your own hours, on weekends and during times that suit you.
Rent out your car
Instead of driving people around, would you rather they do all the work for you?
Utilise your car while it is at work or even overnight when you do not need it.
Sites such as Car Next Door and Uber Carshare offer you the ability to monetise one of the most expensive purchases you will make.
If you have a spare car sitting in the garage, then this idea is even better for you as you can offset the cost of insurance, registration and running repairs.
Vehicle advertising
Through sites like Wrappli, you can make money promoting brands on your car.
According to Wrappli, Aussie drivers can make up to $600 a month for having advertisements placed on their cars – easy money.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is blowing up around the world as a great way to earn a passive income on the side.
The concept of dropshipping is that you advertise a product online and then use a third party supplier for delivery arrangements.
You advertise the product but have none of the shipping or warranty issues.
There's a few ways to dropship including services like Amazon's Fulfillment program as well as platforms like Shopify.
eBay
While we know eBay is not as much of a gold mine as it used to be in terms of making some extra cash on the side, it can still provide you with a decent income if you do a little research around what products are selling quickly and who the target audience might be.
Alternatively, if you are looking to declutter around the house, then this is a good way to make some extra dollars.
Etsy
If you wish to make, sell or distribute products that are unique, antique or just vintage, then Etsy is the platform for you.
Etsy takes niche selling to the global audience and allows millions of independent artists to sell their products with minimal costs.
So, if you are thinking of selling your artwork, handmade clothes or restored vintage goods, then take a look at Etsy.
Invest in websites
Investing some cash in a website can be a very profitable venture.
It's also ideal for people with some disposable income but very little time on their hands.
Rather than starting a website from scratch, it's much easier to make money off of something that's already up and running with some traction and cash flow.
AirBNB
The next time you go on holidays or away for a few days, you can have vetted people stay in your house and keep the money flowing in.
If you want to get the ball rolling now, you can become an Airbnb host in just minutes.
Rent out your spare room, garage or driveway
Have a house but don't feel comfortable going the AirBNB route? Or somehow own a driveway or parking space but no house? This could be the side hustle for you.
Sites like Spacer and SpaceMate let you rent out your unused parking space, garage, driveway and spare rooms. It can be especially profitable if you live in an urban area where people work or if you're near a train station.
These apps are really easy to use as well. Most of the time, all you need to do is take a picture of the space, set a price and they'll do the rest for you.
Rent out your clothes
As more and more companies operate under a sharing economy business model, it's no wonder that there are now platforms where you can rent your clothes.
The Volte, Rent a Dress and Rent My Wardrobe are all part of this growing trend of clothes rental services.
If you have dresses you rarely wear, or suits for specific occasions, you could make money by renting them out to people.
Human billboard
Fancy getting paid to stand still and hold a sign?
Human billboards are really popular in city centres where there are lots of people.
If you're really keen to make some extra cash and don't care about embarrassing yourself, there are always businesses looking to hire you as a human billboard.
Sell your old clothes at a local market
Got old clothes you don't wear anymore? Don't just chuck them out, sell them at a local market.
Even if you don't have enough to warrant renting an entire space at a market, team up with your mates and sell your unwanted clothes together.
Photography and artwork sales
There is a myriad of ways you can monetise that passion you have for photography or art. Set up an eBay account to sell online or pop down to your local shops to see if they will hang your paintings for free and help sell them for you. There are tons of online courses like Udemy to help you get started.
Clothing alterations
There are loads of ways you could make money doing clothing alterations. You can earn cash doing alterations and repairs on the side – start by advertising your services on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree.
You could also use your stitching skills to refashion and resize clothing. Online marketplaces like Etsy are great platforms for selling unique vintage clothing.
Make money providing classes in arts and crafts
Whether you're an expert candle maker, photographer or artist, you can run workshops at a place of your choosing and make cash with ClassBento and other similar online marketplaces.
The Sydney-born company operates in lots of locations and has helped independent local artists and artisans reach out to a wider audience looking to up-skill or simply take up a new hobby.
Personal training
Are you a bit of a gym expert? You can make money training others in your athletic ways. Sometimes, the best way to start is training friends and work colleagues. You can also advertise yourself on social media as well as sites like Gumtree.
It's even possible to be a personal trainer from home. YouTube and Instagram are a great way to attract followers.
Give music lessons
If you play an instrument, you can make money giving music lessons to people of all ages. Most of the time, you don't need to invest in instruments, just get students to bring their own. If you're looking to provide piano lessons, one-on-one sessions are usually best.
You can teach from home or even provide mobile music lessons, visiting student's homes yourself. Gumtree and Facebook are great ways to advertise yourself.
Create an online course
Online courses are a hugely popular way for people to learn a new skill. Creating an online course takes time and effort, but if there's a high market demand, it could be worth the effort. Choose something you are knowledgeable in and make sure it's something you're passionate about. Take a look at some of these courses for inspiration.
Coach sport
Ever thought about running your own sports class or coaching sport? Getting started is relatively straightforward. You'll usually need to book out a hall or sports field and advertise online and in your local area.
If there's a demand for the sport, it's more than likely to be successful. Plus, you don't need to give up your day job. You can coach in the evening and on weekends. Running classes during school holidays is also a great way to make some extra cash.
Teach yoga
Take classes in the park, rent a studio or work from home if you have the space. Teaching yoga can be a great way to stay healthy while making some extra money.
Teach people to cook at home
Been told that you make a killer lamb roast or tofu smash? You can earn money from the comfort of your kitchen and make recipes of your choosing, so you can eat them or give them to the kids afterwards.
If cooking is your passion, then check out ClassBento.
Food prep and meal delivery
This flows on from the previous side hustle. After you have run your cooking class, you can deliver and sell the food you cooked to your local neighbourhood! Many people want to eat good, healthy food but simply do not have the time to make the necessary preparations.
You can prep and deliver meals for a cost to people on specific diets, people with food intolerances or body builders.
Host a food tour on Airbnb
All those years of eating out have finally paid off. Who knew it would ever be possible, but you can now make money showing tourists and visitors all your favourite food spots.
From the best place for cronuts to the hidden gems you've discovered, visitors love food tours because they're guaranteed to avoid the tourist traps and get a more authentic taste of your city.
Make money as a private chef
You don't need to work in a restaurant to make money as a chef these days. Marketplaces like At Your Table and Take A Chef allow cooks to earn an income from private dinners and events. If you're a chef, you can also use your expertise in the culinary arts to earn an income from birthdays, weddings and other events both big and small.
You can even cook from home and have your meals delivered to other people's homes.
Blogging
If we told you that you could renovate your home from the money you make blogging, you'd think we were crazy right? Try telling that to Jake Falkinder (author of It Pays To Blog).
Jake was able to gain some traction on his first blog and make money off the ads. "My focus was designer T-shirts and the blog grew in popularity, receiving international coverage in books, magazines and popular websites… not to mention providing us with the funds to renovate our family home."
Publish on Kindle
Kindle allows you to access an audience of millions with minimal outlay, so if you are an aspiring author, regardless of whether you write nonfiction, fiction, poetry or something else, you should be on Kindle. You can also link your publishing with the Amazon account you have already created and multiply your income stream.
Freelance writing
If you can write, you might be able to make money as a freelance writer. If you work and write within a specific industry, you can often make even more. Companies and businesses are regularly willing to pay a lot for someone with expertise in a specific industry.
Whether it's IT, finance or healthcare, websites like Fiverr, Upwork and LinkedIn are great places to start building a network of clients. If you build up enough contacts, you can even make freelancing a full-time gig, working when and if you want to.
Write resumes
Lots of people hate writing resumes or find it really difficult to come up with a good one that properly sells their skills. You can make money writing killer resumes for people. Better still, you don't need to be an amazing linguist with a degree in English literature to write them.
If you've had success with your resumes in the past, you might just have what it takes. Writing resumes is all about your ability to make the person you're writing about stand out from the crowd. If you can do that, you can potentially make a lot of extra cash on the side.
Gig economy
Perhaps you work in a specialised field or have high-level skills in a particular area? Now you can sell these services online.
As an example, a publicist can offer their services on a gig basis to small to medium businesses and startups. Start by finding a website like Fiverr or Upwork where you can sell your skills and knowledge on the side.
Virtual assistants
Businesses are becoming increasingly busy, but they can't always justify a full-time assistant to help with the workload. This is where you come in. As a virtual assistant, you can make a lot of money doing a variety of online tasks including setting appointments, calling clients, sending and responding to emails and typing up notes.
Fiverr and Upwork are good places to get started. If you find you enjoy the job, this is one of the few side hustles that could even become a full-time job.
Ironing service
There are a lot of people who really do not like ironing and they're willing to pay for someone else to make that giant pile of crumpled clothes go away.
Once again, you can find these willing customers on the likes of Airtasker and Gumtree.
Deliver pamphlets and flyers
You can make money going door-to-door distributing flyers for local companies and businesses.
If you have a dog or want to get some exercise, why not make some extra cash at the same time?
Mystery shopping
Businesses will pay you to check out their in-store or customer call centre experience to confirm that the customer service and experience is up to standard.
All you need to do is purchase an item or make an inquiry and then report on the experience.
You'll normally need to sign up as a contractor with a mystery shopper service such as The Realise Group and will then be able to apply for mystery shopping jobs as they come up.
Model for stock photo sites
Stock photographers regularly need models for their photos.
A lot of the time, stock photo models don't make money but if you have the right look, there's always a chance you can turn a few pics into a profitable side hustle.
Pet grooming
A part-time mobile pet grooming service is a great way to earn some extra cash.
Because your operating expenses and overheads are likely to be pretty low, a mobile pet grooming service can be a pretty profitable venture.
Better still, it's more convenient for pet owners as they don't even need to leave the house.
DJ
Got your own decks and turntable? You could make money from DJing.
Advertise yourself on Upwork, Airtasker or Gumtree.
DJs aren't just required at clubs and parties; they can be hired for local events like a market or shop opening as well.
Gyms (e.g. F45) often hire DJs too. You can usually DJ in the evenings and on weekends so it wouldn't disrupt your main job.
Recycling
Since Australia is a bit behind the rest of the world when it comes to recycling, there are plenty of opportunities to start your own recycling business.
For instance, you could start your own local food scraps recycling service. All you'd need is a vehicle and some environmentally conscious local residents.
As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
According to Finder's research, being an influencer, brand ambassador or promotional worker is the most lucrative side gig. Our research found that on average, those who perform this activity on the side earn around $1,204 on average per month.
This was followed by renting out a spare room in the home, with Aussies who do this bringing in around $761 on average per month. Rounding out the top three is food delivery, with drivers earning around $672 on average.
We've compared a few popular side-hustle options and estimated the potential earnings.
Here's our foolproof 3-point plan for finding a side hustle:
Your side hustle is going to struggle to get off the ground if you don't enjoy the work or find it difficult to manage. The point of a side hustle is to monetise an existing skill or possession, not become a second job.
What you want to get out of your side hustle should determine what you put into it. If you're aiming to make $1,000 extra a month, for example, doing some market research sessions probably isn't going to cut it, but something like tutoring could.
If you're simply looking to make a bit of pocket money, you can't really go wrong with any side hustle, provided you stick to rule 1 (find something you like doing) and it doesn't have huge upfront or ongoing costs.
If your adopted side hustle is feeling like a slog or isn't giving you the return on your time you were expecting, feel free to change it up. The beauty of side hustles is that there's no shortage of them. Experimenting with different types of work and different approaches will give you the best shot at finding a successful side hustle.
Side gigs can be a lot of fun, but you're still required to report this income to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) alongside your everyday earnings.
In Australia, the first $18,200 that you earn is considered tax-free as it's in the tax-free threshold. However, you can't claim that tax-free threshold twice so if you have a second job or start a business on the side, the second income will be assessed for tax.
The tax office will take a look at your total taxable income for the financial year. So if you have a side hustle it's a good idea to set aside money from that income to pay for your tax at the end of the financial year.
Take your total projected income and look at the official tax brackets to get an idea of how much you'll need to pay.
Keep in mind that certain side hustles may require you to get the right type of business or personal insurance. Every side hustle is different, but as a general rule of thumb:
Start out with even a small side gig, and you may be surprised at how quickly it takes off. It could just become your main source of income.
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