This guide to how to make money, possibly gaining £1,000s of extra cash, is designed to work alongside your tips in the forum.
Too many of us let cash languish in accounts or in products paying rotten returns. Shake off this laziness and make your money work harder, plus hunt down any forgotten funds or concealed cash. You may be amazed at what you find.
Give yourself a 25% pay rise
There's nowt more powerful than sorting out your own finances. By shifting to the best deal on every product, you can give yourself a 25% pay rise, without cutting back. Before anything else, this is the most important starting point.
How much? The average UK family could gain £2,500 to £5,000 a year doing this.
How do I do it? Use the step-by-step Money Makeover guide.
Get paid every time you spend
Cashback credit cards pay you back a proportion of what you spend each time you use them.
Set up a direct debit to pay the card off in full each month, so there's no interest cost, and you can earn £100s/year. Just use the card for all your normal spending.
How much? The top cards pay 5% cashback for the first three months.
How do I do it? For updated best buys, see the Top Cashback Cards guide.
Don't accept pitiful savings rates
Make sure you're getting the most out of your savings. Too many people leave their savings in pitiful high street bank accounts where former best buy rates have dropped massively.
Even worse, you may have it in a current account earning just 0.1%. Stop! Five minutes' work will let you increase the interest massively.
How much? For every £5,000 you have in a top easy access savings account, you could earn over £100 a year more than in a poor account – potentially much more if you're able to tuck it away for a couple of years.
How do I do it? See Top Savings Accounts, Starting Saving and Best Bank Accounts.
Pay off debts with savings
Most people who try to save while they're in debt are simply throwing their money away. The amount you pay in interest to borrow is much more than you earn on your savings, so pay the debt off with savings and you're quids in.
How much? Someone with £5,000 on a credit card and £5,000 saved is likely to be around £800 a year better off by paying off the debt with the savings.
Get the benefits you're entitled to
There's a plethora of benefits available – the key is working out whether you're entitled to them. The rather nifty tool from benefits specialists Entitledto in our Benefits Checkup guide does the work for you.
Use your credit rating to stooze
Many credit card companies are willing to lend you money at 0% interest, so why not use this cash for everyday spending, replacing all other credit and debit card spending?
This means you'll now have debts on your 0% card (make sure you make the min repayment each month) and a similar amount in your current account, which you can save in an ISA or high interest savings account.
Pay off the full balance before the 0% ends, having earned interest on the money saved. This is known as stoozing. It's legal and can be profitable, yet it's only for the really financially-savvy.
Flog what you've got – declutter and sell it
Whenever you finish using something, whether it's kids' clothes they've grown out of or an embarrassing old CD... flog it.
To take it up a notch, join the forum's mega-popular KonMari 2016 thread, where fans of the Japanese tidying craze share tips on how to purge every item that doesn't "spark joy".
Flog on eBay for best prices
If you've got it, and don't need it, flog it. Selling on eBay* usually pays best, yet to really get the eBay cash rolling in, you need to know the etiquette and shortcuts.
Our 40+ eBay Selling Tricks guide offers a crash course, including how to cut fees, close auctions at the best time and sell for more with 120 keywords that boost prices (eg, 'authentic' beats 'genuine').
Sell for free on local Facebook groups
Local Facebook groups are where, instead of eBaying second-hand goods, people harness Facebook's power to sell to others in the local community. The best bit is there are NO fees, so you keep the profit.
For a crash course in how to earn £100s, see our Facebook Selling guide. It tells you how to find the right local groups and get the best price, plus make sure you stay safe when selling.
Quicker cash for old CDs, DVDs & more
Several sites let you quickly trade in old CDs, DVDs, computer games and Blu-rays for cash. The sites are easy to use and give instant quotes, so if you've got loads to get rid of, you could speedily make a bit extra. Also see how to get max cash for old books.
How do I do it? Type in the barcode, ISBN or product name on the site to get an instant valuation. Each site is different, and some offer more for certain items than others, so always compare a few. Some also have a minimum number of items you need to trade in, or a minimum overall value needed, so you may need a few to sell.
Once you've compared and found the top payer, you simply accept the valuations and send your stuff to the them. Postage is usually free, but always check. Always ensure items are packed well, as, in most cases, any that fail basic quality checks will not be sent back to you.
You'll then get paid, either by cheque, PayPal or bank transfer, depending which service you've used. All these companies aim to send payment for accepted items within about seven or eight days of receiving them, though forumites' feedback suggests it can be longer.
How much? It varies but as a rough guide, you'll generally get up to £1 for CDs, £1.50 for DVDs and £10 for computer games, though it can be a lot less. Where these sites win is convenience.
The top trade-in sites. This table shows the main players, and what you can trade in with each. They have been chosen based on feedback from the forum. If you've had a positive or negative experience with any of these, please post in the individual forum threads.
Remember there's no protection if things go wrong or a site goes bust. We don't check companies' solvency.
Can I do better elsewhere? Yes. Though hoarders of '90s CD relics and games could make £100s on the side, for more recent items you may be better off selling 'em individually on eBay* or other auction sites. You may do better trading in computer games at high street game shops – check these too.
Get max cash for old books
Listing books one-by-one on eBay* may get the most cash, but it'll take some time. One of the best options for selling old books is Amazon Marketplace*, as you need only search for the book and write a short description. Your listing stays up till it sells.
Amazon provides full reviews of most from its database – if you're listing a few in one go, this saves time. It automatically adds £2.80 for delivery, so ensure your sale price covers postage if it's a heavy tome.
If you're a professional seller then you will have to pay £25 a month, but if you're just selling a few items it's 75p per item. For books Amazon then charges 15% on top as a fee. (It's different for other items, for a full list see Amazon fees.)
Use trade-in sites for less hassle. If you need speed and ease, trade-in website WeBuyBooks.co.uk and Ziffit let you enter details, they offer a price, and you post books free. Prices can be lower than selling them yourself though.
How much? Potentially £100s if you're selling pricey textbooks, less if it's old paperbacks.
Flog your old wedding dress – can fetch £500+
If you've an old bridal gown boxed up in the loft, dig it out and turn it into cash. You could get £500+ for a sought-after dress by a well-known designer, and depending on how popular your gown is, you could get the money in time for Christmas.
A host of wedding dress selling sites promise help. Here, you upload a description and some photos. The buyer usually comes round in person to try it on.
As you set the price, first find your frock's true worth. Check eBay to see how much similar dresses have sold for – just fill in the search box and tick "completed items" on the left-hand grey bar.
Don't just post items to strangers though – it's far better to get paid cash in hand. Even if you accept a cheque, it can take a week for it to clear. The exception's eBay, which tends to have better protection.
How much? This can be big money, as forumite fran-o found: "I put my dress on Preloved and had interest from someone who had tried it on in a bridal shop. She came to try on and bought it for £550. Very happy!" If you've sold one, let us know how you got on in the Sell Your Wedding Dress forum thread.
The top FREE wedding dress selling sites. If you're looking for speed, you might want to consider the paid-for sites below, but if you can wait, first try your luck on the fee-free sites.
MoneySavers rate classifieds site Preloved* for selling wedding frocks. It's free to sell on and is popular with brides hunting for second-hand gowns. You can also try wedding planning site Confetti's basic, forum-style for-sale section, as well as popular classifieds site Gumtree.
Also worth adding is The Dressmarket, where a basic advert with one photo is free (it makes money from selling optional upgrades, eg, extra photos).
The top paid-for sites. No joy on the freebies? While it has a mammoth audience,eBay* charges steep fees. You can list 20 items free a month, but if the dress sells, you pay 10% of the sale price, including postage.
There are also specialist bridal gown selling sites, which are especially good if you're selling a frock by a named designer. Check out SellMyWeddingDress (£10 for six months' advertising) and StillWhite (£17, but your ad stays up till it sells). While we've little feedback from MoneySavers who've sold via these, we hear good things from buyers.
As a rough rule of thumb, eBay wins over the specialist paid-for sites if your dress sells for less than £100.
Spot and flog from car boot/garage sales
If you've an eye for car booty, buy items cheaply and sell them at a profit on eBay or other auction sites. Be sure to arrive early to beat other bargain hunters. You can use Car Boot Junction or Carbootsales.org to find your nearest car boot sale.
The big money lies in spotting collectables to sell on, so research online first or (subtly) use your mobile phone's web browser.
There's a quick way to glean a product's market value on eBay*. Fill in the search box and tick 'completed listings' on the left-hand grey bar. It'll come up with a list of prices similar auctions have already fetched. Then sort by "Price: lowest first".
How much? The earning potential increases with your knowledge of rare items and collectable brands, and a little luck doesn't go amiss either. If you're in the right place at the right time, this could net you £100s extra a year.
Flog old gold
“Sell unwanted gold for CASH!” TV, mags and billboard ads pulse with promises, yet rarely seem to live up to them.
However, amid the scrap are shining examples – meaning £14 per 9ct stud earrings and £55 per 18ct gold ring is possible. Full tips on avoiding rip-offs and maximising your earnings in Sell Gold for Max Cash.
Sell your story
Journalists are always looking for dramatic stories. If you've been in an extreme situation, come close to death or have any other gripping or extraordinary tales to tell about your life, why not get paid and have it published? Even amusing photos can earn good cash prizes in some magazines.
How much? A 'star letter' will usually fetch at least £20 in magazines, pictures up to £100.
Recycle old printer cartridges for cash
Printer cartridges are expensive, sometimes even more costly than the printers themselves. So, next time one runs out, offset the cost of a new one by recycling the empty one for cash, or Tesco Clubcard points.
There are lots of recycling sites out there, so do a bit of research to find out which are the best payers for your cartridges – some pay as much as £2 per cartridge, though it's usually much less. Try Cash For Cartridges, Recycle Ink Cartridges and Infotone.
Though some recycling sites will take your empty cartridges, they may only pay for certain ones, so check feedback and compare prices.
Alternatively, recycle the empty cartridges with Tesco and earn up to 125 Clubcard points for each cartridge. Each point is worth 1p in store but up to four times as much if you redeem on goodies with Clubcard Boost such as breakdown cover, days out and holidays away.
Profit from lost luggage auctions
Ever watched Storage Hunters, the U.S. show where people bid for the mystery contents of storage units? Now you can do it yourself, with lost luggage auctions.
When airlines are unable to reunite lost bags with their rightful owners, they often sell them off via specialist auction houses, usually costing £10-£75. For a full guide, including which auction houses do this, see Lost Luggage Auctions.
It's also worth checking out Police Auctions, where forces in England and Wales use an eBay-style site to sell lost property or goods seized from criminals when they can't find the rightful owner. It's cracking for bicycles, among other things.
Rent it out for cash
It's amazing what you can rent out for cash, especially if you live in a busy area. Ensure you get the most out of your property – even your parking space can be profitable.
Earn £7,500 tax-free by taking a lodger
If you've space and don't mind a stranger intruding on your Game of Thrones-watching time, getting a lodger is a fast way to earn £100s. The doozy is that on 6 April 2016, the amount you could earn tax-free letting a spare room via the Government's Rent a Room scheme was boosted from £4,250 to £7,500/year.
The scheme applies when you rent out a furnished room in your home to a lodger or or take short-term guests through Airbnb (see Airbnb Room Renting Tips). It also applies if you run a B&B/guest house. It works whether you live in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
If you're renting out a room, you have two options to reduce tax, though you can only use one of them, not both. So work out the best option for you first.
- The Rent a Room scheme. This is a huge tax break for most and really ups the gain. You don't pay tax on the first £7,500 you make each year from renting out a room (halved if you share the income with a partner/someone else).
If your income's below this threshold, you don't need to do anything, as the tax exemption is automatic. If it's higher, you must complete a tax return – you then opt into the scheme and pay tax on the remaining amount.
- Deducting expenses. Alternatively, HMRC allows landlords to knock certain costs off before working out how much tax to pay. This includes guests' share of utility bills and home insurance (see the quick question below for more).
You can choose not to opt in to the Rent a Room scheme and instead record your income and expenses on the property pages of your tax return. This can be a bigger saving in a few cases - though if your expenses are less than £7,500 it's likely you may be better off with the Rent a Room scheme.
If you rent out your entire property rather than just a room through Airbnb etc, this is your only option, as you can't take part in the Rent a Room scheme.
Quick question
What counts as an 'expense'?
How to find a lodger
If you want to let a room on a longer-term basis, try SpareRoom and the room-to-rent section of Gumtree, which hook up people with housemates. Both are free to list on, though there are optional upgrades such as promoted adverts.
Another option's MondaytoFriday, a site geared towards part-time renters looking for weekday-only places, so you get your space back at weekends. A standard ad that runs for six weeks costs £29.95, so it could be worth trying Gumtree or spare room first and marking your listing 'Monday to Friday only'.
Temporarily rent out a room or your whole home on Airbnb
Airbnb and other similar sites link up owners with travellers hunting for a short-term place to stay, whether for holidays or sports events like Wimbledon. If you're renting out a room for holiday stays (not the whole house), you get the £7,500 Rent a Room allowance too. Our 20+ Airbnb Hosting Tips guide is a crash course offers safely letting your spare room or entire property for short periods.
Get cash for spare storage space
If you've unused space in a loft, garage or spare room, Storemates puts you in touch with folk who need space. It's free to register and list, but it charges 15% of the monthly rent if you find a match.
How much can you get? Storemates recommends charging 50% of commercial price. It automatically suggests a price, but you can charge what you like. For example, a 20 sq ft loft space in south London could net £600/year.
Some forumites report earning up to £40 a month, but others say they've had no response. So it's worth a punt, but not a guaranteed money-spinner.
How do I join? Register on the Storemates website and list a storage space. If someone's interested, they'll contact you via the site and arrange to check out your space. It provides a template legal contract to help sort the terms.
Will I need to pay tax on my earnings? Earnings will need to be declared. However, from April 2017 you will be able to earn up to £1,000 tax–free from your property, which includes renting out your storage space. See the Online Sellers and Room-Renters given £1,000 tax breaks MSE News story.
Will this affect my home insurance? Renting out part of your property for business purposes without telling your insurer could invalidate your home cover. Call it and say you're planning to list your storage space. They usually decide on a case-by-case basis, but may extend your existing policy for a small fee. If not, try a broker -
Anything else to watch for? Be prepared to settle any disputes yourself, and check you're comfortable with what's being stored. Don't agree to store valuables. This is because if you have to claim for damage to
someone else's items, most standard insurance policies won't cover this.
Rent out your parking area
Is your driveway paved with gold? If you live near a city centre, airport, train station or footie ground, it might be. You can earn cold hard cash each month by renting out your drive.
Rent out your house as a film set
Film and TV production teams are always on the look out for homes and areas they can shoot in. Your home needn't be Downton Abbey to qualify – all shapes and sizes can be desired, and rates of pay can be pretty good.
A number of online agencies will list your property for free, taking commission once your property is chosen for a shoot (this varies depending on the property).
Sites worth a look include Lavish Locations, Amazing Spaceand ShootFactory.
How much? It varies widely, but if your property's chosen, as a rough guide you can expect from £500 to £2,000 a day. And you get to brag about it. Don't bank on being selected though; there are many more properties than film crews.
What kind of home do you need? Living within the M25 boosts your chances, as does unrestricted parking nearby. Crews also prefer bigger rooms with plenty of natural light. A state-of-the-art kitchen might net bookings for cookbook or lifestyle magazine shoots.
Will this affect my home insurance? Most agencies have their own insurance for breakages, however renting out part of your property for business purposes without telling your insurer could invalidate your home cover. Tell it first if a film crew's about to rock up.
Do I pay tax on my earnings? You'll have to declare you earnings so it depends on your circumstances. From April 2017 you'll be able to earn £1,000 tax–free from your property.
Reclaim, reclaim, reclaim
Right across finance, companies have been taking or holding money when they shouldn't. These days it's easy to fight back. This can mean a boost of £1,000s to your finances in just one go.
Tax rebate for uniform wearers
If you wear a uniform at work, and have to wash, repair or replace it yourself, you may be able to reclaim £100s of tax for up to five years of expenses.
This applies whether it's just a branded T-shirt or you're a fully-uniformed pilot, police officer or nurse.
Check your tax code – you could be due big money
A National Audit Office report's exposed how 3.2m people between April 2014 and Oct 2015 had an incorrect tax code. Some will have paid too much and are due cash back, others too little and may have a horrid shock coming.
It all depends on how wrong your banding was, but it can range from tens of pounds to thousands. One forum user managed to claim over £5,000. Use our Tax Code Checker guide and tool to work out if your code is correct.
Reclaim for train and tube delays
Leaves on the line, the wrong kind of snow and service faults... delays are all too common on our railways. But it's possible to claim for a delay if you know your rights.
Plus if you've an Oyster card or use Tfl, you may be due a share of more than £200 million. There's big money sloshing about - if you failed to touch your Oyster out you can often claim back the excess (some have got £70 on this).
Plus if you now use your contactless card instead, or if you've an old Oyster, you can claim back old credit.
Reclaim phone/broadband credit
If you've switched TV, mobile, broadband or phone providers in the last six years, there's a very real chance you're owed a little cash. One forumite was amazed to get £144 back from TalkTalk.
PPI reclaiming
If you've got or had a loan, credit or store card with payment protection insurance (PPI) in the past 10 years, you may be able to reclaim £1,000s - for FREE.
We regularly see success stories of over £10,000. Yet the regulator's announced plans for a time-bar on claims, so check now.
Don't hand 30% to a no-win, no-fee claims handler.
Find lost assets
Billions languish unused in old bank accounts, pensions, life assurance, Premium Bonds and investments, whether forgotten in a house move, lost through a work change, or simply overlooked in the hurly-burly of modern life.
Yet it's usually easy and, in many cases, free to reclaim cash that belongs to you or your family.
Reclaim bank charges
If you've been hit with bank charges in the past few years and are in financial hardship, you can ask for them back.
It all depends on your circumstances, but if you incurred charges of £35, four times a year for the last six years, then on average that all adds up to a huge £840 payback.
Council tax rebanding
The council tax system in England and Scotland is fundamentally flawed. Many people are in the wrong band. It takes 10 minutes to check if you're one of them using our step-by-step Council Tax Rebandingguide.
Reclaim for flight delays
If you're delayed by more than three hours or your flight's cancelled, you are often entitled to between £100 and £470 in compensation.
Car or bike damaged by a pothole? Claim for it!
Whichever authority controls a road has a legal duty to maintain it to a fit standard. If it doesn't, and your car's damaged, it should pay for repairs.
Often you will only get a payout if you can prove negligence, but it's worth giving it a go.
Get paid for your opinion
Many companies' and public organisations' desperate need to test, talk about and try out their products or ideas on people gives you a great opportunity to cash in.
Sign up to online survey sites
Willing to give views on One Direction, washing-up liquid or quitting the EU? Our Top 20 Online Survey Sites guide shows how to make cash by filling in surveys. Committed survey-doers can get £200ish a year.
Attend face-to-face focus groups
Traditional market research focus groups pay generously per session, though you're limited to a few a year.
All it involves is giving opinions, usually with free sarnies, and you can walk away with £30 to £160. To get started, sign up with the top agencies listed in our list of Face-to-face focus groups.
Get paid to watch telly
Telly addicts can cash in by getting paid for their opinion. Theviewers.co.uk sources research panels for broadcasters and programme makers.
Projects can include giving feedback on TV programmes before they hit screens, coming up with catchy titles or deciding which personalities should get more airtime.
You can attend face-to-face research groups (these are usually in big cities around the UK), fill in surveys online or do both.
Anyone over 16 can sign up through the theviewers.co.uk website and you'll have to fill in a questionnaire on your viewing habits. This allows it to provide info to TV companies that helps them either select the right demographic for each piece of research or make sure they are gathering a wide range of opinions.
How much? You'll get £40-£70 for a two-hour face-to-face group discussion and it's usually paid in cash straight after the event. Occasionally, there will be an online version of a focus group, paying the same amount.
The amount paid for online survey varies, for example, members are often given a choice of 50p via PayPal or a 1 in 5 chance of winning a £5 Amazon voucher.
Become a mystery shopper
High-street retailers are desperate to check their in-store customer service is up to scratch, and contract mystery shopping agencies to do so.
They employ you to visit a specific shop or pub, to rate service quality or the quality of their goods. If you fancy a bit of 'cloak and dagger' identity, this can be great fun too.
Three of the most popular sites are Grassroots, Gapbuster and Retail Maxim.
How much? Payment for this type of work varies hugely between agencies. Some pay in gift vouchers, others simply give you free items. Some will pay you cash too, sometimes as much as £30 a day.
Work from home
If you're unable to leave your home, whether due to childcare commitments or disability, working from your kitchen or spare room can leave you quids in too. Working on your own isn't for everyone though, so make sure you're OK with a spot of solitude.
Earn cash online
If you've a computer or smartphone, there's a host of small ways to boost your coffers. Our 30 Make Money Online Tips lists 35 (legit) ways to make money online.
You can get paid just to watch videos, write, search on Google, make your own YouTube clips and much more.
Enter contests as a cash boosting hobby
From cars to £20,000 cash, five-star USA holidays to £10,000 Tesco gift cards or even two years' rent paid, MoneySavers have won it all. It's all about 'comping', a potentially profitable hobby for the lucky.
Comping's about systematically sourcing and entering hundreds of the contests, using web gadgets to fill out forms at speed, answer questions and help with tie-breakers.
Do some freelance work
If you've skills in a specific area, you may be able to do a little freelancing on the side.
International project recruitment site PeoplePerHour allows companies to list projects they want completed. Freelancers 'bid' on projects, saying why they'll be the most suitable candidate and entering their price for the work. The site's free to join and bid on work, but a fee is taken out of your pay for each job.
How much? It depends on the job, the duration and skills involved, and how many freelancers are competing for it. The only drawback is you might find yourself competing against workers from countries with a much lower cost of living, who can undercut you.
Take in foreign exchange students
Renting out a room provides a stream of ready money, and a handy tax break means you can keep a decent chunk of it out of the taxman's hands.
Get in touch with local secondary and language schools to enquire about how often they take students, and the vetting process. This can be a tidy little earner.
How much? Rates of pay vary depending on the level of accommodation you provide, but as a very rough guide you can expect to earn upwards of £80 per week per student.
Solve companies' problems
Several companies put problems online and offer cash to people who can come up with effective solutions.
While not a guaranteed way to grab cash, these can be an interesting, fun, and lucrative way to spend your spare time if you're a business or science boff.
At InnoCentive companies post dozens of challenges offering big money for the best solutions, though they're often quite technical. A typical example's £5,000 for low-cost labelling solutions for reuseable glass containers.
Also worth a look is Idea Connection. Register and it sends you email invites to help solve firms' problems for cash.
How much? It depends on the challenge, but top paying solutions can be worth about £600,000 if you come up with a brilliant idea.
Iron out your finances
Set up a professional ironing service, advertising in local shops and newspapers. A good tip is to advertise in the poshest part of town; that way you can charge more.
How much? Ironing businesses generally charge by the item, with 20 items costing around £10. This varies depending on location, so check what other local services are charging.
Start a 'cottage industry'
If you're a dab hand at arts and crafts, try selling your jewellery and artwork, whether on eBay* or at craft fairs.
Websites Etsy and Redbubble are designed for buying and selling homemade goods. Some talented MoneySavers make big profits.
How much? Potentially £100s, depending on your time, talent and selling ability. You will have to declare your earnings but from April 2017 you'll be able to earn £1,000 tax–free from side-gigs such as this.
Work, work, work
If you're willing to travel, as well as the obvious McJobs there are many ways for second-jobbers to earn extra cash. You also can maximise what you get from your current job.
Ask for a pay rise at your current job
People are often scared, yet why not simply ask? After all, the worst that can happen is they say 'no'.
Simply ask for an appointment, prepare your points – which should be more about your job role than 'I need the money' – and see what happens. It's just as difficult for an employer to say no when you ask, as it is for you to ask in the first place.
How much? Always remember that if your pay rise isn't as high as inflation (the rate at which prices rise) then your pay is actually decreasing. So why not ask for an 'inflation plus x%' rise, explaining a pay rise at inflation will just keep you level and the x% is because you're now more experienced or better at your job.
Bag a Christmas job
There are more likely to be temporary vacancies around the Christmas period in certain sectors. Check out Gov.uk's Universal Jobmatch and Gumtree.
Check which retailers are looking for extra staff to cope with the extra Christmas shoppers. Print out multiple copies of your CV, and then do a mail-drop on your local high street.
Ask catering agencies, restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars. Festive parties may mean more jobs. Royal Mail may also be worth checking at this time of year.
How much? Varies by sector.
Baby-sit
Watching somebody else's TV and eating their food while the kids lie fast asleep upstairs doesn't sound so hard – and it often isn't. But you must be prepared to deal with the odd stroppy or ill child.
You'll need a proven track record with little'uns, so work for friends, family and neighbours first.
How much? Adult baby-sitters can get up to about £8 per hour, but you'll need to build a reputation first to command this.
Find out more: Join the discussion, read other MoneySavers' top suggestions and add your own in the Baby-sitting thread.
Pet or plant-sitting
Also known as house-sitting, this job sounds (and is) fairly simple: maintain a house and look after any animals and plants for anything up to three months.
You need to have no other commitments to worry about. It'll be easiest to sign up with an agency, so be prepared to provide references and expect a thorough check of your background, including any criminal records. After all, would you be happy to leave your home in the hands of a stranger?
The terms and conditions vary from company to company. Some will expect you to be available all the time while some offer work on a more casual basis.
How much? As a guide, Nina's Nannies for Pets pays roughly £30/day, plus travel expenses. You can earn more depending on how many pets you look after.
Be an interviewer
NatCen Social Research is usually on the look out for freelance interviewers. The job involves interviewing selected people about all kinds of topics in their own homes, then sending the answers to your set questions back to base.
How much? As a guideline for interviewers, once trained you'll earn an average hourly rate varying from £9 to £12.
Work at the supermarket
Work weekend shifts at a supermarket – some pay up to double on Sundays and bank holidays. Generally, the posher the supermarket, the more it pays.
How much? Around the £8 per hour mark, and some may offer a discount (usually 10%) on groceries once you've been there for a while.
Party planning
It's possible to make cash by hosting parties in which items are demonstrated and sold. Since you'll effectively be self-employed, you can make your own hours and work as often or as little as you want.
Before starting though, be sure to check whether there's already a popular representative of the company in your area. If so, it's probably best to sell something else. Typical examples include Ann Summers, The Body Shop At Home and PartyLite.
Forumites recommend choosing a company where you'll be selling products you like; you'll find it more enjoyable, which will help you succeed.
How much? It's commission-based, so what you earn depends on your selling ability, and the products you sell. You'll usually have to cover set-up costs with your first parties.
To give an idea, forumite and Ann Summers rep Lady_Lazarus says: "The pay varies because it is commission based, but I make about £50 a party – not bad for waving a few naughty things around for two hours."
Monitor exams
During exam periods in secondary schools, colleges and universities, there's often a shortage of exam invigilators since the teachers and lecturers still have other work to attend to.
Ask local institutions and temp agencies and you can earn fair cash for a couple of hours of (blissfully silent) work. You'll need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (formerly known as a Criminal Records Bureau check).
How much? Expect roughly about £8 per hour.
Use your head – tutor
To tutor up to GCSE level you don't necessarily need a degree or PGCE teaching qualification (although you can command much higher rates if you have the latter), but some previous teaching experience is a must.
You'll need a DBS check if you're to work with kids, so start out by asking some local teaching agencies about getting one, and about getting started.
How much? Without qualifications, you can charge up to about £10/hour (depending on your experience and ability). If you get a PGCE (which can be achieved on a part-time or flexible basis), you can charge as much as £40/hour in some areas.
Count votes
Register with your council's elections office and get paid to count the votes at polling time. This can be in four-hour shifts, or longer. One MoneySaver reports earning £180 for working from 9pm to 5am.
Be warned though: you're usually contracted until the job is finished, so if it runs over you won't be paid extra (the flipside being that if you finish quicker, you'll still earn the same).
How much? It varies by job, but some forumites have reported up to about £180. One user said: "I got paid loads [for counting votes] – about £60 for a couple of hours' work, and it was great fun."
Be a model
If you have the confidence to go nude (or semi-nude in some cases), life modelling is a fun way of earning extra cash. For a few hours work, you can usually get a very good rate of pay because it's very hard to recruit for this role.
All you have to do is make sure you're able to hold a pose. All shapes and sizes are desired, so don't be put off if you're not 'model' size.
My ex did this for ages, found a classified in the local paper (well, I found it for him!). Good money, gentle work... and he was pretty ugly.
- Badger_Lady
How much? Forumites report you generally get up to about £10-£20 per hour. Of course, wages vary depending where you work and some models are paid 'per job', earning more.
Be a TV extra
It can be a little more boring than Ricky Gervais makes it out to be, but the fun of seeing yourself in the background of shows can more than make up for it.
There are several legit online extras agencies which don't charge you for signing up, although they'll generally take an 'administration fee' out of your pay. If you're serious, you'll need to sign up to a few agencies to be in with a chance. You may have to pay your own travel expenses.
As there are a lot of agencies to choose from, it's well worth checking out forum feedback before you join to help you find the ones that are right for you.
How much? Most extras generally earn about £50 per day (it can be more), with overtime paid at about £10 per hour. It's a good idea, though, to have some professional (or at least professional-looking) photos taken in order to start off getting work.
Be an Avon lady (or man)
Avon representatives earn commission on make-up, toiletries and other items they sell. You buy batches of catalogues and canvass friends, family, neighbours or colleagues for orders to bring in cash.
The sign-up fee's £16 (this is taken out of your total earnings for your first two month's sales), which includes brochures. After that, brochures cost from 11p to 63p each. The more you buy, the cheaper they are.
How much? Your earnings depend on how many products you shift, but dedicated Avon ladies can earn £100/month, and some earn far more. Of course, many earn less than this, and, if you don't sell anything, you could run at a loss. So don't do this unless you're confident you'll flog some stuff, and are comfortable selling to friends and family.
You'll earn roughly £1 for every £4 of products sold. You can also become a sales leader, building up your own team and earning extra money through the team's sales.
Be a guinea pig
If you're fit and healthy and prepared to accept the risk of tests, you could earn up to £150 a day by taking part in medical trials.
There are several big companies advertising for volunteers. See forumites' experiences in the UK medical trials discussion for ideas.
How much? Depending on what it is you're being tested for, forumites report earning between about £70 and £150 per day (it varies by trial). You may get your travel expenses refunded.
