12 Things You Can Rent Out for Extra Money (Most People Overlook Half of These)

Look around your home for a second.

Your car is parked outside. Your camera is sitting in a drawer. That drill in the garage hasn’t been used in months. Maybe you even have a spare room, storage space, or parking spot that sits empty most days.

What many people don’t realize is that these things can generate income.

People rent items every day because they only need them temporarily. Instead of buying, they’d rather pay someone to borrow them for a few hours, a weekend, or a week.

In this guide, I’ll show you the best things you can rent out for extra money, including several opportunities most people completely overlook. You’ll also see realistic earning potential and which rental ideas are actually worth considering.

TL;DR

• Several items sitting in your home right now have real rental value on peer-to-peer platforms.
• Your car, parking space, room, storage space, tools, and outdoor gear are among the highest earners.
• The setup is simple on most platforms. The income can be meaningful with very little ongoing effort.
• Some rentals earn $100 a month. Some earn $1,000 or more. It depends on what you have and where you live.

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What Can You Rent for Extra Money? A Quick Comparison

Item to Rent	Best Platform	Average Daily/Unit Earnings	Effort Level	Best Location	Passive?
Car	Turo, Getaround	$40–$120 per day	Medium (handover, cleaning)	Any city	No (active coordination)
Parking space	SpotHero, JustPark	$80–$400 per month	Very Low (list it once)	Near city centre, stadium, hospital, airport	Yes (mostly automated)
Spare room / home	Airbnb	$50–$150 per night	Medium (cleaning, guest comms)	Tourist areas, public transport hubs	No (guest management)
Storage space (garage, basement)	Neighbor.com	$80–$200 per month	Very Low (set and forget)	Anywhere with housing density	Yes (completely passive)
Swimming pool	Swimply	$25–$75 per hour	Low to Medium	Warm climates, suburban	No (guest arrival needed)
Camera & photography gear	Fat Llama, ShareGrid	$20–$100 per day	Low (list, respond to requests)	Cities with creative industries	Mostly (renters pick up)
Power tools & equipment	Fat Llama, local groups	$15–$90 per day	Low	Anywhere	Mostly
RV or camper van	Outdoorsy, RVshare	$150–$400 per night	High (handover, cleaning, maintenance)	Anywhere, seasonal	No (significant coordination)
Bikes, kayaks, outdoor gear	Spinlister, local groups	$20–$60 per day	Low	Tourist areas, outdoor cities	No (pickup/return)
Baby & children’s gear	BabyQuip	$20–$50 per day ($1,000/month avg for top providers)	Medium (delivery needed)	Family tourist destinations	No (delivery/setup)
Musical instruments	Fat Llama, local groups	$15–$60 per day	Low	Cities with musicians	Mostly
Yard / outdoor space	Sniffspot (dogs), Peerspace (events)	$10–$200 per hour	Low (Sniffspot), Medium (Peerspace)	Dog-dense areas (Sniffspot), scenic spots (Peerspace)	Yes (Sniffspot), No (Peerspace)

Things You Can Rent Out for Extra Money

Not everything on this list will make sense for your situation, but chances are you already own at least one thing that could start bringing in extra income this month.

1. Your Car (The Biggest Overlooked Asset Most People Own)

Your car sits still for most of the day.

Think about it. You drive to work and come back home, then it stays parked for the rest of the evening. Even on weekends, most cars only get used for a few short trips, spending the majority of their time sitting in a driveway, garage, or parking lot doing nothing.

That car can make you money.

Turo is the biggest platform for renting out your personal car. You simply list your vehicle on the platform, and when someone needs a car in your area, they can book it for a day, a weekend, or longer. Turo handles the booking process, payment collection, and insurance coverage during the rental period, making it one of the easiest ways to turn an underused car into extra income.

What do you actually earn? A regular sedan in a city earns $40 to $70 per day. A popular SUV can earn $80 to $120 per day. If your car sits rented for ten days per month, that’s $400 to $1,200 per month from a vehicle that was otherwise earning zero.

Getaround is another option. It works slightly differently. They install a device in your car that lets renters unlock it with their phones. You don’t need to hand over keys. The car can be rented while you’re at work without you doing anything.

I would say that this is one of the most valuable rentals on this list because cars are expensive to own, and parking them all day costs you nothing extra. The main concern is wear and tear. Both Turo and Getaround have insurance programs. Read them carefully before you list. Know what’s covered and what isn’t before someone drives away in your car.

Certain cars do much better than others on Turo. A Tesla Model 3 in a city rents constantly. A 2009 beige sedan with 180,000 miles on it does not. The newer and more interesting your car, the better it performs.

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2. Your Parking Space (The Easiest Rental You Can Set Up Today)

If you live near a city, an airport, a sports stadium, a hospital, or a busy shopping area, your parking space is worth money.

A parking space is one of the most hands-off things you can rent out. Once you list it, someone can book it and use it whenever they need parking. Beyond keeping the space available, there’s very little for you to do, which makes it one of the easiest ways to earn extra income from something you already own.

SpotHero and JustPark are the two biggest platforms for listing a parking space. Parkable works well in some markets too.

Earnings vary a lot by location. A space near a train station in a busy suburb earns $80 to $200 per month. A space near a sports stadium that hosts regular games earns $15 to $40 per game day. A space in a city centre earns $150 to $400 per month if it’s listed consistently.

I spoke to a reader once who lived three blocks from a hospital. She listed her driveway on JustPark as a space for hospital visitors and staff. She earned $180 per month. She did nothing. The app handled bookings automatically. She just made sure her driveway was empty during the booked times.

That’s about as passive as income gets.

But also, remember there are some limitations; this only works if you’re in an area where parking is genuinely hard to find. If you live in a quiet suburb with no demand drivers nearby, a parking space listing probably earns very little.

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3. A Room in Your Home or Your Entire Place

You already know about Airbnb.

But most people who think about Airbnb dismiss it because they assume you need a separate apartment or a whole house. You don’t. A spare room in your own home works.

Airbnb lets you list a room while you’re still living in the home. The guest gets their own space. You share the bathroom sometimes. The earning potential depends entirely on your city and how well you set up the listing.

A spare room in a city like London, New York, or Melbourne earns $50 to $150 per night. Even two to three bookings per week adds up to $400 to $900 per month from a room that was doing nothing.

What makes a listing succeed or struggle?

Photos matter more than almost anything. A clean room with good lighting and three or four well-taken photos converts browsers into bookers. A dark, blurry photo of a messy room doesn’t. If your listing isn’t getting bookings, look at your photos before you look at anything else.

Location matters second. Being near public transport, tourist areas, or a hospital earns more consistently than being far from anything interesting.

Reviews matter third. Your first five reviews make or break the long-term success of the listing. Be a good host for those first few guests. Respond fast, keep things clean, and go slightly above expectations.

In my opinion, renting out a spare room is one of the highest-earning opportunities on this list compared to the amount of effort it takes. The setup usually takes just a few hours, and after that, most of the work is keeping the space clean and communicating with guests. In the right location, it can become a steady and reliable source of extra income.

4. Your Storage Space (An Empty Garage or Basement That Pays You)

This is one I didn’t really think about until I saw the numbers.

People need storage all the time. They’re moving between homes. Their apartments are too small. They’re renovating and need space for furniture. Some run small businesses and don’t want to pay for expensive commercial storage.

If you have a garage, basement, shed, or even an unused room, there’s a good chance someone nearby would pay to use it.

Neighbor.com is the main platform for this. You list your space, add the size and what it can hold, and people in your area can book it on a monthly basis.

In many suburban areas, a one-car garage can bring in around $80 to $150 per month on Neighbor. In cities, it can go higher. Larger basements often range from $100 to $200 per month, and climate-controlled spaces can earn more since certain items need stable conditions.

What makes storage rental interesting is how little it requires from you. The items stay in one place, there’s no daily management, and once it’s set up the income tends to run quietly in the background.

Before listing, it’s worth checking your home insurance policy and any lease or mortgage terms. Some agreements limit commercial use, so a quick check with your provider can save you issues later.

5. Your Swimming Pool (One I Didn’t See Coming)

I want to be honest. This one surprised me.

When Swimply first showed up in my research, I thought it sounded too niche to work. Then I looked at the numbers and changed my opinion completely.

Swimply is a platform where homeowners rent their private swimming pools by the hour to people who want to swim but don’t have pool access. Think about that for a moment. People pay $25 to $75 per hour to use someone else’s pool.

A pool owner who rents four hours on a Saturday and four hours on a Sunday earns $200 to $600 per weekend, depending on their rate and location. Over a warm-weather season, that’s potentially $3,000 to $6,000 from a pool that was otherwise just sitting there costing you money in maintenance.

Not every pool qualifies. Swimply guests want a clean pool, privacy, good access, and ideally some outdoor seating. If your pool is well-maintained and in a decent outdoor setting, the listing setup takes about thirty minutes and bookings in warm months come faster than most pool owners expect.

My take is that this is the most surprising high earner on this list. If you have a pool and live somewhere warm, it is worth trying. The hourly rate can feel unusual at first, but renters use it often for small gatherings, kids’ birthday parties, and summer relaxation when public pools are crowded or closed.

6. Camera and Photography Gear

Camera gear is expensive to buy and is used less than people think.

A photographer who owns a Sony A7 IV with two or three lenses might use it for personal projects occasionally. The gear sits in a bag most of the month. Meanwhile, someone in their city needs a camera for a one-day product shoot and doesn’t want to spend $2,000 buying one they’ll use once.

Fat Llama is the best peer-to-peer rental platform for camera equipment. You list your gear with photos and a daily rate. Renters find it and book it. Fat Llama offers insurance during the rental period.

What earns well on Fat Llama:

A Sony A7 III body rents for $60 to $100 per day. A Canon 5D Mark IV rents for $70 to $90 per day. A quality drone like a DJI Mavic 3 rents for $80 to $150 per day. Lens rentals earn $20 to $60 per day depending on the lens.

ShareGrid is a similar platform that works particularly well in cities with active film and content creation scenes. If you live near Los Angeles, New York, or another media-heavy city, ShareGrid connects you with production companies who rent gear regularly.

In my opinion, camera rental works well in cities and poorly in small towns where demand is low. If you have quality gear and you live somewhere urban, this is one of the better rentals on the list because the daily rates are strong relative to the value of what you own.

7. Power Tools and Equipment

Most homeowners use a power drill for a total of about fifteen minutes per year.

That $200 drill sits in the garage for the other 364 days doing nothing. Meanwhile, your neighbour needs a drill for one project next weekend and would happily pay $15 to $25 to borrow it for two days rather than buying their own.

Fat Llama handles tool rentals alongside camera gear. You can list power drills, circular saws, jigsaws, pressure washers, ladders, floor sanders, and dozens of other items that people need occasionally but don’t want to own permanently.

What earns well on tool rental platforms:

Pressure washers rent for $40 to $70 per day. Tile saws rent for $60 to $90 per day. Large ladders rent for $20 to $35 per day. Carpet cleaners and floor sanders rent for $50 to $80 per day.

The pattern is the same across all of these. Tools that are genuinely useful for a specific task but too expensive or impractical to own long-term are the ones that get booked regularly.

One tip I would give about tool rentals is to take photos of your equipment before every rental. Document the condition clearly so you have a record of how it looked before it was used. Most renters are careful and respectful, but having that proof gives you protection in the rare cases where something comes back damaged.

8. Your RV or Camper Van

If you own an RV or camper van and use it for a few weeks per year, you’re leaving significant money on the table.

Outdoorsy and RVshare are the two major platforms where you list your RV for other people to rent. The rental rates are genuinely impressive.

A well-maintained Class B camper van earns $150 to $250 per night. A larger Class A motorhome earns $200 to $400 per night. List it for fifteen nights per month and the income is significant.

Both platforms offer insurance during rental periods and handle the booking and payment side. You do the handover, explain how things work, and collect the keys when they return.

My honest take is that this is the highest earning per night rental on this entire list if you own the right vehicle.

The effort of doing a proper handover is real and it takes time to explain how the water tank, electrical hookups, and toilet system all work. But for people who only use their RV a few times per year, earning $2,000 to $4,000 in rental income from an otherwise idle asset is a strong case for listing it.

9. Bikes, Kayaks, and Outdoor Gear

Outdoor gear is one of those rental categories that only works well in the right places, and that matters more than people expect.

Spinlister make it easy to rent out bikes, paddleboards, and surfboards to people nearby. A decent mountain bike can be rented for around $25 to $60 per day, while paddleboards usually fall in the $30 to $60 range. Surfboards tend to sit slightly lower, depending on quality and demand.

The key detail here is location. A bike listed in a busy cycling city or tourist area can get steady bookings, while the same bike in a quieter neighbourhood may barely move at all. Demand is highly local and tied to outdoor culture.

For other gear like kayaks, canoes, and camping equipment, people often have more success using local Facebook Marketplace groups or apps like Nextdoor. These platforms connect you directly with people in your area who are planning short weekend trips and just need equipment for a short time.

In my view, outdoor gear rental can work well, but it is not consistent year-round. Most of the demand shows up in warmer months, while colder seasons tend to slow things down significantly. It is best treated as a seasonal income stream rather than something you rely on every month.

10. Baby and Children’s Gear

This one is more specific than most people realise.

Travelling parents face a real problem. They need a cot, a pram, a highchair, and a car seat when they travel. Airlines won’t take a full-sized pram without significant hassle. Renting locally at the destination is the obvious solution.

BabyQuip is a platform specifically built for this. Parents travelling to your city need baby gear for a few days or a week. They rent from a local provider who delivers the items and picks them up after.

BabyQuip Quality Providers earn, on average, $1,000 per month according to the platform’s own published figures. The income depends entirely on tourist demand in your city and how well-equipped your inventory is.

The items that earn the most are convertible car seats, full-size cots with sheets, full-size prams, and booster seats. Parents who travel with young children are often willing to pay solid daily rates for gear they can trust and use safely.

My take is that this is a surprisingly organised rental category with a platform built specifically for it. If you already have quality baby gear that your children have outgrown and you live in a city that attracts family tourism, it is worth exploring seriously.

11. Musical Instruments

Musical instruments are expensive. Beginners especially don’t want to buy a $400 guitar before they know whether they’ll stick with it.

Fat Llama lists instruments alongside other gear. A quality acoustic guitar rents for $15 to $30 per day. A keyboard rents for $20 to $40 per day. A drum kit rents for $30 to $60 per day.

But here’s my experience with this category. Instrument rental on peer platforms works better in cities and requires more trust-building than other item types. Musical instruments are personal and fragile. Most serious borrowers would rather rent from a music shop with professional insurance and a guaranteed quality check.

The approach that works better for instruments is local. Post in local Facebook music groups. Offer a week-long rental for someone who wants to try before buying. Charge a deposit equal to the instrument’s value held via a payment app until it returns in the same condition.

I’m being specific about this because some guides bundle instruments with everything else as if they’re equally easy to rent through apps. They’re not. Local networking outperforms apps for this category.

12. Your Yard, Garden, or Outdoor Space

Two specific platforms are worth knowing here.

Sniffspot is a platform where dog owners pay to use private, fenced outdoor spaces so their dogs can run off-leash safely. If you have a securely fenced yard with no aggressive dogs on the property, dog owners in your area will pay $10 to $25 per hour to use it.

A yard in a dog-dense neighbourhood earning four hours of bookings per weekend earns $40 to $100 per weekend. Over a month, that’s $160 to $400 from a space that was doing nothing on Saturday afternoons.

Peerspace is for people who want to use a unique outdoor space for a photoshoot, a small event, or a gathering. If your garden or outdoor area is visually interesting, Peerspace connects you with photographers, videographers, and event organisers who need it for a few hours.

Earnings on Peerspace vary more than Sniffspot. An attractive outdoor space in a good market earns $50 to $200 per hour for bookings. A generic backyard earns much less.

My honest take is that Sniffspot is the more predictable earner here because dog owners need off-leash space regularly and in most weather conditions. If your yard qualifies, the setup is quick and the bookings can be surprisingly consistent.

How to Price What You Rent

Before you list anything, start by searching the same platform for similar items in your area. This shows you what people are actually charging, not what you assume the price should be.

Look at five to ten similar listings and work out the average daily or hourly rate. When you are just starting out, it often helps to price your item about five to ten percent lower than that average. This makes it easier to get your first bookings, which leads to reviews, and reviews help you raise your price later without losing visibility.

Season also matters a lot. Items in high demand during certain months should be priced higher in peak season and adjusted lower when demand drops. A bike that rents easily at $40 per day in July might stay fully booked, while the same price in February could bring very few bookings depending on your location.

It also helps to review your pricing every few months. Demand changes, platforms shift, and what worked before might not perform the same way now.

How to Protect Yourself When Renting Your Belongings

Most platforms have insurance built in during active rentals. Read what is covered before you list anything of real value.

Turo’s basic plan covers damage during the rental but has a deductible. Their premium plan covers more with less out-of-pocket risk. Fat Llama offers insurance for listed items during bookings. Neighbor.com has liability protection through their platform.

For items you rent outside of formal platforms, through Facebook groups or local contacts, collect a damage deposit before handing anything over. Use a payment app like PayPal or Venmo to hold it. Return it when the item comes back in the same condition it left in.

Take photos before every single rental. I cannot stress this enough. A clear photo dated and timestamped on your phone is your best protection if something comes back damaged and the renter disputes responsibility.

Conclusion

After going through all of this, you might realize you have more rental potential around you than you thought.

A car that sits parked most of the day, a spare room that stays unused, a parking space, a garage, or even tools and equipment you only use a few times a year can all turn into extra income when they are put to work properly.

You don’t need to set everything up at once or try everything on this list. It usually works better to start with one or two simple items that make the most sense for your situation, list them properly, and focus on getting your first bookings and reviews.

From there, things become easier to build on. What starts as a small rental side income can slowly grow as you add more items or optimize what you already have.

The main idea is simple. Start with what you already own, and let it work for you instead of sitting idle.

Frequently Asked Questions