FIVE INCOME PRODUCING STRATEGIES RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE

Hi everyone,

With all of us getting hit with cost-of-living pressures, we felt it’s important that this week’s Money in Minutes continues our recent focus on helping you to take back control of your money.

Now, before we get into ways to boost your income, a quick reminder that if you need to get clarity on your money in versus money out, check out Module 3 of Wages to Wealth. If you need to find cost hacks, Module 4 is your best friend. And last but not least, the best cost to hack is your dreaded mortgage and Module 5 tells you exactly how to approach that.

This week we want to focus on finding opportunities to add new income, boosting your cashflow and further taking control of the situation in front of each of you. When we think of passive income it’s usually correlated to an investment property or shares, but there are many other ways to produce income, many of which you almost certainly have available to you right now.

Here are five potential income producing ideas to get your brain juices flowing and hopefully your bill providers off your back…

1. Your home
   Can you rent out a room? Perhaps move in with relatives for a weekend every month and Airbnb your place? If you are able to work remotely (or part thereof), what about renting out your home and residing somewhere lower cost and taking a sea or tree change while you’re at it? Or if push comes to shove, move back in with the in-laws knowing that you’re taking one for the greater good of your wallet!
2. Send your car off to work
   We often go on about how cars are a pretty poor investment, and right now with the price of petrol and diesel we stick with that thinking, but, in this new expensive world we live in, there is now a market for ride share services. Many of us are now working a lot more from home, no longer needing our cars every day of the week which presents an opportunity to share your car (rent it out) with others. You may well be helping another fellow hard worker who has had to sell their car to address living costs and they need your car for a day or two each week (or maybe just a ride to work). Perhaps this is the perfect win-win? We encourage you to give this some thought. Check out a few of the main players in this space like GoGet and Car Next Door and see what you think. If you don’t like the idea of sharing your car with others, another idea could be to become an Uber driver when it suits you. To our knowledge, there are no minimum hours you need to commit to, and as long as your car is new-ish and clean you have a ticket to earn extra money.

3. What about your other car?
   Whilst we’re on the subject of cars, let’s talk about that other car that might be sitting in your garage… we would both love to get rid of our second cars but with young children it’s needed for all the drop offs and pickups, but if that isn’t you, then what’s stopping you selling that car, or turning it into an income producing machine as discussed above?
4. Sell stuff and go minimalist
   In a world driven by consumption we are big fans of minimalism. Selling your unused goods can be a financial win as well as a huge health win. Many studies indicate that having less “stuff” is not only healthy, it enables you to focus much more on what really matters. There are plenty of websites and marketplaces to help you declutter and make some money whilst you’re at it. It’s none of our business what you do or don’t do with your stuff, just more food for thought suggestions. Remember, your trash may be someone else’s treasure!

5. Do you have a car park?
   Sticking with the car theme, if you have an unused car park (especially now that you may sell your second car!), can you rent it out? Having just visited Sydney last week we know the cost of city parking isn’t cheap, especially if it becomes a regular cost. Would someone else be willing to rent your garage or car space? Perhaps they too are going to make changes and rent out a room in their home (like suggested above) so they need your garage to store their goods… who knows!

There you have it. We’ve just listed five income producing ideas and we are confident there are many more. It might be time for all of us to start thinking outside the square so we can take back control and focus on what matters. The possibilities are endless!

The key point here is not that you should embrace or suggestions, as we all have to make our own decisions about what we are prepared to compromise on, but that there are many options when you start to take a step back and take a look around.

In an ideal world, you may not feel you need to make anything like the kind of compromises we’ve outlined above. However, we’d argue it’s always good to feel you are getting maximum bang out of the money you work hard for, so while you may not be feeling financial pressures that mean you need to do anything drastic, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a look into where you can get some financial wins. After all, any dollar you can keep in your pocket can be turned into wealth for your future lifestyle (or pay for that expensive tank of petrol!).

Cheers,

Dan and Dave