Legal and illegal ways of improving cash flow, UK study finds

Hard pressed families in the UK are coming up with creative ways of making money.

Research by PowerofOpinions.co.uk finds that 46 per cent of people living in the UK find this time of the year a particular strain, with 26 per cent having to ditch a holiday due to tight finances.

The top 18 things Brits do to earn and save a bit of extra money:

1.    Filling out online surveys for money (68 per cent)
2.    Turn off lights and heating (47 per cent)
3.    Won’t buy full-priced goods, only spend on a discount (30 per cent)
4.    Disregard use-by dates on food (28 per cent)
5.    Use cashback sites when shopping online (27 per cent)
6.    Won’t carry cash so they physically can’t spend (21 per cent)
7.    Cut their hair themselves or don’t bother at all (18 per cent)
8.    Flush the toilet less often (15 per cent)
9.    Look for dropped cash on the street (15 per cent)
10.    Give themselves a ‘Supermarket Sweep’-style fixed time limit when shopping (10 per cent)
11.    Forage for food instead of buying it (6 per cent)
12.    Wash less often (5 per cent)
13.    Rent out their car parking space/spare room (4 per cent)
14.    Ring friends/family and ask them to call them back (3 per cent)
15.    Reuse train tickets or buy a child instead of adult ticket (2 per cent)
16.    Go on paid clinical trials or donate sperm/plasma/eggs/hair etc (2 per cent)
17.    Sneak through train barriers right behind someone else (2 per cent)
18.    Manipulate self-service checkout tills in supermarkets (2 per cent)

And 15 creative and occasionally illegal ways given by respondents struggling with money.

•    “Claimed something was lost in the post to get some money back”
•    “Took stuff from outside a charity shop at 3 AM”
•    “Well, let’s say manipulated on my tax returns”
•    “Driving without having a current MOT”
•    “Shoplifting”
•    “Fiddling with work expenses”
•    “Swapping a tag on an item of clothing to make it cheaper”
•    “Starve, you gotta do it”
•    “Worked on an adult chat line”
•    “Took part in a police line-up”
•    “Taken toilet rolls home from work”
•    “Working seven days solid with no sleep”
•    “Get rid of the wife”
•    “Took copper and sold it on”
•    “Act as nude model for art class”