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Seven summer side hustles you can start now to make hundreds of pounds
Seven summer side hustles you can start now to make hundreds of pounds

The Sun

time4 days ago

  • Business
  • The Sun

Seven summer side hustles you can start now to make hundreds of pounds

PREPARE now for the expense of summer. July and August are among the costliest times of year. 4 4 Parents may fork out an extra £1,000 a week over the school summer break. The average price of a family holiday for four is more than £3,600. Childcare alone can add up to more than £1,000, found Coram Family and Childcare. But there are ways to ease the financial pain. Taking a job on the side could net you hundreds of pounds. On average, side-hustling Brits make around £320 per month – and you can do it too. MEL HUNTER explains how to boost your bank balance between now and the start of the summer holidays. SELL YOUR SKILLS One of the easiest ways to make extra money is by using the skills you already have. Are you a whizz at admin? There's a demand for office help as people take time off in the warmer months. If you're good at gardening, get paid to help people look after their patch. Psychic's path to manifesting money and getting rich | Talking Money Head to platforms like Fiverr, AirTasker and Nextdoor to find jobs or advertise what you can offer. Pioneering People matches vetted companies to temporary workers and promises to pay at least £13 an hour. If you've got the skills to help others learn – from biology to ballet – check out tutoring site superprof. RENT OUT YOUR THINGS Tap into the rental economy to make some extra money At this time of year, your garden and camping equipment is in demand at A four-person tent could net you around £15 a day. The web site takes a 25 per cent cut of the rental price. If you have a gorgeous dress, have a go at hiring it out through A £200 Reiss dress costs around £55 to hire for four-days. You can rent out almost anything. If you're the lucky owner of a Campervan, caravan or mobile home, you can make money instead of leaving it on your driveway. Mike and Sarah Jones, from Surrey, make £6,000 a year renting out their VW Campervan. They've travelled in the van with children Dan, now 23, and Emily, 20, but when lockdown hit, the van just sat in the driveway. IT manager Mike, 51, says: 'It made sense to sell it. The kids were older, and we didn't have time for trips like we used to. But I couldn't bear to part with it.' Mike found campervan rental platforms Camplify UK and got enquiries straight away. Four years on, the family has rented it out more than 200 times, from £79 a night, and made £24,000. They use the profits to help fund their own family holidays. 'We love the freedom a van offers and we're so glad we can share that magic with other people.' MAKE A DATE The summer season is jam-packed with special events, from small festivals to massive sporting events. Many of them take place before the school summer holidays and are a great opportunity to make some extra money. Jobs vary, from bar staff to set-up crews. Look at the jobs page on festival websites and check out 'festival jobs' on Facebook. 4 MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR HOME If you've got an empty bedroom, rent it out through a site like or offer it up for storage through Renting out a parking space is also an easy way to make cash. Amy Knight from the finance website Nerdwallet says: 'Summer 2025 is packed with major music and sporting events, giving homeowners a prime opportunity to rent out their driveway. 'Sports fans will flock to the Women's Rugby World Cup, which will take place across the country. 'Registering with a platform like YourParkingSpace or JustPark takes just minutes.' SELL YOUR STUFF It's the perfect time to sell off old clothes, shoes and accessories on sites like Depop, eBay or Vinted. Nerdwallet reckons you could make up to £540 by selling 30 items of clothes, 10 pairs of shoes and 15 toys, and make more from the most popular brands. You can sell old mobile phones at Sell My Mobile or Mazuma Mobile. Books, CDs and DVDs can be exchanged for cash on WeBuyBooks. Sell old tech or furniture on Facebook Marketplace. Even old cables and instruction booklets are bought by eBay buyers. For instant cash, it's car boot season. Setting up an early morning stall could boost your summer coffers. You could also try 'flipping' – buying something cheaply and then reselling it for profit. Melissa Howard, 36, from The Wirral, resells children's and vintage clothes on Vinted and eBay. The mum of two, who runs a creative agency and a photography studio (@itsmelissahoward), buys bales of second-hand clothes from online wholesalers, before photographing and listing them on the resale sites. From a £300 bale packed with 80 items, she expects to make £1,000 profit. She pays up to £50 extra to get them cleaned before they're delivered, and buys up to seven bales over the spring and summer. The extra earnings help pay for days out with her children Grayson, four, and Rowan, two, who also have expensive summer birthdays. Melissa says: 'I work hard for the profits, but I also get a real buzz from it. It also helps as my main businesses are quieter during the summer.' Top tips for selling on eBay NEW to eBay? It's head of secondhand, Emma Grant, reveals how to optimise your listings: Use key words - eBay automatically filters listing titles for key words, so it's crucial to use the terminology people search for - especially brand and product names. Choose the right category for your product - It might sound obvious but it's important to always choose the most specific category to sell in. Pictures are important - Most users will not bid on items they cannot see. For best results, take photos in natural light against a neutral background and be honest about any scratches or damage to the item. Be as detailed as possible - Be honest about the condition of the product and be sure to note any wear and tear. Look at past sold items - eBay has a function that allows you to search for the item you want to sell and then filter the results by sold items. Here, you can view the price the item has sold for and get insight into how others have listed it. Selling Sundays - Get the timing right. The busiest time for buyers is Sunday evenings, so schedule your listings to end around that time. Opt for seven-day auctions to ensure the max number of bids. The longer your item is listed, the more chance of people seeing it, so unless it's time-sensitive, pick seven days. December is the busiest month on eBay. Be realistic with pricing - Try searching for similar items on eBay, to make sure you're going for the right price and always ask yourself "would I pay this price for this item?" Donate to charity - When listing your item, consider donating a percentage of the sale to a cause of your choice – from 10% to 100% - you can donate the funds raised from your item straight from the platform. CUT YOUR COSTS Using tax free childcare could save you 20 per cent on childcare costs over the summer – that's around £300 if you have two kids in clubs for five weeks. It's available for children aged under 12, or 17 if your child has a disability. For the last half of term, if your child's school is one of the 750 piloting free breakfast clubs, enrol them for an early start. It will save you the cost of breakfast, give you an extra hour to earn and it's fun for them too. SEASONAL SIDE HUSTLES Think about the hottest ways to make money during the summer season. Advertise your services to water plants, feed cats or walk dogs when people go on holiday. Look for casual jobs with fruit farms, gardening firms, hotels, tourist attractions and theme parks. Clare Ford, who runs a teen coaching business, adds to her income by doing GCSE and A level exam invigilation in May and June, earning around £100 a week. The mum of two from Ashford, Kent, says: 'I've been doing it for six years and it's a helpful boost.' Max your side hustle income To maximise your profits, don't undersell yourself. If you provide a professional, reliable service, people will pay you more. Nerdwallet's Amy says: 'Use social media to raise the profile of your side hustle. 'If you're just looking for a short-term boost this summer, use your own network of contacts to spread the word online and offline.' And why stop at one side hustle? Having multiple ways of making money is becoming increasingly common. Amy says: 'If one income stream slows down, the others can pick up the slack.' But if you're already working a day job and juggling family life, making your side hustle something you enjoy makes it easier to stay motivated. Amy says: 'Monetising a hobby or existing skill could save you forking out for tools or materials, plus you'll be more confident marketing what you do.' Remember you may have to declare earnings over £1,000 to HMRC.

Five clever tactics to pay off your mortgage early
Five clever tactics to pay off your mortgage early

Telegraph

time4 days ago

  • Business
  • Telegraph

Five clever tactics to pay off your mortgage early

Mortgages are the one financial service you spend years trying to get, but then want to be rid of as soon as you can. For most of us, a mortgage is the key to getting on and climbing up the property ladder, but they can also be your biggest monthly expense. With recent rate volatility in mind, it's hardly surprising that becoming mortgage-free often becomes the next financial goal. David Hollingworth, of mortgage broker L&C, says: 'Having a mortgage is a necessary part of making the dream of home ownership become a reality for most people, but from then on, the focus will usually shift to being rid of what will generally be the biggest debt we'll ever have.' Overpaying your mortgage is one way to do this, but if you're faced with the prospect of trying to chip away at a six or even seven-figure sum it can be rather daunting. However, there are several tactics you can adopt that will see you pay little and often, which can shrink your borrowing without dramatically affecting your budget. Here Telegraph Money, shares five tips to help pay your mortgage off early, and potentially save thousands. Five ways to pay off your mortgage faster 1. 'Round up' your monthly payments The 'round up' idea has been popularised by the many banks that offer the service to help boost savings – when you make a purchase, say, for £3.50, the money that leaves your current account will be rounded up to the nearest pound and the remainder sent to a savings pot – in this case, 50p. The same theory can be applied to mortgage overpayments. 'If your mortgage payment is £842, round it up to £850 or £900,' suggests Ying Tan, chief executive at mortgage broker Habito. 'The extra goes straight towards your remaining balance.' Rounding up by just £50 a month – an amount you might not miss from your bank balance – on a £200,000 mortgage over 25 years could knock one year and 11 months off your term and save over £13,000 in interest, he adds. 2. Overpay by £100 a month There is also merit in keeping this simple, and sticking to paying a little bit extra each month (whether that's £50, £100, or more), as this can be a great way to chip away at your mortgage over time. Mr Tan says: 'On a £200,000 mortgage over 25 years at 5pc, overpaying £100 a month could save around £24,000 in interest and shave off over three years from your term.' You might want to think about setting up regular overpayments at those occasions where you feel able to loosen the financial purse strings – such as getting a promotion or pay increase at work. 'Earmark a portion of salary increases or reduced expenses, like childcare costs dropping, towards your mortgage,' says Aaron Strutt, product and communications director at Trinity Financial. 3. Maintain your repayments when your mortgage rate drops If you're on variable-rate mortgage and your repayments drop when interest rates fall, you could ask your lender to maintain your repayments at their former level. This can be easier to budget for, as you'll already be used to paying your mortgage at the higher rate. Mr Hollingworth points out that you can also do this if you have slipped into paying your lender's standard variable rate (SVR) before remortgaging on to a more competitive deal. 'This could be a great way to make the most of a lower interest rate,' he says. 'For example, if a £200,000 repayment mortgage was originally at 5.25pc, the monthly payment would be £1,198.50. Switching to 4.25pc would cut the payment to £1,083.48 a month, but maintaining the original payment would lock in an overpayment each month and would ultimately pay the loan off three years, 10 months early [and save £21,950 in interest].' 4. Make bi-monthly payments We're all used to paying our mortgages once a month, but another option is to make two smaller payments each month instead. 'The concept is to effectively overpay by an extra month's payment each year by making payments every two weeks,' explains Mr Hollingworth, but he warns not every lender will oblige. 'Most lenders will take payments through direct debit so be sure that you check on whether it's even possible. Some may not be able to accommodate it and you also need to be careful that you would be hitting the required monthly payment on time.' If your lender is willing, it might be worth the effort. Mortgage broker Mojo says this strategy could save the typical borrower £49,118 in interest and knock four years and nine months off a 30-year term. 5. Pay in a windfall 'Putting your annual bonus, inheritance, or even cashback into your mortgage can make a huge dent,' says Mr Tan. He explains that paying £5,000 off a £150,000 mortgage could save you £11,710 in interest and let you pay it off one year and seven months early (based on a 5pc mortgage rate and a 25-year term). Adding this 'extra' money to your mortgage repayments mean your usual budget won't be affected, but you'll need to make sure such one-off sums don't cost you in early repayment charges (more on these later). You'll also need to be sure to tell your lender that you want to shorten your mortgage term – otherwise it may keep the term the same and reduce your monthly repayments instead. How to overpay your mortgage Most lenders will let you overpay by 10pc of the original loan amount a year without incurring any penalties, but some – such as NatWest – will allow you to overpay by up to 20pc. Just how easy it is to set up regular or one-off overpayments will depend on your lender, and what you want to do. For example, if you want to keep your repayment the same after a rate reduction, you might need to ask your lender to manually set up a monthly overpayment each time rates change – it may not be able to automate this. However, setting up simple overpayments is normally pretty straightforward as Mr Strutt notes: 'Most of the bigger lenders have apps their customers can download so they can go online and set up, then manage, their overpayments. 'It's surprising how many people with mortgages do not know about these apps and just how easy it is to make overpayments. Once you get in the habit of making overpayments then you get used to it, and you can adjust the payment to suit your budget.' The benefits of overpaying There are three key benefits of paying your mortgage off early: You'll save on interest: 'Often tens of thousands over the life of your loan,' Mr Tan points out. You'll be mortgage-free faster: Once you have paid off your mortgage you can use the cash you had been paying out to step up your retirement saving, help the kids or just enjoy the benefits of your hard work. Peace of mind: 'No more rate hikes to worry about. It's a big psychological win,' Mr Tan adds. Find out how much you could save with our mortgage overpayment calculator. What to think about before making overpayments While there are financial and psychological benefits to paying off your mortgage early, it's still important to think carefully before you plough all your spare cash into overpayments. Look out for early repayment charges (ERCs): These are essentially penalties for paying off your mortgage too quickly, and are common on fixed-rate mortgages. They could hit you hard if you overpay more than the allowed amount. Mr Hollingworth advises: 'Before overpaying it makes sense to check that an ERC will not be incurred. If so, it will put a big dent in – or even wipe out – the benefit of overpaying.' Could you get a better return on your cash elsewhere?: If you're lucky enough to still be paying ultra-low mortgage rates, you may be better off earning interest on your cash in a savings account, rather than prioritising mortgage overpayments. Depending on your attitude to risk there may also be an argument for investing your spare cash, using a stocks and shares Isa, for example. Do you have other expensive debts?: If you have any outstanding personal loans or credit card debts, it makes sense to pay them off first as they typically charge a higher interest rate than mortgages. Are your retirement finances on track?: It's great to pay as much off your mortgage as you can, but it shouldn't be at the expense of your retirement pot. It's also important to pay as much as possible into your pension to get the benefit of tax relief on contributions and the compounding of returns over time. Make sure you still have emergency savings: 'Always think about a rainy-day fund, as overpaying the mortgage will usually mean that it's hard to get hold of the cash at a later date,' says Mr Hollingworth. 'In most cases, it will require a remortgage or a further advance to be able to be able to access the overpaid funds, so make sure there is cash available to deal with unexpected expenses.' Experts typically recommend you keep around three to six months' expenses in an easy access savings account.

Money Mind 2025/2026 - 60/40 Relook?
Money Mind 2025/2026 - 60/40 Relook?

CNA

time24-05-2025

  • Business
  • CNA

Money Mind 2025/2026 - 60/40 Relook?

21:33 Min Money Mind 2025/2026 New options for the 60/40 strategy in volatile times. Saving money on your home loan: is the lowest rate always the best option? Plus, Indonesian Gen Z's starts coffee bar that's the wheel deal. Money Mind 2025/2026 About the show: Money Mind tells you how to make the most of your money with tips for investors, business ideas for businessmen and analysis of the economy, companies, markets, financial products and trends.

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