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11 ways to make £1,000 in 2023
Many of us will be looking to maximise our money in 2023, as the cost of living crisis is set to continue for some time.
One goal you could set yourself in the new year is to try and make an extra £1,000 - this amount can be covered by the trading and property allowances, meaning you might not need to declare the extra income to HMRC.
Making extra cash needn't take up much of your time - from recycling your printer ink cartridges to renting out your clothes, we list 11 ways to make £1,000 in 2023.
1. Make cash from your trash
You can recycle old toiletries, clothes and printer ink cartridges in exchange for cash and vouchers.
Empty printer ink cartridges can fetch as much as £2.50 on some sites. If you recycled two cartridges (colour and black ink) three times a year, that would be £15 in total - how much you can earn will depend on how much ink you use. Sites such as The Recycling Factory and Inkviro can give you an idea of how much you can get for empty cartridges.
Some stores also offer rewards when return empty beauty products. John Lewis, Boots and Lush have recycling schemes offering vouchers or loyalty points that can be used towards your next purchase.
- Find out more: 21 money-saving tips for parents
2. Complete surveys and tasks
Several websites will give you cash for undertaking simple tasks, or giving your opinion in a survey - but it can take a while for the money to add up to anything you can actually spend.
Sites such as Swagbucks and Gift Hunter Club will pay you to complete short tasks, such as playing games, answering polls and surveys, and watching videos. You can get the money you earn as a gift card, or as cash paid into a Paypal account.
If you fancy a short adventure, apps such as Shepper and Field Agent will pay you to complete mystery shopping tasks. The number of available jobs may depend on where you are based and the time of year.
When we searched Field Agent from a south-west London address in December, around 10 nearby jobs came up for in-store shopping, offering £5 for photographs and a video of the task.
- Find out more: 23 ways to save money in 2023
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3. Share your skills
You may be able to get paid for using your skills, such as taking pictures or doing some DIY.
Taskrabbit connects people who need a hand with odd jobs, and people who have the time and know-how to do them - so you could get paid for doing anything from assembling some flatpack furniture, to organising someone's workspace.
If you can take a decent photo, you may be able to earn some cash from it online. Shutterstock, Alamy and 123RF pay contributors when their members download their images.
- Find out more: 47 ways to make money
4. Sell your old clothes
If you have clothes or accessories you never wear, you could have a go at selling them. Which? journalist Hannah Downes recently made £160 selling her stuff at a car boot sale and has shared some tips and tricks.
If you don’t fancy selling in person, you could try a secondhand marketplace such as Vinted, Depop or eBay. I made £120 selling my old trainers, party dresses and coats on these sites in 2022.
Here, we’ve rounded up what sellers need to know about each site, which has been listed alphabetically.
| Second-hand selling site | What is mainly sold? | What do sellers need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Depop | Clothes | Depop fees are 10% of the purchase price. |
| eBay | Electronics, clothes and household items | Listings are usually free unless you make over 1,000 listings a month. You pay a final value fee, which is 12.8% of the total sale (includes item’s postage and taxes) plus a fixed charge of 30p per order. |
| Facebook Marketplace | A bit of everything, from household items such as clothes, electronics and furniture. | Items sold with Facebook Pay are charged a 2% fee of total costs, and you must also adhere to certain rules such as posting within a certain timeframe. |
| Vinted | Clothes | Fees are paid for by the buyer - but you will only receive payment for your item from Vinted once your item has arrived with the buyer, and they have either confirmed by clicking a button to say ‘everything is ok’, or if two days elapse after delivery and no dispute has been raised. |
- Find out more: best and worst places to buy and sell second-hand
5. Switch bank accounts
First Direct is offering £175 to new customers who switch to its 1st Account.
You must use the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to switch, and deposit £1,000 within three months of opening the account. You must be a new customer to First Direct, and cannot have been an HSBC current-account holder on or after 1 January 2019.
Although there’s only one offer on right now, we've seen lots of banks introduce time-limited switching offers over the past year, and we'd expect more to launch soon - so it’s worth keeping an eye out in the new year for offers.
- Find out more: how to switch bank accounts
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6. Make money from your car or driveway
You can earn money from your driveway or garage by listing it on sites such as JustPark and YourParkingSpace, and renting it out to motorists searching for a cheaper or guaranteed parking spot. You can register your space free of charge, and earn anything from £50 to £800 a month.
If you have an electric vehicle charger, you can also rent this out. Some sites including JustCharge and Co Charger allow you to set your own rates for electricity and manage bookings.
Last but not least, you could also try renting out your car on apps such as Turo, Hiyacar, Karshare and Getaround. Some vehicle owners we spoke to said they earn an extra £400 a month.
- Find out more: should you rent out your car?
7. Check for unclaimed benefits
More than seven million UK households could be missing out on help and benefits like council tax discounts, pension credit and Universal Credit, according to EntitledTo.
This is because many benefits and discounts aren’t granted automatically; you need to apply yourself.
You can get a gauge of what you might be able to claim by entering details about you and anyone else in your household into the Entitledto calculator.
- Find out more: tax credits and benefits
8. Try cashback sites
You can earn back a small percentage of what you spend when you buy products or services via cashback sites such as Quidco and TopCashback.
Many people use the sites to earn little and often on everyday purchases like clothes, groceries or takeaways. But you can also find rewards on high-cost products and services such as car insurance, electronics and holidays.
Just remember, it’s much more important to focus on the product, company and price that’s right for you, rather than the cashback you'll earn - instead, the cashback should just be considered a nice bonus on something you would have bought anyway.
Using cashback sites saved Which? journalist Matthew Jenkin £5.37 on his Christmas shopping - which is hardly earth-shattering, but the discounts can add up over time.
- Find out more: cashback sites explained
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9. Rent out your stuff
You can make money renting your clothes, as well as sports equipment and household items.
By Rotation, Hurr and My Wardrobe HQ can be used to rent out your own clothes - and you can also save money by renting other people’s clothes instead of buying new. What you make will depend on how many items you have and the listing price. By Rotation recommends listing items for 5% of the retail price, and it also takes a commission.
If you don’t fancy renting your clothes, you could rent out household items on Fat Llama and Pa-rent. On Fat Llama, cameras have been listed for £35 to borrow for the day, and you can earn £30 for renting out a paddleboard.
- Find out more: 15 ways to save money on clothes
10. Flog old books, CDs and even Lego
If you're starting the new year with a clear out, you could make some money at the same time.
You can trade in your books for cash using sites such as WeBuyBooks and Ziffit, while MusicMagpie will also take old CDs, computer games and DVDS - as well as used Lego by the kilo.
- Find out more: 11 ways to save money on your subscriptions
11. Boost your savings
If you have savings left in an account paying hardly any interest, it's a good time to shop around and find a more competitive rate.
While no accounts can currently beat the rate of inflation, you can get 7% AER with First Direct's regular saver, while these savings tips can help you split up your cash so you don't have to lock it all away in the same account.
Our guide to the best savings rates is regularly updated, for those looking for instant-access and fixed-term accounts.
If you follow our other tips and hit the £1,000 money-making goal, you could also lock that away in a savings account to maximise your earnings.