Instacart as a side hustle

 Have you heard of Instacart. It is the largest online Marketplace in North America.

I did try Instacart before back in January 2025 just to see and I used to do small orders. But then I gave it away, got busy in life and so on and so forth. But this time I tried to do it again. Because my husband suggested I do it. And to be honest it was a good thing. 

Because prior to this I would keep sulking that I am not doing enough and what not and this seriously kept me busy. I tried it this week for three days Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Tuesday I took the kids with me and tried it. That was hectic. At one point I kept the kids in the car and went shopping but the pull between leaving my kids alone and shopping for others was so strong and also because it was taking so long to complete the order because I was doing it after a while, and the order was long and I had to find out by asking others it was demanding. So at one point in the middle of the order I left and brought the kids with me and then finished the order.

The next two days Wednesday and Friday I tried to do it while the kids were in school for about five hours which was my initial goal, to be productive while they are in school. Because otherwise I would be sitting at home, eating, watching nonsensical shows and it was affecting me.

Sure I have unemployment income coming in but still you need something to keep yourself busy and updated.

So since the Instacart worked on Tuesday I tried to do it on Wednesday, and this is when I made a good amount of money to be honest approximately $59 but it cost me something. I took a batch that I did not realize I did until I took it and then I realized I had to finish it and deliver it to three different people. 

So organizing and grabbing things did not create that much of a problem because everyone was in general helpful but when it came to delivering I realized I was going to be very late to pick up my kids.

That was actually the first time I felt that in a while because I used to work full time leave by 6:30am and Start work by 7:00am and leave work around 3:30pm to pick up my kids by 4ish Mind you both my kids one was in aftercare and one was in daycare ( not even a year old) horrible times but when It happened I went through that. 

I was almost 30 minutes late to pick up my daughter and likewise for my son because of their pick up times, because the location was far off and at first I thought I will pick up the kids and then go and deliver the remaining two locations after finishing the first but I realized It cost me a lot of time.

So after that experience when I did it again On Friday this time I was insistent that I am not taking any order after 1pm. But listen to this when I tell you. I made similar amount about $57 on Friday for the same amount of time which is 5 hours but this time the order that I took at 11am took me almost over hours to finish. This was a bigger order that the first batch that I did at costco of three orders on Wednesday and hence it took me longer almost 3.5 hours.

After doing this I have a back pain slightly closer to my tail bone.

So here's my breakdown if you want to do Instacart Shopping as a side hustle:

1) You can make it work but don't break your back in it. Pick orders with no tips that others wont pick up, and increase your Cart status. There are three Gold, Platinum and Diamond Cart. The higher the Cart status the more money you can make.

2) This income is not taxed so you need to set aside an amount to pay for it if you make a significant gain.

3)This is still a side gig. But combined with affiliate marketing you can make it work for you big time.

Want to make some extra money. Try Instacart shopping today.