Rising cost of living means Tamworth locals opt for side hustles to supplement income

Many people are transforming their passions and skills into a form of secondary income, to supplement their primary one.

Edwina Carrigan has found a winner of a side hustle.

Edwina's Dress Hire indulges her passion for fashion and at the same time fills a huge gap in the Tamworth fashion market.

Ms Carrigan's journey into the world of side hustles began when she noticed a trend among her friends and family.

Whenever one of them had a fancy event to attend, they'd do one of two things; spend hours trolling through clothing sites to find an outfit, or ask Ms Carrigan if they could borrow a dress.

"There are all these events that happen in Tamworth, like weddings or the White Elephant Ball," she said.

"There's really nothing for event wear. I feel like everyone has to step away from Tamworth, which is sad, because that's not putting money into the local economy. It's all going online, or to big corporate companies."

"And because I have a great wardrobe, I love fashion, and that's something that I've always been interested in, so I just thought, yeah, I can do it as a little side hustle and see how it goes."

She launched her business on Instagram and it was an overnight sensation.

"I've already had so many bookings. It's honestly been amazing. I think I've gained almost just shy of 700 followers within about two weeks," she said.

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Her business at the moment mainly rents out prominent Australian designer clothes such as Aje, Zimmermann, Rachel Gilbert and Rebecca Vallance.

Ms Carrigan said her side business has not only allowed her to reap the rewards, but is also helping others within the community combat the effects of the cost of living.

"I feel like obviously with the rise in cost of living this is also benefiting a lot of other people, than just myself. Like hiring the high end brands is far cheaper for the person, then just to buying it and wear it once," she said.

Ms Carrigan said her dress hire business slots perfectly alongside her day-to-day life, where she is a support teacher at a primary school in Manilla, and then at night is completing her masters in teaching.

Wanting to continue to grow her business, Ms Carrigan also recently launched a consignment service, where women from the area who have fancy dresses sitting in the back of their cupboards can rent them out for a cut of the profit.

"A lot of people in the area do have a lot of lovely clothes that are just sitting in their wardrobes. And it's a good way for them to make money without really lifting a finger," she said.

Another way for people to earn a lucrative second income is by breaking into the weekend market scene, to sell niche or artisanal products.

Gunnedah High School art teacher Angelique Boyce has turned her ceramics hobby into a booming pottery stall.

"I've been teaching art for more than 20 years, when a friend and I started to attend a night time pottery class," Mrs Boyce said.

Never intending to sell her designs, she would instead give them to friends or family.

But, through her non-conventional designs and word of mouth, Mrs Boyce found her audience.

"I was glazing them and giving them away to people. They'd tell me they loved these [designs] as they were different to traditional pottery and I thought there might be something there," Mrs Boyce said.

From that day forward WobbleeWares was born, and two years on she's a smash on the weekend/holiday market scene throughout the New England area.

Mrs Boyce said she hopes to expand the e-commerce side of WobbleeWares, and one day turn it into a main stream of income.

"In time, I want to clean my shed out and run classes or do children's parties or hen's days. I'd like to develop it further into a business," she said.

"I can't teach forever. As much as I love teaching, it really does get wearing on you, and in time I want to do something I love, love, love doing."

To keep up with the demand at the markets Mrs Boyce will pull all-nighters, after a long day of teaching and taking care of her family.

"Some days I do get tired ... but just the creativity and the making process makes up for it," she said.

At a regular weekend market she'll can turnover anywhere between $60 - $600. But, when it comes to Mothers Day or Christmas markets, she can make between $3,000 to $4,000.

The majority of the money does go back into the business. But, the profits from her pottery stall have helped to cover the costs of her family farm.

"Any money I make now is a bonus for me. It'll be paying for an open crop and a few other things on the farm," she said.

"[The business] has helped pay off a loan, so I could buy a new caravan.

"But, anything I've been making is going back into the business or paying off stuff on the farm."

The average Australian household budget is under intense pressure at the moment with the rise of inflation.

Essential costs, like food, petrol and electricity, have risen out of sight in the last 12 months, making it hard for some to keep up. And there is little sign of that easing any time soon.

The gig and side hustle economy is helping to fill this growing demand for extra income.

The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 6.5 per cent of all employed people, or almost 900,000 Australians, work multiple jobs. They do it to offset the rising cost of living.

That's the reality for photographer Sarah Perkins, who has taken on three extra jobs on top of her own business to pay for the essentials.

"Cost of living since COVID ended has been a killer and until everything turns around it's not practical to try and do it on my own with one job," owner of SP View Photography Sarah Perkins said.

Ms Perkins runs her real estate photography business and spends her nights on shift as a hospitality worker, or in retail.

On the weekend she is a pet sitter.

Ms Perkins said that one of the downsides to working multiple jobs is having to sacrifice her social life.

"There isn't as many full time jobs that equal out the cost of living," she said.

"So I think that there is enough opportunities to do multiple things to create that source of income. But at the same time it's sort of a catch 22."

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