How to increase Income?

[HeroicHyena]

I am in the process of trying to sort my life out. I have a full-time job, but I really struggle with finances. Some of you helped me out in a previous thread and have suggested that I am able to claim PIP due to severe and enduring mental health problems.

I am trying to stop drinking alcohol completely (although I am having to do this with no real life support and I'm finding it incredibly hard as I tend to drink to self medicate).

I am starting to budget and to keep track of what I spend (and I am about to head back into the Frugal living threads in Credit Crunch).

I'd really like to know if there are any ways to increase my income though, and if anyone has ideas they can share to do this please?

I have thought of blogging, but it would take a while to build up a big enough audience and there's so many people doing product reviews etc. already.

I'm good at photography, I have made money from it in the past, but social anxiety pretty much kills it at the moment.

How about selling your photography online via stock agencies like this submit.shutterstock.com would that maybe work? Good luck.

Thank you for that suggestion - taking a look at it now.

Matched betting? Online surveys?

Also are you getting all the benefits you're entitled to? Depending on your age, income, and employment hours you may be able to claim Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, and/or Tax Credits or Universal Credit depending on area. You can do a benefits checker on entitledto.

You can also sell prints online, and things like t shirts with your photos on. Look at Redbubble and Spreadshirt.
You dont need any money up front to start selling, but you do need to be able to prepare your images to the right size and proportions.

You can also promote your shop by having an Instagram account with the URL in your biography. Post a good picture every other day or so, and use relevant hashtags so people can find you.

People also sell mugs, prints and greetings card on Ebay and Etsy, but you have to pay to have them printed first.

Check out the Up Your Income board on MoneySavingExpert.com. Martin Lewis warns against matched betting for a lot of people, but there is a board for it on MSE.
He does suggest doing surveys to increase your income. They don't pay a lot, but some people use them to save up for Christmas presents, because some of the surveys "pay" in Amazon vouchers.

Are you able to start an Ebay business? I sell ladies clothing on there and do really well from it. It's something that can take as much or as little time that you want, so could easily be done on evenings and weekends to fit in with a full time job.

To give an idea of income from Ebay, I work probably 2 hours each day during the week and earn at least £500 per month profit.

Where do you get your stock from Only?

Wholesalers, local FB groups, Gumtree, Boot sales, and charity shops

How much do you sell?

That's a lot of profit and do you have an eBay shop?

Increasing your income without paying extra tax? Because any business venture will require that you do a tax return and declare the income and pay the extra tax from the extra income.

Selling your own unwanted stuff is exempt as is proceeds from winnings-hence matched betting being such an attractive proposition.

Where have I even alluded to not paying tax on extra income?

Thank you for all the helpful suggestions.

No, sorry, I can see how my reply seemed like that-I just meant do you want a tax free option? I wasn't accusing you of dodging tax at all, but because I was rushing it's come out badly.

If you have a drive and live near a train station or a big event venue, you may be able to rent out a space on your drive. If you have a spare room, you could rent it out. If you have an interesting property you might be able to hire it out to film crews.