Are Side Hustles Worth It?

· by · in Side Hustle. ·

I have been babysitting to earn some additional income the past couple of months. Babysitting allows me to earns some quick cash without having to do a lot of work. Well, depends on what you consider work. There are times where babysitting is very draining because I have to play a lot with the kids, and other times it’s not that bad because we end up watching a lot of Netflix shows. I seem to forget every time I start babysitting again that kids are SUPER ENERGETIC.

Daisy over at Add-Vodka When life Gives You Lemons explained Why Babysitting is An Awesome Side Hustle.

I have been babysitting for a long time. I babysat three kids when I was just twelve years old. I was a nanny for two summers during high school. And now after a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, I’m still babysitting. My husband often asks me why? I earn way more money at my day job, and what I make babysitting is minimal. I only started babysitting this client because I had free time before I started working and it was driving me crazy! My friend couldn’t handle the hours due to MCAT studying and she passed the client over.

There are a couple benefits to babysitting including

  • The cash. We are trying to save as much as possible, trying to pay off the car loan, and will soon be having my braces payments. The extra money helps a little.
  • I’m, also, helping out a mom who’s husband is overseas in Iraq. She has no family nearby, and thus no help. She’s super nice and I really like her and the kids.

There a some downsides which are making me ponder if this side hustle is really worth it.

  • First of all, I would love for my side hustle to be a passion or a hobby. Taking care of kids is not my passion. Actually, I do not enjoy it (part of the reasons why I don’t want to have kids anytime soon or at all). Let me point out I’m not a bad babysitter. The kids actually love me!
  • Second, the mom never has a planned scheduled for me. Often times, she calls me randomly and asks me to come babysit for her. She cancels and reschedules all the time. When I do babysit for her, she says she only going to take two hours, and ends up taking 3 or 4 hours. This is bad because I’m always on a tight schedule.
  • Third, it’s hard to take care of kids after working all day. A lot of you might say, oh I have to do that with my kids. But we have made a conscious decision not to have kids, because we know we can’t handle it right now.

It comes down to how badly do I need the cash? And for how long I can keep on doing this? I need to be at my top game for work. My primary focus is my career. I, also, would like to spend time with my hubby. Often times, instead of spending time with him, I go babysitting like tonight. If it’s not him, it’s time with friends. I’m young right now, and feel like I need to enjoy life.

It’s not that many hours a week right now. I probably do 3 – 5 hours a week. So it’s not bad. I just wanted to show the darker side of side hustling. It’s not always easy. It takes lots of motivation. And often times, quitting seems like a good option. I’m just trying to hang on to my side hustle.

Do you face similar dilemmas? Do you think side hustles are worth it?

21 responses to “Are Side Hustles Worth It?”

  1. I have trouble determining if they are worth it. I have been at this website thing for a while now. I have made some money, but sometimes I just value free time a little too much. I read all your posts that get sent to my email, but I have just had trouble getting kick started to get back into blogging. I know the money is there because I have made some but it is just hard justifying the amount of time dedicated to it sometimes. I certainly do enjoy reading everyones perspectives on different aspects of life.

    • Ahh so that’s where you have been hiding! In your email 🙂

      I understand. I enjoy blogging and right now I am not doing it for the money, which makes it more pleasurable. I write for the pure joy of writing.
      Once money gets involved, there’s always the factor of do I need it? Is it worth it?
      I’m finding babysitting is not going to be worth it in the long run. I’m going to babysit in the foreseeable future, but I am planning on finding other ways to make money in the meantime.

  3. I’m having this same dilemma myself right now. I want to pursue a side hustle (freelance writing) to see if it’s something that I want to transition to full time in the future, but I’m not motivated by the money part of it right now because my primary job covers all of my basic needs +. In a way it’s nice because I don’t have the pressure on my back, but as a person that works best under pressure, I’m finding it hard to keep motivate to keep going when I’d rather be reading or spending time with my husband or something else.

    • I definitely want to make more money, but I find that the time I spend babysitting I could be doing other things that are better for me. For example, working out and improving my health, or working on this blog which I love.
      Motivation is a key factor!

    • I’m probably going to keep doing until hubby gets a full time job. I just don’t feel secure enough not to have some extra income if he is not employed full time.
      I am definitely going to look and try to develop other side hustles.

  5. Consider yourself lucky to have a side hustle! Maybe it’s not your passion or your preferred hobby, but a side hustle is a side hustle. I’ve been struggling to find a side hustle. Is it worth it? Yes…absolutely. 🙂

  6. I can’t say that I’ve done much babysitting in my life but I have done it just not for cash as it was family. I think that it’s a great way though to bring in some extra cash if you don’t mind doing it. I mean if you plan on staying in anyways why not hang out with someone elses kids and get paid to play. Cheers Mr.CBB

  7. I had a lady I babysat for who was absolutely horrible! The pay was good though so I stuck with it. There were so many times where I told myself that I wouldn’t babysit for her anymore, but then she would call and we would really need the money so I’d do it. I finally had to stop though because she was just TYTHAT bad.

  8. Pingback: Link Love 9/7/12 | Budget & the Beach·

    • I know. When I was teenager I was paid pennies, seriously. One job I would work 60 hours a week with 2 kids and one baby and got paid $60 a week. To know now, one month of daycare for one kids costs $1100.
      I’m getting paid around $10 an hour. But it’s a weird arrangement. Basically, the mom gets hours for daycare from their insurance, and so my friend worked for the childcare company. Now, it’s me doing that. It’s taxable income. We worked out an arrangement where I get paid $10 after everything is deducted (taxes, social security, etc). This year it won’t matter much for my taxes. But I think next year it will. It would be so much better if it was just hard cash.
      The going rate for babysitters in my area is $15 an hour. My sister in law gets paid $15 an hour.

  10. I’m trying to find a side hustle or part time job but I really want it to be on my terms. I work more than 40hours at my main job which isn’t a huge problem until you look at time I could work. It really only leaves the weekends. And I refuse to work at fast food unless it’s direly important. I’ve worked it before and hated it so bad. My mental health has to come first, you know?

  11. I think side hustles are definitely worth it. I mean, okay if you are wasting time and it’s not getting you anywhere maybe not, but if it helps with your long term goals, hustle away. Last year, I was able to really fund a lot of my extra things by hustling.

  12. Pingback: Link Love 9/7/12 | Budget and the Beach·

Leave a comment