Give yourself an income boost

With the cost of living on the rise, Keep The Faith suggests ways you can earn some additional cash

The Media are currently filled with lots of stories on how prices for everything – including life essentials, like food, gas, electricity and petrol - are on the increase.

Price rises seem set to be a constant feature of life in the UK in the forthcoming months, so it makes sense to explore ways to boost your income.

Below are some ideas of how you can develop a side income during 2023.

Exploit your talent Can you sew? Bake cakes? Good at graphic design? Make clothes or do alterations? If you have these skills, or others, you have the potential to make extra cash. You can sell your services to family, friends and/or advertise them on social media, or post your profile on sites like fiverr.com and people.com.

Rent out your spare room If you have a spare room in your home, consider renting it out to a lodger. You can earn up to £7500 tax free if you do this. You can find lodgers at general sites, like spareroom.co.uk or cohabitas.com, which specialise in helping people aged 40 and over find rooms or house-shares, or roomgo.co.uk.

Complete online surveys for money Do you spend a lot of time online? If so, you can make extra cash by filling in surveys. For a few minutes a time you can earn up to £3 per survey. Register to fill in surveys on various sites, including brandedsurvey.com, surveyjunkie.uk and valuedopinions.co.uk. Recycle your old mobile phones There is a market out there for your old phones - sites like compareandrecycle.com, sellmymobile.com and musicmagpie.com.

Each site will provide details on the steps you must take to get your phone valued, where to send it and how you’ll receive payment.

Get work on fiverr If you have a skill set that people are willing to pay for, you should sign up to fiverr.com. It’s an international marketplace where people sell their services inexpensively. All you need to do is create a seller profile outlining your skills and services and publish it on site. If people are interested in your services they’ll contact you, tell you what they’re looking for and you give them a price. You’ll need a PayPal account to accept payment.

Be a mystery shopper Businesses, especially those that are public-facing, often use the services of a mystery shopper – someone who poses as a customer to use a service or buy products of a particular business and then writes a report about their experience. If this kind of work is of interest, you can register with sites like mystery-shopper.co.uk, amberarch.co.uk or tern.co.uk for details of jobs.

Sell your old clothes online You may have clothes in your wardrobe that you either don’t like anymore or don’t fit you anymore. If so, there’s someone might buy them. Apps like vintage.co.uk allow you to upload pictures of unwanted clothes and sell them. They also allow you to sell household items, like bedding and tableware. Other sites where you can sell pre-owned items include ebay.co.uk, preloved.co.uk and marketplace.asos.com. Some of these sites charge a fee.

Sell your designer clothes and handbags. Some people love designer items. If you’re one of them, there are sites that specialise in selling second-hand designer clothes, handbags, shoes and accessories, such as rebelle.co.uk. You could also try cudoni.com and wearesott.com. Note you may be charged commission on sales. Create a course If you have an area of expertise you are qualified in, either through education or experience, you could create a course and sell it online. It takes time but is well worth it, and can prove lucrative. Search for information via Google on how to create and sell your course. Web platforms you can sell them on include udemy.com, kajabi.com or thinkific.com.

Write, write, write Can you write well? If so, you may be able to work from home writing articles for the web, blogs, adverts and more - and get paid too. Visit sites like upwork.com, uk.copify.com and peopleperhour.com for potential jobs.

Earn from your creativity Are you a gifted musician, poet or singer? You can develop a good side-line earner performing at events – whether it’s at birthday parties, christenings, weddings, funerals, award ceremonies or business events. To get work, you can distribute business cards; advertise your services/talent on social media; keep your ear to ground and put yourself forward to perform at events; connect with event organisers or sign up with a music agency.

Whatever way you decide to earn additional cash, make sure you check out the terms and conditions and calculate whether the investment of your time and skill will be worth it.

Happy earning!