As a parent, it’s likely that money is always on your mind. But as caring for your family takes up so much of your time, how can you easily supplement your income? Peter Watton from OddsMonkey shares a few ideas for making some extra cash in your spare time.

Whether you’re a new parent on maternity leave looking for something flexible, or you’re simply hunting for ways to supplement your day job without sacrificing quality time with your family, you could always consider a side hustle. At OddsMonkey, we found that 1 in 4 Brits have a side hustle, which is a paid job or hobby you can easily do outside of work in your spare time.

What might surprise you is just how lucrative these side hustles can be. Our research discovered that the most common side job paid around £230 per month on average, and certain activities such as blogging have the potential to fetch up to £4000 a year!

Whatever your reason for wanting to increase your income, below are a few of the best side hustles you can do from home — without taking up too much time that’s better spent with your kids.

Sell items online

This common side hustle may have already crossed your mind, but did you know that you can make £143 a month selling your belongings online? From maternity clothes to outgrown toys, you can resell what you don’t need anymore and pocket the cash to spend on new things, put towards bills, or top up your savings.

Simply choose your preferred platform — there are plenty of buying and selling apps to choose from, or you can use the shopping feature on your favourite social media website. Then, take photos and give honest descriptions of your items that describe their qualities and the condition they are in.

Good reviews are everything if you’re going to sell online for any amount of time, so remember to be open and honest about what you’re selling. If you give inaccurate descriptions, you could receive bad reviews once your item is delivered, and you’ll struggle to sell again in the future.

Rent out your things

If you’re reluctant to part with your personal belongings, you could consider renting them out instead. This is a great way to earn back the value of your items without having to lose them. Try and identify products in your home that people might want to use on a one-off basis, such as tools and appliances, musical instruments, or sports equipment. If you’re at a loss, you can even rent out your clothing as long as it’s high quality and in good condition.

If you’re looking to make as much money as possible, you could consider renting out a spare room in your home in line with the government’s Rent a Room Scheme. As a resident landlord, you can earn up to £7,500 a year tax-free, and you can do this even if you don’t own your own home. Just make sure you check with your landlord first or double check your tenancy agreement to confirm that the terms of your contract allow this.

Dropshipping

Another alternative to selling your belongings online is dropshipping. This is where you run an online store, which involves marketing your products, taking payments, and organising deliveries. However, you don’t actually hold any stock yourself — you ship the items directly from the supplier to the customer. This is a great option for parents as you don’t have to sacrifice space in your home to storing inventory, and all you really need is a laptop or computer.

As with reselling, good reviews are a lifeline that your dropshipping business will depend on. So, it’s important to be communicative with customers and have the organisational skills necessary to manage orders with efficiency. On the plus side, this side hustle is highly flexible, and you can set your own working hours. That means you can do any necessary admin while your children are at school, or after their bedtime while you watch TV.

Testing and surveys

Most parents will have a broadband connection and at least one laptop, computer, or tablet in their home. If not, then you’re sure to have a mobile phone. This means that you qualify to sign up for website testing and online survey sites that can pay you to perform certain tasks.

Web testing sites will typically ask you to navigate a website, click on links, watch videos, complete purchases, and so on. Survey sites will ask you to fill out questionnaires on anything from adverts you’ve seen recently to which products you buy and use regularly. They’ll never ask you personal questions and you get to choose which surveys you want to fill out, and which you want to pass on.

Both of these side hustles can be done by signing up to relevant websites that alert you when a new ‘job’ comes in. This website will organise your payment, and you can normally choose whether to be paid into a digital wallet, or receive a gift card for a popular store, such as Amazon. The tests and surveys don’t pay much individually, but you can simply pick them up whenever you have a spare moment, so they’re ideal for busy mums and dads.

Matched betting

Matched betting is a great option if you’re looking for a low-effort, flexible way to make some additional money. Unlike gambling, it’s a risk-free and reliable method of making a small amount of profit that can build up into decent pot of cash over time, and like the rest of the items on this list, it can be done entirely in your spare hours.

Matched betting works by using the free bet deals offered by bookmakers to place a lay bet and a back bet, covering both outcomes of an event. That means that no matter what happens, you’ll get your money back or a bit extra. This process works every time, human error aside, and can be repeated as often as necessary until you’ve made a profit. You can even get matched betting software that does the hard work for you, automating the process and eliminating the margin for error.

Matched betting is legal and has even been acknowledged by bookmakers, so it’s definitely worth considering if you have a family and want to treat them to something nice every now and then.

These are just five ways you can make some spare money while raising a family. Whether flexibility or a reliable additional income is more important to you, any of these side hustles are worth looking into.