54 Cheap Side Hustle Ideas to Make You Extra Cash

Are you tired of relying on just one income stream? Do you want to explore business opportunities without quitting your full-time job? You're not alone and you're in the right place.

Why Start a Side Hustle?

In today's world and fast paced economy, relying on a single income stream can be risky. Side hustles on the other hand, offer flexibly, skill development and a chance to turn your passion into profit without needing a large amount of money or quitting your day job.

So, to help you out, we’ve rounded up a list of easy and cheap side hustle ideas in South Africa that require minimal investment and can help you earn extra income without major risk.

Side Hustle Ideas for a Home Environment

These side hustle ideas from home are ideal if you want to get started with minimal resources

1. House Cleaning

Start by cleaning houses in your area and when your clientele grows, you can hire agents to cover more clients’ houses in a day. This is an easy and cheap side hustle idea to do during your spare time, especially if you have a knack for hygiene and tidiness.

2. Laundry Services

The best part about this side hustle idea is that you can do it in the comfort of your own home, but some clients may request a callout. A laundry service is simple to run since your primary resources (a washer and dryer) are cheap to maintain and reliable.

3. Landscape Artist

Are you passionate about gardening and find it therapeutic? Well, here is yet another simple way of earning from your favourite pastime. Start small with clients in your area, and grow your clientele with time.

4. Interior Design

Let your artistic flair work for you. Interior design is an evergreen service as the trends in home décor change yearly and with every season, making it simple to sustain and fun to run.

5. Window Cleaning

With your squeegee and soap in hand, you can start cleaning windows in your neighbourhood. Slowly expand to other places with time and enjoy an easy side hustle that needs very little capital.

6. Car Wash Service

Car washes are booming across the country. You can easily have your piece of this pie by offering your services in your area.

Want to accept card payments on the go? The iK Flyer Lite is perfect for mobile side hustles like car washes, stalls and home services.

7. Babysitting

If you are a natural at child nurturing, this side hustle idea is right up your alley. You can schedule multiple clients when your service expands by getting a central place where you can mind all the children.

8. Pet Sitting

Being an animal lover can be very rewarding, not only mentally and emotionally but financially as well. Offer your services to your neighbours in the event that they travel.

9. House Sitting

House sitting ranks high up on our cheap side hustle ideas to start as you do not need capital. If you have time on your hands, start with houses in your neighbourhood and advertise your services on social media so you can reach a wider market.

10. Dog Walking

Earn extra cash while getting some exercise as well. What could be more simple than walking your neighbourhood dogs and getting paid for it? Remember though; consistency is key with this side hustle because dogs love a set routine.

11. Dog Grooming Services

Breakout your brush and clippers for some money-making grooming! Offering dog grooming services in your neighbourhood can quickly amount to a bustling side hustle if there are few or no other dog grooming services in your area.

Personal Services Side Hustle Ideas

These skill-based side hustles allow you to monetise your talents

12. Personal Stylist

If you consider yourself a trendsetter, become a buyer and dresser for those who love fashion. Invest your time and data on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration to advertise your talent.

13. Fashion Design and Tailoring

If you are not afraid to think outside the box and can offer clients a unique look, you will find this side hustle idea both easy to maintain and fulfilling when you see your final product.

14. Hair Stylist

Do you find yourself styling your friends’ hair just for fun? Why not make some money out of it? The best part is that your clients can book around your schedule to have their hair done, making it easy for you to sustain your main hustle.

15. Make-up Artist

The best part about this side hustle idea is that it’s usually done during weekends, evenings and holidays. It’s mostly a one-person job, meaning you won’t need to hire anyone for help, making it both affordable to start and simple to run.

16. Nail Technician

If you can produce extraordinary, cheeky, classic or even show-stopping nail designs, then why not make money while doing it? The simplest way to start is with your family and friends, then slowly expand your services with time.

17. Masseuse

Take advantage of the fact that this side hustle idea needs a particular skill. Massage therapy comes in different forms and techniques and if you have mastered the art, you can easily earn extra cash while providing much needed relaxation for your clients.

18. Personal Trainer

With the country fast becoming health conscious, why not dedicate your time to assist clients in reaching their fitness goals? Make money on the side while getting fit yourself. It’s one of the simplest and cheap side hustle ideas to start as you don’t need many resources.

Products & Services as Cheap Side Hustle Ideas

Start one of these product or online side hustles for passive income or remote work flexibility

19. Growing Seedlings

Selling seedlings offers a quick turnover on your investment. Instead of growing vegetables, you can sell seedlings to your clients, thus capitalising on time and space.

20. Airbnb

If you love hosting and have extra room in your house, Airbnb offers a quick and easy way for you to meet people from all over the world and earn some money while doing it.

21. Online Teaching

You no longer need to travel to the Far East to teach English, Math or any other subjects you're an expert in. Now all you need to get started with this side hustle idea is an online-acquired qualification and access to a good internet connection, and you are good to go.

22. Photography and Videography

Both services are often required in the evenings, weekends and during holidays, giving you the time you need to focus on your main hustle. With the right skill and equipment, turning your passion for still and motion art into a side hustle is easy.

23. Delivery Services

More South Africans are becoming strapped for time due to the demands of daily life. Be it laundry, alcohol, fast-food, and so much more, offer your services to deliver these items to your clients and make sure you deliver on time.

24. Web Design

An increasing number of individuals and companies have a need for their websites to be designed. If you have the skill and time to do so, this side hustle idea will be a breeze to get off the ground given the demand.

Looking to integrate payments onto your website? Check out iKhokha Payment Gateway for an online payment solution with a seamless checkout experience!

25. Buying and Selling

One of the oldest side hustles there is, buying and selling is a tested way of making money on the side. Simply find your product offering, buy it at wholesale prices and sell it for a profit.

26. Baking

Advertise your goods on social media with pictures, bake according to the orders you get and deliver them to your clients. You can take orders according to your capacity or hire an assistant for those busy days.

27. Catering Services

Food is so diverse; there is a lot you can focus on here. You can either find a niche market according to a specific taste or keep it general with basic meal preparation services.

28. Boerewors Roll Stand

All you need is a trusted supplier of boerewors, buns, onions and condiments, seek out the perfect location with high foot traffic and offer South Africa’s firm favourite.

29. Cooking Classes

Focus on the type of style you want to teach. Gather as much information about them as possible and then start cooking classes in the comfort of your own home. What’s even better is that you can offer your classes through Zoom or other digital platforms so that you can reach more students at once.

30. Master of Ceremonies Services

If you are naturally the life of the party and love talking, this side hustle idea will be easy for you. Use Facebook and Twitter to market your skills with clips of gigs you have done in the past to keep getting more gigs.

31. DJing

This side hustle idea has taken off within the last decade and has now embraced female DJs as well. The openness in the market means getting gigs is that much easier.

32. Grocery Shopping

Do grocery shopping for those who simply don’t have time or are unable to. With the country’s current health concerns, this side hustle idea will not only be easy to start but offer you a ready-made clientele.

33. Car Branding

Companies looking to advertise sometimes offer a fee to anyone willing to have their car wrapped up in their marketing message. This provides easy income on the side without you even lifting a finger.

34. Custom Packaging

If your idea of a great time is creating unique art pieces, then channelling your creativity into custom packaging is the perfect side hustle idea for you! You can tailor your products by creating unique gift wraps and gift boxes to suit your customers’ unique taste.

35. Card Making

A step further from creating custom packages, you can start making greeting cards. Use designer material, quirky decorative pieces or even earthy/natural material to create custom-made cards for your clients.

36. Soap and Lotion Making

You can produce soaps and body lotions to cater for either all or specific skin types, right from the comfort of your kitchen. This side hustle idea gives you ease of operation since you don’t need a factory and expensive equipment.

37. Dance Classes

If you enjoy moving to the beat and have space enough to host some people, why not start dance classes? With the right genre and preferred age groups to teach (you can even teach all age groups), you have yourself a fun side hustle idea to work with.

38. Match-Making Services

While you may face stiff competition from freemium websites that have grown in popularity, your unique selling point would be physical match-ups such as speed dating events. This makes it one of the cheap side hustle ideas to start since you will have an already made market of those who prefer to meet their potential matches in person.

39. Uber or Bolt

Simply sign up onto the app and register your vehicle. You don’t need to start a transport company. If you have a car, know your way around and have spare time, it’s an excellent way of making some extra cash.

40. Tutoring

Tutoring is one of the cheap side hustle ideas you can start if you have prior knowledge in a specific academic area. You can become a tutor for either primary, high school or tertiary students. You are also free to choose whatever subject you want to focus on and the level of education you are comfortable with.

41. Ecommerce

If you enjoy buying and selling products, you might consider starting an ecommerce business. You can sell products on platforms like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon, or you can set up your own website and sell directly to customers.

Power your hustle with the iKhokha Payment Gateway – a secure, seamless online checkout solution. Start selling with iKhokha online

42. Event Planning

If you have a knack for organisation and enjoy planning events, you might consider starting an event planning business. You can help individuals and businesses plan weddings, parties, corporate events, and more.

Corporate Services as a Side Hustle

Use your professional skills to earn on the side with these freelance side hustle ideas

Outsourcing has become a popular means for big companies to save on hiring costs and small companies with limited resources to get the job done. The result? Increased demand for freelance and consultancy services. The right skill matched with a freelancing opportunity can result in a lucrative side hustle idea for you. The following is a list of services that you can offer to companies:

43. Blogging

With constant access to the internet, you can start a blog and monetise it through affiliate marketing where companies advertise on your blog. Make money from commission received for every sale that goes through from people clicking on the adverts.

44. Freelance Content Writing

If you love writing and are good at it, then you can offer your skill and services to different companies on a freelance basis. If you already have access to a computer and good internet connection, freelance writing can be a cheap side hustle idea to start.

45. Freelance Graphic Design

Aside from corporate demand, an increased number of individuals also need a graphic designer’s assistance for their side hustles. If you have learned graphic design skills, then this can be a fulfilling side hustle idea for you.

46. Freelance Editing

With companies increasingly sharing new content online, professional editing skills are in demand to ensure clarity and quality. So, turn your love for the written word and good grammar into a money-making gig.

47. Team Building Coach

Use your motivational skills to make some extra cash. Formulate programmes and tasks tailored to each company you will be facilitating and enjoy a simple way of making extra moola.

48. Employee Rewards Consultant

If you are in Human Resources, you can develop rewards systems and programmes for start-ups and small businesses. You can do this on a consultancy basis to ensure that your main job is not affected.

49. Take Online Surveys

Online surveys only need a few minutes of your time. If you can dedicate some time to answer some questions online, this can become a simple way for you to earn extra cash on the side.

50. Translator

Let your linguistic skills work for you. If you know one or more national or international languages, then you can offer your skills as a translator to companies.

51. Management Consulting

Choose a field that suits you best, preferably aligned with your career, and provide managerial services on a consultancy basis. You could offer your services in the legal, marketing, human resources, finance or operations department to mention a few.

52. Tester

A lot of manufacturing companies will always need a person to test their products before releasing them commercially. You can even niche your services to a particular industry for a more specialised offering, making this yet another cheap side hustle idea.

If you're active on social media and have a knack for creating engaging content, you might consider offering your services as a social media manager. You can help businesses and individuals build and maintain their online presence on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

54. Virtual Assistant

If you have strong organisational and communication skills, you might consider becoming a virtual assistant. You can work with clients remotely, helping them with tasks such as scheduling, email management, and data entry.

Thinking Of Growing Your Side Hustle into a Full-Time Business?

If you're wanting to grow your side hustle and turn it into a sustainable business, you're on the right track. Many successful entrepreneurs in South Africa started with small, low-cost side hustle ideas just like these. The key is to treat your hustle like a business from day one.

Start by registering your business, tracking your income and expenses, building a brand, and creating a digital presence through social media or a professional website. Don’t forget to explore online tools and payment solutions that can help you manage operations efficiently.

Looking for guidance? Check out our beginner's guide to starting a business in South Africa and learn how to take your side hustle to the next level.

From home businesses to retail shops, the iK Flyer is your all-in-one smart card machine to print receipts, track sales and grow your hustle

What’s Next?

The good news is that you do not need a lot of cash to start any of these side hustles. Dedication and patience are crucial but most importantly, planning.