This Morning | News and features | How to make money

How to make money

Published: Tuesday, 5 February 2008, 5:52PM

Fancy making some extra money on the side? Whether you're already working full-time, or stuck at home struggling to make ends meet, it's possible to increase your income.

Financial expert Jasmine Birtles shares her top advice on how to make money.

Be a Doula
A doula helps other women during, before and after birth. Doulas can be trained and certified or self-taught. Any woman who has had a baby and wants to help other women get through their birth, and the first few weeks of a newborn's life, could become a doula.
Earning potential - The average doula makes about £5,000 a year after costs.
Contacts
www.britishdoulas.co.uk
www.scottishdoulanetwork.co.uk
www.nurturingbirth.co.uk

Cash for questions
The UK has a range of text answering services that are constantly looking for more researchers to answer the thousands of questions they receive per day.If you're willing to spend the time on being a researcher, you can make a lot of money. Trial the services by texting a question to Texperts 66000, AQA 63336 and ANSA 87199.
Earning potential - An average researcher can earn about £10 an hour. Dedicated researchers tapping out answers on a full-time basis can pull in up to around £25,000 a year
Contacts
Texperts pay 30p per question you answer
AQA pay 30p per answer
ANSA pay 10p per answer, and a further 5p for each time your answer is used.

Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistants (VAs) work outside the office from their computer at home. They are there to help small businesses which can't afford full-time secretarial support or need to delegate occasional typing or admin work. Most VAs will recommend you have at least five years' office experience and have worked in a senior admin role such as a secretary or office manager.
Earning potential - If you sign up with an agency they'll charge the employer up to £150 a day for your services (of which you'll only receive a percentage). If you're advertising yourself however, you can either charge daily or hourly - typically £15-£25 per hour.
Contacts
www.virtualassistantjobs.com
www.allianceofukvirtualassistants.org.uk
www.iava.org.uk
www.va4u.com/assistant

Buy lost luggage
Hundreds of thousands of suitcases get lost every year. When British Airlines has a surplus of unclaimed baggage in storage, they sell the cases at auction. All you need to do is head down to the auction house and bid on what you think you can on-sell via eBay for more than what you paid.
Earning potential - You can get items for £50, worth more than £500, and then on-sell them for at least £200 and make a profit of £300.
Contacts
www.greasbys.co.uk
www.ebay.co.uk

Ads on your car
The company have a method of putting adverts all over cars that doesn't spoil the bodywork and can be taken off easily in their workshop. You do not have to accept all the ads you are offered. This is a very easy way of making a significant amount of money each month without lifting a finger.
Earning potential - Between £70 and £200 a month depending on the car, your average mileage and the size of the advert. Your motoring costs for the year would be covered and you would have extra income in addition.
Contacts
www.adsoncars.com

Mystery shopper
You get paid to go shopping, eat out in a restaurant or just pop out for a drink. The only catch is that you need to tell the company about it afterwards. Avoid dodgy mystery shopping sites. Always check for a UK phone number and a UK address.
Earning potentia l - Fees per visit vary between companies, but are usually between about £6.00 and £20.00. Of course expenses are paid for including food and drink. Depending on how many jobs you do, you can earn anything from £10 to £500 a week plus a few freebies.
Contacts
www.esa.co.uk
www.gfkmysteryshopping.eu
www.grassrootsmysteryshopping.com
www.jksmysteryshopping.co.uk
www.mystery-shoppers.co.uk
www.performanceinpeople.co.uk
www.retail-maxim.co.uk
www.mysteryshopagency.com
www.storecheckers.co.uk
www.smbs.co.uk

For more information on these and more money topics visit www.moneymagpie.com