IF your home is costing you a fortune, get it to earn its keep.
With hefty living costs, as well as council tax and broadband bills rising next month, some extra money will be very handy.
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Here, Mel Hunter gives a floor-to-ceiling guide to cashing in on every room.
Clear your wardrobe
CONSIDER selling any clothes you clear out from your bedroom.
You can make a mint selling on sites like Vinted, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Shpock and Depop.
High street stores that will exchange old clothes for cash include M&S, via its schwopping scheme with Oxfam, H&M, Schuh, Levi’s and John Lewis.
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With up to £10 cashback, this could bring down the cost of new threads.
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Be a cleanfluencer
EVEN the bathroom can stop your money disappearing down the plug hole, if you’re an expert on cleaning hacks and tips.
The hashtag #CleanTok has more than 65billion views on TikTok.
So if you can get enough followers and monetise your channel by featuring products and adverts, showing others how to shift toilet stains or upgrade grouting could earn you cash
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Top cleanfluencer Mrs Hinch, who raked in £2.8million last year, started out showing tips from her home on Instagram.
‘I’m scared,’ says widow, 50, with no retirement savings – but she’s told ‘no need to cry’ if she makes 3 changes
Cash in with film crew
YOU can cash in from your sitting or dining room by renting the space to a location company to use for films, TV or photoshoots.
But you’ll also need a relaxed attitude as having a film crew in your home can be quite disruptive.
Check with your home insurers whether you need to take out extra cover before registering with an agency such as Lavish Locations, Amazing Spaces or Shoot Factory.
They’ll register your property for free and take a commission if it gets used.
You could make between £300 and £1,000 a day. Never use any agencies that ask for money up front.
You could also rent out your space to freelancers needing a workspace.
Maria Jones, 46, runs workshops for yoga teachers from an Aberdeen dining room (yuvayoga.co.uk), saving a fortune on renting a studio.
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Charge to store stuff
LOFTS are often big empty spaces, which can be ideal for storing other people’s stuff.
Use a website such as stashbee.com to rent out your free space.
Bruce Ume, 45, from South London, has been renting space through the site since the end of 2022.
He has so far made more than £2,200 – around £140 a month – by providing room for other people’s clothes, kitchenware and children’s equipment,
Stashbee has around 100,000 registered users, with renters making an average £1,300 a year.
Be an Airbnb host
IF you have an empty bedroom, you can earn up to £7,500 per year tax-free if you opt into the Government’s Rent a Room scheme (or half as much if you share the income with someone else).
List your space on Airbnb or spareroom.co.uk. According to SpareRoom, the average monthly rent for a room outside London is £647, and £1,014 in the capital.
Professional organiser Katherine Blackler (sortmyspace.co.uk) rents out her two-bed London home on Airbnb when she’s away travelling, charging up to £160 a night.
She says: “Airbnb has been a welcome financial lifeline.”
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Do jobs others hate
SOME people hate housework and will pay others to get it done.
Charge a flat rate for ironing a basket of clothes and you’ll soon smooth your own financial furrows.
Although you may need professional insurance and top-notch equipment, you could easily make £10 to £15 an hour.
If you’re a keen cook, or an expert in a certain cuisine, you could host pop-up dinner parties or cooking classes.
Website eatwith.com matches cooks with other foodies. You could charge between £20 and £80 per person.
Check with your council if you need a food safety certificate or permissions.
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Parking
YOU can also make money from outside space by renting out your drive.
Try websites JustPark, Parklet and Park On My Drive. JustPark hosts make an average of £419 a year, though some make as much as £4,000.
Becca Abbott, 67, who lives close to a Tube station and football ground in West London, makes more than £200 a month.
Stay safe and legal
- Contact HMRC if you’re unsure or make more than £1,000 a year from your side hustle.
- Check your venture is covered by your home and contents insurance.
- Consider public liability or professional indemnity insurance and check with your council if you need any special permits.
- Letting anyone into your home carries risks. Have someone with you before opening the door to strangers.
Moves to cut red tape on pension transfers
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NEW rules are being planned to stop firms taking too long to move savers’ pensions.
Multiple industry sources told The Sun that the Department for Work and Pensions is working on re-drafting its own rules to help stop pension transfers being blocked without good reason.
It comes as thousands of low-risk transfers were delayed last year as a result of legislation to help prevent scams.
A pension transfer is where you move one of your pensions to another provider or merge your pots.
Rules introduced in 2021 required pension schemes to raise an “amber flag” if they had concerns.
A freedom of information request by The Sun revealed this happened with 16,482 transfers in the year to January 31.
Industry experts believe the pension rules have been interpreted too literally, resulting in thousands of legitimate transfers being blocked.
HARD-UP households could see their energy bills slashed by up to £400 a year with a new £75million fund.
The money is aimed at upgrading thousands of homes with poor insulation and outdated heating systems.
It will be offered to 42 councils and housing associations across England to help them co-fund installations in up to 8,800 homes.
Houses will be fitted with wall and loft insulation, double glazing, heat pumps and solar panels.
Households will not be limited to one installation. If eligible, those living in social housing will not need to do anything as their housing provider will contact them.
Other households will need to check what their local authority has on offer and may need to apply.
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Contact your local council to find out more.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “The funding will give housing associations the certainty and confidence they need to plan and deliver more retrofit projects, tackle fuel poverty and improve their residents’ homes”.
