If the idea of having to come up with some quick cash to pay for the most wonderful time of the year is freaking you out, take some deep breaths. It’s not too late.
Here are some of the best (and easiest) ways to make some quick extra money right now.
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21 Easy Ways to Earn Money for Christmas Gifts
Paying for the holidays is a thought that hits everybody as the weather gets colder — or if you live in the still-too-hot South, when Costco starts selling holiday decorations in September. That’s probably because every year the holiday season gets more and more expensive! In 2020, on average, Americans spent $997.79 on holiday-related shopping. About $650 of that was on gifts for others, with the remainder being spent on cards, decorations, food, etc. That’s an 8.3% increase over what people spent in 2019!
The upward trend is likely to continue in 2021. A poll done by Harris and Roku showed that 36% of the shoppers they polled plan on spending more in 2021 than they did in 2020.
That means that holiday spending could easily top $1,000 per shopper this year! It’s an especially tough time right now, but there are some options if you’re stuck in a low-income job.
There’s still time to pick up extra cash through a side hustle.
1. Deliver Food
If you have your own vehicle and solid insurance you can sign up with any one of the plethora of food or other delivery apps out there. DoorDash and GrubHub are two of the most popular and well known, but there is also Instacart, Postmates, GoPuff, UberEats, Shipt, etc.
You could also check around at your local restaurants to see if they might need a local driver. After all, not every small business wants to contract through an app!
2. Babysit
If you are good with kids, babysitting can be quite lucrative! Put the word out in your local community that you are looking for some babysitting gigs and see if you can stir up any interest. You can also sign up with sites like Care.com, Sittercity, Helpr, Bambino, and UrbanSitter.
3. Become a Pet-sitter
If kids aren’t your strength but you love animals, pet-sitting can also be a great way to earn extra money. Families often travel during the holidays, and they need someone to keep the pets fed while they’re away. Sites like Rover, Wag, and Meowtel are great places to get started. Some people even manage to turn pet-sitting into a full-time job!
4. Sell Your Old Gift Cards
Everybody has at least a couple of these sitting around. Maybe someone gifted you a card to a store you never visit or a site you never use. Instead of regifting it (though, that is certainly an option if you want to save some money), sell it! You might not be able to get the full amount of the card, but something is better than nothing, right? It basically becomes free money. Your Money Geek has a fantastic guide to help you get the most cash for your cards.
5. Sell Your Old Phone or Other Tech Gear
Dig around in your closets — you’ll likely scrounge up an old phone, maybe a laptop (or even a desktop), an older model gaming console, some bluetooth headphones, and probably a few other pieces of tech. Instead of letting this stuff take up space in your home, sell it and use the cash to help fund your holiday budget! CNet recently published a great how-to to help you sell your gear.
6. Upload Your Receipts and Earn Cash
Instead of tossing your receipts into the recycle bin, put them to work! Sites like Ibotta, Fetch, Receipt Pal, and CoinOut will give you cash back or points that you can use for gift cards to sites like Amazon to help make funding your holiday shopping easier. The trick with these sites is to use them regularly — they give out small amounts over time. So while you might not make a lot of money today, by the time you’re ready to shop you should have a pretty nice nest egg ready to go.
7. Shop with Cashback Websites
Cashbackholic and Cashback Monitor show you which site gives you the biggest return for each retailer. If you’re paying with a credit card that also offers cash back on purchases, you can double dip and earn both. Some of these apps will also let you know about retailers’ coupon offers, giving you a way to save money. Here are some good sites:
- Rakuten (Formerly Ebates)
- Honey
- Mr. Rebates
- TopCashBack
- BeFrugal
- CouponCabin
- RetailMeNot
There are also apps like Drop and Dosh that have you link your debit cards and then give cash back when you shop or eat out locally.
8. Be a Mystery Shopper
Quick Warning: Never accept an unsolicited offer to become a mystery shopper. Also, be wary of anybody who wants to send you a live check, have you purchase gift cards and mail them to someone else, or receive and then re-mail packages. These are most likely scams!
But there are plenty of reputable sites and companies if mystery shopping is something that interests you:
Of course, always do your research and thoroughly vet any app or site before submitting any of your personal information.
9. Sell Your Old Books
Half Price Books is the simplest way to sell your old books. You could also take them to your local used bookstore — though most used bookstores don’t offer very much upfront (you’ll get more if you agree to take store credit, which kind of defeats our purposes here unless you’re planning to gift books). Another option is to use one (or more!) of these sites:
- Amazon Trade-In
- Cash4Books
- Sell Back Your Book
- Paperback Swap
- BookFinder.com
- Craigslist
10. Take On Some Data Entry Work
Finding legitimate data entry work online can take some time —especially if you don’t want to take it on as a part- or full-time job. If you are just looking for some temp work for extra cash this holiday season, these sites are your best bet:
11. Become a Driver
The holiday season is one of the most lucrative times of year to be a driver for a ride-share service. Uber and Lyft are, of course, the most well-known. Before you sign up, though, you should know that most ride-share companies require you to have very specific insurance coverage (which is more expensive than a typical policy). You’ll likely wind up having to commit to a specific amount of time on the job to help offset those extra costs.
12. Take Online Surveys
Here’s the truth: surveys aren’t going to make you rich. They can, however, help you earn some extra money during your “downtime,” like when you’re watching TV or waiting in line somewhere. A lot of these sites also offer rewards like frequent flier miles, points that you can exchange for gift cards, discount codes, etc. Here are a few of the most reliable survey sites you can join.
- iPoll
- Swagbucks (you can earn free gift cards)
- MySurvey
- Pinecone Research
- QuickThoughts
- SurveySavvy
- Google Opinion Rewards
- Ipsos i-Say
- Survey Junkie
- YouGov
13. Tutor People Online
The best thing about this option is that, if you are doing this on a freelance basis, you can set your own hourly rate. Talk to your local parents’ groups and let them know that you’re offering tutoring and how much you charge per student. You can also sign up with sites like StudyPool, Tutor.com, TutorMe, Skooli, and Varsity Tutors.
14. Sell Your Old DVDs
It’s true, there are still some people who use physical media. There are even some people who collect it! Sell your old DVDs through sites like Craigslist, eBay, etc to bring in some extra dough this year. And if you still have VHS tapes lying around? List those as well! Collectors go nuts for original VHS.
15. Sell Unwanted or Unused Clothes
Go through your drawers and your closets and weed out any clothes that you no longer wear or need. Take them to your local consignment shops like Plato’s Closet, or Buffalo Exchange and see what you can get. Another option is to sell your clothes online through sites like Poshmark, ThredUp, Mercari, eBay, etc. Here are some tips to help you create good listings so you can get the best prices possible!
16. Become a Website Tester
Testing websites is a great way to earn some money for not a ton of work. The most popular sites/apps are:
- UsabilityHub
- Userlytics
- UserTesting
The main caveat with these sites is that they each require you to download screen/audio recording software to use for submitting your tests. Make sure you’re comfortable sharing your screen and your voice before you sign up!
17. Take On Some Part-Time Retail Work
Even during a pandemic, retail shops need extra help during the holiday season. Just make sure you can commit 12-20 hours per week before you apply!
18. Take On Some Package Delivery or Shipping Work
Online shopping means lots of shipping. UPS, FedEx and USPS all look for seasonal workers. If you aren’t sure that you’ll feel comfortable driving a larger delivery vehicle, here are some other shipping companies that may need to beef up staff around the holidays:
19. Hold a Garage/Yard Sale
This one can take some time to set up. You’ll need to gather the stuff you want to sell and price it, find out if you need a permit, advertise the sale in your neighborhood and probably on social media, make sure you have the right equipment for setting up (tables, clothing racks, etc) and maybe enlist some friends to help keep an eye on things during the sale itself to prevent shoplifting.
That said, yard and garage sales can be incredibly lucrative! Even better, if you only take cash, you’ll get to keep every penny you earn via your sale! Of course, in this day and age, you’ll probably need to have some form of payment system for people who want to use a debit card, credit card or online payment portal. Venmo, SquareUp and Paypal are all great options for this and have reasonable service fees.
When the sale is over, offer the leftovers to your local BuyNothing group, list them on Craigslist or NextDoor, or donate them to a local charity — some charities will even come and pick the stuff up so you don’t have to transport it anywhere.
20. Find Work as a Housesitter
Travel is picking back up, which means that more people are looking for reliable helpers to stay with their pets overnight, collect their mail, water their plants, etc. Housesitting can be a fantastic way to earn around $25-$45 per day per home. You will, however, need to be able to prove you are trustworthy, so make sure you have some references lined up to vouch for you!
21: Start an Etsy Store
Are you an artist or crafty? Put those skills to work and open up your own Etsy shop! Sell prints of your photos or artwork. Sell your handmade crafts. The great thing about Etsy is that, in addition to helping you earn some extra cash, you are also helping other people find one-of-a-kind gifts for their loved ones!
Some Other Options to Raise Money for Christmas
Aside from the ability to drive, most of the options listed don’t require any particular training or investment. There are a few other ways to earn money online if you’re qualified — including freelance writing or becoming a virtual assistant — or if you own a home — such as signing up as an AirBnB or VRBO host. If you have some startup cash, you could team up with some friends and start a business installing holiday lights and decorations.
Avoid some of the holiday stress by starting to save now. Here are a few extra tips:
Plan Ahead So You Won’t Need Money for the Holidays Next Year
We’re not all millionaires. In addition to hustling to earn extra money this year, it’s a good idea to start making plans for the new year. The earlier you start, the less work you’ll have to do when the holiday season rolls around next year. Here are some tips to help you do that:
1. Start an online savings account in January.
2. Start a Christmas Club savings account at a bank or credit union. A Christmas Club account is a bank account that is specifically earmarked for holiday savings. The interest rate is usually low, but you do earn some. You make weekly, bi-weekly or monthly deposits, and then empty the account and use the money for Christmas gifts when the next holiday season rolls around.
3. Stash away a few bucks each week in an envelope.
The basic premise of each of these is this: by setting aside a little bit of money each week starting Jan 1, you’ll have built up a good savings by the time the holidays roll around. Think about it. There are roughly 43 weeks between January 1 and Halloween. If you set aside $10 each week, you’ll have $430 by November! That’s doable, right?
The Bottom Line
It’s rough heading into the holiday season with no savings or game plan. But a little legwork can help you earn the money you need right away, and prevent you from ringing in the new year with a pile of bills and debt.