Eight ways to make some extra money while in coronavirus lockdown

Linda J. Dodson

Millions of Britons working from home are now benefiting from an extra hour or two a day that they would usually spend commuting. 

Rather than spending your spare time during lockdown trawling through social media, why not put it to good use and earn some extra cash? 

From renting out your driveway to proofreading documents, these are some of the best and easiest ways to make some extra money without stepping out of your front door. 

1. Rent out your driveway 

More people are ditching public transport for the safety of their own cars, but many are finding their office car parks cannot cope with the extra demand. 

You could make money by offering up your empty driveway as a parking space for those who work near where you live. There are a number of apps and websites that connect people with unused drives with those in need of a parking spot, including Kerb, JustPark and Stashbee. 

Most allow you to set your own price, although some firms will take a cut. The monthly price to rent a parking space in London can be £300 or more. 

2. Lend out your car 

If you think you won’t be needing to drive much during lockdown you could offer up your car to workers wanting to avoid public transport instead. 

One car lending app, Turo, calculates that its users earn more than £500 a month renting out their car. Other firms allowing you to do the same include Getaround and Hiyacar.

There’s no need for contact: drivers can book, locate and unlock your car via the apps. Borrowers must take pictures of the car before and after to ensure any damage is documented. 

3. Online tutoring  

Schools have been closed for more than a week now and many parents are searching desperately for new ways to help them juggle work with homeschooling their children. 

Online tutors are in hot demand. One website, Tutorful, estimates you can make between £20 and £30 an hour by signing up to its platform. Postings on jobs sites offer more than £50 an hour for specialist tutors. If you use an online tutoring agency you’re likely to have to pay a fee. 

You can offer your services in any number of subjects and many don’t require any teaching qualifications. Postings often ask for evening and weekend availability, so you can fit it around your other work. 

4. Become a virtual assistant

Get paid to help businesses schedule social media posts, sort files and prepare mailing lists. According to Adzuna, an online jobs board, a virtual assistant is one of the highest-earning second jobs, paying almost £16 an hour on average.

Many postings only ask for part-time hours, making it easy to arrange it around your main job. 

5. Proofreading 

If you have good grammar and an eye for detail, your skills could be highly valued by some publishers.

You can earn up to £15 per hour on average, according to data from Adzuna. By working just five hours a week you could add an extra £300 or so to your bank balance each month, before tax.

Sites such as Upwork and Worksome allow you to bid on jobs you like the look of and even create contracts for you. On other platforms, such as PeoplePerHour, businesses can offer jobs at a fixed price.

You can also get paid to transcribe audio recordings by firms including Take Note and Way With Words. Most pay per minute of audio typed up, typically around £1. All you need is a good internet connection, fast typing skills and a Grade C in English GCSE. 

Some proofreading and transcription companies will ask you to take a test beforehand. 

6. Online surveys

Payment for online surveys varies hugely: while some offer just 50p for your time, others pay as much as £20 per survey. 

Some firms, such as i-Say (previously Ipsos), offer points that can be redeemed as vouchers every month while others, including YouGov and Crowdology, pay out in cash. A few only pay up once you’ve earned a certain amount, so make sure to read the terms and conditions.

You could also participate in market focus groups, which pay a little more. These are usually done in person but now many are being conducted via video call.  

7. Blogging 

Ever looked at Instagram influencers raking in the millions and wondered if you could do the same? Now could be your chance. 

Anyone with even the most basic tech skills can set up a blog or upload videos to YouTube. You can make money from your blogging (or vlogging) either via affiliate links, where you promote another company’s products, or by building up a large following. 

YouTube, for example, pays users who post videos a percentage of its advertising revenue for every 1,000 views they receive. For affiliate links, companies pay you each time someone accesses their site through you. Amazon offers payments to people promoting their products through a program called Amazon Associates. 

Some businesses will pay you to promote their products on your Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. According to social media firm Tribe you only need around 3,000 followers to qualify. 

Alternatively you could use your blog to sell things that link to what you write about, such as online cooking workshops or do-it-yourself craft kits. 

8. Selling your iPhone photos 

Ever fancied yourself as the next David Bailey or Don McCullin? You could make money by selling your snaps as stock photos. 

You don’t need a professional camera, as even pictures taken using your phone may be snapped up by newspapers, publishers or businesses searching stock photo sites. 

The Stockimo app allows you to list your photos for sale alongside other stock images on Alamy. They can fetch anything from £10 to more than £300, of which you receive 20pc. The average sale price on Alamy is around £70. 

Other forums are more generous: Shutterstock contributors earn up to a third of the sale price while iStock Photo offers royalty rates of up to 45pc. 

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