7 Reasons Not to Rent Out Your Things

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The internet constantly surprises me with its money-making opportunities. When I was a teenager, I stumbled upon this world and was overwhelmed at all of the things that I decided I was going to do “when I turn 16” or “when I turn 18”. After that it was “when I can invest £50” and “when I can invest £250” etc. You can always find an excuse when you’re not confident about your ideas.

Once I settled on the things that I was going to do – mainly selling physical products – I thought that I was seeing a future that no one else had clocked onto yet. I was a visionary, while everyone else was living in the past. Nothing would be better than this, because online shopping is going to do nothing but continue to grow, and it’s a waste of time looking into anything else.

It took weeks before I changed my mind and decided I needed to diversify. That meant content. It meant websites. It meant consulting. It meant thinking outside the box. I thought of random ways you must be able to make money and decided that you must be able to rent out your high value goods in an easy way by now. You know what? There are sites for exactly that.

Why own a lawn mower when you can rent one out every few weeks over summer? Why own an expensive camera, when you only need it a few times per year?

1. You Have to Let the Thing Go

Your item no longer belongs to you; it belongs to the game. You have to come to terms with the fact that you’re giving it as an offering to the community. If you use it, it’s not going to quite feel like yours anymore. It will feel like you’re the one renting it.

2. You Can Just Sell It

As you’ve already come to terms with the fact that you no longer have an emotional connection to that thing that you actually went and bought in a shop, you may as well get the most money for it and get it gone. Gumtree it. I dare you.

3. It’s Not Going to Get Loaned Very Often

You’re going to end up keeping clutter in your home because of this small chance that someone – maybe twice every year – is going to stumble upon your listing and see if you’re still offering this service. Get it gone and cash it in instead.

4. The More You See It Being Used, The More You Want to Keep It

Jealousy. FOMO. All of that stuff. You’re bigger than this, and you can overcome it by never going there in the first place.

5. You Can Make More by Creating Stock Imagery of It

Look at how much content is required to make the internet go around these days. Publishers are desperate for imagery that they can use to accompany posts. It takes about an hour to learn the fundamentals of taking good photos. Apply that knowledge towards coming up with ideas of sellable images you could create of that item in use.

6. Decluttering is Therapeutic

You will appreciate that extra space. Trust me.

7. It’s a Waste of Time

By the time you’ve learned how the website works, taken photos of the product and written a description for it, you’ve had a whole two hours of your Sunday morning stolen. You’re not going to get that many inquiries, so don’t get your hopes up.