Tuesday 5 January 2010

Happy New Year from Spareground

Wow! Where did December go?!? Had hoped to get a blog post squeezed in before Christmas but alas time was not on my side.
It was a very busy month for me, lots of exciting things happened family wise and Spareground took a bit of a back seat ride but still,…we’re back on track now.
A lot of money making websites have been encouraging people to look after their money better and make more of it as their New Year’s Resolution and we have had a good few mentions which is always nice. (Thank you lovemoney !)
Of course, we fully support it too, renting out your parking space, your driveway, your storage such as an unused shed or barn, your land or even renting out your house or room is always a good way to make some extra money. Over the last year, we have seen some pretty innovative listings on the site too which we really love. Some of our favourites are a log cabin in London, band rehearsal space in Lincs and a room for piano lessons or supper clubs in Newport!

We are also keen for people to think about using the website to raise money for charities, and other fund raising projects. There is no reason why if you are a school or sports club or other organisation that you can’t use Spareground for fund raising purposes. It would be lovely to see it happen!

What we also need to get across too, you don’t have to charge! I know! Free?! ? Well, if you list a garden for veg growing purposes, accept a trade of garden goods for use of the land.
In Hilary Benn’s Defra report Food 2030 the proposal is put forward to get a ‘land bank’ for people to list and search for spare land. This is nice but it already exists within Spareground, Landshare and locally based garden share schemes up and down the country. Is there really need to regurgitate what is already there and peddle it as a Government initiative. Use Spareground!

Onto other things, October 2010 sees the arrival of the golf Ryder Cup in Newport and this is a great opportunity for the people in this area to rent their space and make some money. Visitors to the area will be keen for any Ryder Cup accommodation and parking offers available so now is the time to start thinking about it.

Right, I am wondering if Cambridge is going to miss this impending snow dump, so far we seem to have been missed entirely. Good job I stocked up on the tins of Spam this morning!

www.spareground.co.uk