Tips for Earning Yourself Extra Money in Tight Times

Making ends meet is always a challenge, and most people come out of the New Year a tad worse for wear financially on account of all their Christmas dealings. Whilst it can take a few months to get back into comfortable financial shape, making yourself a bit of extra money is never a bad thing, and it can help see you through until your money situation is under control.

From my experience, most people believe they either don’t have the time or the perceived expertise to supplement their income in any effective way, so what I have compiled is a list of ways you can easily make a bit of extra money without committing too much precious time or manpower.

There’s a whole heap of valuable items that can be recycled for cash. Collect and keep these items and sell them on when you have enough, as they are mostly bought on a basis of weight as opposed to individual quantity. One of the most prominent is ink cartridges, which are scoured for left-over ink and then re-used by the manufacturers.

The more accessible options are batteries, bottles, wine corks, human hair, and aluminium cans. In these particular cases, it’s all about finding the right establishment that could use whichever left-overs you have as commodities. Get online and do your research.

You could be entitled to compensation for mis-sold PPI without even realizing. During the time in which personal protection insurance was at its height, many banks and lenders were giving out plans to almost anyone, and at times without any clear instruction to the consumer.

Start by enquiring with your bank, and see what they say. If you have no luck, and still believe that you could be entitled to compensation, take your claim up with the Financial Ombudsman Service who can advise you further on how to claim PPI.

In increasingly overcrowded areas such as in the city, having extra space is a valuable commodity and people are often seeking this for personal and professional application. Make clear what kind of space you have and what it could potentially be used for, and see what kind of offers you get.

This includes, but is not limited to, parking spaces, spare rooms in your living accommodation, lock-up space plots of land, and spare office space. People are always trying to get more creative with how they use their space, so anything you have could be potentially valuable.

This one is particularly easy and usually pays very well for very little work on your behalf, but keep in mind you’re taking a risk in subjecting yourself to untested pharmaceuticals, even if it is for the greater good. Most of the things you’ll be testing are experimental cures for a whole range of ailments that you most likely don’t have.

Usually when entering into this kind of work, you are made to accept all liability for what happens to you before trialling anything at all, so this is an option only for those ready to take some risks for cash.

In a similar style to step 3, free space is a hugely valuable commodity, and advertising space is just as valuable because companies are always competing for it. If you own a car, you already own the perfect rolling advertising space, and many businesses will pay to have their message sprawled across your bumper or rear-view mirrors.

All that’s required on your end is that you drive a minimum amount of miles very month so that the message gets out to the public. Contracts vary in length and value, usually all dependent on the business itself and how many adverts your car will be carrying.

Companies that promise you hundreds for filling out surveys are usually slightly exaggerating, but you can still make money, earn free coupons and cash vouchers by filling in online surveys and giving your valued opinion on products.

Once you’ve signed up to any number free survey websites, you can either get started and do as many as you’d like, or get sent personalised surveys to suit your interests and profile data. It is predicted you can earn anywhere between 10p and £5 in cash and coupons per survey completed, returned, accepted successfully.

It’s always worth checking to see if you are eligible for any tax breaks, credits, or entitled to any benefits from the state. These are all dependent on your personal history of credit and spending, as well as your occupation and previous employment history. There’s always a chance that you could be entitled to more money than you currently receive, or you could even be paying more than you should which means you’ll be due a rebate.

Research suggests that UK taxpayers are missing out on a collective £8 billion a year in tax credits and unclaimed benefits, so do your research and contact the tax office for more information on your tax status.

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