I’ve already written about what happened with my job and my feelings around being made redundant and I thought I’d make this a bit of a series for anyone in the same boad. Being made redundant, at any stage of life, is scary, sad and stressful. If you’re lucky enough to find a fantastic new job straight away then you’re better off and that’s great, but for the majority that’s not the case. I’m definitely in the ‘I haven’t found a decent job I actually want to do yet’ camp, and obviously that means that finances are tight. Worse than tight, as without bringing any money in I will have spent my redundancy payout on the bills within two months, and then I’ll have nothing. So, I started thinking about how to make money whilst unemployed, about side hustles and things I can do, legitimately, alongside searching for a job, to tide me over until I’m getting a wage again. And I wanted to share what I’ve been doing with my readers, for anyone in the same situation.
Benefits
The first thing to point out is that if you’re unemployed, you have the right to some benefits. I know that not everyone likes the thought of claiming them, and I do understand that, but for a lot of us it’s not a choice, we need to claim what we’re entitled to to help pay the bills during a period of unemployment. I used the Entitled To calculator to help me to see what I can claim, and I’ve put in my claim for Universal Credit and a council tax reduction. (It’s important to note that I am being 100% transparent with the benefits office about my job hunting, and any money I am making in the meantime, so that they can adjust the benefit entitlement accordingly)
Side hustles
I’ve previously talked about making money online and the side hustles I used to pay for my entire summer trip, and that post has lots of useful information if you’re interested. I’m still doing everything on that post, so I won’t talk too much about it here, but survey sites bring in enough to cover my food shops at the moment and that’s really useful. I’ve also listed clothes that are now too big for me, and homeware I don’t need, online to sell.
Matched betting
This isn’t one for everyone, and if you have an addictive personality or have previously had an issue with gambling, do not do this. Matched betting, whilst technically gambling (and so tax free, which is useful) actually isn’t gambling. What you’re doing is backing one outcome (X team to win, for example) and then laying the other (X team not to win) which gives you a small ‘qualifying loss’. If you’ve started with a £10 bet, you may lose £1 of that £10, BUT you are taking advantage of the bookies offers for new customers (bet £10 get X amount of free bets) and your £1 loss has given you some free bets. You then back and lay these bets in the same way, but you make a profit from each free bet. It sounds complicated, and it feels that way at first, but if you’re doing it correctly, you will make money.
I use Outplayed and follow their guides, and pay their monthly membership which unlocks lots and lots of help for me. It’s so worth it, and I’ve made £750 profit now in six weeks, which is insane. If you use my link to sign up to Outplayed, I get £30 and so do you-obviously you can sign up to Outplayed without using my link if you’d prefer, but you won’t get £30. Matched betting is, for me, the most useful thing I’m doing alongside applying for new jobs, and I intend to carry on with it (maybe for a bit less time each day, I probably do two hours a day on average and I won’t have as much free time when working) when I get a job again.
Freelance work
Freelance work isn’t something that would work for everyone. But if you have a skill people are willing to pay for, you can freelance. I have done some freelance writing via Upwork, and I’ve also done some sponsored posts on this blog, and I’m going to carry on applying for freelance work whilst looking for a new job. It’s a nice bit of extra money, it’s good for my self esteem, and it’s going to make me more likely to get more freelance work in the future, alongside a new day job.
Do you have any other ideas to make money whilst unemployed? I’d love to hear them!
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