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There are loads of fantastic and simple ways to make money on the side, and lots of them are tailor-made for people over the age of 60. We’ve put together a list of the best moneymaking ideas for seniors so take a look and see what suits you.

• Use your life experience to your advantage
• Make up to £20 an hour by joining a focus group
• Housesit with your partner and make money together
• Cash in on your hobby
• How to make ultra easy money!

Moneymagpie says: Don’t forget to put any money you make into a high-interest savings account.

At the moment, regular savings accounts are likely to offer the best rates on the market. They are also ideal for putting away reasonably small amounts each month (most start from as little as £20). So even if you’re not making a fortune, this should stop you from spending it all! Find out more about them here.

Use your life experience

Be a doula: Sorry men this one tends to be for women only. Basically, this involves using your experience as a mother (or grandmother) to help families with a new baby. You support the mum-to-be during her pregnancy and often after the birth too. Sign up to an agency which will train you and place you with families. Doulas in Britain make, on average, about £10-12 per hour for post-birth work and between £200-400 for a birth. See if it’s for you by reading more about it here.

Tutoring: Do you play a musical instrument? Or speak another language? Perhaps you’re talent lies in writing, or pottery? Whatever your skill is you can make money from it by tutoring people or groups and charging by the hour. In fact if you read our article here you’ll find out how to make as much as £80 an hour tutoring.

Ironing: If you can iron a basket of crumpled shirts with your eyes closed (don’t try it!) then providing an ironing service could be the answer to your cash flow problems. Best of all, you can do it all from your own home and the set up costs are minimal. Find out how to get started here.

Make up to £20 an hour

Market research companies are always looking for people to join focus groups. There are plenty of opportunities if you look around. Most will only be asking you to work for an hour and the pay won’t be much (probably between £10-20) but it may be quite interesting and could lead to more work.

Here are some market research companies you may want to contact. Simply call them up or send them an email explaining that you would like to attend any focus groups they have in the future:

• Researchbox
• Category Consulting (this links directly to the registration page)
• Focus4people

Another very useful site is Gumtree where you can do a job search for ‘focus groups’ or ‘market research’ to get a list of most recent job opportunities in your city.

Have a scan through to see what sounds right for you. There may be age, sex, lifestyle conditions but if you aren’t suitable for one particular job try to get the contact details of the company anyway and let them know you’re interested in some part-time focus group work.

Now read our full article on making money doing market research.

Housesitting

One of the best things about housesitting is that older people are usually much more in demand as housesitters than younger people. This is because they tend to have more experience running a home plus the flexibility to sit during holidays and weekends.

Housesitting is a job that you can do as a couple, so it’s a fantastic way to spend some time together and make a little extra money.

You can start by joining an agency like Homesitters, who will match you up to suitable clients. Working with an agency may be the best option if you’re a little nervous about housesitting for a stranger.

They will often arrange a meeting between client and sitter to make sure you know exactly what is expected of you. They should also have insurance to cover you should anything go wrong. Click here to apply to Homesitters.

The other option is to advertise yourself as a housesitter. Post an ad on Gumtree – place your ad in the ‘work wanted’ section of jobs explaining how much you charge and where you want to housesit.

Now read our full article on Housesitting.

Cash in on your hobby

If you’ve got green fingers or love to bake there are ways to make money with your talent. Why not sell your baked goods at a car boot sale or even a local shop?

If you’re no longer working you can use your free time to offer your gardening services during the week when other part-time gardeners may be unable to work. You can do anything from basic upkeep of gardens to pruning and planting flowers.

You could also grow your own fruit or vegetables and sell them for a profit. Start by gardening for friends and neighbours. If they spread the word you could end up with more paid work.

You don’t have to be an expert – if you don’t know where to start there’s loads of help about:

• Buy a good gardening book like this one by Alan Titchmarsh, or the RHS Gardening Through The Year guide
• Get some advice from a local garden centre helpdesk
• Check out the Royal Horticultural Society and Garden Advice websites

Don’t forget that you can also make your own compost and sell it. Get a discounted compost bin from your local council. Enter your postcode into this search box to see where you can get one from and how much it will cost.

Now look at these articles:

• Keeping chickens
• Grow your own fruit and veg

Ultra easy money!

Dog walking

If you love the companionship of dogs but don’t want the responsibility of owning and looking after one full-time, dog walking could be the perfect way for you to earn some extra money.

Register yourself on a dog walking company like Narps, or keep it simple and look after the pets of people you already know. Expect to make from around £6-10 per walk.

You could also take it a step further and actually look after an animal in your own home while the owners are away. Join a company like Barking Mad as a ‘host family’.

Rent out your…

• Garage / parking area

If you live near a sporting or music venue, university or hospital there’s a very good chance you could make money renting out your driveway or garage space. Also, if you live in a tourist or coastal area you may be able to rent out your parking space during the holiday season.

You can also rent out your garage for storage of equipment. This is particularly useful in big cities where storage is an issue for many people.

Register with Parkatmyhouse and Park Let to let thousands of people know about your space. Find out how much you could make here.

• Spare room

If you’ve got a spare room that you don’t need, then turn it into a moneyspinner by renting it out. You choose who stays and for how long, so it really is a good way to make money with little hassle.

Advertise your room for free on Easyroomate or Gumtree. Now go to our full article on renting out your room here.

You should also consider taking in foreign students short term. 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.

For a long-term moneymaking scheme running a B&B is another option. You could make anything from a few hundred quid a month to a few thousand a month, depending on where you live and how many rooms you have. However, it can be hard work and it will take a lot of effort initially to get things going, so do consider it fully before you make any decisions.

• Garden

Offer people your unwanted garden space to grow vegetables. Allotment patches are booked up for years in some areas so you can really cash in by offering someone a patch in your garden for them to use.

Spareground is a useful site where you can register and advertise your garden space (or anything else) for free. Again you should also post a free ad on Gumtree.

Other options

If taking it easy isn’t really your style and you’re full of good ideas, why not set up your own business? It doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds. You’re older and probably much wiser than you were 10 years ago and – if you’ve paid off the mortgage already – now could be the perfect time to venture into something new.

We have a whole section on business and loads of helpful articles so take a look at these to get you started:

• Do you have a good business idea?
• Top 20 tips for running your own business

Thought of a way to make money on the side? We’d love to hear it! Why not post it on our facebook page: