We'd like to welcome back award winning journalist Ginetta Vedrickas to our blog.  She has written on property for most major titles in the UK and overseas including The Times, Daily Mail, The Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, Independent, The National, Sunday Business Post, London Evening Standard and Daily Express. Passionate about all things property related, her favourite subjects are how to make your home work for you and how to earn some cash from it. An Airbnb host, Ginetta lets her house out as a location and enjoys house swapping.
 

Make your home earn its keep

There’s no denying that owning a home is one of the biggest drains on your finances: Paying the mortgage, household bills as well as constant maintenance are some of the biggest bugbears. But, there are ways that you can make your home pay for itself, and using your home as an asset-not a drain- lightens the financial load.
 

Renting a room

Taking in lodgers is probably one of the most popular ways of earning some cash and there are now many ways to go about it. With job mobility and short- term contracts on the rise, many renters want short- term rentals, to attend courses or jobs that mean they don’t need to be there for seven days a week. Numerous sites have sprung up to match properties with tenants.  Fancy a lodger for just the week but want the place to yourself at weekends? List your space on www.mondaytofriday.com or www.fivenights.com  which list would- be- tenants and hosts’ details. 

You can also choose tenants by profession on some sites such as www.theatredigsbooker.com which finds temporary lets for people working in the theatre. Spareroom.co.uk is popular with tenants and hosts. Thanks to the government’s relaxation of taxation rules, the ‘rent a room scheme’ lets you earn up to £7,500 annually from letting furnished accommodation within your own home.
 

Renting out your entire home

Airbnb.com has revolutionised how people travel and it provides great opportunities for homeowners who can let individual rooms or entire homes. Why not let your home make some cash whilst you’re on holiday? The site has plenty of information on what guests expect, for example you might need to store some of your furniture or most precious belongings in self storage. Started in 2007, Airbnb now has four million listings in 191 countries with rooms and properties of all shapes and sizes from humble flats to castles and even treehouses. All homes and guests are rated, allowing you to pick and choose who to accept.
 

House swapping

Holidays can be expensive but one way your home can help fund your holidays is by exchanging your place for someone else’s. Your accommodation is then free, you just pay for travel. There are tons of sites dedicated to helping people all over the world swap their homes. With some sites you don’t even have to find a swap partner who wants to come to your home. www.lovehomeswap.com offers a points’ system allowing you to ‘bank points’ that are then traded in for other destinations.  www.houseexchange.org.uk   www.homeexchange.com  www.homelink.org.uk. (See Tricia’s story below)
 

Rent out your drive or parking space

Your home might be able to earn more than you can says Harrison Woods, MD at YourParkingSpace.co.uk. “Percentage wise, the extra money people can make from their driveway outperforms the average UK wage growth. Shrewd driveway owners can actually beat the wage squeeze by using their driveway as a money-making asset.” The firm’s recent stats showed that- whilst average wages grew by about 2.3% cent last year, renting out a driveway can boost an average annual UK salary by an inflation busting 4%. The online-parking portal’s driveway owners in almost 30 towns and cities across the UK made on average more than £1,000 each in 2017.
  
www.parkonmydrive.com  www.yourparkingspace.co.uk  www.justpark.com (See Órlaith’s story below)
 
 

People who’ve made their homes earn their keep

The keen home exchanger

Tricia Forrester has swapped her Devon cottage over thirty times through wwww.homeexchange.com
“I’ve been a home exchanger since 2010, and I’m still totally hooked on it after 30 exchanges! It’s all based on mutual trust and works very much better than people think it might. For me, one of the best things about it is the chance to live like a local. It’s quite different to a holiday in a hotel, and a lot cheaper, and means that there is much more opportunity to integrate. However, languages are not my forte and that’s occasionally led to some hilarity.
 
Doing the whole tourist thing can be fun too. On an exchange to Tarifa in Spain I did a trip to Tangier, Morocco - the food and the culture were fantastic- and I had an offer of marriage from a carpet salesman!  I’ve been to some amazing places, sometimes because I’ve searched for an exchange in a particular area, but other times I’ve had offers from somewhere totally off my radar, and that can lead to real adventures. One nice surprise was the offer of a beach apartment in ‘Playa’ which I assumed to be in Spain and was tickled pink to find was on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, it was wonderful!”
 
A homeowner who rents out her driveway

Órlaith Burke rents out the driveway of her Oxford home through YourParkingSpace. She earns £108 per month from the space, £1,296 per year, as it’s rented out on an ongoing monthly basis.

“The staff are lovely and friendly, it's very easy to advertise your space and YourParkingSpace handle all of the details… aside from first writing the space's online profile, I have had very little to do.”

Some great suggestions from Ginetta for making your home earn some money, many thanks.  Have you done any of these?  Have we inspired you to try?  Do let  us know in the comments section below.

If you decide to rent all or part of your house and would like to put your furniture in storage, we have nearly 120 stores nationwide so there is bound to be a Safestore facility near you.