Get your Money for Nothing, Store your Stuff for Free (well almost…)

Ben Rogers, Founding Partner of Storemates.co.uk, describes his innovative initiative in storage, making use of all that spare storage space in private homes.

We all feel the pinch after Christmas and start the new year looking for ways to change our life, even slightly, for the better. I know I am not alone in puzzling the conundrum that arrives uninvited in your thoughts when you are trying to do something more important (drive, eat, sleep), and that is: how can I make the money that comes into my account each month larger and the money that leaves my account smaller!

Extra income, minimal effort

There are lots of easy (and to me, boring) ways of making savings, buy one less coffee a week, one less take away, one less night out. But I hate to start January thinking of ways to make this year less fun. So how about flipping it on its head and finding new ways of earning more each month for not doing anything. I have always been a fan of the Money for Nothing (or almost nothing) idea, and go through occasional burst of activity looking through my old DVDs and CDs, listing them on Amazon, and watching the pounds arrive into my account with pride at my recycling efforts. Occasionally I manage this with larger things like furniture and clothes on eBay. But there is still a little effort required – mostly around bubblewrap and posting – that tarnishes my enthusiasm, and so these bursts of extra income are short-lived.

So how about a way of earning a regular monthly income without that Soviet-style queue at the (aptly named) People’s Post Office?

The eBay of storage

Aspiring to be the ‘eBay of storage’, Storemates.co.uk is a totally new business idea – earn money by storing a local person’s possessions in your loft/garage/spare room/shed, for a small but useful monthly fee. Essentially Money for Nothing (at least, once you move the stuff into said loft/garage/spare room/shed).

By listing your “unused” space, registered users can search for your storage space for free and, once they find you and you agree the terms, you become Store Mates. Easy extra income: kerching!

This unique service is the brainchild of community worker Shaff Prabatani, who ran out of living space when his pregnant girlfriend moved into his tiny South London flat. Looking for a cheaper alternative to commercial self storage, Shaff dropped home-made flyers through the letterboxes of all his neighbours asking if they had any room to store his extra items in return for a small rental fee, and the idea of Storemates – along with Shaff’s first baby – was born.

Part of a growing economic challenge to conventional thinking termed Collaborative Consumption, Storemates is built on a sense of mutual trust (backed up by a system of user reviews like Amazon and eBay).

Case study: a New Year’s resolution

Susie Diamond, 38, an engineer from Cricklewood, London, has just listed her attic on the site to rent, and is looking forward to helping someone locally while earning an additional income. She states: “Money is a bit tight, we’ve got two kids, if we can get £10 or £20 a week, then that’s an extra takeaway or a trip out for the kids. After making space in my loft and listing it on Storemates.co.uk, I walk around the house seeing everywhere as a potential storage space and so a few extra pounds a month.”

So how many boxes could you fit under your bed? That under-stairs cupboard you don’t dare clear out could be paying for your mobile phone each month. Why not make your rooms earn their keep! In fact with a little planning you could get your whole house to pay for itself! Now that is one New Year’s Resolution worth sticking to.

 

One Response to “Get your Money for Nothing, Store your Stuff for Free (well almost…)”

1. Croydon Removal says:

   January 13, 2012 at 8:06 am

   Yeah for saving more income, we have to think about reducing expenses, expenses which are useless, we have to reduced such so that we can save more money, we have to plan for the whole year,