Your garage may hold the answer to beating the credit crunch?

How much is your garage junk worth?

Most of us have a garage but we don’t store our cars in it. Our garages are filled with goods we have purchased and now don’t use or want any more. We are a nation of hoarders, our garages are full of goods that we can either swap, recycle and/or sell through eBay or the classified section of the newspapers.

All too often I hear people say they are short of money and yet within their garages there lurks hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds of goods that could be sold or swapped on the internet. There are always people out there looking for those items. It is estimated that householders have items stored in their garages worth between £2.5 - £5.1 billion - that means that the average family is storing goods valued between £500 - £1000 in their garage.

With the UK and the rest of the world facing a grim financial future and the talk of a possible recession looming on the horizon, it would be prudent for us to turn our garage junk into some nice hard cash in order to supplement our current circumstances, finance a holiday or finance other purchases. Its easy to turn your junk into money all you need to do is list the goods you have on eBay, one of the internet swap sites or the classified section of your local newspaper, and then answer the calls.

Once your garage is empty you might wish to continue the momentum and convert your garage into spare room in order to increase the value of your home. The conversion of your garage into another room will cost around £5,000 and it could add up to 6% to the total value of your home. Alternatively, you may could make this area of the house a source of income.

Turn your garage into a bedroom and take in a lodger. As long as you don’t charge them more than £60 per week you should not be liable for any income tax under current legislation, this would net you £3,120 per annum. Nice little earner if you don’t mind sharing your home with a stranger or a friend! You could of course rent out your garage to a local business that is looking for a small storage unit. In some of the larger cities off road parking is at a premium and you could try renting out your garage for a couple of hundred pounds per month.

Money saving is not just about getting a cash discount or being frugal with your money; it is about making sure that you are maximising the potential of the assets that you own.

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