Everyone loves earning extra cash. Launching a side project or business can be lucrative, but it can also be a lot of work. If you’re looking for an easier way to make some spending cash on the side, why not start with stuff you already have?
We’ve told you all about how to make cash on the side. Of course, the more time and energy you have, the more money you’re likely to earn. But if you’re short on both, there are a number of services that make it easier than ever to earn money by renting out stuff you already have. Here’s a big list of them.
Transportation
Companies like Uber and Lyft let you earn cash by offering rides, but that requires your car and your time. If you don’t have the latter, you can still rent out the former. And there are other transportation-related ways to make money, too.
Cars
RelayRides is a peer-to-peer car rental company that lets you rent out your car when you’re not using it. You’ll be insured by their $1,000,000 liability policy, and you review requests to approve renters. It’s a great way to earn extra cash if you don’t use your car much or you have a spare one. According to their policy, you take home 75% of your car’s rental price and extra mileage charges.
Getaround is a similar service, but they’re only available in the San Francisco area, Portland, and Washington D.C. Their take-home rate is 60%, and they offer a similar insurance policy.
Speaking of insurance, AutoTrader offers a word of warning:
P2P sites maintain additional insurance (RelayRides carries $1 million, for example) for the car, as well as liability for accidents involving other cars and drivers. But only a handful of states have addressed P2P insurance complications, such as who pays for what in the case of an accident. To play it safe, anyone offering their car for rent may want to beef up their liability coverage.
While RelayRides assures you’re covered across the U.S., it may still be worth checking into the rules of your own policy and location.
Here are some peer-to-peer car rental options for countries outside of the States:
Drivy (France)
Mitfahren (Germany)
Social Car (Spain)
iCarsClub (Singapore)
DriveMyCar (Australia)
How much you earn depends on what kind of car you have and where you live, but that’s true for all of these categories. RelayRide users, for example, have prices ranging anywhere from $15-$200 a day.
Parking Spots
If you’ve got a coveted parking spot, you can make a buck or two from it. Sites like Spot and JustPark (UK) let you list your parking spot to rent them out, whether it’s curbside, your driveway, a garage, or a dedicated lot. You can choose your schedule and your rate per day, week, or month.
Spot takes a 15% commission on whatever you earn. And JustPark makes money by charging the driver an extra 25% of whatever your rate is, so you don’t pay them anything.
They both offer pricing suggestions, too, based on what type of spot you have and where it’s located. Rates range from a couple of bucks a day to $50 a day in some areas (looking at you, NYC).
Bicycles
If you have a bike, you can rent that out, too. Here are a few bike sharing businesses:
With these services, you post your ride, and potential renters request to rent it at a specific a date and time. They return the bike; you get paid. Spinlister and Spokefly both offer protection if your bike is stolen or damaged.
At Spinlister, you can set your rental price, based on the hour, day, or week. Whatever rate you set, the company takes 17.5% of your earnings.
Again, how much you charge depends on your location and your ride. Some bikes go for $20 an hour, while others go for $3 an hour. CyclingBoom lets owners set their price, too, and Spokefly sets the price themselves, at $0.15 per minute, with a cap of $45 a day, so you won’t earn more than that.
Routes or Commutes
If you’re traveling somewhere, and you don’t mind delivering something on the way, you could sign up for a local shipping network, like Roadie or CitizenShipper. It connects people who need to ship things with drivers who are en route to the shipping destination, whether it’s a neighborhood away, or across the country. Roadie says local gigs usually pay between $8 and $20, and long distance gigs can pay up to $200.
Clothing
If you’ve got clothes you rarely wear, you might consider renting them out rather than getting rid of them. And here are a few services that let you do it:
DateMyWardrobe: You can rent out clothing, shoes, and accessories.
StyleLend: They have specific brands they accept.
RentezVous: Currently in beta, mostly available in London and Paris.
Borrowers are responsible for cleaning and returning them item. If they don’t, each service offers some type of reimbursement policy. StyleLend, for example, charges the borrower the current market value of your item if they don’t return it.
StyleLend says they recommend pricing your item based on 10% of its retail cost when it was purchased. Obviously, your mileage will vary quite a bit. Prices across all sites seem to range from roughly $25-$45 a week for different clothing items.
Real Estate
Airbnb has become the go-to service for renting out a home or apartment. But there are lots of other options, too:
VRBO: Stands for “vacation rental by owner” and focuses mostly on vacation homes.
Homestay: Their thing is “host is present” rentals, where you have to be there to act as a local host for travelers.
TheHitch: Lets you rent out your property as a wedding venue.
Evenues: You can rent out your loft or meeting space for professional events.
Venuelust: Rent out your home or property for parties and weddings.
Glamping: You can rent out your land for people to camp on.
If you’re renting out your property, there are a number of factors to consider. Most importantly, consider taxes and insurance.
Most of these services offer insurance coverage. Airbnb, for example, has “Host Protection Insurance” that coves you up to $1 million if a renter hurts themself on your property. Most homeowner’s insurance policies don’t cover injuries to paying guests. But if yours does, Airbnb’s insurance then becomes secondary to yours. The point is, you should know how homeowner’s insurance works with the company’s coverage policy.
Legal site Nolo points out that the tax rules can be complex. But if you’re renting short-term, you won’t have to worry about it. They report:
You can rent out all or part of your home or apartment for up to 14 days per year and all the rental income you receive is tax-free, no matter how much you earn. In fact you don’t even have to report the income to the IRS. Your rental income is tax free if, during the year:
you rent out your home for 14 days or less), and
the home is used personally for more than 14 days, or more than 10% of the total days it is rented to others at a fair rental price. (IRC Sec. 280A(g).)
If you only rent out a room in your home or apartment and continue to live in the rest of the space, you’ll have no problem meeting the personal use requirement. But if you rent out the entire home or apartment, you need to keep careful track of your rental or non-rental days.
Anything outside of that short-term definition, and you’ll have to report and pay income tax on the money you earn. Check out Nolo’s full post for more detail on that, and Airbnb has some helpful info, too.
How much you earn depends on where you live, what your property is like, etc. Financial writer Paula Pant of Afford Anything reported that she netted about $1,600 per month with her Airbnb experiment. She said it’s more than she would’ve earned renting out her property traditionally. Again, your mileage will vary.
Camera equipment
Camera and video equipment are expensive, and there are a lot of folks out there who find it cheaper to rent than buy. If you’ve got equipment you don’t use often, consider sharing it for some extra cash. Here are a few services that let you do just that:
Cameralends: You can lend to borrowers nearby or ship your equipment.
ShareGrid: They’re currently only available in Los Angeles, but looking to expand cities soon.
Kitsplit: They’re currently in private beta, but you can request an invite.
How much you earn depends on what kind of equipment you have and what the demand is like in your city. In Los Angeles, I found a few Canon 5D cameras, body only, ranging from about $75-$100 per day.
The companies also offer insurance options if your equipment is damaged or stolen. CameraLends, for example, reports the theft to authorities and fully replace your gear. They also pre-screen all renters to prevent theft from happening.
Everything Else
There are some peer-to-peer sharing services that are just too specific to categorize. Here are a few odds and ends you can rent out:
Bathrooms: Airpnb lets you rent out your bathroom. Founders got the idea during Mardis Gras, when New Orleans partygoers are in search of a nice, clean place to do their business.
Wi-Fi Network: Fon Lets you rent out your Wi-Fi connection in exchange for free Wi-Fi from other people renting out their network. This can come in handy when you’re traveling or just looking for a Wi-Fi connection in your neighborhood. They say they have millions of hotspots across the globe.
Boat: Boatbound lets you rent out your boat, offering $1 million in liability protection and $2 million in hull damage protection.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are a number of general sites that let you rent all kinds of household goods, from power tools to camping gear to halloween costumes. They include:
Each of these services lets you charge a deposit, so if your item is damaged or stolen, you can keep the money the renter pays upfront.
Of course, with any of these sharing services, you want to know what you’re getting into. Read the fine print, know your liability, and understand the fees. Also, some of these services could be more time consuming than others. But all in all, renting out your stuff is a relatively low-effort, passive way to earn extra cash, and there are a growing number of options available.