JENNY Reynolds has turned dust into gold without having to lift a finger.
The 35-year-old has made nearly £300 from a household gadget that she hardly uses.
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Mum-of-two Jenny is letting other people rent out her carpet cleaner.
Instead of leaving the device to sit in a cupboard, Jenny has been listing it on a marketplace called Pa-rent where other people pay her money to borrow it.
Since starting in 2021, she has rented out the cleaner around 30 times, charging £10 for every 24-hour it’s loaned out.
Jenny told The Sun: “It’s easy money and the cleaner just sits in the cupboard most of the time so we might as well make some money from it.”
Originally picking up the gadget for £120 on Facebook marketplace, she has already covered the cost and then some.
Jenny, who lives just outside Edinburgh with her husband David, 37, and two sons, Charlie, 5, and Ben, one, has raked in £180 of profit.
She first heard about Pa-rent on a local Facebook group and has since made £286 over the past 14 months, topping up her regular salary from teaching full time.
She said: “It’s much cheaper than other carpet cleaner rental companies that charge £25 a day.
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“So it means we get a lot of people who are interested. It’s not a common household item that people tend to own.”
She has also started listing a child’s electric trike with the hope of making more cash.
How does it work?
Lenders on Pa-rent are charged a 20% fee on the rental amount.
So for Jenny, £2 is deducted each time she loans out her carpet cleaner, leaving her with £8.
Each lender can set their own price for the rental, how long it’s available for, and block out any days they might not want the item on loan.
For example we saw two sofas listed for £150 a month, a birthing pool for £50 and single bed for £5.
Once the lender accepts the booking request, the borrower’s card is debited.
You can arrange a place for collection if you live close to the renter.
Alternatively, the borrower and the lender are both free to arrange a delivery between them.
Lenders receive the money at the end of the rental period, once the borrower has marked the transaction as complete.
If the borrower isn’t happy with the item they can raise a dispute which will be referred to Pa-rent to determine.
If that happens, the funds may be paid to you or returned to the borrower, depending on the outcome.
If the borrower doesn’t take any action, the cash will automatically be released to you 85 days after the booking request.
The borrower is responsible for ensuring that the item doesn’t get lost or damaged during the rental period and is liable to reimburse the lender if it does.
But, if the item breaks or stops working during the rental period because of an issue with the item itself, the borrower is entitled to return the item and seek a refund for the remainder of the rental period.
If the two can’t agree on the correct course of action, the matter can be referred to the dispute resolution service by contacting the Pa-rent team via the website or by email.
You can lend – or borrow – all sorts of items from kids bouncy castles to running machines.
Of course the money you can make will depend on the demand for the item.
And there are other sites which also allow you to rent out your belongings.
Rental site Fat Llama also allows lenders to list their items online while others can browse and rent them out.
It does charge a 25% lender fee which is taken off of the amount you’re paid.
Other sites will allow you to rent out various possessions, for example we spoke to a woman who managed to make £9,000 by renting out her clothes on By Rotation.
People also make extra cash by renting out their parking spaces and driveways too on sites like Your Parking Space.
Be aware of tax
It’s worth remembering that anything you earn with a side hustle can be taxed.
You can earn up to £1,000 without paying tax thanks to the trading allowance.
According to HMRC, the odd jobs you can claim tax-free include money made at car boot sales, online selling or auction.
It could also include money made from food delivery or by charging other people for using your equipment or tools.
Once you earn more than £1,000 a year, you need to complete a self-assessment tax return and start paying tax on your extra earnings.
How much that is will depend on how much you already earn.
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