If you want to make money uniquely and with minimal effort, you might consider renting out some of your possessions. But what kind of things can you rent out and how much can you really make?
Popular items to rent out:
- Clothes and accessories
- Tools
- Camping equipment
- Cars
- Home
- Spare room
- Parking space
I’ve checked out plenty of side hustles over the years. Some have been fun and quite lucrative, whilst others have been much more challenging work.
But how would you like to make money from minimal effort, using something you already own? Well, there are plenty of websites out there that will allow you to connect to people who may need something you have.
Let’s take a look at the most popular things to rent out to make money.
Clothes and accessories
In the UK, we’re slowly coming to the realisation that we’re becoming a little too wasteful when it comes to clothes. The fact is, we throw away a staggering £140m worth of wearable clothes every year.
So rather than buying a new outfit for that special occasion, consumers are now looking to rent them.
Now, we’re not talking about your £5 t-shirt from Primark here, but more about designer clothes. Sites like Hurr request that your items be worth at least £150 when bought new and belong to one of their chosen designers.
Hurr estimates that on average, lenders make their money back within 4 – 5 rentals and anything after that becomes a profit.
But it’s not only clothes that are in demand. People are keen to rent accessories like jewellery, belts and especially designer handbags.
Other sites worth checking out are:
Tools
I’m terrible at DIY. But that doesn’t seem to stop me from going to my nearest B&Q and stocking up on tools that I use once and will never see the light of day again.
If you’re in a similar position, instead of allowing your tools to collect dust, why not let somebody else make use of them and earn a bit of extra cash?
Even the simplest or smallest tools can be rented out, earning a few pounds. But if you have some heavier power tools in your collection… or maybe even a digger, you can start collecting far more money.
Fat Llama is one of the most popular sites in the UK when it comes to tool rental.
Camping equipment
If you’ve bought a load of camping gear but rarely get the time to use it, then it’s an ideal bit of kit to rent out to others. With families looking for a cheaper holiday, they’re often unwilling to shell out money for equipment they might only use for a couple of days.
Another big advantage to renting is for festival goers. Again, they only need the equipment for a short period and if you ever see the pictures of fields after a festival has finished, plenty of visitors just leave their tents behind rather than take them with them.
Using a rental site like Tentshare will help to save campers money and reduce waste.
Your car
With more of us working from home, we’re finding that there can be less of a need to use our cars. And if you find yourself in that situation, you could rent yours out.
By renting a car from an individual rather than a company, customers have the potential to save a lot of money. Plus, they have more of a chance of finding a more appropriate car for other needs.
Hiyacar claims that vehicle owners using their site can earn up to £650 per month.
Or space on your car
Instead of hiring out your car, why not let companies advertise on it? StickerRide pays users cash for allowing adverts to be written across their car.
Your home
If you fancy going away for a couple of weeks and usually leave your home empty, then you could make some money back by renting it out to others.
If you live in a desirable area or holiday hotspot, you could make a lot of money. Airbnb users earn, on average, around £70 per night. And with over 150 million Airbnb guests worldwide, there are plenty of potential customers.
It does take work though and you will need to make sure that your house is clean and that you provide things like fresh bedding and decent WiFi.
Spare room
If you don’t fancy renting out your whole house but have a spare room, then a room rental can become quite a money-spinner. With housing space a little pushed in the UK and mortgage and rental prices so high, many people look for just a single room as a cheaper alternative.
One big advantage to renting out a room is the fact that the government allows you to earn up to £7,500 each year tax-free, thanks to its Rent a Room Scheme.
Of course, you need to consider that you will lose some of your privacy, so you need to weigh up whether the money is worthwhile.
You can use a site like SpareRoom if you have a space available.
Parking space
Perhaps you have your own property but you don’t want somebody moving in with you? Another option for making an income is by renting out your driveway, garage or allotted space
If you live in a town, city or close to a train station or major attraction, commuters will often be willing to use your space rather than pay extortionate parking costs elsewhere.
You can rent out your space to one person over the long term or allow multiple people to use it on more of an ad-hoc basis. This could pay more, but a long-term, steady renter gives you a guaranteed income.
Depending on where you live, you could make over £200 per month from renting out your space.
There are plenty of sites you can use, including:
Everything else
Within reason, you can more-or-less rent out anything you own. Going back to Fat Llama, they allow you to list all manner of items from projectors to instruments to cameras to DJ equipment. If you think that someone might have a need for your stuff, then you could always list it on their site. You never know!
Any downsides to renting out your stuff?
All of the above sounds like it could be a decent way to make money, but it will not always be plain sailing. Most of the rental sites I’ve mentioned will provide some kind of insurance or mediation process, but if damage should happen to your item, then it can be a bit of a pain to sort out.
And although the majority of the people in this world are honest, you’ll never be 100% sure of who you are dealing with.
How much you make depends on where you live. If you live in a major city like London, you’ll have far more potential to find customers for your items. But love in a small town and you may find it far harder to rent your items out.