Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Make money lying down
Jasmine Birtles
18th Jul 2016
Can you really make money lying down?
Some people manage it – and it’s not just the super-rich on their yachts!
- Make money lying down by being a professional bed-tester
- Be a professional snuggler
- Make money lying down and watching TV
- Be a house-sitter (…lying down!)
- Make money lying down by planning your finances
- Increase your creativity by lying down
Make money lying down by being a professional bed-tester
This is the most obvious way to make money lying down!
You are literally paid to lie on beds and decide whether they are good enough to sell to the public. Tough job!
Bed testers get to test out a whole range of beds, either for a hotel chain or bed manufacturer. They often get to test luxury beds, and then give a verdict based on their night’s sleep.
Now….be aware from the start that it is really hard to become a full time bed tester as you can imagine, It’s very competitive!
Most people were first introduced to the idea of being a bed tester after Hotel Chatter put out a call in 2006 for a professional to test their 25,000 beds.
Premier Inn also has a professional bed tester who has to test 24 guest beds a day, according to this article (which I’m sure is in NO way just a big PR puff piece!).
However, it’s pretty difficult to find any of these jobs advertised in the usual channels. A search on Google finds the ‘career’ mentioned in recruitment company sites, but not many actually offered!
Could you imagine how nice it would be to get this sort of a job? Well, we can always dream (although, unlike bed testers, we won’t get paid for it!)
Be a professional snuggler
Yes this is an actual profession…of sorts. You definitely make money lying down here – or possibly sitting up even.
There are people out there, often older men, who really want someone to snuggle up to, maybe while watching a movie or just sharing a mug of hot chocolate.
Kitty Mansfield, from Ramsgate, Kent does . She regularly opens her arms to people who ‘crave intimacy’ (mostly men) and want to cuddle up on the sofa, or even in her bed, (non-sexually).
She dresses in her PJs and slippers and lets clients bring their favourite pillow, ‘blanky’ or teddy. For this she charges £25 for half an hour, £45 for an hour and £65 for an hour and a half. Not bad for drinking cocoa and watching ‘Fast and Furious 18’.
It’s strictly platonic (she says) and in no way sexual. It’s supposed to be therapeutic only and many professional snugglers have a background in holistic therapy.
There’s actually a surprising number of training courses to qualify people as a ‘professional snugglers’. In fact, that’s another nice earner – setting up a professional snuggling course. You can imagine the modules: “Pyjamas: brushed cotton or silk?”,
“Cocoa or camomile tea – the pros and cons” and “How to keep the crumbs out of the sheets”
Professional snuggling is more recognised in the USA than in the UK – there’s a surprise – but even there it’s pretty niche.
So if you are serious about having a go at this – and we wouldn’t blame you if you liked the look of it! – then be aware that you will have to do a lot of marketing and promotion just to get people to find out about the idea, let alone hire you.
Make money lying down and watching TV
So, you’ve got your cup of tea and a bag of biscuits, the cat’s on your lap and you’re stretched out on the sofa for an evening watching the box. How on earth can you make money lying down in front of the TV???
Well, as you can see from our article here on how to make money watching TV, there are a few ways.
For a start, there are media companies that want you to tell them what you think about certain programmes. You fill in a questionnaire online after watching them.
Then there’s the possibility of selling your story to a daytime magazine programme. Make money from misery we say! While you’re watching the programme, think about what has gone on in your life. Is there something you could sell to them…or indeed, sell to a magazine or newspaper? There’s good money to be had from selling your story there. Even if it’s not a particularly exciting one, magazines like Take a Break will pay £200 for a nice letter or photo. Not bad eh?
Be a house-sitter (…lying down!)
Yes of course, house-sitting involves lying down too! It’s a lovely little earner if you are flexible and have a bit of time on your hands. So you can definitely make money lying down here.
As you can see in our article here on how to get paid as a house-sitter, the money isn’t amazing (about £10-20 per day) but you’re in someone else’s (probably posh) house, using their gas and electricity and probably enjoying a change of scene for a couple of weeks.
Not only that, but if you’re really canny, you could be renting out your own place on Airbnb.com while you’re away and making even more cash.
So lie down in their sun lounger in their garden sipping a drink from their glass and feel very pleased with yourself!
make money lying down by planning your finances
What? Shouldn’t you be in front of a computer with a Excel spreadsheet open and all your bills and investment statements on the table?
Well, those elements can be helpful but before you even get to that stage you should sit back – or lie down – close your eyes…and dream.
Yes, really. The start of your financial planning starts with daydreaming: about what you would really like in your life and your kids’ lives. Think about:
- when you would like to retire
- where you would like to be when you retire…somewhere hot or a little place in Eastbourne or a flat near the kids?
- whether you would like to be able to help your children pay for university, or get onto the property ladder or have a fab wedding.
- whether you want to have a baby or two and when you would like to have them
- whether you would like to start a business at some point and how much it would cost to do that
You could add your own dreams and aspirations to the list.
Why not write down the list of things you would like to have/do?
After that it’s the bucket of cold water time where you work out how much these things would cost and then pick the ones that are the most important to you. How much will these cost – realistically – so when could you do them and how much money will you need to make them happen?
For example, if you want to retire early, before you’re old enough to take the State Pension, and you want to have an income equivalent to the average salary in the UK (about £25,000) you would need to have at least £450,000 in pension and other investments. Have you got that amount now? Could you get it by the time you are, say, 55 if that’s when you want to retire?
See here how to think about your retirement savings at different stages of your life.
Then there’s saving for your children’s education and other big expenses like a home and wedding etc. One thing you can do is to encourage them to make their own money (help them get part-time jobs locally) and manage the money they have. Another thing is to set up specific investments like JISAs or even a pension for them.
Increase your creativity by lying down
Yes, it’s a great excuse isn’t it? “I’m not being lazy, I’m being creative!” That’s how you make money lying down!
But business advisers tell us that we should spend a lot more time thinking if we want to build our businesses well and generally get on.
At least an hour a day – probably more – should be spent in thinking, planning and maybe just plain daydreaming, because it’s when you’re relaxed that you come up with the cool ideas and clever solutions.
If you’re rushing around all day trying to make a living or even trying to get a job, stop for an hour of specific creative thinking. Maybe lie down with some classical music (try not to nod off) or go to the park and put your feet up. Take a notebook with you or make notes on your phone as you think through how you’re going to make some extra cash on the side or how you’re going to find a creative way to get a new job.
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