Here’s a new side hustle idea you haven’t considered – renting out your own home. I’m talking about turning the very space you live into an asset, and not just a place to sleep.
The idea to turn our own home into an Airbnb all started over a year ago. After months of brainstorming and planning, we decided to jet off on a six month road trip as a family of four. We saved up extra money, quit our jobs, and headed all around the country through the winter. One of the only ways we made money while traveling was remotely hosting our home as a short-term rental. I wrote a post sharing How To Start A Short-Term Rental a few months back, but I think it still leaves a lot of questions as to what renting out your own home really looks like.
Why would I rent out my own home?
Can anyone turn their home into a short term rental?
How much should we charge each night?
What do you do with all your personal belongings?
Where do we stay if someone is renting out your own home?
We asked every single one of these questions when we considered what renting out our home could look like.
The WHY
Let’s start by defining “the why.”
Why would you consider renting out your own home? Our primary reason for renting out our personal space is the money. Renting out your own home is a self-starter side hustle that doesn’t require any sort of degree or special training. It’s flexible and feasible for anyone willing to try.
To be completely transparent, the 2025 NFL Draft was what started “the why” in our house. Making thousands of dollars a night to simply deep clean our home and stay somewhere else for a couple nights? Yes, please. We ended up hosting for six straight months while traveling on our six month road trip, and it turned out to be something we kinda LOVED.
Now we’re hosting through the another NFL season, since we live within walking distance of Lambeau field. Game days make around $800 a night, while off weekends make anywhere from $200-$400 a night.
In general, my husband and I are always looking for ways to make money with what we already have. Renting out your own home is a great way to do that!
(For more information on what the start up costs looked like for turning our home into a short-term rental, read How To Start A Short-Term Rental.)
God’s Space
One mindset I put on as we continue renting out our own home is how this home is not my space, it’s God’s space.
People have made comments like “I could never share my space with strangers” or “that just seems like too much work.” I don’t typically know the people coming into my home and we do bust our butts most Airbnb weekends, but we didn’t anticipate it to be easy.
If I truly believe this is God’s space, then I won’t cling so tightly to everything I want within my home. Similar to how a baker desires to sell bread for others to enjoy, I desire to making a comfortable space by sharing the kitchen, beds, and living room God has given me.
God has even allowed us to offer our home to friends or family members for free. To me, that’s priceless. Hosting a short term rental with your own space is really more about personality and comfortability than it is about logistics. If you had to host someone in your own home, you’d find a way. We’ve decided to commit to that idea. Do you love to host? Are you willing to be flexible with your time and space? Give it a try!
And don’t forget, we are getting paid well for 95% of our renting opportunities. While I desire to be a financial blessing to others, some guests have lots of money to spend. They’ll pay anything to stay this close to the stadium or even pay extra to stay a few extra hours after check out. To these type of guests, I can be a blessing by being flexible. Even if we’re getting back into our home later than anticipated, God takes care of us no matter where we are.
This summer proved a great example of this idea. We had an eleven day stay in the middle of July. We stayed with my family, my husband’s family, and used up a few free nights at a Marriott hotel. Before we came back home, we got a message requesting another week-long stay for friends of friends who were willing to pay. These stays were essentially back to back. This group was desperately looking for a place last minute, so we said okay. God provided a series of places for our own family to stay, and still allowed for a large profit in our pockets. Our flexibility benefited everyone involved.
This brings me to where our family actually stays when our house is being rented out. Last year, we spent most football weekends at my parent’s home close by. Once in a while we will go to Minnesota to see my in-laws as well. If we had a camper or tents, it would also be so easy to camp out for cheap for the weekend! Our family has learned the skill of points hacking with credit cards. We’ve scored lots of free hotel stays through points hacking, so that makes for an easy option while our house is being rented too. Otherwise, once in a while we splurge on a fun weekend away as a family to celebrate the hard work we put in for each booking. Even if we spent everything we make that weekend on our own stay, well, there was a free fun weekend away!
The Cleaning Process
Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the cleaning process. Well, if you feel you’re making more than enough money with your short-term rental, go ahead and hire that cleaning lady! (On our six month road trip, we found the sweetest lady who devoted hours to cleaning our home. Thank you BECKY!)
Now that we’re home, our family prefers to make as much of a profit as possible, so we clean it ourselves. During the months when our home sees the most bookings, we keep the majority of our personal belongings in the basement. The basement door gets locked during each booking. Having this private space for our own belongings is one of the main reasons we can make renting out our own home work so well. We’ve shifted to a more minimalist mindset, and now it’s decently easy to move things up and down when necessary.
A few extra things that help renting out your own home possible are maintaining a private space for clothing and shoes, as well as having a deep freezer in a locked away room/area. This allows for way less hauling when it’s time to move in and out.
Making It Fun!
At the end of the day, renting out your own home is all about making it fun! If you’re not having fun, it won’t be half as enjoyable to honor God with your space.
Get a bulletin board to record where every guests is from.
Collecting locations from every single guest has made this whole hosting experience more special. It’s exciting to see all the different cities and states represented in just our single short-term rental.
Even though we don’t have family photos on the walls, I still make our home warm and inviting with framed art and decor. This keeps the space homey when we’re home too. I also love leaving a welcome basket with snacks and goodies. Who doesn’t want extra treats while they’re on vacation?
I hope this post has inspired you to start considering renting out your own home as a short-term rental. Maybe you live in a popular city. Maybe you live on a beautiful piece of land. Maybe your home sits right next to a tourist attraction. No matter the reason, renting out your own home is an incredible opportunity for making more money and serving God while you earn.
If you’re looking to host on Airbnb, here’s a referral link to get started faster!
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