This post may contain affiliate links.
Scandinavia is one of the most expensive regions of the world but seeing it by bike is one of the most economical ways to see the region and, from what I’ve been reading, one of the best ways to experience the region as Scandinavians do. Camping most nights and foraging when possible will reduce the cost of this trip significantly. It doesn’t hurt that I also love wild berries and have been discovered half tangled in a roadside blackberry bush in a juice stained kit by my riding partners on more than one occasion.
When I started planning this trip I decided that if I was serious I should be able to raise the funds for it outside of my day job. I live in San Francisco which is a very easy place to pick up some quick low paying work due to the high cost of living, people with extremely busy, demanding, and high paying jobs, and the advent of smartphones.
On-demand gig economy jobs are perfect for picking up some extra cash while maintaining your freedom. I remembered how little free time I had when I worked several jobs before but these apps are contracted one-off jobs, I can take them whenever I feel like it without having to manage schedules. If something comes up while I’m working I can just turn the app off and go home. Some weeks I didn’t have much going on and would work all weekend; when I took two months off from riding last year there was no boss to call and explain my situation, I simply didn’t log onto the app. Delivering food by bike has the added benefit of training while working and getting used to riding my bike while carrying supplies (although dinners are far lighter than carrying all of your stuff for months on the road) and testing out new gear.
Food Delivery
I started by downloading the Postmates app then added UberEats and DoorDash. I liked the user experience of Postmates the best which is why I chose to use it the most but they each run different promotions so I would generally work for whoever was offering the best rates. Postmates is the only one of the three that has a walking mode which limits requests to pickups and dropoffs generally less than a mile from your current location. I live near a pizza place so if I’ll often leave it on walking mode while I’m doing chores around the house and if a local job comes in then I’ll run out for 10-20 minutes.
I find food delivery really fun. I get to ride my bike around, I’m forced off my very well-trodden paths, I discover new restaurants, I get to see the inside of many different apartment buildings, and I get to give people their dinner which usually makes them happy. The only real downside is that I go through brake pads on my bike much faster due to all the city riding. One of my favorite financial bloggers also does food deliveries on his bike for fun; feel free to read his take on it to see that I’m not the only one who enjoys this!
Get Paid to Walk Around
Jobspotter pays me (in Amazon credit) to take pictures of hiring signs at local businesses. I love walking everywhere and San Francisco is a labor crunched market so this one has pretty consistently paid out $50-$100 a month depending on how busy I am. Now when I go anywhere I’m hyperaware of whether or not stores are hiring. I’ve noticed while traveling that most places have almost no posted hiring signs in the window. It has made me even more aware at how different the bay area economy is compared to the rest of the country.
Achievement is almost completely passive on the user side. You link your fitness tracking app to their site and they give you points for activities. Once you have 10k points you get $10. I found it takes roughly 6 months to accumulate enough points so you won’t get rich doing this but it’s completely passive once you set it up. If your fitness tracker logs your sleep you can get points for that data making this the only app that actually pays you while you’re sleeping!
It All Works Together
These three income streams all support each other. I pass many more businesses than I normally would while doing deliveries so I pass more help wanted signs. The more activity I log, the more points I get from Achievement which gets me to the 10k threshold faster. Additionally, these activities all keep me busy which prevents me from spending money that I don’t need to spend. Fortunately everything is quite flexible so I have never felt like I missed out on anything because I have to go to work. When I worked in yoga studios I sometimes felt like I was missing out on a good social life because I couldn’t just skip a shift or find a sub for my class if a cool opportunity came up last minute and I never wanted to be that person who was always trying to get her shift covered.
