A truly homely hotel business

crashpadder.com was launched in November and is expanding rapidly.  It's a website which matches people looking for a place to stay with those lucky enough to own a spare room.  You upload a photo (of the room) post details of the property, name your price and a list of dates when the room is free. Crashpadder deal with the money side of things and take 10% commission.

Under the government's Rent a Room scheme you can earn up to £4,250 a year tax-free by letting out furnished rooms.

Perhaps another way people are making money in the recession?

The recession has fuelled a boom in online dating in the UK, new figures suggest

Broke Britons are looking for love on the internet as staying in becomes the new going out.

The web romance market grew by 20% in the last year and is now worth £80m, Mintel researchers found.

They predict it could be worth nearly £150m by 2014.

"During recession people spend more time at home rather than spending money going to bars and restaurants and going online is seen as an effective way to meet new people," analyst Matt King explained.

"Difficult times are forcing people to re-evaluate what is most important in their lives and therefore are increasingly likely to look for love."

The story was also featured in The Economist.

Websites that combine saving money with doing something good

It seems that with the recession a number of websites that help good people work together are emerging.

Just two of them have been put on the links bar on the side of the page today, freecycle.org and yours2share. These have probably been set up by private individuals, but there is no reason why companies can't get involved to share the stuff they don't need or help drive these projects.

Retail franchises catering to money-saving trend on the increase

• Buy-and-sell store Cash Generator sales during the past year are up 5.6%
• Buying of pre-owned items from the public has increased by 18.5%
• Cheque cashing has improved by 11.1%
• Pawnbroking has increased by 83.3%

Daily Mail 11th March 2009

Gym membership on the decline

Gym membership in the UK is in decline with people exploring new ways and places to be active including places such as parks which provide a good source of free exercise equipment

Facts and figures:

•54,000 fewer people joined in 2007 than they previous year in UK.

•In the US, there has been a 24% fall in gym recruits in the last year.

•20% drop-off in gym membership has been forecast for March 09

Stop Press....average monthly outlay for health club membership is £46 Stop Press..Perceptions are changing - people are experimenting more with activities that entail no fancy equipment, membership fees or travel expenses - but dropouts are not just happening because of lack of funds.

Guardian 25th February 2009

Chocolate and chewing gum performing well in recession

Put down to people buying affordable treats and a 'stay at home' culture to save money from going out.

Facts and figures:

• 30% rise in annual profits for Cadburys.

• Daily Milk and Trident gum sales grew by 11%.

• Chewing gum sales have jumped 10% globally being particularly strong in Europe.

Stop Press......some have concluded that the increase in gum-chewing was down to consumers becoming increasingly nerve-racked during the recession!! Stop press.....advert in which two school children's eyebrows dance to a soundtrack has proved very popular - believed to have been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube and similar sites in its first 3 weeks.

Daily Mail March 2009

US choked with recession volunteers

This is bound to happen in the UK, too.

gawker.com