It’s amazing how many money saving and money making opportunities are springing up from the IT revolution. The buzzword is “connectivity”. It’s now so much easier to connect with folk without moving our lips, which is a remarkable thing! Here’s an example.

Harriet from Brisbane writes, “Use the Kerb app to park or lease a space to save money on parking or earn money renting a space you don’t use!”

This Kerb app is new to us, so we did some snooping on www.kerb.works.

Essentially it works like any market that brings buyers and sellers together. In this case, the “product” is a parking space. Usually, it’s somewhere to park a car or motorbike, but it could also be a marina berth, or a helicopter pad – no doubt many oily raggers will be either looking for space to park their helicopters or have helipads available to rent!!

The way it works is very similar to AirBnB, but for parking spaces rather than living spaces. It’s a great idea. It will be of particular interest to those with a parking space but no vehicle, as well as businesses that may have surplus car parks as part of their office lease. We know of one company for example that was committed to taking six car parks as part of their lease, but after changing the nature of their work only needed two.

Kerb started in Australia but now operates in a bunch of cities, including Auckland. Their website shows that in downtown Auckland there are car parking spaces available from $10 a day. Bookings may be for one or more days, with discounts for the longer term.

It’s a great idea and shows how developed the “sharing” economy has now become.

The big players in this economy are, of course, Uber and AirBnB.

Although Uber was the first ride-sharing cab off the rank there are now a number of companies operating this type of service, so those wanting to earn some extra money as a driver have options. Zoomy is already operating in Auckland and Wellington, and a company called Ola is about to enter the market offering a lower per-ride commission rate.

While snooping around the sharing economy we came across a bunch of other not so well known sharing sites, including one called Dog Buddy. It’s a dog minding service where those with pets that need to be minded, connect with those who have the time and desire to mind them. For pet owners it’s a great alternative to kennels (which is a little like a boarding house and you never quite know what your pooch gets up to!) and a great way for people who love pets to spend time with a pooch and get paid for it.

No

www.kerb.works

This is what Time Bank says on their website (timebanks.nz): “TimeBanking is a way of trading skills in a community. It facilitates the sharing of skills between its members, both individuals and organisations. TimeBanking activity is measured by the time it takes to complete a piece of work. It’s a kind of money, a complimentary currency…Time Credits are used as payment, not money. You earn time credits for the work you do, and then use those credits to ‘buy’ another member’s time to get the services you need – from any member of the TimeBank, not necessarily the member you helped. The member you kindly assisted may not have the skills that you need…Everyone’s Time is Equal – no matter what type of work is undertaken, one hour always equals one time credit. 1 = 1. It really is that simple…we all have something to offer. Every person and every skill is equally valued.”

According to their website, there are 14 TimeBank organisations in the North Island and 15 in the South Island.

It’s a nice way to give time to others, and receive their time in return.

Many thanks to DJ for sharing the information.

Our little boy who is now three loves dogs, so we offered to walk the neighbours’ dog for $5 a week. It makes us get out for exercise and gives the dog half an hour of much needed attention while their owner is at work. I know it doesn’t sound like much but each year he earns himself $260 for his college fund so I’m calculating by the time he is 18 he will have well over $4,000 towards his college education – just from this hobby alone.

Similarly our daughter enjoys baking so every week we invite her friends over to a baking session making simple things like scones, biscuits, raisin buns etc. They are learning something new and having fun. The mums are more than happy to contribute $5-$10 for the ingredients and the pleasure of not having to mess up their own house. We put half in the kitty for the ingredients and half goes to my daughter’s college fund so she can save between $10 and $20 each week. If we are able to do something like this every week until she is 18 she would have over $8,000!

If you live in an urban area ask your local real estate agent if they want circulars delivered. They tend to be a bit tight until you can satisfy them that you’re reliable but YOU set the pay rate, and if they don’t want to pay that much they can do it themselves.

Once you have a couple of regular clients, ask around local businesses for the same work, but tell them you’ll give them a cheaper rate to deliver in areas where you’re already going. I charge real estate agents $70/1000 flyers and have been told by 2 clients that I’m not charging enough!

Add-on work is $60/1000 which can give me a return of about $23/hr cash! and it keeps me fit and healthy so I’ll live longer. I’d kill myself trying to earn that much from a junk mail company – their average is about $4/hr overall.