How Families Can Make Some Extra Money
BY READERS DIGEST
1st Jan 2015 Managing your Money
It might seem as if children are a constant drain on your finances, but a family unit can be a money-making force in itself. Here are five ways you can pull together for profit.
raise cash from your junk
Give each child a box and tell them to fill it with toys, clothes and even ornaments that they no longer want. Do the same in your room and around the house. Apps such as Snaply provide a platform for you to sell items locally. Download it to your iPhone or Android for free—much like eBay, you have a chance to value the items yourself, and individuals in your area can bid on them.
Get baking
Cakes and sweets needn’t only be made for your kids’ school events. Holding a bake sale is a fun way to make some money on the side, while enjoying some quality time with the family. Decide together what cakes, biscuits and sweets you should make, bearing in mind the cost of each one and how much you think you could sell them for. You could set up a stall at your local car-boot sale or market or, if you have a lot of passing traffic, set up a stall in your front garden.
Make things to sell
Why not use family time to create something together that could contribute some funds towards next year’s holiday? Whether it’s a jar light, child-painted wrapping paper, greetings cards or a delicious granola concoction, you can all help in its creation and packaging. Once the goods are made, head down to the local market with your merchandise. Alternatively, set up your own online shop at etsy.com. It only costs around 12 pence to upload your items and they charge 3.5% on every sale you make.
Serve your neighbourhood
Look around your local area to see what’s in demand. If you live in an area where everyone has a garden, perhaps your family could offer a weekend gardening service. If it’s an area where each home has a car or two, get some buckets, chamois leathers and car wax, and offer a family car valeting service. You could also bring in some cash by walking dogs locally and maybe add in a pet-sitting service. Put up flyers in local coffee shops and hangouts, and spread the news through word of mouth around the neighbourhood.
Put on an event and sell tickets
If you have a big garden, in the summer you could offer a BBQ with entertainment, which people pay to come to. If you’re good at entertaining children (and you should be if you have your own), you could offer a children’s garden activities day including things such as games, planting seedlings in a pot (to take home) and having a picnic. You could be more ambitious and hire part of a local field to set up an outdoor cinema for one night. Hire a projector and screen, charge an entry fee and either make it a drive-in movie or encourage people to bring rugs and picnics. If you start your planning now, you’ll have it all sorted by summer.
