Up Your Wealth Wednesday is a new personal finance series I am bringing over to Futures every Wednesday. I love writing about personal finance – about making money, saving money and everything in between. I hope you enjoy this series. The series was given its name by my fabulous partner in crime, Sarah.
We could all do with a bit of extra income every now and again. Here is a list of my 10 ideas for extra income. Some may be a little random but give them a try.
Collecting Roadkill
No, don’t worry! I don’t mean picking up dead animals from the side of the road, I mean picking up any change you may see on the pavement that others have carelessly discarded. Often it is just little pennies and 5p coins but sometimes you can find a lot more! Whilst this won’t be a fantastic money maker, I’ve known people to get up to £60 in a month which would be a very handy amount of extra income, right? You can read more about roadkill here.
Pet Sitting/House Sitting/Baby Sitting
These are perhaps some of the most popular sources of extra income – I personally have done all of the above at various stages in my life! I’ve pet sat for my former boss when he went away, house sat for my friends parents and babysat for my neighbours and friends children. Some personal finance bloggers have even changed these from their side hustles into fully formed businesses too – kudos to Crystal from Budgeting In The Fun Stuff for her pet sitting business!
Completing Online Surveys
I have been doing this for many years now and whilst these will never bring in the big bucks, it is nice to know that a few big cheques or Paypal payments are winging their way to me every year! I’m about to cash out on Populus again and have a few edging closer to payout!
Selling Your Old Stuff
I think everyone knows about this but so many people don’t actually do it. This is probably the first thing I would tell anyone to do in regards to making some extra income for yourself. I wrote recently about the best places to sell your old stuff and if you want to sell a specialist item, auction houses are worth a try!
Utilising Your Hobby
If you can sew, why not make items and sell them online or at craft fairs? Perhaps even create some sewing patterns and sell those? Utilising your hobby is always a great idea for extra income as you get to make money doing what you love – check out So Sew Easy for inspiration here, they sell sewing patterns for the items they have made! Make sure though that you register with HMRC.
Make Your Garden Earn For You
This is something I am always telling my retired Dad to do – I mentioned in my post yesterday that he grows his own fruit and vegetables and thus he is always making jams, chutneys, soups and more – and they always taste great! He could make himself some nice extra income if he was to sell his creations – he often gives them away to family, friends and neighbours – all who would happily pay for them! I often come home armed full of piles of fruit and veg or his latest chutney!
Take Part In Market Research
Market research is by no means a regular source of extra income so don’t ever think that it will be but if you can spare some minutes of your time to answer some questions (whether face to face, on the telephone or online), you can earn yourself some nice cash too. You need to make sure you fit the bill for the particular research though.
Affiliate Your Websites
This is something I have been doing for a little while now and I am wondering why I didn’t take it so seriously before. If you have a website, affiliate it. There is bound to be an affiliate scheme suitable for you. My main earner personally has to be the Amazon affiliate scheme but I am also an affiliate for a few other things too – such as the fab books by Becky and Paula – – you can find out more about their books here. (affiliate link)
Sell Your Space
If you own your own home and have a spare room or an empty driveway going spare, you most certainly aren’t utilising available avenues for extra income. Renting out a room to a lodger or a car parking space to a needy soul helps both of you out – one gets the space, the other gets a nice bit of money for doing their good deed. Just make sure to check people before giving them space in your home.
Use Cashback Websites
This is yet another that I can’t believe some people forget to do – especially when making big purchases. There are so many cashback websites around now that it is hard to choose which one to opt from – I have most success with TopCashback (referral link) but there are others available too.
Please do remember to register with HMRC for self employment if taking on some of these ideas. Whilst selling your old stuff and receiving cashback on your purchases isn’t taxable, the others are and you don’t want a hefty fine for not following the law!
Do you have any ideas for extra income? What do you do?
To get extra money I tend to do freelance work to utilize my skills but also I love to sell things on Ebay but the hassle of taking things to the post office can be exhausting x
We’ve managed to make a bit on eBay selling some of our old junk, great other tips though which I may end up utilizing some of.
We really love the cash back site and have recommended it to our readers too.
Some great ideas here, I tend to sell stuff to make a bit extra x
oh we do the roadkill the odd coins soon add up over the months – I keep meaning to look at the cashback sites but just never got around to it which is silly if it would save me some cash some great ideas here
I was wondering if you knew at what stage you have to be at to consider yourself self-employed because technically I am but I earn pennies practically. I am on the fence about affiliates but some blogger do praise it!
I always pick up pennies I see on the pavement. I have a whisky sleeve I save them in and then i donate everything in it once a year to the bairns guizing for Children in Need.
Great ways to make extra income here. I am implementing all.
Cashback websites are a brilliant idea, I really do need to do that! And selling old stuff it another good one. Also, I always pick up pennies “Find a penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck” is something my nan taught me when I was a little girl, aww. Great tips 🙂 xx
I used to do online surveys and although it wasn’t the best money, it was better than nothing and something I could do whilst watching the TV.
Oh well collecting roadkill I thought was going to be really interesting… lol x
Some really good tips. The only dog sitting I do is for my mum and she tends to pay by taking me to Costa lol the other tips are good though, I need to have a look into more market research
This is such a great post, I’m sharing it with a friend who is currently unable to work due to poor health and is looking for things he can do to make money from home. Do you need to be self-employed to complete online surveys and which sites do you recommend? I know of YouGov but not sure about others.
Some great ideas here – many I would never have considered. I need to look into it a little more as we could all do with a little more cash x
I’ve always wished I knew how to draw or sew or had some sort of a hobby that could be turned into cash. Roadkill is so smart although I tend to do this, but I generally mostly find pennies. As they say look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves loool.
Ooh some great ideas here! I do a lot of online surveys and sell things on eBay and makeup groups,every little helps!