Can you really make money sitting on your butt?
The cost of living crisis is really hitting us hard. So many of us are working full time and still struggling to make ends meet. We therefore know that the reality of needing extra cash, whilst having zero energy to do any more work, is pressing.
It is all well and good reading about second incomes hearing the ever toxic “work harder” mantra forced upon us after a twelve hour shift. We do however only have one life, we already work overtime and our downtime and need for rest is as real as anybody’s. Therefore we wish that there was a way to just make money, whilst sitting on your butt. We take a look to see whether there actually is.
The Ideas that use the least energy
RENT A ROOM
Renting out a spare bedroom can make you up to £7,500 a year tax-free. According to the government’s Rent a Room Scheme you can let out as much of your home as you want. Depending on your space and preferences, you’ll need to decide what kind of housemate you’re after. Could you manage a permanent co-resident who freely uses common areas like the living room and kitchen? Or would you prefer short-term visitors who simply need a pillow to lay their heads on at the end of the day?
Either way, you’ll be earning a passive income and can make money sitting on your butt doing nothing at the end of a long day. You can rest easy knowing you have money coming in without doing anything.
Advertising your room
Sites like:
cover the whole of the UK. They’re the perfect platforms for advertising your room for a lodger.
Airbnb currently dominates the global market for vacation rentals. It’s a good place to list your spare room for occasional holidaymakers.
SELL YOUR JUNK
We say this a lot but it really works: you can easily make money from your living room and bedroom by decluttering. Spend a few hours doing a good clear-out and sell the items you no longer want or need.
It might not seem like you have anything worth selling. But just look around and ask yourself: what haven’t I picked up in years?
When it comes to second-hand household goods, one person’s junk truly is another man’s treasure. You may even have collectables lying around that could be worth good cash, stuff like:
- plastic action figures
- comics
- first editions of popular books
- children’s toys and books
Read our recent article about selling these kinds of items.
- eBay: this online auction platform is the ideal place to sell unwanted bits and pieces. Even half-used bottles of perfume and partly-used cosmetics will sell! Check out our handy guide to selling things on eBay here.
- Gumtree, essentially an online classifieds site.
- Facebook makes it easy to sell to your local network. Check out our tips including playing fair and putting safety first when selling through Facebook.
- Ziffit is great if you’re looking to get rid of games, CDs, DVDs and books. Available via its website or app, the free service scans bar codes on any book, CD, DVD, Blu-ray or game. It arranges and pays for the collection of any items, and pays customers within a few days of items being received.
If you prefer to conduct your sales offline, car boot sales are always a winner. There isn’t much you can’t sell at a car boot sale. Make sure you raid your wardrobe, cupboards, drawers, attic and shed to see what hidden gems you might have stashed away.
Read more about turning your trash into cash at boot sales.
With a Bit of Energy: But Still Fun
These ideas are going to help you make money doing very little, albeit not making money sitting on your butt as such!
EVENT HOSTING
The traditional ‘tupperware party’ has long since had a makeover. Today’s home selling events are the place to go for everything from vintage clothes to skincare. If you enjoy hosting people in your home, you can use your living room to invite friends and their friends round to try out various products.
As a host, you won’t earn cash as such. But you’ll benefit from free products, discounts and special offers. A company consultant will facilitate proceedings, guiding everyone through what’s on offer and giving them the opportunity to purchase whatever tickles their fancy.
If things go well, you could become a consultant yourself and represent a company.
This will:
- enable you to host parties
- put the commission earned from sales into your own pocket
- help you to earn money flexibly – you can choose how many parties to book, whenever you like.
The business will assign you a mentor and train you on everything there’s to know about the product you’re selling, as well as the company behind it.
Your training will be specific to the brand. For example, as a Body Shop At Home consultant you’ll be taught all the ethics that the products endorse. That’s fair trading, protecting the planet and anti-animal testing. Working for Ann Summers, you’ll learn to arrange party games so you can tailor the event to your customers.
Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself to selling products. You could use your living room to host a pop-up vintage clothes market or – the latest thing in food – a themed supper club (you’ll need to use your kitchen and culinary prowess for this one). If you can picture yourself whipping up a gourmet meal to serve to a bunch of strangers, you could well start raking in gourmet cash. And perhaps even make a name for yourself in the home cheffing world too.
LOOK AFTER YOUR OWN KIDS
Are you home looking after your own kids during the day? Why not add a few more in and make six a party? If you’re confident your living room (and psyche!) can handle it, it could be a particularly good way of making money.
A childminder working full-time may earn between £10,000 and £18,000 a year. You could make more – childminders set their own fees. Depending on where you live and how much experience you have, you could charge from £3 to £10 an hour per child.
Pay levels are set locally rather than nationally. They depend on the number of children you look after, the setting in which you work and the number of hours you do. The better qualified you are, the more experience you get and the higher your level of responsibility. This also translates to a higher salary, of course.
Remember that as a childminder you’ll need to:
- make arrangements for paying your own tax
- sort out any insurance
- meet costs such as providing meals and buying toys and equipment.
SELL YOUR SKILLS
In the UK, you don’t need any formal qualifications to, say, teach yoga. Technically, anyone can open their living room doors and charge customers for a class. Without the right experience, we wouldn’t recommend it – and no, being able to do some downward dog poses does not classify as expertise! But if you’re skilled in a particular field – be it pilates, massage, still life painting or street dance, you could pass on your knowledge to others and make money in the process.
Your living room will need to suit the purpose and be appropriately equipped. Before you set up shop go through the logistics of what is required. Need pole dancing poles? Or a pottery kiln? It’ll help you budget for the initial investment.
Once you’ve worked out what your service offering will look like, advertise it. You could do a shout-out on Facebook or stick posters in your library. It’s best to target a local network who may not have found a provider in close proximity.
If you don’t want to be involved in actually providing the service itself but have a space that could work well, consider renting it out to someone else. It’s an easy way to make some monthly dosh.
USE YOUR HOME AS A FILM SET
Location scouts look for all kinds of properties for photo shoots and film sets. They pay up to £2500 a day. You never know, your bedroom or living room may just have the look they’re after!
To get started, sign up with an agency such as:
Register your property with these sites and they’ll help provide you with work. You could also contact the BBC locations department or your local film commission directly to ask if they’d be interested in your home.
Remember:
- If your home is going to be used as a film set, you need a laid-back attitude. You could have a film crew of 30 to 40 people lugging around their equipment and it can be very intrusive – you may even need to move out for a while.
- You’ll need to consider whether you have enough parking nearby to cater for the entire crew. Perhaps they’ll be interested in buying coffee from you?
- Consider your neighbours to make sure they’ll be happy with the arrangement. Night shoots, for example, could mean the road is lit and noisy when they try to sleep. It might not impress the rest of the street. If such practical implications don’t phase you, it could be a great way to make extra cash and maybe even meet a celebrity or two.
KNIT FOR CASH
You can make a living (almost) by knitting for money, particularly if you are quick and professional.
Even if you’re an amateur you can learn the basics in about ten minutes (or five if you get help from Aneeta Patel). Learn how to cast on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, and how to cast off.
With these basic skills you’ll be able to start knitting loads of things, and then you can sell them for a profit.
Read more about how to earn money from knitting HERE.
DO THE IRONING
You can earn as much as £12 an hour doing other people’s ironing. Sounds appealing?
For most of us, ironing is one of those horrible chores we avoid for as long as possible. If you’ve got a knack for it, though, there’s plenty of people out there willing to pay you to take that stack of creased shirts off their hands.
Grab a chair and voila, you can make money sitting on your butt and ironing!
Learn more about how to make money ironing.
And Literally Whilst Sitting on your Butt
If you want to literally make money sitting on your butt, these may be the earners for you.
WATCH TV
Like sitting in front of the box? There are plenty of ways to turn your relaxing pastime into a money-making opportunity:
If you try out all of our ideas to make money from your bedroom or living room and have no luck (unlikely), just take a look down the back of your sofa. It’s never going to make you rich, but finding money you didn’t know you had can put you in the positive mindset you need to go out there and turn those rags to riches. Happy hunting!
FILL OUT SURVEYS
Paid online surveys can help you make money while you’re in front of the computer.
If you have some free time in your lunch break or a spare half an hour in the evenings, why not fill in a few online surveys for money?
Paid surveys are simple, effective ways to make some cash, and some online surveys even let you win prizes every now and then.
REFERRAL CODES
Find referral rewards from 1,000s of stores and apps. Referral schemes are everywhere, offering cash discounts, credits and other bonuses. This new business has launched which combines referral codes and social media. Offering people to access all their codes in one place. Click here to join. We all joined in the MoneyMagpie office to stop the constant spamming of each other with codes.
Share your own codes and links by creating a free referral page. Others will be able to find your referrals so you’ll get even more benefits.
It’s quick and easy.
Do you have any weird and wonderful ways to make money sitting on your butt? Leave them below!
