Inflation: Side hustles are keeping these Toronto Gen Z afloat

Grocery prices are the highest they’ve been in 40 years, rents in Toronto are soaring, and even with home values dwindling, real estate sale prices are still averaging more than $1 million.

People across the country are feeling the squeeze, with 85 per cent of Canadians concerned their pay isn’t keeping up with inflation, and 28 per cent of adults taking on a gig job, according to a recent report by H&R Block.

So how are young people — newer to the job and housing markets — faring in Toronto?

We spoke with six people in their mid-twenties and early thirties about how they’re using side hustles to pay bills, save up and sometimes spend on nice things for themselves, while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

Hazel Levin

Occupation: Policy analyst in international trade

Main job salary: $70,000

Side hustle: Dog walking, dog sitting and hosting at a restaurant

Although Levin said she’s making “good money,” the pay still isn’t sustainable for her, considering the high cost of living in Toronto.

Levin’s been dog sitting as a side hustle, while she cares for her own German shepherd. It’s something she’s picked up off and on for the last five years.

Working from home has allowed Levin to put in about 25 hours per week caring for dogs out of her apartment, with some of the work coinciding with her day job, and some of it extending past those hours.

Additionally, Levin works about 25 hours each week hosting at an upscale restaurant in downtown Toronto.

“I don’t even go out with my friends anymore. I don’t go for drinks. I can’t afford to go out to restaurants,” she said, adding that she only “indulges” once in a while due to the high cost and her limited time.

Right now, her biggest financial challenges are paying for rent, car insurance and tuition for her Master’s program, all while saving to buy a condo in the city with her dad.

“I try to save all my money so I can afford to maybe go on a trip or something because everything’s so expensive.”

Ken Obinugwu

Occupation: E-commerce consultant

Main job salary: $40,000 to $60,000

Side hustle: Sells electric scooters

Making just enough at work to pay for his rent and car payments — and leaving little to cover his phone bill and groceries — Obinugwu began selling electric scooters on the side in 2021, spending up to 25 hours a week on the project. He’d buy the scooters at a wholesale price from an independent supplier and resell them on Facebook Marketplace.

Though the side hustle paid off, the upfront costs were a challenge to manage.

“I broke my savings,” he said. “I actually had to borrow a lot of money from my sister at the time,” he said, adding that he enjoyed the process, regardless, because he loves scooters.

At the beginning, his earnings were small, but over time, Obinugwu began selling for larger distributors and started an online store of his own. He’s had the business — T-Dot Wheels — for a year and a half.

Liam Ryan

Occupation: Team lead and campaign manager at a marketing agency

Main job salary: $55,000 to $65,000

Side hustle: Sells vintage clothing

With an interest in thrifting and digital marketing, Ryan started Revived Vintage when he was in college. While he said the earnings didn’t match what a full-time or part-time job may have paid, he liked the flexibility of having his own business.

“I started this five or six years ago when I was unemployed and in school, but I have continued because it assists me and subsidizes my expenses,” he said. “I typically aim to use the profits (from) my side hustle to pay phone bills, gas, insurance and car payments.”

Ryan added that over the last two or three years, the vintage clothing company has averaged “five-figures in profit.”

“My salary has increased over time, but so has everything else, so my side hustle is a must,” he said, adding that he’s enjoyed applying his eye for fashion with the project.

Emily MacCallum

Occupation: PhD candidate in musicology at the University of Toronto

Main job salary: $17,500 yearly stipend

Side hustle: Nannying, teaching assistant, work study jobs

As a full-time PhD Candidate, MacCallum has had to cobble together her income with several side hustles, which has led to some precarity. To make matters worse, she said she and her partner were recently evicted, so their landlord could move in.

For the time being, they’re living with relatives, while they consider the best option for more permanent housing arrangements.

As part of her academic funding package, MacCallum is expected to be a teaching assistant, with up to about $8,000 of those earnings included in her $17,500 stipend.

The school’s work study program offers additional opportunities listed on a centralized website, she said. Through it, she’s worked one-off jobs and part-time gigs, such as an IT position and a print support job. Currently, she is working a research position. Her pay with these gigs has ranged from $15 to $24 per hour.

But MacCallum has balanced studying and working for several years, landing an occasional nannying job with a friend years ago that now pays up to $200 per day.

“They don’t really live in Toronto anymore, but sometimes I’ll go … for a week or two and look after their kid while they go on holiday,” she said.

However, MacCallum has said she’s sometimes wondered if she could have skipped taking an extra job.

“I probably would have had more time to, like, make food for myself and save,” she said.

Veronica Podluzski

Occupation: Social media manager

Main job salary: $64,000

Side hustle: Part-time community marketing manager, freelance social media manager, TikTokker

As Podluzski and her partner save for a down payment on a home, she has been working an extra 20 to 30 hours a week. Some of that is spent as a part-time marketing manager, doing social media for a real estate company a few hours a week and occasionally doing paid partnerships on TikTok, where she has more than 50,000 followers.

“With my main job, it can only really just cover my cost of living,” Podluzski said. “I (have) found that with these secondary sources of income am I able to actually save some money and also, God forbid, spend it on some nice things like a vacation here and there.”

While she has little free time on weekdays, Podluzski said she likes to keep busy on weekends seeing friends and family.

Maha Alavi

Occupation: Industrial designer at interior design studio

Main job salary: $60,000 to $70,000

Side hustle: Sells hardware and furniture designs

On weekdays, Alavi is busy designing furniture at her day job. Beyond her 9 to 7 shifts, she’s designing and building furniture and hardware — such as cabinet pulls and knobs — as part of her own small business.

She started selling her line of hardware in 2020 through a local retailer. Seeing its success, the designer decided to produce a larger collection on her own.

With her savings and some help from her parents, Alavi expanded her line and after two years of prep, she launched, Maha Alavi Studio, this past January.

Alavi also designs furniture on a freelance basis for her own clients.

“On the weekends, I try to have at least one day where I’m just binge watching something and not doing anything work-related at all,” she said.

Over time, she’d like to have her side hustles become her main source of income, so she reinvests her profits in her business.

Right now, she said her biggest financial challenge is paying her rent in downtown Toronto where she lives on her own.

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