I’m a stay at home mum & make £2.3k in a WEEK on my side hustle… I work while the kids sleep & even hired my best friend
A STAY-AT-HOME mum has revealed that she makes up to £2,300 a week from a simple side hustle, that she set up to make some extra cash whilst looking after her kids.
Anna Marikar, 37, started her side hustle back in 2011, when her kids were all under four.
The mum of four often reviewed children’s toys via a parenting Facebook group, and decided to turn these reviews into a parenting blog.
She told Fabulous: “It seemed like, at the time, everybody was starting to blog.
"So I thought OK, let me give it a try, and I’ve been doing it ever since”.
Thus, In The Playroom was born, a blog providing both parenting advice, and kids arts and crafts inspiration.
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Anna said that she didn’t initially make any money from her blog, but after a few months she was approached by a crisp company to review some of their products.
“At the time I was really impressed that someone wanted to pay me £40 to review crisps”, she said.
“And it just grew from there.”
Anna’s blog has grown and grown over the years and she now also runs a women’s wellness blog called On Your Journey, another parenting blog called Crunchy Family, and a Muslim lifestyle blog called Ummah.
In 2020, Anna was getting so much work, that she hired her best friend Luciana to work alongside her.
The blogs make money from advertisements, and also from brands paying to be featured on them.
Anna said that her income varies, but that the blogs bring in about £3,500 a month from advertising and more from brand deals.
However, she said that last week, she earned a whopping £2,300 from the blogs.
The busy mum, from Chester, said that what she loves the most about her side hustle, is the flexibility.
She said: “It's great to juggle around the children because I set my own hours, so if I'm busy, I don't do it.”
Anna said that when her kids were younger, she used to do work on the blog in the evenings, when her children were sleeping.
However, now that they are all of school age, she works from about 9am to 3pm, whilst the children are busy at school.
“I don't have to get childcare or anything to get my work done”, she said.
Are you taxed on side hustle earnings?
PLENTY of households are taking on side hustles such as babysitting or setting up an eBay store to boost their earnings.
And luckily, you can use a "trading allowance" which means you don't have to pay tax on any yearly gross income of £1,000 or less.
However, if you do earn over the £1,000 threshold, you will have to declare it to HMRC.
You can claim a trading allowance via Self-Assessment on the government's website.
First, you need to inform them you're a sole trader and tell them how much you earn in income, when you started and who you are.
HMRC will then send you a UTR number, which you can use to submit a Self-Assessment tax return.
The tax year runs from April 6 to April 5 of the following year, and the deadline to pay is the following January 31.
Anna said that anyone can start their own blog side hustle, and urged stay at home mums to give it a try.
She said: “Just pick a domain name, register and get started.
“You're not going to earn money straight away, but if you stick with it, you can do it”.
She added: “Take some time to pick something that you're actually going to enjoy so that you're going to be able to put the effort in without getting fed up, because it can take a little bit of time before you see results.”
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She added that starting the side hustle with a friend can be a great way to keep each other motivated and to share ideas.
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