Is your home just sitting there, doing nothing for you? There are all sorts of ways it could be bringing in cash. Here are some of them:

Rent out your home for a film or photoshoot

It’s not just fancy houses in demand – locations can be anything from country to council estates. The money is often excellent, starting at £500 a day for photography or £1,000 a day for TV and film. But there are catches. I’ve rented out my flat for photographic shoots before and have come home to find stylists pouring candlewax down the sink and homesick models calling Estonia on my landline. Shoots usually mean big crews with bulky equipment, which they will tramp through your house without regard for your paintwork – the attitude tends to be that they’ve paid you well and they can do as they like. That said, I’ve heard that the owners of a Georgian house in Spitalfields earn half a million pounds a year from hiring out their place for shoots so, y’know, it can be worth overlooking the inconvenience.

For more info, check out:
My Locations
Light Locations
Lavish Locations
Beach Studios
Location Collection

Rent out your spare room

Earn up to £4,250 tax-free through the government’s rent-a-room scheme, designed to encourage people to take in lodgers. You don’t need to own your home (but if you’re renting, you’ll need to check the lease allows it.)

How easy it is depends on who you wind up with, but for more info, check out these sites:
Easy Room Mate
Spare Room
Landlord Zone
The Government stuff

Another option is to only let the room during the week with Monday to Friday.

Alternatively, go for something more short-term, and be a host for language students. You must be prepared to treat them as part of the family and include them in meals and outings. Check out Interstudies and Idiom for more information.

Or bring in around £400 a week by taking a TEFL course with InTuition Languages and teaching the student who stays with you.

Rent out your home as a short let

If your home is in London and particularly lovely (and you have somewhere else to go), you can rent it out as a holiday let on sites such as One Fine Stay.

Go into bed and breakfast

Depending on the size and location of your house (and how you feel about rising at dawn to cook English breakfasts), B&B could work for you. The advantage is that you can set your own schedule, taking bookings only when it suits you. If you live near Glastonbury or Glyndebourne, or somewhere else that hosts a big event, it can be a way of making extra money once a year.

There are, however, some boring factors to think about. These include health and safety, whether you need change-of-use planning permission, insurance, and gas safety. The food you serve will need to comply with regulations, too.

For more info, check out:
Accommodation Know How
How to Run a B&B

Rent out your parking space

The fight for a parking space has become so ridiculous you can rent yours out for profit. Find out how much you could earn here:
Park at my House
Your Parking Space
Park Let

Flog your spare space

Do you have any space going spare? It could be storage, parking, a room, anything – if so, rent it out at Spare Ground.

Sell your garden

The demand for land is as voracious as ever. Sell yours at Plot Search.

Rent out your home for the Olympics

Lost out on Olympics tickets? Why not avoid the whole circus and, with the cash you make from renting out your home, disappear to the Maldives for the duration? Average flats are currently commanding ridiculous sums on these sites:
Accommodation for the Games
Rent During the Games
London Rent My House

Host a selling party

Thought Tupperware parties died out in 1979? Not so. They’re still going, and if you’re charming and convivial (and have friends willing to buy tupperware), you can make money by hosting a party at your home.

For more info, visit Tupperware.

It’s not just Tupperware that are in on this, either. The Body Shop also runs a party scheme, The Body Shop at Home, as does Vie beauty products and Ann Summers. If you know people who like candles and home fragrances, you could make money as a PartyLite seller.

Have you made money from your home? How have you done it? I’d love to hear from you!

{Photo: Michael Oh}