7 Life hacks for students to make money

Finding yourself constantly asking for money? We understand what a student budget can be like. Which is why we want to show you 5 different and tremendously easy ways for you to make money.

1. Sell Old University Books

That’s right, you can make your money back from those previous academic and university books that you don’t want anymore! Believe it or not, you can get yourself a quite a bit of money fetching upwards of about £50.

Both Amazon and eBay are a fantastic option for selling your books (and any other unwanted items). Sadly, you do have to pay for the fees and postage that comes along with selling on these websites.

Another brilliant way you can sell your University books is with this site called The Book Pond, where you can become connected with other students who are in need of these books. Attracted buyers will get in talks with you after they’ve seen your post about the books are how much you want from them. Lastly, another great advantage is the fact that there is no fees or postage to pay!

Another handy app is called Shpock, a ‘boot sale’ app where you can advertise and sell for free to people in your area. People also use this app to sell clothes and other items, so if you want to have a bit of a clear out, you can sell more than just your old books!

However, the easiest way to flog your fiction of course is to simply sell your books to friends or family: perhaps you have a family member who just started University and who could use some books, or know some students in the year below who will need your books next year. Give them a discount and it’s a win-win!

2. Make and sell your own custom T-shirts

Zazzle is a super simple site to use, it allows you to create your own custom T-shirt designs for other people to buy. As long as you come up with the idea, Zazzle will do all the hard tasks for you from shipping to printing and collecting money.

3. Sell photos

Got a good camera? Into photography and have some neat holiday pictures? Got some worthy snaps that could make it into a news headline? All you need to do is upload your photos to image stock sites – then sit back, relax and wait for the money to come flying on in. Anyone that uses your photos will have to pay you a fee.

Some examples of stock imaging websites including Shutterstock and Fotolia. For a news site where you can send in your news stories or photos, try Cavendish Press.

4. FREE Lottery!

The Free Postcode Lottery is exactly what it says on the tin. How can you not resist a FREE lottery! A winner is selected everyday – yes, the prize may be ‘only’ £100, however if it is not claimed it rolls on over to the next day. Enter for free now and test your luck over at Free Postcode Lottery’s site.

5. Make money from your parking space

You heard that right – you can get your parking space at home rented out by other people on websites such as Your Parking Space and Just Park. You can make the amount you want to charge the exact amount you want; the best parking places can make up to £100 a day! However, the location of your parking space is what will give it value – a few examples might be living in a large city or near major attractions, such as stadiums, tourist landmarks, arenas or train/tube stations.

Even if you don’t have a free parking space to sell, these sites are also great for if you just want to see the cheapest options available to park when visiting built up areas.

6. Teach your subject

All that knowledge you’ve accumulated over your GCSE’s and A Levels is worth more than just your ticket to your dream degree – it’s worth money! Working a private tutor is both flexible and well-paid, and you can use simple sites like First Tutors to register and get local applicants for free.

Alternatively, if you’re already doing great on your degree, you can tutor others on the same degree (either in your year, or most likely a year or two below) and give them guidance on how to study and pass the exams you did with flying colours. Most tutors charge around £15 per hour but if your subject is more difficult you could charge up to £20 or £25.

7. Manage social media for local businesses

Most students tend to be pretty savvy with social media, and believe it or not, companies will pay you to post on their behalf! Small, local businesses often don’t have the time to invest heavily in social media, so pop into some of your local high street businesses with a pitch and CV, or get in touch with some businesses from home.

You can charge anything from £100-£500 per month for the full service or charge per post, and plan all the posts in advance with social media scheduling websites such as Hootsuite, Retortal, Buffer and more. A few hours work that you can do in your jammies too! What more could you ask for?

Summary

We do hope you try out at least one of these life hacks, and that they help you earn a little bit of spare cash! If you know anyone who could benefit from trying out some of these ideas, do share it and tag them, and if you liked what you saw here, you’ll love our cheap rates on our Student Accommodation if you’re a Birmingham student.

If you found these life hacks useful then please do let us know via our Facebook on what you’d like to learn more about – we’d love to hear your thoughts!