9 Ways to Make Extra Money for Christmas
Christmas is the most joyous time of year, but it’s also the most expensive. From traveling to visit family, buying gifts, buying ingredients for all the delicious Christmas recipes, and decorating your home—it adds up quickly.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can make money for the holidays and soften the financial blow. Below, I’ve created a list of ways to help you earn some extra money now.
• Sell Stuff from Around Your Home
This is probably one of the best ways to make extra money for the Christmas. The average person has a lot of extra stuff in their home. Old electronics that have been tossed aside, like cell phones, appliances that have been replaced, books that will never be read again, useless furniture, gift cards that will never be used, and more.
If you’re looking to make some extra money for the holidays, then looking around your home for things to sell may be a great way to do so.
We all have things around our homes that we can sell, and there are many ways to sell your stuff. These include:
Thrift stores—These stores may pay on consignment, cash on the spot, or store credit. Bringing your stuff to a thrift store will probably be the fastest way to sell your stuff as they’ll likely offer you cash for whatever they can sell.
Garage/yard sale—This can be an easy way to sell a lot of things at once, and you can do it all from your home. A downside is tha the pay is usually lower.
Craigslist—Selling on this free site can be one of the easiest ways to make money fast. But be safe and don’t fall for any Craigslist scams.
Facebook—There are specific groups on Facebook that are dedicated to selling items in your area. Facebook makes it easy to sell the stuff that you no longer want.
eBay—This auction site can be a great way to reach a larger market.
• Work in Retail to Make Extra Money
Each year, several hundred holiday jobs open up, so if you’re looking fr something temporary, then a seasonal holiday job may be just right for you.
A seasonal job may include working at a department store like Macy’s or Kohl’s, a courier service like UPS, or even a Christmas tree lot. The holidays are extremely busy for the majority of the businesses, which means that most of them are looking for temporary holiday help to get them through their busy months.
• Babysit or Nanny for Families
Parents are almost always looking for good babysitters, and they’re willing to pay well for an evening out. And, leading up up to the holidays, parents usually have more events and evenings out that they need sitters for, which means there are more opportunities to make extra money for Christmas.
Websites like SitterCity.com and Care.com allow you to advertise, while letting you see if there’s anyone in your area that needs your services. This means that you may be able to find a one-time job or even a permanent babysitting gig just by searching online.
• Make Money Petsitting
If you love animals and have some extra space in your home, then you can make some extra money for Christmas by becoming a petsitter with Rover.
It’s free to create a profile with Rover. You keep 80%o your fee and the remaining 20% goes to Rover for things like advertising, administration, etc.
• Make Money as a Tasker
TaskRabbit is an app that matches people who are looking for small tasks to be done around their home with a “tasker” who completes the job for them.
Examples of tasks that people might be looking for include:
Furniture assembly
Cleaning
Small home improvements
Help moving house
Yard work
Once you have submitted your profile on TaskRabbit, you’ll be able to see all the requests for help in your area.
Once you’ve completed the task, you’ll submit your invoice to TaskRabbit and they collect payment from the customer. TaskRabbit will pay you once per week, and any tips that you receive you get to keep.
• Drive for Lyft or Uber
If you’re over 21 years of age, have your own car, a driver’s license and a clean background, then you can make some good extra money driving with the ride sharing companies, Lyft or Uber.
• Make Money Mystery Shopping
Mystery shopping has been around for decades, and Bestmark is one of the most well-respected companies that hires mystery shoppers. And since the holidays are so near, you’ll likely be spending quite a bit of time out shopping anyway, so doing some mystery shopping here and there is a good way to make some extra money.
How mystery shopping with Bestmark works is you simply go to your assigned establishment and act as if you’re a normal shopper. For example, if you’re assigned a restaurant, you’ll simply sit down, order your meal, pay and leave. The only difference is, you’re taking note of certain things, like how attentive the waitperson was, whether you received a receipt, how clean the floor was, etc.
Then you log into your Bestmark account, answer the required questions and you’re done.
• Take Surveys
Taking surveys is a very easy way to make money for Christmas. Survey companies I recommend include American Consumer Opinion, Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, Clear Voice Surveys, VIP Voice, Product Report Card, Pinecone Research, Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot, and Harris Poll Online.
These survey companies are free to join and free to use. You get paid to answer surveys and to test products. It’s best to sign up for as many as you can, so that you can receive the most surveys and make the most money.
• Clean Out Your Closet
Selling your clothes and shoes is a great way to make some extra cash, declutter for the New Year and free up some closet space.
You can sell your clothing and accessories on thredUP, an online consignment shop that makes it easy to sell your clothing. To sell on thredUP, simply go to their website, order a pre-paid shipping bag, fill it with clothes and ship them. You'll be paid up to 70% of the resale value of the clothes.
Do you have any tips to add? Please comment below.