We all know that money is tight for everyone! If you are like me and countless others, you want to earn a little extra money this year. Between inflation and the rising cost of food our budgets are tighter than ever! That is where this breakdown comes in… I want to share all the different ways I made additional money last year with the hope it might help you find a way to make a little extra cash.
10 Different Ways I Earned Additional Income In 2024 –
- Dog Sitting
- Donating Plasma
- Lime Juicing
- Part Time Job – Making Pizza Dough
- Rental Property
- Rover – Boarding
- Rover – Dog Walks & Drop-In Visits
- Savings Account Interest
- Stock Dividends
- Uber Eats
In total I earned $16,536!!!! However… that is before taking into account operating expenses and those pesky taxes. I want to make sure we have a straight line to evaluate all of these different income streams to find the most effective income stream!
Side Hustle Income Without Factoring Expenses
First off, lets look at how much time I spent working on these different income streams and how much my average hourly rate was before exploring expenses and taxes.
| Income Source | Pay Before Expenses | Time (Hours) | Avg Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Time Job – Pizza Dough | $9,882.00 | 658.8 | $15.00 |
| Rental Property | $1,166.40 | 71 | $33.81 |
| Donating Plasma | $2580.00 | 71 | $36.34 |
| Lime Juicing | $1,935.15 | 37.4 | $31.07 |
| Rover – Walks & Visits | $187.00 | 12 | $15.58 |
| Stock Dividends | $1,235.77 | 12 | $101.61 |
| Dog Sitting | $95.00 | 9.9 | $23.66 |
| Rover – Boarding | $200.0 | 5 | $40.00 |
| Savings Account Interest | $27.79 | 1 | $27.79 |
| Uber Eats | $4.05 | 0.35 | $11.57 |
| Totals | $12,520.34 | 874.45 | $24.49 (avg) |
Side Hustle Expenses Breakdown
Running a side hustle like delivering food with Uber Eats or Juicing Scooters means you are going to incur expenses. Expenses could include anything from vehicle use, phone bills, and maybe even maintaining a home office. With my rental property finally up and running, I wanted to show that process on here as well. In the future, I will hopefully have lower expenses and more income flowing in.
Now not all of my side hustles had expenses but, here are the ones that did for me –
| Income Source | Miles Driven | Gas/Wear Expenses | Other Expenses | Gross Pay | Avg Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donating Plasma | 56 | $52.72 | $0.00 | $35.60 | $35.60 |
| Rover – Boarding | 0 | $0.00 | $40.00 | $160.00 | $32.00 |
| Lime Juicing | 402 | $102.18 | $0.00 | $1,059.97 | $28.34 |
| Dog Sitting | 42.6 | $7.67 | $0.00 | $87.33 | $14.80 |
| Rover – Walks & Visits | 112 | $22.97 | $37.40 | $126.63 | $10.55 |
| Uber Eats | 6 | $1.08 | $0.00 | $2.97 | $8.49 |
| Rental Property | 3,690 | $861.18 | $3,876.42 | (-$1,149.08) | $0.00 |
| Totals | 4,308.6 | $1,047.8 | $3,953.82 | $11,468.98 (all) | $27.55 (avg) |
How Different Tax Rates Impact Side Hustles
No matter what, Uncle Sam is going to come a knocking. It is important to remember that not all income is taxed the same. Now keep in mind, I am single individual working in Idaho. That means Idaho Income taxes, Federal Incomes taxes and Social Security & Medicare taxes all come into play. Since I made less than $47,150 total, my tax rates are in the lower brackets, yay!
As far as 2024 taxes are concerned here are the different breakdowns that impacted me –
Idaho State Income Tax Rates 2024
Federal Income Tax Rates 2024
Social Security And Medicare Tax Rates 2024
Only my part-time pizza dough job falls under the Social Security & Medicare tax rate for employees making that rate 7.65% instead of the full 15.30% required for being self-employed.
Investment Returns And Taxes
Now, there is an important factor to keep in mind when looking at the various ways to make money. Pensions, annuities, and investment returns like interest or dividends are not subject to Social Security Taxes.
Stock dividends also fall into two different categories, ordinary and qualified. Ordinary dividends are taxed at your regular income tax rates. Qualified dividends fall under special capital gains tax rates which are taxed at a lower rate. For 2024, more than 70% of my dividend income was classified as qualified dividends and I did not owe any taxes on those earnings!
Side Hustle Income Taxes Breakdown
To keep this as straightforward as I could, I went with the highest tax rates (that applied to me) from each of the different taxes due. For Federal and non-qualified investment returns, 12% and for State, 5.8%. This way I don’t have to come up with a split for the different tax rates, especially with how many different levels the Idaho tax rates have. This allows for a more even flow to evaluate these side hustles as a whole.
| Income Source | Social Security | Federal Taxes | State Taxes | Total Taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part Time Job – Pizza Dough | $682.42 | $163.08 | $116.00 | $961.50 |
| Donating Plasma | $386.67 | $303.27 | $143.93 | $833.87 |
| Stock Dividends* | $0.00 | $148.29 | $70.38 | $218.67 |
| Lime Juicing | $162.18 | $127.20 | $60.37 | $349.74 |
| Rover – Boarding | $24.48 | $19.20 | $9.11 | $52.79 |
| Rover – Walks & Visits | $19.37 | $15.20 | $7.21 | $41.78 |
| Dog Sitting | $13.36 | $10.48 | $4.97 | $28.81 |
| Savings Account Interest* | $0.00 | $3.33 | $1.58 | $4.92 |
| Uber Eats | $0.45 | $0.36 | $0.17 | $0.98 |
| Rental Property | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Totals | $219.85 | $324.06 | $153.79 | $697.69 |
Side Hustle Income Factoring In Expenses And Taxes
Let’s bring it altogether and see the big picture. I ranked each of the side hustles I did in 2024 by the hourly rate after factoring in expenses and taxes. Surprisingly, the top two are passive income sources with very little work needed by me. As far as active income sources, donating plasma and working on Rover, earned the most money per hour.
| Income Source | Hourly Rate | Worked Hours | Net Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock Dividends | $96.72 | 12 | $1,600.66 |
| Donating Plasma | $23.85 | 71 | $23.85 |
| Savings Account Interest | $22.87 | 1 | $22.87 |
| Rover – Boarding | $21.44 | 5 | $21.44 |
| Lime Juicing | $18.99 | 37.40 | $18.99 |
| Part Time Job – Pizza Dough | $13.54 | 658.80 | $13.54 |
| Dog Sitting | $9.92 | 5.9 | $9.92 |
| Rover – Walks & Visits | $7.07 | 12 | $7.07 |
| Uber Eats | $5.69 | 0.35 | $5.69 |
| Rental Property | $0.00 | 247.5 | $0.00 |
| Totals | $24.45 (avg) | 962.60 | $12,760.23 |
Each one of these side hustles comes with its own pros and cons but I am just happy to be able to make enough money to pay my bills and keep my head above water! To learn more about how these side hustles work, check out my breakdowns, here.
© EuduringFinances, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Resources:
https://tax.idaho.gov/taxes/income-tax/individual-income/individual-income-tax-rate-schedule
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2024
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/annuities
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