Need to earn some extra money? You can make money from where you live – whether you’re in the country or in the town. Your actual area can be the main thing that makes money for you. See how here.

• Find local work on Jobsgrapevine
• Sell energy to the national grid
• Rent out your driveway
• Rent out a room
• Rent out your garden

If you want to make some cash now, think about where you live and how you could make money from that. You may already have tried online money-makers such as surveys or virtual assistant work, or you may have looked for earners that depend on you being there in person, such as being a film or TV extra, selling cakes and jams or getting people into clubs. All that’s great, but let’s look at your home and the area in which you live. How can you maximise that?

Get local work through Jobsgrapevine

Check out the forum-based website, Jobsgrapevine. It’s free, easy and effective – you just register, then type a message offering your skills or time to people in your area. It could be anything from babysitting, dog-walking or house-sitting to teaching a language, creating a website, performing at weddings or painting and decorating. If there isn’t a thread matching what you’re selling, post it on the Miscellaneous thread and we’ll create a space for it if there’s sufficient demand.

You can also find work and all kinds of odd jobs through your local versions of Gumtree.com and Craigs List – so keep looking there, too.

Sell energy to the national grid!

If you’re into green energy (and well done if you are!) you could soon sell surplus energy to the national grid. If, like David Cameron, you’ve put solar panels on your roof or you’re using a stream at the end of your garden to generate hydro electricity, you could sell some of your surplus and pay your energy bills and more!

It does have to be green energy though. You can’t just syphon off your neighbour’s electricity and sell it to the grid!

If you don’t have green energy in your home right now, you have some time to get it installed if you’re interested.

• From April 2010 a programme of what are called ‘Feed-in Tariffs’ (FiTs)—an income from every kilowatt hour generated – will start. All renewable energy qualifies.
• From April 2011, another potential source of income will be available where you can also receive a tariff for renewable heat sources (RHI).

Both of these schemes will pay you a bonus for exporting energy or renewable heat sources into the grid or network. It may sound complicated, but there is an increasing number of specialist suppliers and websites that can provide advice and information. Ownenergy is one business that explains clearly how to do this.

Renewable energy, which is suitable for domestic use, includes solar energy, wind turbines, water turbines, ground source heat pumps or biomass boilers and stoves. These various technologies are designed to last 20 to 25 years but they do cost to install. However, over time, you should be able to make that money back…and more. Ownenergy has worked out that you should be able to make and save twice the money you pay out on the energy-creating technology.

Also, there is a variety of government grants of up to £2,500 per property available to householders installing renewable energy technology. Their grants are also designed to contribute to the UK goal of generating 15% of our energy from renewable sources. Check the latest on grant information from the Low Carbon Buildings Programme at the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

This government website also offers a number of case studies from individual householders who have installed, and are using, all the different micro generating technologies. And you will be updated in some advances of these technologies –many are suitable for residents of flats as well as people with detached houses in the leafy suburbs.

More information can also be found at The Renewable Energy Association and the Centre for Alternative Technology

Rent out your driveway

Do you have a driveway, garage or private parking space that you don’t use? Do you live somewhere popular like the centre of town, near a station or near a sports ground? You could make money by renting out your space. Contact Park Let or Parkatmyhouse.com to advertise it.

Even if you use the driveway regularly, you can still make money by renting it out temporarily. For example, you might not use it at the weekends, when the local football stadium is busy. Or you might live near Wimbledon but move out during the tennis. Either way, read the full article on renting out your driveway to learn how drive up your income levels from your parking space.

Rent out a room

You can make up to a whopping £4,250 a year by renting a room or rooms without having to pay tax on it. You can advertise your room for free on Easyroomate.com - it covers the whole of the UK and is free to post. Go to the homepage – it looks almost like a dating site! Actually, many people meet their significant other through renting…who knows? We also like Spareroom which includes an interesting ‘buddy up’ section where people looking for somewhere to stay can find others in the area who are also looking. That way they can get together and find a whole house to rent together. Clever!

For more ideas, take a look at our article on renting a room.

If permanently sharing your nest doesn’t appeal, consider taking in foreign students short-term. English language schools are always looking for good homes for their growing number of students. Depending on where you live and how nice your place is, you can make between £35 and £150 a week – read this article on hosting foreign students to find out more.

Or, just go for someone who is going to stay with you part-time. The website Monday-to-Friday specialises in just this type of person. It appeals to people who live in the country, or in another country altogether, and wants to stay in your city during week nights for their work but are back in their own home over the weekend – sometimes over long weekends.

You don’t just have to rent to people, though. If you have an empty, dry basement or a big loft, you could potentially advertise them as storage space, particularly if you live in a crowded city where storage is at a premium. If you have a cellar or garage that has its own  access – other than your front door – you will be able to charge more for offering clients their own key and 24-hour access.You could make anything from £5 a week for storing a few boxes in your loft to around £50 for filling a garage in central London.

Rent out your garden

If you have a large garden, consider turning it into allotments, particularly if you live in a city. In London, the typical waiting time for an allotment is 10 years! So if you don’t mind people coming into your garden whenever they like and growing whatever fruit and veg (and possibly flowers) they fancy, then it’s a good way to make some extra cash and keep the weeds off the place. Municipal allotments charge very little – between £10 and £30 a year. But that doesn’t stop you from making a private arrangement and charging as much as the market would bear.

Useful Links

• Jobsgrapevine
• The Renewable Energy Association
• The Centre for Alternative Technology
• Parkatmyhouse
• Spareroom
• Easyroomate.com

Got any other money making tips? Let us know on the money making forum.