Our Main Side Hustle

We are fortunate to live in an area that people want to visit. Our town is a year-round tourist destination. We have small-town charm and beautiful scenery, as well as a small college and a number of summer camps and conference centers. We’re also only 20 minutes from a larger city that is even more of a draw for tourists. Our biggest side hustle capitalizes on that.

Our Vacation Rental

We own the house next door and market it as a vacation rental. We bought it in 2014 when our neighbors were moving and needed to sell their house. My wife only works 15-20 hours per week, and she was looking for another source of income. We had been tossing around the idea of running a vacation rental, and it seemed like the perfect time (and place) to start a side hustle. Our neighbors had fully remodeled the 98-year old house in 2007, so after we bought it, we only needed to add a few updates. We bought furniture and decor from IKEA and thrift stores. We also scored several items for free from friends and from Craigslist.

Our home is listed on VRBO.com, and we manage the bookings and do all of the cleaning and maintenance between guests ourselves. Our philosophy is to have a home that we would want to stay in ourselves while on vacation. To that end, our decor is simple and comfortable. We have received over 70 reviews from past guests, and all of them are 5-star. Several people have commented that they feel like they are staying in their home away from home. Many of our guests have stayed more than once.

How We Manage Our Side Hustle

Because the house is next door to where we live, it is super convenient to clean and take care of any issues that come up. I think it also helps deter people from having big parties or treating the house poorly. We don’t require a damage deposit, and have never had an issue with damage beyond reasonable wear and tear. We also have a minimum 2-night stay. This keeps us from having to clean the house every day.

While it is sometimes tedious and repetitive to clean the house several times a week, we know that we’re earning money for ourselves while we do it. We allow ourselves 4 hours between guests, and can usually have the house ready in 2 or 3. We’ve divided up the labor so that we’re each responsible for several tasks. During the summer, it can be a challenge to clean the house and also do the yard work in that 4-hour window, but we make it work.

I work 10 days per month at the fire department, so the other 20 or so can be devoted to the rental if need be. On days that I work and we have guests checking out and others checking in, it can be tough on my wife. When I see those days coming, I plan it so the yard work is done ahead of time. She works extra hard to get the house ready by herself while homeschooling our daughter. Then she and our daughter head off to my wife’s job teaching art!

Does It Make Us Money?

In the 2.5 years we’ve owned it, the rental income has paid for all of our operating costs (mortgage, utilities, supplies, insurance, maintenance) each month. The house has generated a profit in most months as well. Depending on the season (because our rates vary), we need between 8-10 nights of occupancy per month to cover our costs. Any nights booked beyond that are profit. We have a separate bank account for the house. It has enough reserve cash in it to cover a relatively major repair or emergency.

It’s nice to have other people build our equity in the property for us. We won’t own it forever, though. Our eventual plan is to buy a large piece of land and build a small house on it to live in. When we sell it, our rental house will likely pay for a large portion of the land and new house.

More Side Hustles

Next time, I’ll talk about what else we do to help diversify our income. If needed, I also have a couple of fallback side hustles. I’ll also share with you what I really want to do with my spare time.

Do you bring in extra income? How do you do it?