How Airbnb Can Help You Afford Life and All Its Expenses

The Holidays are Coming!

That’s right, the holidays are coming and I am sure the little thing in the back of your mind is finances. I love the holidays! But sometimes all the travel, increased heating bills, gifts, and extra expenses make me feel a little uneasy. The holidays are a time that you should enjoy! Not worry about! I have been brainstorming different ways that myself as well as you, Fabulessly Frugal’s AMAZING readers can create a little extra income so that you aren’t stressing during the happiest time of the year.

The thought came to my mind that many of you travel during the holidays! Whether you go to parent’s houses, to see the in-laws, to see family friends, or even just to vacation…many of you will leave your home empty during the holiday weeks. Have you ever thought about renting out your home during that time so that you can make money while you are away?

Airbnb is SUCH an amazing thing! I have never rented out my home, but I have stayed in Airbnbs and they are seriously the best way to travel. Airbnb is a service that you can trust! Whether you are the host or the guest, you are provided with all the information you need to feel comfortable. But today, I wanted to focus on being a host.

It may seem intimidating to rent out your home to a complete stranger, but this could be the way that you finally will be able to destress and focus solely on the joys of the holiday season. This post will help fill you in on all the details about Airbnb Hosting. PLUS, we have real-life success stories that Fabulessly Frugal’s readers sent in so you can see how big of an impact this can make.

Check out the Airbnb Hosting Guide:

Looking to earn extra money?

A bit of spare time and a spare room. That’s all you need to get started boosting your income as a host on Airbnb. Whether you want to become an entrepreneur and work for yourself or you already have a full-time job and just hope to make some extra cash in your free time, you can find what you’re looking for on Airbnb.

You get to choose when and how often you host. You can share a spare room in your apartment, host your whole home the next time you’re out of town, or create a listing for a vacation house if you have one. Airbnb makes it simple to earn extra money by putting your extra space to work for you.

Getting started

The online process to create a listing is pretty quick and easy—you write descriptions of your space, upload photos, and mark dates your space is available to travelers. And it’s always free to create a listing.

Your earnings

So just how much could you make hosting on Airbnb? Find out what hosts in your area are making, and start imagining the possibilities. Besides saving for travel, Airbnb hosts use their extra income to pay off student loans, upgrade their home, and pursue their passions.

Airbnb makes the payment process simple, too. Guests are charged when a reservation is made, and funds are typically released to hosts 24 hours after check-in. How you’re paid is up to you: You can set up direct deposit, PayPal, or a number of other options.  

Host support

Once you’re a host, Airbnb has all kinds of cool tools to help you feel comfortable and confident welcoming guests. You can find hosting tips on the Airbnb blog and get your questions answered by experienced, successful hosts in the Community Center.

Nervous about the safety of your home and belongings when you’re away? Airbnb’s got your back: In the rare event an accident happens, your property is covered up to a million dollars when you host—it’s peace of mind for you at no extra charge.

And as for the folks staying at your place, everyone who travels on Airbnb needs to submit a profile photo and confirmed phone number and email address. For extra assurance, you can also require your guests to submit a government-issued ID. AND if you want even more assurance, you approve who stays in your home! It is not just open to everyone!

Hometown pride

Hosting can also help you show off what makes your city great. Nothing’s more frustrating than meeting a visitor on the last day of their trip and hearing that they only saw the tourist haunts. When you welcome travelers from around the world as a host on Airbnb, you get to introduce them to all that makes your neighborhood great—and drive more business to your favorite local mom-and-pop shops.

What are your thoughts?

Becoming an Airbnb host could be a total game-changer for your family! This could help you pay off your debt, fund your next vacation, or simply just allow you to live a little more! We all could use a little extra income and Airbnb hosting really is such a wonderful way to do it. Whether it be just one bedroom in your home OR your whole home while you are away, this is the way to go.

Experiences from Other Airbnb Hosts

If you are not yet completely convinced, I asked some Fabulessly Frugal readers to share their experiences with me and share why hosting is worth it!

Rodney said…

We began doing Airbnb after staying as a guest. We were looking to earn some extra money to help build a fund for our kids college expenses. Within hours of listing our mother-in-law’s apartment, we received multiple bookings. It was such a shock! The money we have been able to bring in is quadruple what we were expecting.

Not only are we building our kids college fund, but we have also been able to pay off debt. Our kids have helped with the business too. They help us manage the check-in and checkouts and almost all of the cleaning. The skills they are learning because of the responsibility are immeasurable.

Beth said…

We have a home we rented out. We’ve had some wonderful renters, and some not so great renters, but this last renter actually vandalized the house. I won’t go into horrible details, but after finally getting them evicted after many months, police reports, and insurance adjusters, we were finally able to start repairing the house. It took us a year of after work and Saturdays and slave labor from the kids until it was done.

All through the rebuilding, we dreaded the thought of turning over the keys to another renter. We decided to look into short-term rentals and after doing some homework and researching how it all worked, we thought we would give it a try. We opened it up for renters in August of 2017, and in 2.5 months we had made more income than we did in a whole year of regular rent. We have had some 1-2 night guests, but then we were able to rent it out for 6 weeks to a temp worker in the area. The best and most positive part about it is that we have more control. I can go into the house and check it and clean on a regular basis. It has been such a positive experience for us.

Claire said…

We were very hesitant to open our home up on Airbnb. We have 4 children and live in the Bay Area so things are very expensive! We were having a hard time making it to the end of each month and knew that we needed to find something to add to our monthly income.

We decided to rent out one of our bedrooms and it honestly has changed our family dynamic. We are able to afford to pay all of our bills on time, go out to dinner, and go on more family vacations. We have someone staying there almost every night and not once have we felt uneasy or unsafe. It has been such a great thing for my family and we do not regret the decision at all!

Petey said…

We spontaneously opened our yard to camping for the 2017 Solar Eclipse since we lived in the path of totality. Airbnb was beneficial for us financially because we profited $150 for one night of campers in our yard; otherwise, we would have been home making no extra money. We interacted with our guests, welcoming them inside for homemade brownies and socializing; we treated them with the same warmth we would have treated anyone, it paid off in dollars. Both groups tipped us on top of the previously paid amount.

Trevor said…

When my wife and I got married we bought a run-down duplex and decided to fix it up. We had an issue with our renters and once they moved out, we wanted to try something new to see if we could have more of a positive experience. We started an Airbnb thinking that not too many people would come to stay in our small little town in Utah.

Little did we know, so many people pass through! We are booked about 60-70 percent of the time and are making triple what we used to make in rent. It has completely changed our financial situation as a family and we have been able to almost completely pay off student and medical debt in less than 2 years. We have even hired a young girl in our community to clean the house and we still make a huge profit off of it! Airbnb hosting is the way to go!

Start hosting now and see how much money you can earn to put towards your next adventure! Airbnb is seriously the way to go guys! I am super impressed!