If you’re looking for a way to make extra money, you could consider becoming a landlord. But if renting out a house is too much work — think unruly tenants and lots of repairs to deal with — maybe you’re thinking too big. Maybe you should rent out something smaller, like some of your wardrobe or your driveway.
Amid rising inflation, many consumers are trying to save a buck and many may also be thinking more about how they can help the environment by buying and consuming less; consumers more than ever may be willing to rent instead of own.
You could capitalize on that and join the rental market by letting others borrow your stuff. If you’re searching for ideas, look around your home and consider renting out the following items and services.
— Your driveway.
— Your basement or attic.
— Another room inside your house.
— Your yard.
— Your RV.
— Your boat.
— Your truck.
— Your camera.
— Your clothes.
— Your swimming pool.
— Your tennis court.
— Your college textbooks.
— Anything.
Your Driveway
Yes, let’s start with renting your driveway. Neighbor.com and Spacer.com are two websites that allow you to do just that. Neighbor.com says that you could make $50 to $150 a month by renting out your empty driveway. Spacer.com suggests you could make up to $450 a month using their platform. Prked.com is another website worth checking out, claiming you can make up to $2,000 a month.
Of course, before you plan out your retirement based on your driveway’s ability to make money, whether you can make money from your driveway all depends where you live. Do you live in a big city where parking is hard to come by? Or do you live in the countryside, where parking is cheap and plentiful, and there’s little reason for people to leave their car at your home?
Obviously, the city dweller is probably going to have better luck with this. If you live near a stadium where the big game is, or where concerts are performed, or maybe near the county fairgrounds, you may sometimes find your driveway fetches a decent price as a paid mini-parking lot.
Your Basement or Attic
Neighbor.com and Prked.com also handle basement and attic rentals — and, well, pretty much anywhere in your home that you’d want to store other people’s stuff. Maybe you have a shed out back? A garage? You could — theoretically — rent that space out.
Another Room Inside Your House
Say you have a spacious kitchen and family area that would be an ideal place for a baby shower. Or maybe you could envision your property or a portion of it as a place for a corporate retreat. Or perhaps you think your backyard garden would be great for a photo shoot. If you don’t mind letting others put the space to use when you’re not using it, consider browsing websites like Splacer.co or Peerspace.com.
As for how much you can earn, it’s how much the market can bear. Maybe you’ll charge $25 or $250 an hour for a room. The best thing to do is look around at the websites and see what other people are charging for their backyards, living rooms and kitchens and ask yourself: How much do I need to make a day or an hour to feel good about having strangers use my space?
Keep in mind that people tend to want to rent space in a place more glamorous than their own. So this probably won’t be a great moneymaker for the average Joe.
Your Yard
The website Yardyum.com specializes in matching landowners with gardeners. And it’s free; Yardyum doesn’t take a cut. You list land, and you rent it out for a gardener to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, roses, herbs or anything else. In return, you either get money or a cut of the crops.
Or you may be interested in Sniffspot.com, a website that matches people with land with dog owners. You can turn your fenced yard into somebody’s private dog park. Sniffspot recommends you charge $5 to $15 per dog per hour, and the website takes a 24.9% commission plus $0.30, per charge.
[READ: Should You Downsize to Save Money?]
Your RV
If you own a recreational vehicle and it’s parked in your driveway for a good part of the year, consider turning to companies such as Campanda, Outdoorsy or RVshare to rent out your RV.
According to the respective websites, RVshare suggests you could earn $22,000 a year, Campanda believes you’ll make around $45,000 a year, and Outdoorsy suggests you could earn $50,000 a year, renting out your RV. That assumes you’re not driving your own RV much and that you’re renting it out a lot.
Your Boat
If you’re lucky enough to own a boat, you’re also lucky enough to have the ability to rent it out. You may want to check out GetMyBoat.com, where you can set your own price. It’s free to list your boat; you’ll pay an 8.5% service fee from your profits with the website.
Your Truck
People often search for trucks when they have something they need hauled — and there are quite a few truck rental sites where you can list your truck for rent. GoShare.com, FluidTruck.com and FetchTruck.com are a few truck rental sites out there.
The websites suggest you might make around $25,000 or more a year from renting your truck. That’s assuming that you’d be renting your truck out a lot, enough that you might barely get to see it. And you should also consider the wear and tear and insurance considerations. Still, your truck is an asset, and you may be able to make money from it.
Your Camera
If you own expensive camera equipment, consider turning a profit by renting it out at KitSplit. Some of KitSplit’s members list cameras for rental prices as low as $25 a day and others list their expensive camera equipment for upwards of $600 a day.
Another popular camera renting company is ShareGrid. The amount you can earn generally depends on the quality of your camera equipment.
Your Clothes
Sure, you could sell your garments to a thrift store. But on the other hand, you can also rent out your clothes and generate more money in the long run. Style Lend, Rent My Wardrobe and Tulerie are other clothing rental companies worth checking out.
All businesses focus on higher-end clothing and fashion, which makes sense. You probably wouldn’t want to pay to rent somebody’s jeans and a T-shirt. By renting out your clothes on their platforms, you could theoretically make hundreds, or even thousands of dollars per month — if you have numerous expensive outfits and accessories that consumers would want to rent and wear.
Your Swimming Pool
Your swimming pool cost you a fortune. Maintaining it isn’t cheap either. The least you can do is make a little money off of it. Swimply.com allows you to rent your swimming pool by the hour. You can price what you want. Lots of people on the site are charging $100 or more an hour; plenty charge less.
Your Tennis Court
If you are fortunate enough to own a tennis or pickleball court, you’ll love that Swimply.com allows you to do that too. Just set your price, Also, RentMyCourt.com is also another website that can serve your needs. This isn’t some sort racket. You can make money, and your customers will have a ball.
Your College Textbooks
Valore.com specializes in this. This could be a nice money-maker for any recent college graduate. If your books are rented out for a semester or quarter, you’ll get paid every two weeks, and Valore.com will take a 20% commission.
Anything
Some websites specialize in letting you rent out pretty much anything, like Rentah.com and FriendWithA.com. Do you have a drone? A ukelele? A bicycle, unicycle, juggling equipment or some tools or a jukebox? FriendWithA.com has an insurance component, so if you rent out your drone, and it crashes, you’d be reimbursed. Even so, you probably do want to ponder whether you want to rent out anything expensive or hard to replace.
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13 Things You Can Rent Out for Cash originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 04/05/23: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
