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I was in a local ‘upcycle’ shop yesterday. She had some very cool artsy DC prints so I was asking about purchasing some at a discount and explained that I host guests and thought I could sell some prints. She told me they are redoing their entire basement to ‘airbnb it’. They live a few blocks from me.
Then I mentioned I serve my guests breakfast “OH MY GOD” she said “I COULD NEVER DO THAT! I throw granola bars at my kids in the morning and say get in the car! get in the car!!”.
She then mentioned she’s trying to get people to come make gardens in her expansive backyard. Why? Because she doesn’t have the time. “I’m always here at the shop - always - I rush home, try to take care of my family, then rush back here”.
I asked her if she had a cleaning service lined up. “WHAAAAAT?” was the look.
OK, I thought, good-luck - you don’t have time to pick your own tomatoes but you’re going to manage a small business in your home…
Yeah, I’m not making a ton per hour, but for us, the whole family is sharing the work, and I quit one of my part-time jobs, so I actually have time to, you know, live. I have much less stress, play games or watch movies with the family, go to bed by midnight every night - that’s what airbnb has done for us.
I had a guest last November from Australia. He is a life saver and runs marathons to promote social causes. After he left he became very involved in rescue operations of refugees off the coast of Greece. Then he began to be interviewed by the BBC and the like. Now he’s voted on of the “Australians of the Year” or something. Pretty cool!!
Off topic, but I don’t think I’ve heard the term ‘upcycle’ before. I googled it, but no definition. But it sounds like it is a term for repurposing waste/‘disposed of’ materials.
I’ve been hosting for about 9 months, and have been putting the money into mortgage principle, had a new deck built, and mostly have just been saving for the baby we have on the way.
And one of my biggest reason to let strangers into my house is so that I can afford to take care of my 12 week old first grandchild for 1 1/2 days per week, starting in September. Her Mom still has a year and a half left in her doctoral program. I am self-employed and have already begun to refuse work so I can make this happen.
Of course, there are lots of other reasons, but a baby is one of the happiest ones!
Congrats on your first grandchild! I finished my own doctoral program just a few years ago. A lot of my peers had babies in grad school, but I wasn’t quite ready.
Awwwww, so happy for you! My first born just turned 16 and will graduate high school in the spring. When all the little old ladies stop you in Target and say “enjoy it, it goes so fast” - believe them!
I spent it on vacation insurance (the premium 3 times the cost of ordinary homeowner’s insurance, which was canceled after I stupidly called my insurance company to tell them I was running an Airbnb), extra utilities, repairs, new beds, new sheets, new towels, new vacuum cleaner, laundry machine repair (much more wear w/ guests using it) and lightbulbs going out since guests leaving them on all the time, extra cleaning supplies, garbage bags, replenishing breakfast food, gasolline to drive guests around, etc.And also taxes!
I’ve thought about being an UBER driver if I got an appropriate vehicle. If I did I would be very limited in when I worked but one possible use would be for my airbnb guests. When I first started I had some guests come in on the train or the bus and I went downtown to fetch them. But I charged a nominal fee. I haven’t had one of those funky requests in awhile. I guess it’s because there are now airbnb’s downtown. Meanwhile it’s so slow here that I increased my max stay and put in weekly and monthly discounts just to see if I got any interest.
