Melbourne nurse and teacher making thousands of dollars extra a year from side hustles

Despite being on a teacher’s and nurse’s salary, these two young Aussies have found creative ways to afford a $60,000 wedding, a brand-new car and a house.

Young Aussies new to the workforce aren’t content with their salary – and many are making heaps more money outside of office hours.

New research from Australian online marketplace Airtasker found that the average Generation Z – a person born in the mid to late 90s and the early 2000s – is making an extra $429 on average a month from side hustles.

In fact, some people are earning as much as $14,000 a month on top of their normal wage.

Amanda Lam, a 23-year-old nurse from Melbourne, wanted to save up $60,000 for her wedding.

She made an extra $5000 in 30 days after signing up to AirTasker.

“I’m a workaholic,” Ms Lam admitted to news.com.au. “Earning on the side is not a problem for me, I like to fill my hours.”

She’s not alone. Veronica Jankulovski, a 24-year-old teacher, managed to score her own home in August thanks to working as a model after school hours.

Schoolteacher Veronica Jankulovski has bought a brand-new car and a new house using the money earned outside of work.

Ms Lam and her fiance are getting married next year but their large extended families means they must pay for about 250 guests, with their budget snowballing from $30,000 to $60,000.

He husband-to-be is “not earning enough” on a graduate engineer salary and she also didn’t see how her pay packet could help with their wedding savings goal.

So the couple made a joint Airtasker account in early August, finding they had extra time on their hands during Melbourne’s sixth lockdown.

Ms Lam has scored all kinds of jobs on the platform, “mainly” helping clients with resume and cover letters but also occasionally tutoring people in science because of her background as a nurse.

Last month, she helped a dental assistant with her assessments.

So far, she’s put an extra $7000 in her pocket.

With a laugh, she explained that her partner tried it but wasn’t keen, only doing one job on the platform to date.

However, Ms Lam said she feared she was “burning out”.

“I was working in the mornings, then I came home and I was up till 1am, constantly doing that, I enjoyed it but I did get sick.

“Then I slowed down a bit, still doing the odd jobs here and there.”

She uses the extra money to “treat herself”, allowing her to put aside her main income into savings.

Although on a nurse’s salary, Ms Lam is still throwing an extravagant wedding because of the creative ways she’s earning extra cash.

Amanda Lam is getting married next year.

Veronica Jankulovski, 24, was in a similar boat.

On a teacher’s salary of $72,000 a year, she knew she needed to do more if she wanted to buy a house.

That was when she turned to a secondary income. She works as a model and a tutor to earn extra cash to nab her dream home.

“With all my side hustles, I’m making between $400-$600 a month, depending on how much I pick up,” Ms Jankulovski told news.com.au.

The graduate primary school teacher, also from Melbourne, sometimes gets paid for her modelling gigs or receives free products as payment.

“Ever since I could legally start working at 14 and nine months old, I’ve been working,” she said.

“I started off in a cafe for $8 an hour, worked at the cinemas, then I’d work two jobs at a time at uni.

“Even now I’m a full-time teacher, but I work part-time as a tutor, part-time as a model.”

Veronica Jankulovski is a teacher and a plus-size model.

Ms Jankulovski learnt the virtues of having multiple gigs on the go from a young age, purchasing a $24,000 brand new car for herself last year.

But not willing to stop there, she kept working once she landed a full-time teaching job at the beginning of this year after graduating from her degree.

Two months ago, she bought a 294sq m block of land in West Melbourne for $287,000.

She had to fork out an initial 5 per cent deposit of $14,450 to secure the vacant lot with the rest of the 20 per cent deposit due at settlement next year.

Once the property is settled, she’s going to start building her dream home.

Of her multiple side hustles, Ms Jankulovski said “it’s just money coming in, coming in, coming in”.

She graduated university last year.

She purchased a block of land in Melbourne in August.

Ms Jankulovski said her school schedule means working on the side is very possible, as she gets around 12 weeks off every year for school holidays while still receiving her salary.

“When it’s school holidays, I work at a tutoring centre,” she explained.

“I co-ordinate it and run it for those weeks.

“School holidays is my peak for all my side hustles.”

She says she feels a lot of judgment flung her way but doesn’t mind.

“A lot of people question me, ‘Why do you work too hard?’,” the schoolteacher recalled.

“The reason behind it is I like to challenge myself and prove a lot of people wrong and also myself (by) smashing goals.

“Two years ago I went in hospital for bad hips and had to learn to walk again.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to live independently and get off my walking stick. But I’ve been off my walking stick since this year.”