Are you tired of opening the garage, basement, or closet door and seeing it packed full of “stuff.” You have no idea what to do with it all. You feel overwhelmed.
Can I make a suggestion? Why don’t you put some of that “stuff” to work for you? And put more cash in your pocket—overnight? Interested?
Let me show you some things you might have that you can rent out for extra money. But first, why is renting stuff a smart thing to do?
Why Renting Out Stuff is Smart (For the Owner)
- It’s easy to do & takes little time
- Earn back the money you paid to buy the item
- Make money to replace and/or upgrade an item
- Make money to buy something else—or better yet—to start saving or investing
- It helps others—and you
- It reduces waste and excess consumption
Why Renting is Smarter Than Buying (For the Renter)
- Save huge money on “big ticket” items that you might not use a lot
- Can enjoy or “try out” an item you want at a fraction of the cost
- Not committed to owning an item you might not like after you use it
- Removes worries about storage, maintenance, repairs, insurance, etc.
- It doesn’t require a lot of money to enjoy a “big ticket” item
- Don’t have to worry about the depreciation or loss of value of the item
What Types of Things Can You Rent Out for Extra Money?
So, what are things that people rent? Well, the list of things you can rent out for profit is almost endless. By the time you’re done reading this post, you’ll be wondering if you can rent out your wife’s Chanel handbag or your husband’s favorite drill—and the answer is yes, you can!
Grab a pen and paper or get ready to make a list on your smartphone. Let’s go!
1. Rent Out Your Vehicle
OK, maybe you don’t want just anyone driving your Bentley, but I’m talking about your other car. You know, the one with who-knows-how-many-miles-on-it that’s covered in more scratches and dents than paint. That one! It’s reliable but doesn’t get used much. Alright, not that one either but something in between those two.
There’s a few different ways you can rent and earn from your vehicles. You can rent to people who just want to rent a car to drive themselves. You can rent to a company who rents cars to people who want to drive for Uber or Lyft.
And you can rent out your truck for people to haul things in.
Turo
Turo is a large car sharing rental company with cars to choose from in over 5,500 cities in the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK. Insurance coverage is offered by Turo themselves. Or you can use your own commercial insurance (and keep more of your rental money).
Getaround
Not cool with taking time to drop off and pick up keys for your rental vehicle? No problem? Getaround uses a phone app that lets people rent, unlock your rental vehicle, and get going—all with their smartphone.
HyreCar
HyreCar will pay you to rent out your car to people needing a vehicle to drive for Uber or Lyft. Not everyone’s cup-of-tea but definitely another option to consider.
Fluid Truck
Looking for a great second income—or maybe you’d like to ditch your day job? Sounds crazy but check out the testimonials on Fluid Truck and you’ll see people who’ve done just that. Fluid Truck claims you can earn 5-25K/year renting out just one truck. And that includes pickup trucks, cargo vans, or commercial box trucks.
Related: 20 Clever Ways to Make Money With Your Car
2. Rent Out Your RV
If you have a camper, motorhome, or toy hauler, those are great things to rent out for extra money.
Of course you’ll need to make sure you have the proper insurance and liability coverage if you choose to rent some of these items out yourself on a site like Craigslist. Or you can choose to use one of the rental sites below.
Some of these sites help vet potential renters and provide insurance in exchange for a cut of your rental profits.
Outdoorsy
Outdoorsy claims you can rent and earn up to $30K/year renting out your RV. Of course, that probably depends where you live. Outdoorsy provides $1 million of liability insurance and vets potential renters by having them complete a profile first. In exchange, Outdoorsy takes a 20% fee of the rental booking subtotal.
RVshare
With RVshare, you set up your own RV rental listing and negotiate terms directly with interested renters. RVshare states you can see what commission fee you’ll be charged when you set up your profile (but they don’t mention what the fee actually is on their site). However, they state this fee can be “negotiated” with a member of their team.
3. Rent Out Your Bike
At Spinlister, you can rent out your bike—as well as your surfboard, snowboard, skis, and a few other pieces of fun sports equipment. Besides that, you can meet some really nice people and make up to $500/month.
4. Rent Out Your Boat
Not every vehicle has wheels! Boats are actually very popular items to rent out for extra money. Some sites that can help you do that include:
- Click & Boat
- Get My Boat
- Boatsetter
5. Rent Out Your Property
Renting out some of your real estate may seem like an obvious way to rent and earn some cash. However, there’s many different ways you can earn rental income from your property. Here are a few examples:
- A house, rental suite, or rooms in a house you own or even your own personal home
- Your property for events such as weddings, birthday celebrations, personal photography pictures
- A space in your backyard or on your property for camping (HomeCamper)
- Your garage for storage, work space, or parking
- Your driveway or garage pad as parking space
- Spots on your land for storage of RVs, boats, storage containers, tiny houses, etc.
- Land for gardening, farming, or grazing livestock
- Your vacation property on Airbnb
- Space for kennelling/boarding pets or training horses
There’s many sites you can advertise property rentals on such as Craigslist which is perfect if you’d like to keep 100% of your profits and have complete control of the rental process.
6. Rent Out Your Clothes and Accessories
Not everyone would feel comfortable renting out their clothes and personal accessories but some people are fine with this. Of course, you have to have clothes someone would want to rent which means higher-end name brands that are pricier to buy.
This can include all kinds of clothing, footwear, handbags, purses, jewelry, and watches. If you like to buy and have an eye for high-end fashion and design, why not make some money off your great tastes and help someone else look fabulous for their special event?
Here’s some sites that help you rent out what’s hiding in your closet:
Here’s a quick testimonial from a happy Rent My Wardrobe entrepreneur.
7. Rent Out Your Baby Gear
Babies are adorable—but they cost a LOT of money! Diapers, food, and baby clothes are just a few things you’re going to need if you have a little one or want to travel with your little tyke.
If you’re a parent, you know the list of baby items you need or want to make your life a whole lot easier includes things like:
- Crib or baby bed
- Playpen
- Stairway gate
- Change table
- Baby monitors
- Baby walker
- Stroller
- Jolly jumper
- High chair
- Car seat
Sites like BabyQuip help you rent out your baby gear. And there’s even sites like goBaby that rent out baby gear to people traveling to your area.
8. Rent Out Your Tools and Special Equipment
Tools and specialty equipment are hot items to rent out. Just ask Home Depot. They have a whole department and section of their store devoted to renting these items to customers.
So, why can’t you do the same? Don’t know how much rent to charge for it? Why not do what we did? Someone wanted to rent our portable generator to take camping so I called our local Home Depot and asked how much it cost to rent a 3000W generator for 3 days. Answer: $45 day. So, we rented ours out for $35/day and the guy who rented it was thrilled. Win-win!
Wondering what equipment can you buy to make money through rentals? Why not contact your local Home Depot or other local rental store and ask them for a list of tools and equipment they rent out and their price list. Then you’ll know what items people most commonly rent and how much you can charge for them.
Here’s a list to get you thinking of items you might already have to rent out:
- All types of hand tools and power tools
- Construction equipment
- Portable generators
- Aerators
- Lawn mowers
- Rototillers
- Snowblowers
- Compressors
- Paint sprayers
Where can you rent out this kind of stuff online? Buro is an app for renting out all kinds of different items. And sites such as Loanables and Peer Renters are also great places to check out.
9. Rent Out Yourself! (Or Your Spouse)
This might sound funny or terrible (depending on your take), but this is something I’ve done myself and it’s totally for real! A co-worker of mine approached me at work one day and asked if I knew of anyone who could replace her old windows with the new ones she bought. Instantly, I thought “Heck, my hubby can do that.”
So, I told her my hubby could help her with that if she’d be ok paying him to do it. And I promised he’d give her a good deal. She was thrilled and said she’d prefer to have someone she knows come into her home to do this.
We have a young married couple as tenants in our rental suite. The wife loves to bake and makes specialty cakes and cupcakes. One day I heard her husband talking with a buddy who said he needed to find a place to get a specialty-themed birthday cake made. Our tenant said “Hey, my wife can do that for you. And she won’t charge you nearly as much as you’d pay elsewhere.” And the deal was done.
Why not rent out or offer up your services (or that of your spouse or partner!) to make some extra money? Especially if it’s something you (or they) love to do.
Other Things You Can Rent Out For Extra Money: Where’s the Kitchen Sink?
Don’t have anything on the list so far? No worries! There’s lots of things you can rent out for profit that are pretty common to find in most households and garages. Do you have any of this stuff kicking around in decent condition?
- Sporting goods
- Camping gear
- Electronics
- Photography equipment
- Music equipment and instruments
What Is The Best Rental Business to Start?
If you find you really like renting things out, you might want to consider starting your own rental business as a side hustle. Some of the best things to rent out to make money in a rental business include:
- Party or wedding equipment
- Artificial flowers
- Chocolate fountains
- Office furniture and equipment
- Camping equipment
- Musical instruments
- Portable hot tubs
- Bounce houses
- Bubble machines
- Furniture
- Clothing or costumes
Conclusion:
So, has a light come on for you yet at the end of your tunnel of “stuff”? Still not sure what you could rent out for extra money?
Here’s a question for you—as you read through this post, what jumped out at you where you thought “Hey! I could rent my stuff like that”? Start with those things. Check out the rental sites we’ve listed or even your local buy and sell sites. People often rent things out on those sites too.
And the next time you open your garage or closet door, start picturing $20, $50, and $100 bills laying around in there. Imagine how that would feel. ‘Cause that’s really what you got—with a bit of effort on your part.
Now get off the couch, go find those things, and find out how much you could rent your stuff for!