Windsor family swims into side-hustle – and so can you

As many look for ways to make extra money, a south Windsor family is doing so by renting out their backyard pool.

Tom and Shauna Skinner said it was an idea that came to them last summer.

“I just started researching how can we rent out our pool. And someone smarter than me had already come up with the idea,” said Shauna.

Using an online service, the family listed their backyard online for a brief “trial” in 2023.

In a single month, they said they made $1,200.

“Which helps pay for the upkeep of the pool,” Tom said.

"You can imagine in this economy, every family is looking to make extra money," Shauna added.

Shauna and Tom Skinner’s backyard pool, seen on July 15, 2024. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

The Skinners are using an app called Swimply – but with services like Airbnb, Facebook Marketplace, Uber, and SkipTheDishes, there’s no shortage of services that allow people to take on a so-called side-hustle (a source of income on top of their day job).

“I've seen some really fun, creative ideas,” financial educator Danica Nelson told CTV News.

A study released by H&R Block Canada, Inc. earlier this spring found that 28 per cent, or nearly 9 million Canadians, are now doing so-called “gig work,” up from 13 per cent in 2022.

“Let's be honest, the cost of living is increasing more and more. So we got to be creative with it,” Nelson said.

For anyone looking to venture into a side-hustle, Nelson recommended a “good ol’ brain dump.”

“Get all of your ideas into a list. Any ideas you've ever had,” she said. “What are you really good at? What do you enjoy doing? Because yes, we are making money because we need it to survive, but we may as well enjoy the process in the meantime as well.”

Shauna and Tom Skinner’s backyard pool, seen on July 15, 2024. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

From there, Nelson suggested hitting the net.

Google some ideas. Join a Facebook group for side-hustles.

“You can also build a community around other people looking to make money on the side,” she said.

She said she’d never heard of people renting out their backyard pool until the Skinners – who say they’ve already had a busy summer.

"We just started advertising a couple weeks ago. So we've already had two guests come and we have a couple more bookings upcoming," Shauna said.