Delivery. Roadie, Spark, Instacart, Shipt, Doordash, UberEats, and many others...for such you need to have not to old car.

there are similar app on Google

I had an idea around the beginning of the pandemic. Instead of trying to earn more, I worked it from the other side - how to save more. It was an experiment to see how cheaply one can live well in a major US city. A relationship had ended and i was solo at the time. I gave up our place, moved my belongings into storage and became a nomad. Serendipitously, the pandemic untethered me from having to go to my office for my day job....so I packed up the car and toured parts of the US, working remotely. I funded my lodging through extra creative use of points (thanks Hyatt!) not always of course, but in large part. I had no need for groceries as the hotels provided breakfast and MSing provided many lunches or dinners....otherwise I would just get some fruit or crackers or cheese to have on hand....I visited some friends and family, but because of COVID, spent more time in nature...away from crowds and viruses....hiking, writing, listening to music.
It was an interesting life chapter. It was surreal to be in major US cities that had emptied out and to be able to live in them for little $ outlay. There were some months when I lived an urban, above average lifestyle for only a couple hundred dollars. I have a low tolerance for hustling, so this was a better fit for my zen nature.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2025 11:34AM by BarefootBliss.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

I had an idea around the beginning of the pandemic. Instead of trying to earn more, I worked it from the other side - how to save more. It was an experiment to see how cheaply one can live well in a major US city. A relationship had ended and i was solo at the time. I gave up our place, moved my belongings into storage and became a nomad. Serendipitously, the pandemic untethered me from having to go to my office for my day job....so I packed up the car and toured parts of the US, working remotely. I funded my lodging through extra creative use of points (thanks Hyatt!) not always of course, but in large part. I had no need for groceries as the hotels provided breakfast and MSing provided many lunches or dinners....otherwise I would just get some fruit or crackers or cheese to have on hand....I visited some friends and family, but because of COVID, spent more time in nature...away from crowds and viruses....hiking, writing, listening to music.
It was an interesting life chapter. It was surreal to be in major US cities that had emptied out and to be able to live in them for little $ outlay. There were some months when I lived an urban, above average lifestyle for only a couple hundred dollars. I have a low tolerance for hustling, so this was a better fit for my zen nature.

That's incredibly interesting to me. I'm a budgeter and I found myself wondering what your costs would be during this nomad stage of life. So I went through my monthly budget items and pretty much none of them applied. It's incredible how much money you can choose to spend or choose not to spend. For me, choosing to be a homeowner and have kids pretty much dictates my spending, haha.

I love mobility and travel, for others not having a home base would be very difficult...but when you are staying in short term lodging, it's amazing how many expenses just drop off: no utilities, no furnishings, no repairs, no maintenance and once i found a way to get most of it paid for through points, basically it was like living for free....and when I visited friends and family and stayed with them....it was completely free - but I often treated them to restaurant meals in exchange for hosting me.
My biggest expenses at that time were car insurance, health insurance (through my employer, so quite a bit subsidized) storage unit rental, and then gas and money for fun.
I have thought about writing a guidebook....it seems like a niche lifestyle not common....unlike van life or the like.
One lingering benefit is that after I moved into my new permanent home, I still had hotel status and points, so that has funded all my vacation lodging since 2022 and will enable a huge month long trip this spring.
It's not all roses though, so the other side is constantly moving, packing, unpacking and some AirBnB locations that turned out to be problematic....as time went on, I found myself staying longer and longer at each place - that was my cue to get off the road.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

I had an idea around the beginning of the pandemic. Instead of trying to earn more, I worked it from the other side - how to save more. It was an experiment to see how cheaply one can live well in a major US city. A relationship had ended and i was solo at the time. I gave up our place, moved my belongings into storage and became a nomad. Serendipitously, the pandemic untethered me from having to go to my office for my day job....

I had a similar experience with work, but it played out in an opposite way for me. I was untethered from having to be based in So Cal and travelled pretty continuously as soon as I was able to, and my MSing came to complete halt for the first time in close to 20 years, so my ability to take on remote employment increased, and I was busier than ever.

While my expenses were higher from so much travel and not MSing, my income was the best it has ever been, and I realized the MSing had actually been holding me back from earning more. I also settled into a relationship and got married around the start of the pandemic, so it led to me the opposite way and I ended up taking on more responsibility.

Point being that if you are in any way qualified for traditional employment, doing more of that and less MSing will probably net you more money. I had always thought of MSing as a way to improve my lifestyle, but it was more of a way to define my lifestyle. It drives me to try new restaurants, and have new experiences, but at a cost...

And while it is not specifically income generating, I also took much of the excess energy I had been putting into MSing and remodeled a house over the first few years of the pandemic. That was a far better use of my time, financially speaking. Now that it's done, I need to find a new task to keep me busy and earn extra $$. I don't have the energy to continue down the house remodeling path, even though I learned much from the experience. I spent last year getting back into MSing and saw it negatively affect my bottom line, so I will be backing away from that in 2025 as well. So far I have 1 shop per month for Jen and Feb.

I guess I'm nerdy in that I find it fascinating how each shopper finds a way to make MSing work into their lives and schedules - or not and then pivots to something else. It's so YMMV based on personal circumstances - and oh. my. god - location or how much you travel and can pick up jobs that way.
A few years ago, I was in a Facebook group of shoppers. One shopper was a teacher during the school year and during the summer, she took off in her RV and lived in it - making MSing her summer job. She shopped all over the Western and Northwestern US.

Personally and especially when I lived in a high cost of living city, I was always trying to make it enhance my life and not take from my life for in exchange for little return.

Sweepstakes writing y'all!!! Easiest way I have EVER made money in my life.

@BFB, have you seen the movie "Nomadland?" Excellent flick.

lindsgreen,
Can you provide more details on it? never heard of it.

MTS, I did see it.... Frances McDormand is one of my favorite actors.
I enjoyed it. I've thought about what it would be like to live in a van or RV....I've decided I could only camp in one, short term, never live in one full time...but it's an interesting lifestyle IMO
AND Bob Wells has helped so many people, he is an angel!

I’ve done some very profitable focus groups on a variety of subjects. Doing one right now for laundry products ($460) and I have a medical taking your blood pressure for a week ($575). I’ve also done a bit of bank “churning” for the bonuses.

@lindsgreen4 wrote:

Sweepstakes writing y'all!!! Easiest way I have EVER made money in my life.

Can you tell us more? I've never heard of this

This was not my favorite way to make additional income, but I did some editing years ago as a side hustle. It was time-consuming and averaged 12/hr but it fit my lifestyle at the time.

I sell my reimbursed required purchases on eBay pretty often. I will use shipping shops to ship them and often charge shipping to the buyer.

It has been slow since 2022 for me though. I cleared out a ton of stuff during COVID.

@RobinMarie
Was that editing for mystery shop companies?