3 Ways to Make Money Off Your Garage

Did you know that your humble garage can also be a source of passive income? If your garage is simply standing idle, and you have no actual use for it in the mid- to long-term, you can easily utilise your garage for profit by decluttering and taking advantage of the sharing economy.

Four years after the global pandemic, Australia’s GDP growth remains low at 1.5 per cent – its weakest since year 2000.

With rising household debt levels, financial difficulties resulting from the slow economic growth and rising inflation prompted many to find other ways to earn money, such as taking on side jobs or taking risks by trying out platforms that promise financial rewards.

What is passive income?

Passive income is basically an additional income stream that can be earned with only an initial investment and little effort on your part.

There are many ways to earn passive income and the initial investment varies depending on your choice and risk tolerance. Both selling a tutorial course online and shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to purchase and rent out property are examples of passive income sources.

Another example is adding blue-chip shares that consistently pays out dividends in your investment portfolio as this would only require you to make an initial investment. For this, you can continually reap the rewards as long as you don’t sell your shares.

Check out and try some of the suggestions in our passive income ideas post.

How to earn money off your garage

At present, one of the rising contributors for passive income is the increased enthusiasm for the sharing economy – an enthusiasm that you can benefit from if you have an under utilised or unused garage space.

To define, sharing economy is a peer-to-peer economic model that facilitates the sharing of goods and services between individuals or groups of people. That is, instead of simply acquiring businesses, consumers become active players in the consumption, distribution, and trade of goods and services.

For example, let’s say you own or lease the property you’re residing in, but you have too much room and tight finances. You may rent out the extra space, such as a bedroom or garage, to someone who needs the space to earn extra cash. Of course, if you’re renting your home, make sure that your contract doesn’t prohibit such transactions to avoid legal and financial issues.

Declutter and repurpose your garage space

Ideally, a home garage is a safe place to park your car when it’s not in use, although it can also be repurposed as an office space, extra room, or even a workshop.

However, repurposing this extra room doesn’t always maximise its purpose.

There are also some who end up using their garage to store items that they are unable to throw away just yet and these items tend to pile up over time until there’s just too much clutter.

How to declutter and make money

Decluttering your garage is a good way to take stock of the items in your home, but more than that, it’s also an opportunity to discover items you can sell off.

As the adage goes, “one man’s trash is another one’s treasure.”, and that isn’t far off the mark. What you might not need or want anymore could be something that another person is needs but is unwilling to purchase brand new.

Sometimes, things pile up not because we hold on to them for sentimental reasons but for the simple fact that busy schedules get in the way of sorting items out for safekeeping or disposal.

In this sense, consider setting aside a day or weekend to finally sort the clutter in your garage, and you may find items that you don’t really need anymore. Cash in on your finds by doing any or all of the following:

Hold a garage sale or sell online
Sort out and set aside items that are still in good condition and those that may have minor damage but are still usable. For such items, you may hold a garage sale, join a neighbourhood flea market, or sell the items on social media platforms or your preferred online platform for a reasonable price.

Recycle for rewards
A quick search online would show you a variety of option for recycling programs in Australia that accept old items in exchange for cash, discount vouchers or item trade in. Vouchers and item trade-ins may not be cash, but it still helps minimise the cash coming out of your wallet.

Recycle for safe disposal
Finally, while this suggestion may not benefit you financially, it would at least help lower your carbon footprint. Items such as used batteries and chemicals have proper disposal methods, so by bringing them to the proper facility, you can proudly say that you helped reduce the danger to the environment.

Easy ways to monetise garage space

Assuming you own the property, another way to make money off your garage is to monetise it by renting out your garage to people who need the space and are willing to pay for it. Your only concern is if there are neighbourhood regulations that would prevent you from leasing your home’s garage.

If there isn’t any potential violation, you may choose whether to rent out your garage as a storage facility or a car parking space.

Rent out as storage facility
Demand for storage facilities increased during the pandemic as the situation required people to adjust to work from home arrangements and they needed to store items in their homes to create space.

Likewise, there are also some who move their place of residence and need a place to temporarily store their things. In such cases, it may be more affordable option for them to rent a storage space closer to the new home than find a large commercial storage facility that may be out of the way.

If you have no specific use for your garage, consider taking advantage of this temporary necessity as a possible source of income by engaging in short-term rentals. The size and location of your garage will determine the demand and amount you can charge for it but, essentially, that’s an easy stream of income of a hundred dollars or so each month.

Rent out as a car parking space
So you just cleaned up the clutter and don’t want to see any more, but you don’t have a use for the extra garage space at home? Then just let others park their car in your garage and charge money for it.  You even have the option to rent out for daily bookings or month to month lease.There’s actually a demand for parking spots all over Australia, especially in and around CBDs, so if you’re at a favourable location, you’ll quickly find a space renter if you advertise well.

How to rent out your garage

If you want to do one or both of the options above, you’ll have to post your ad in online marketplaces like Facebook or Gumtree and monitor it well so you can respond to queries in a timely manner. But if you want to make things easier, why not give Spacer a try?

Spacer is a platform that connects people who have space (hosts) and those who want to book spaces (renters). The best part is that it’s free and easy to list your garage and it’s a platform that’s trusted by over 100,000 Aussies – and the user base keeps growing.

Spacer has storage and parking space listings and customers all over Australia so whether your garage is in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, or Perth, someone is bound to consider booking your property.

It only takes five minutes of your time to register and input your garage’s photo and details. After that, just wait for someone to book your space.

Don’t worry, Spacer doesn’t take control of your space and all decisions regarding your listing, including the minimum rent duration, is still up to you.

This content is originally published for Spacer AU, a Spacer Technologies company, and is protected under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth). Unauthorised use or reproduction of this article, in whole or in part, without permission is prohibited and may result in legal action.