These days most of us are looking for that extra way that we can earn a bit more cash. Here are 5 ways that you can make money with your home with very little effort.
1. Rent your room
Renting out one of your spare rooms to a full time lodger is a simple way to earn yourself £4,250 tax free and if you don’t mind paying income tax on anything above this total you can earn a lot more. You can also ask for a month’s advance in rent so you can get instant cash injection.
If having a full-time lodger doesn’t suit your lifestyle you can take on Monday-Friday lodgers or take in travellers. Travellers and Monday-Friday lodgers will be looking for cheap accommodation so you can undercut local hotels on nightly prices.
If you live in Council accommodation or housing association property you can take on a lodger to avoid the bedroom tax, however, you need to check your housing agreement whether this allowed.
Interested in renting out your spare room? You can do it one of two ways, either through the ‘rent a room scheme’ or by deducting expenses of mortgage interest costs.
2. Renewable energy for your home
If you have any spare cash, investing in eco energy solutions for your home are a great way to earn money and reduce home living costs for a long period of time with relatively low effort.
Wind turbines and solar panels are eligible for UK government Feed-In tariffs; this means you can earn money from the electricity generated. You can also receive payments for the electricity you don’t use and export to the local grid.
The amount you get paid will depend on when the system is installed, its size and type. The Feed-In tariff rate increases with inflation and is tax-free! So you get paid for all the energy you generate, save money on your electricity bill because you won’t need to buy any from your energy provider and you get paid for any electricity exported to the national grid.
3. Take in foreign students
If you live close to a secondary school, college or language school you can put your name down to take in foreign students as a ‘host’ family. You can earn from £80 per student per week depending on the accommodation standard where you can keep the majority of the money from the taxman.
4. Rent out garage space and parking space
Rent spare garage/attic space out for storage at around 60% the cost of a commercial storage company. You can also rent out your parking space(s)– parking spaces in London charge around £200 per car per month. However, you will need to apply for planning permission as renting out a car parking space constitutes as a change in use.
These methods are the newest forms of earning money from your house and have not been around very long so you will need to research whether renting out your storage space or car parking space are appropriate for your neighbourhood and home insurance.
5. Create a side-line business in your spare time from home
If you are talented with crafts, jewellery and artwork you can sell your creations on a range of websites to earn yourself extra cash. You will be able to earn more if you can sell yourself well.
Become a Secret Shopper for companies such as marketforce where you can be paid in freebies, vouchers or some cash.
Set up a weekend/evening cleaning company for local residents. This can earn you from £10 an hour upwards. This can also be used as part of your fitness regime if you clean with vigour, therefore, saving you money on trips to the gym.
Sites like peopleperhourlook for freelance workers to ‘bid’ on projects that have been posted by businesses for work ranging from website work to marketing campaigns. It is free to join.
There are many other ways to earn extra cash from the comfort of your home, research which jobs are available depending on your skills and passions, and ones where you can dictate your hours and pick up every time you need cash to fit around your lifestyle.
