My lodger has moved on.
Just my luck – I’ve had two full months of pay from my ‘proper’ job, and three months’ worth of rent from the lodger, and I was just beginning to think I could relax a little. Silly me.
And now I need to decide whether to go looking for another one.
On the one hand – £595 a month is good.
On the other hand – there are costs. I wasn’t, of course, actually making £595 a month in profit.
The costs included –
- Losing my 25% single person discount on the Council Tax
- Sky Multi-room
- Gas Certificate as a landlord
- Extra heating – when I might be happy to just wear thicker socks and another jumper, the heating had to go on for the lodger
- Extra water – showers, washing, loo
- Extra electric – I always hang my washing outside, or round a radiator overnight, before I use the tumble dryer – but if the lodger wants to put the load straight from the washer to the dryer, I can’t really stop them
- General wear and tear
And there are other downsides to having a lodger.
- Just having another person in the house
- I couldn’t mooch around in my PJs, and I certainly couldn’t scurry from the bathroom to the bedroom wearing nothing at all!
- Worrying that if I can’t sleep at night and put the TV on, it’ll disturb them
- Leaving them on their own in the house if I’m away
But there are benefits too, apart from the money.
- Just having another person in the house
- Coming home in the dark and seeing a light on
- Someone to have a chat with
- Someone who would offer to make a cup of tea
- Someone who could feed the cat if I was away
I reckon I was probably making £400 a month clear profit, after all the additional expenditure is taken into account. So – is there anything else I could do to make up the shortfall? Although, of course, it would have to be more than £400 a month – rental income under £7500 pa is tax free and if I was earning money from any other source it would be taxed. So basically I need to make £500 a month before tax to make up for not having a lodger.
I could look at reducing my outgoings even further –
- Cancel the window cleaner
- Reduce my gas and electric usage even further
- Reduce my water usage even further
- Gas servicing (going back to being a ‘normal’ person rather than a landlord)
- Sky – get rid of multi-room
- Reduce the food budget further – no takeaways, no alcohol, no meals out, no coffees out
- No hair cuts
- No clothes
It’s do-able – but it’ll be pretty miserable. Cold and miserable.
Or a challenge, depending on how you look at it.
Also – it would only save about £200 a month max – so there would still be a shortfall.
I have a few bits and bobs that I’ve been meaning to put on ebay – and they might even make £400 – but that would only happen once. It only solves the problem for one month!
A friend does AirBnB, which might be another option. My hours at work are very unpredictable, so that could make things complicated – but it’s worth looking into. After all, I have the space!!
I’ve also been approached by SisterStay, a network of women offering accommodation to women. That could bring in a bit of money too – but the unpredictable hours would still be an issue.
Or – I could just advertise for another lodger. I think I’m unlikely to get one before Christmas now, but it costs nothing to advertise, and you never know.
Lots to think about.
……….
And I’ve thought about it.
Time to find a new lodger.
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