Strategy 49 of 107
Pet sitting and boarding from home
What it is
If you are home and like animals, offer pet sitting, day care or overnight boarding through a booking service or neighbors.
Steps
- If you are home and like animals, offer pet sitting, day care or overnight boarding through a booking service or neighbors.
- Check local rules on keeping other people's animals, and get pet-care liability coverage.
- Send the net to principal.
Repeat: Weekly bookings.
Measure: Net monthly income.
Try it in the calculator Enter its amount in "Monthly non-income amount to principal". Add a payoff goal of 5 years to see what is still needed.
Risks
- Bites, damage and escaped pets.
- HOA and zoning rules.
- The income is taxable.
Who it fits
Single, Grandmas and grandpas (62 and over), College students, No high school diploma, No college degree, Average household, Married couples
Needs
Any homeowner with a mortgage.
How predictable
Depends on people or program rules (tenants, family, IRS records, lenders)
A worked example (hypothetical, not guaranteed)
Picture a hypothetical household (single). They owe $300,000 at 6.5% with 30 years left. The required payment is $1,896 a month, and that payment, which comes from income, never changes in this example.
They follow the steps: if you are home and like animals, offer pet sitting, day care or overnight boarding through a booking service or neighbors.
Suppose it brings $600 a month on principal from this strategy, not from the paycheck. The loan would be paid off in 16 years 3 months instead of 30 years, saving about $196,219 in interest. To finish in five years, they would still need about $3,374 a month more from other strategies. That is why the five-year sequences stack several at once.
The amount above is chosen only to show the arithmetic. It is not an estimate of what this strategy will produce for anyone. Put real numbers from the fact finder into the calculator.
Sequences that use it
- Sharing-economy stack: Small, steady side income from things and skills you already have. Track the net, pay the tax, send the rest to principal.
Sources and more information
- IRS: Gig economy tax center irs.gov
Where to get help
Related strategies
- 48. Rent out a car, trailer, tools or gear you rarely use
- 50. Sell baked goods or preserves from your kitchen under your state's cottage food law
- 47. Amend the last three years of returns for missed deductions and credits
- 46. Claim every tax credit you qualify for and send the refund to principal
- 52. Rent the home for a season and live somewhere cheaper
- 45. Run childcare and commuting through pre-tax workplace benefits