twenty fifth Apr 2025
Studying Time: 15 minutes
Until you be part of the Navy or work for an airline, you’ll in all probability wrestle to earn cash whereas travelling.
Scrounging free flights and resort stays is getting more and more tough within the post-lockdown, post-‘influencer’ world, and even skilled journey writers now wrestle to journey the world free of charge like they used to.
However there are nonetheless some methods to recoup the price of your vacation, from renting out your own home and driveway to taking care of another person’s pet whilst you sightsee.
Minimize via the hype and uncover what suggestions do and don’t work now, with our professional information.
Proceed Work on Vacation
OK, OK, so being on vacation means taking annual depart or time away out of your freelance job. However for those who can negotiate working at the least a few days every week remotely whilst you’re away, you received’t eat into your depart days or vacation fund fairly a lot. With distant work so frequent in a post-Covid world, it’s simpler than ever to barter an extended vacation general, for those who can prepare to work remotely a number of days every week.
Converse to your boss about how you possibly can work whilst you’re away, and ensure clear boundaries are set about if you find yourself working and if you find yourself on vacation. In case you are travelling to a rustic that has an workplace to your firm or purchasers, think about providing to spend a day finishing up in-person conferences (and a few smooth-tongued staff may even use this to ask for bills in the direction of air journey and a resort for a portion of the journey).
Freelancers can normally work from wherever, which suggests it’s simple to up sticks for every week or two with out dipping into your financial savings an excessive amount of. Working a few hours a day ensures the earnings continues to roll in, however you may reap the benefits of doing it by a seashore or in a wonderful historic metropolis! And bear in mind, for those who can tie your journey to work in some way, resembling a analysis journey, a few of your bills might be offset in your Self Evaluation.
Earn Cash Renting Out Your Dwelling
Renting out your home out whilst you’re away is a straightforward – and fairly profitable – approach of recouping the value of your vacation, particularly for those who reside in a vacationer hotspot.
Airbnb has clearly cornered the market in informal vacation lets, however there are an entire host of apps and web sites on the market that you would be able to sign-up to, together with Vacation Lettings, Vrbo, and Reserving.com, all of that are fairly simple to create and handle an inventory on.
Basic rental websites like Spare Room or Monday to Friday are one other great way of discovering individuals who may desire a full two weeks in a metropolis, the place, let’s face it, most Airbnb visitors solely need to keep for a day or three.
Which website is greatest?
Spare Room and Monday to Friday tenants are normally younger adults or enterprise individuals in search of a stopgap whereas they discover extra long-term lodging. Websites like Reserving.com and Air BnB allow you to record for short-term lets, which can provide you extra cash for those who’re going away at a peak time.
There are only a few legalities to examine earlier than letting out your own home, like whether or not you could up your insurance coverage. Airbnb, for example, covers you for as much as $1m in insurance coverage, however your individual residence insurance coverage supplier may want you to pay a small price to incorporate renters to your coverage.
In case you have a mortgage, you could examine if it’s okay with them too, as not all lenders help you supply your own home out for short-term lets.
Dwelling Swap
In case you don’t need to lease out your own home – or doing so would imply costly modifications to your insurance coverage coverage – you possibly can think about a house swap with a pal or vetted particular person, as an alternative. That is the place you turn properties for the time period: you reside of their home, they reside in yours. This was made well-liked with the Christmas movie, The Vacation with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. We will’t assure you’ll discover the love of your life, however you may uncover an inexpensive option to recurrently go to a spot that you simply love!
There are utterly free residence swap providers, however going via an company like HomeExchange with a small annual price means you should have extra safety insurance coverage and different assist as a part of your membership. Dwelling swaps prevent a lot cash on journey, it may be a option to discover the world on a restricted finances – so paying an company price, the place individuals are vetted to hitch, might be properly price it.
Lease Out Your Drive
In case your mortgage dealer doesn’t help you allow you to lease out your home, or perhaps you simply don’t fancy having another person keep in your house whilst you’re not there, you possibly can all the time lease out your empty driveway as an alternative.
Having a automobile in your drive may even do extra to maintain away would-be burglars than that corridor lamp on a time change ever might! You can even make a good whack by merely letting another person park in your property for every week or two. Once more, the quantity you possibly can earn will depend on the place you reside – for those who’re reside in an enormous metropolis or close to a main sporting venue, like Wimbledon or Aintree the place parking is a significant downside throughout sure weeks of the 12 months, your drive will clearly be extra in-demand than for those who reside on Dartmoor.
There are a great deal of corporations that specialise in driveway leases, together with JustPark.com, ParkOnMyDrive.com, Stashbee.com and YourParkingSpace.co.uk. You’ll additionally discover individuals listings their driveways on Gumtree, Fb and different less-specialist websites, so it’s price checking on these too to see for those who might earn extra by promoting on certainly one of them.
Establishing an account solely takes a minute or so, and the websites then both take a small minimize from you, the leaser, or, within the case of JustPark.com, add an additional fee on to invoice which the particular person renting your drive pays.
How a lot can I cost to lease out my drive?
The three cities most in-demand by space-shy parkers are London, Edinburgh and Brighton, the place parking close to the centre sometimes goes from £15 a day (for those who exclude the chancers charging £50+). Even within the suburbs, the going-rate begins from £10 a day in Brighton, rising the nearer you reside to bus routes.
It might not sound an enormous quantity, however added up over a fortnight, you possibly can (conservatively) look to make between £70 and £135 renting out your parking house – and that’s assuming you record on the very backside of the market. Most of these drives usually are not in probably the most in-demand elements of Brighton, like close to the seashore or station.
It’s the same story with different touristy cities like York, the place metropolis centre parking has simply rocketed in April 2025, to a whopping £4.85 an hour in metropolis automobile parks (up from 80p an hour only a month earlier than!).
Will I earn extra in different cities?
In case you’re fortunate sufficient to reside in central London, Edinburgh, or York, your drive can pay for quite a lot of Magnums. You’ll be able to simply make £20+ a day for every parking house. In case you’ve a double drive or double storage, you’re taking a look at £40+ a day – which provides as much as £560 in income throughout your two-week journey away. Have house for 3 vehicles? You could possibly earn £840 to place in the direction of your spending cash.
Clearly, you will have to examine along with your residence insurance coverage supplier to make sure that renting out your driveway or storage doesn’t have an effect on your coverage, and any additional money you make over £1000 in a 12 months should be declared to HMRC in your tax return.
Can I Make Cash Pet Sitting?
In addition to renting out your individual home/drive to make some cash, you possibly can strive getting paid to remain within the place you’re staying – or, on the very least, keep there free of charge. Most individuals don’t pay for home sitting anymore – except you’re required to additionally take care of pets.
The apparent approach to do that is by providing your providers as a home sitter. Not everybody can get a home swap, resembling those that lease their properties quite than personal them, however you may nonetheless register on a home sitting website to remain in somebody’s home free of charge.
There are a variety of the reason why somebody would need you to remain of their home rent-free.
An growing variety of individuals personal a couple of property or spend lengthy durations of time away on enterprise, and would quite pay somebody to take care of the place than danger being burgled.
Housebreaking charges are highest throughout vacation durations, which, let’s face it, might be if you find yourself in search of someplace too. Hiring a house-sitter additionally makes monetary sense for residence house owners with a number of helpful contents, like priceless artwork and memorabilia, so having you on-site might really assist decrease their insurance coverage premiums.
What does house-sitting contain?
Home sitting is often very simple. Your job is to maintain issues dust-free and tidy, maybe carry on prime of the backyard and water any crops, and, after all, you could be required to take care of a pet too.
There’s fairly a requirement for individuals who are good with canine, cats and different animals, given many pet house owners don’t need to ship their pets to costly kennels and catteries, so for those who get pleasure from strolling and grooming animals, and might be trusted to maintain them alive for 2 weeks, you’ll be excellent.
Not all house-sitting corporations pay, however you’ll save lots of of kilos on resorts and B&B by taking over the roll of unpaid dog-walker/night-watchman if you’re not off exploring the native vacationer websites.
How do I register?
Most the primary home sitting web sites cost would-be sitters a small price to register on their website. HouseSittersUK, for example, expenses £29 a 12 months for entry to its portal, which, as its web site factors out is ‘a fraction of the worth of an evening’s resort lodging’. As soon as registered, you may then start trying to find residence house owners within the space you’re hoping to remain, and chat immediately with them to barter what they need and want from you. In the event that they pay, they may sometimes point out this within the advert, however you may all the time ask about any remunerations or bills if you message them. In the event that they’re asking you to take care of pets or be conscious of specific errands that would value cash, ensure you have in writing that they may cowl any bills incurred (like pet food).
Can I house-sit overseas?
In case you’re in search of lodging overseas, MindMyHouse.com has listings throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, which account for over a 3rd of all adverts, in addition to tons in the remainder of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Once more, it’s important to pay a small yearly membership price of $29 (roughly £25) however there are many good wanting listings in unique locations. After all, the house house owners are typically in search of assistance on particular dates (normally after they themselves are going away), so for those who’re seeking to go to California, for instance, it could make sense to search for who’s listed in that vacation spot – and when they’re in search of house-sitters – and, organising your journey round that, quite than reserving your flights first after which being dissatisfied if you uncover there are not any Californians in search of house-sitters the fortnight you’re going to be there.
Can I specify what I’ll and received’t do?
The attention-grabbing factor about this website is home sitters and residential house owners signal an settlement detailing precisely what’s and isn’t included within the settlement, masking all the things from cost (or in any other case) to the scenario concerning utility payments, damages, and any chores/obligations. The contract additionally ensures your keep, though every social gathering can cancel the settlement as much as seven days earlier than you might be attributable to arrive, so there’s all the time an opportunity you’ll have to search out various lodging in the event that they cancel greater than every week out.
One other well-liked website is Trustedhousesitters, nevertheless its becoming a member of price is much more costly, ranging from £119 a 12 months for a ‘primary’ membership. In case you go down this route, it will not be a nasty concept to improve to the £129 ‘commonplace sitter’ membership, which incorporates unintended and third social gathering legal responsibility insurance coverage, in case something goes flawed throughout your keep. The premium membership of £249 is good for these wanting to accommodate sit greater than yearly (it’s nonetheless cheaper than a resort!) because it consists of sit cancellation cowl.
In case you apply for 5 home sits and aren’t profitable with any of them, the usual and premium plan features a refund in your membership value.
Can I cost a price to accommodate sit?
Though funds usually are not the norm, you could be capable of negotiate a small price if there are pets to take care of or every other extra duties, so undoubtedly give it a strive for those who really feel you deserve a small day by day quantity.
One girl we all know of at MoneyMagpie recurrently makes £50 a day as a house-sitter. She solely spends the night and night time in the home, earlier than going to work the following day.
The rationale for this excessive charge of pay is the truth that the proprietor of the home has seven canine.
It could value at the least £10 per canine per day to place these canine into kennels. By paying £50 to a house-sitter who is aware of the canine, the proprietor saves £20 a day.
Typically, although, pay is minimal and begins at £10 a day. Some sitters ask for a meals allowance of £10 a day, very similar to an worker can do when having to journey for his or her firm. These sitters will typically ask for 45p per mile for gas, once more very similar to staff receives a commission for utilizing their personal car for work. Each of these funds are non-taxable, not like any precise remunerations, which ought to be declared to the taxman for those who meet the minimal threshold.
One other instance of when a Magpie has been paid to accommodate sit was when the particular person had a house enterprise that required a number of sending and receiving parcels. They paid £10 a day to cowl the journey to the publish workplace, and to ensure the Magpie stayed at residence through the set supply occasions to soak up parcels.
In case you are extra targeted on incomes cash quite than simply discovering someplace free to remain, you’re in all probability higher taking a look at a specialised pet-sitting website, though you in all probability should be an actual animal lover to trouble making use of to those. Most house owners aren’t going to depart their beloved pooch with any Tom, Dick or Harry.
How do I turn out to be a pet-sitter?
The pet-sitting platform Rover doesn’t cost you to register and as an alternative takes 15% of any cash you make, very similar to Airbnb does. A whole lot of the sitters on its website are professionals who both personal boarding kennels and catteries, or run skilled canine walkers providers, they usually clearly cost huge bucks. That mentioned, there are others who supply a extra conventional house-sitting service, which is clearly most popular by many pet house owners whose animals are too nervous or outdated to go to a kennel or cattery, so that you may be capable of undercut the professionals, and web your self a good price to assist offset a few of your different vacation prices. In case you have a police DBS examine and may get references from different pet house owners testifying to your dog-whispering prowess, you’ll additionally severely enhance your possibilities of getting chosen.
Once more you’ll discover listings throughout the UK on Rover, in addition to in well-liked vacationer locations just like the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway – the place resorts are notoriously costly.
In case you plan to take care of somebody’s pet, you actually should look into getting public legal responsibility cowl, in case the canine bites somebody whilst you’re out strolling them, for example. {Many professional} house-sitters take out public legal responsibility insurance coverage even when they by no means take care of pets. You by no means know what kind of any blow-back you may get from the house proprietor if issues go flawed, so it’s all the time higher to be protected than sued!
Get Free Meals and Lodge Stays as a Thriller Diner and Customer
There are many businesses on the market that make use of individuals as thriller customers for resorts and eating places. Some pay however most supply merely the bills again of the meal or lodging. They are going to typically stipulate whether or not you could order a selected factor, ask for assist (resembling ‘might I’ve an iron dropped at my room?’ to check room service), and different such issues. You’ll need to allocate a while to finish the duties – however it would end in free stays and meals.
What is going to I’ve to do?
Usually, thriller diners are given a easy questionnaire to fill-in after their go to, asking them to charge how pleasant the employees had been, how clear and presentable the restaurant regarded, and different maybe brand-specific questions, like did the meal arrive inside a sure time after ordering.
Plenty of college students and retired individuals do thriller procuring or thriller eating work as a part-time job, however for those who’re actually solely all in favour of doing it on occasion to cowl these dinners away, you possibly can strive signing up for a website like MysteryDining.
Whereas most individuals who use the app evaluation eating places of their native space, it let’s you replace your preferences for those who’re travelling, that means you may choose to evaluation eating places and resorts, for instance, whilst you’re elsewhere within the UK. They even have some worldwide partnerships, that means you possibly can eat free of charge whereas on vacation in elements of Europe, the Center East and America.
Can I receives a commission for opinions?
MysteryDining doesn’t pay you for every evaluation, however presents ’capped reimbursements’ – ie. cash to pay for the meal or resort room you’ve been requested to evaluation. It really works on a tiered system (with bronze, silver, gold and platinum ranges, relying on what number of opinions you’ve achieved). Not surprisingly, the very best gigs, like resort stays, spa visits, meals at high-end eating places, and afternoon teas, are reserved for individuals with extra expertise – which you acquire, initially, by reviewing plenty of ‘fast service’ eateries, like Pret A Manger.
If residing it up free of charge isn’t sufficient, you’ll find paid gigs right here, though they require a bit extra dedication and energy, and, are frankly, extra of a job than one thing you may simply casually do whereas having fun with a much-needed break.
Make Cash Promoting Your Vacation Pics
In case you’re travelling someplace a bit distinctive or off the crushed observe, nevertheless, and are a great beginner photographer with a DSLR digicam, you may as properly give it a go, because it’s shocking how few photographs the photograph businesses have of huge swathes of Africa, for example.
What kind of photographs will promote?
Clearly there’s little or no demand for brand spanking new photographs of Desk Mountain or Kruger Nationwide Park. However you’d be shocked at simply how few photographs there are of different comparatively mainstream African locations on most image libraries.
As an illustration, for those who kind ‘fisherman + Gabon’, ‘hyenas + Namib-Naukluft Nationwide Park’ or the title of a seashore in Zanzibar or Mozambique into a photograph library search bar (like an image editor seeking to illustrate a narrative would do), only a few photographs will seemingly come up.
Even when there are a number of related photographs on the website, there’s a great probability people who these images will have already got been used by the image editors at specialist publications (and even mainstream media homes), that means your snap could possibly be precisely what they’re in search of subsequent time they search a kind of phrases.
In case you’re going even additional off the vacationer path to go to relations in Nigeria, for instance, then you possibly can actually clear up. You’d be shocked at how few good photographs there are of a rustic of 200 million individuals!
The place do I enroll?
There are many on-line businesses. Some well-liked websites embrace:
Whenever you register your particulars, the positioning will normally ask you to ship between 5 to 10 images so it might check the standard and kind of images you ship them. In case your images don’t conform to the positioning’s necessities, they are going to be rejected.
If this occurs, don’t fear – simply strive once more, taking their feedback into consideration. Generally it could simply be as a result of they have already got too most of the form of photograph you’re sending.
After your footage have been checked and cleared you’ll be notified after they go reside on the web site, normally after about 24 hours.
Then there’s nothing to do after that besides wait till individuals purchase your images. As soon as your account reaches a sure restrict you will get your fingers on the money.
Authorized points to contemplate
There are a number of authorized points to contemplate earlier than you add any pics on to a photograph library. As an illustration, footage of identifiable homes or fashions (any one who is within the photograph) will usually want a launch type. That is signed by the mannequin or home proprietor to quote that their permission has been given so that you can revenue from their private belongings. Every web site has a launch type so that you can obtain for those who want it.
You also needs to keep away from taking footage of automobile registration plates, firm logos (these could be Registered Commerce Marks) and something that could possibly be thought-about inflammatory (racist graffiti, for instance). You could examine the legal guidelines of the nation you might be in to establish what you may and may’t take images of in a public house, too.
Journey for Free by Being a ‘Group Chief’
A whole lot of journey corporations supply a reduction if a big group is reserving collectively. These embrace main manufacturers like Virgin Holidays and Eurostar, which will give giant teams of 10 or extra a ten% low cost. The follow can also be frequent amongst specialist tour ops that prepare snowboarding journeys, strolling holidays, biking excursions, golf breaks and safaris. These specialists typically enable the tour ‘chief’ or one who organized the group reserving to journey free of charge, as a thanks/incentive for organising the journey and to encourage them to rearrange extra sooner or later.
In case you arrange a bunch vacation for mates or household you possibly can be rewarded to your effort by pocketing that low cost your self (agree it with your pals first after all).
Not solely will the travelling be cheaper, you may then be eligible for cheaper entry into points of interest, too. These could also be museums, amusement parks and so on. It’s basically simply one other approach of shopping for in bulk.
Earn Cashback on Flight and Lodge Bookings
The opposite simple option to make free cash in your vacation is by paying for as a lot of your journey on a credit score or debit card that pays you a refund each time you spend. Even higher if you can even buy through a cashback website like Quidco or Topcashback, to stack the rewards.
A whole lot of financial institution playing cards at the moment are de facto ‘reward playing cards’ that pay you each time you employ your card to purchase items and providers. Typically this reward money is a flat share charge, which you earn every time you employ your card. Different banks might workforce up with particular corporations, which regularly change on a month-to-month foundation, and supply a refund or additional a refund every time you purchase one thing with certainly one of their companions that month.
Clearly, for those who’re travelling overseas, the small price you earn every time you spend will (normally) be offset by international transaction charges, however you possibly can make a good chunk of cheddar for those who use a reward card to e book flights, pay for a bundle vacation, or for those who e book resorts and different vacation necessities via a UK web site earlier than your journey begins.
Earn Avios factors if you spend
A substitute for utilizing cashback is to earn Avois or Virgin Reward factors in your day by day spending to avoid wasting all year long, for discounted flight, airport lounge, and resort prices. The British Airways bank card and Virgin Reward card supply these – however try others like Amex Rewards as they might even be a part of a factors scheme.
You’ll be able to typically get additional bonuses too, resembling a free companion voucher when you’ve earned a sure stage of factors – that means you may take a pal or associate in your journey free of charge, too.
