PREPARE now for the expense of summer.
July and August are among the costliest times of year.
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Parents may fork out an extra £1,000 a week over the school summer break.
The average price of a family holiday for four is more than £3,600.
Childcare alone can add up to more than £1,000, found Coram Family and Childcare.
But there are ways to ease the financial pain.
Read more on side hustles
Taking a job on the side could net you hundreds of pounds.
On average, side-hustling Brits make around £320 per month – and you can do it too.
MEL HUNTER explains how to boost your bank balance between now and the start of the summer holidays.
SELL YOUR SKILLS
One of the easiest ways to make extra money is by using the skills you already have.
Are you a whizz at admin? There’s a demand for office help as people take time off in the warmer months.
If you’re good at gardening, get paid to help people look after their patch.
Head to platforms like Fiverr, AirTasker and Nextdoor to find jobs or advertise what you can offer.
Pioneering People matches vetted companies to temporary workers and promises to pay at least £13 an hour.
If you’ve got the skills to help others learn – from biology to ballet – check out tutoring site superprof.
RENT OUT YOUR THINGS
Tap into the rental economy to make some extra money
At this time of year, your garden and camping equipment is in demand at fatllama.com.
A four-person tent could net you around £15 a day.
The web site takes a 25 per cent cut of the rental price.
If you have a gorgeous dress, have a go at hiring it out through hurrcollective.com.
A £200 Reiss dress costs around £55 to hire for four-days.
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You can rent out almost anything.
If you’re the lucky owner of a Campervan, caravan or mobile home, you can make money instead of leaving it on your driveway.
Mike and Sarah Jones, from Surrey, make £6,000 a year renting out their VW Campervan.
They’ve travelled in the van with children Dan, now 23, and Emily, 20, but when lockdown hit, the van just sat in the driveway.
IT manager Mike, 51, says: “It made sense to sell it. The kids were older, and we didn’t have time for trips like we used to. But I couldn’t bear to part with it.”
Mike found campervan rental platforms Camplify UK and got enquiries straight away.
Four years on, the family has rented it out more than 200 times, from £79 a night, and made £24,000.
They use the profits to help fund their own family holidays.
“We love the freedom a van offers and we’re so glad we can share that magic with other people.”
MAKE A DATE
The summer season is jam-packed with special events, from small festivals to massive sporting events.
Many of them take place before the school summer holidays and are a great opportunity to make some extra money.
Jobs vary, from bar staff to set-up crews. Look at the jobs page on festival websites and check out ‘festival jobs’ on Facebook.
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MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR HOME
If you’ve got an empty bedroom, rent it out through a site like spareroom.co.uk or offer it up for storage through stashbee.com.
Renting out a parking space is also an easy way to make cash.
Amy Knight from the finance website Nerdwallet says: “Summer 2025 is packed with major music and sporting events, giving homeowners a prime opportunity to rent out their driveway.
“Sports fans will flock to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will take place across the country.
“Registering with a platform like YourParkingSpace or JustPark takes just minutes.”
SELL YOUR STUFF
It’s the perfect time to sell off old clothes, shoes and accessories on sites like Depop, eBay or Vinted.
Nerdwallet reckons you could make up to £540 by selling 30 items of clothes, 10 pairs of shoes and 15 toys, and make more from the most popular brands.
You can sell old mobile phones at Sell My Mobile or Mazuma Mobile. Books, CDs and DVDs can be exchanged for cash on WeBuyBooks.
Sell old tech or furniture on Facebook Marketplace.
Even old cables and instruction booklets are bought by eBay buyers.
For instant cash, it’s car boot season. Setting up an early morning stall could boost your summer coffers.
You could also try ‘flipping’ – buying something cheaply and then reselling it for profit.
Melissa Howard, 36, from The Wirral, resells children’s and vintage clothes on Vinted and eBay.
The mum of two, who runs a creative agency and a photography studio (@itsmelissahoward), buys bales of second-hand clothes from online wholesalers, before photographing and listing them on the resale sites.
From a £300 bale packed with 80 items, she expects to make £1,000 profit.
She pays up to £50 extra to get them cleaned before they’re delivered, and buys up to seven bales over the spring and summer.
The extra earnings help pay for days out with her children Grayson, four, and Rowan, two, who also have expensive summer birthdays.
Melissa says: “I work hard for the profits, but I also get a real buzz from it. It also helps as my main businesses are quieter during the summer.”
Top tips for selling on eBay
NEW to eBay? It’s head of secondhand, Emma Grant, reveals how to optimise your listings:
- Use key words – eBay automatically filters listing titles for key words, so it’s crucial to use the terminology people search for – especially brand and product names.
- Choose the right category for your product – It might sound obvious but it’s important to always choose the most specific category to sell in.
- Pictures are important – Most users will not bid on items they cannot see. For best results, take photos in natural light against a neutral background and be honest about any scratches or damage to the item.
- Be as detailed as possible – Be honest about the condition of the product and be sure to note any wear and tear.
- Look at past sold items– eBay has a function that allows you to search for the item you want to sell and then filter the results by sold items. Here, you can view the price the item has sold for and get insight into how others have listed it.
- Selling Sundays – Get the timing right. The busiest time for buyers is Sunday evenings, so schedule your listings to end around that time. Opt for seven-day auctions to ensure the max number of bids. The longer your item is listed, the more chance of people seeing it, so unless it’s time-sensitive, pick seven days. December is the busiest month on eBay.
- Be realistic with pricing – Try searching for similar items on eBay, to make sure you’re going for the right price and always ask yourself “would I pay this price for this item?”
- Donate to charity – When listing your item, consider donating a percentage of the sale to a cause of your choice – from 10% to 100% – you can donate the funds raised from your item straight from the platform.
CUT YOUR COSTS
Using tax free childcare could save you 20 per cent on childcare costs over the summer – that’s around £300 if you have two kids in clubs for five weeks.
It’s available for children aged under 12, or 17 if your child has a disability.
For the last half of term, if your child’s school is one of the 750 piloting free breakfast clubs, enrol them for an early start.
It will save you the cost of breakfast, give you an extra hour to earn and it’s fun for them too.
SEASONAL SIDE HUSTLES
Think about the hottest ways to make money during the summer season.
Advertise your services to water plants, feed cats or walk dogs when people go on holiday.
Look for casual jobs with fruit farms, gardening firms, hotels, tourist attractions and theme parks.
Clare Ford, who runs a teen coaching business, adds to her income by doing GCSE and A level exam invigilation in May and June, earning around £100 a week.
The mum of two from Ashford, Kent, says: “I’ve been doing it for six years and it’s a helpful boost.”
Max your side hustle income
To maximise your profits, don’t undersell yourself. If you provide a professional, reliable service, people will pay you more.
Nerdwallet’s Amy says: “Use social media to raise the profile of your side hustle.
“If you’re just looking for a short-term boost this summer, use your own network of contacts to spread the word online and offline.”
And why stop at one side hustle? Having multiple ways of making money is becoming increasingly common.
Amy says: “If one income stream slows down, the others can pick up the slack.”
But if you’re already working a day job and juggling family life, making your side hustle something you enjoy makes it easier to stay motivated.
Amy says: “Monetising a hobby or existing skill could save you forking out for tools or materials, plus you’ll be more confident marketing what you do.”
Remember you may have to declare earnings over £1,000 to HMRC.
