With 14 different religious holidays and even more events happening JUST in the month of December, you might be looking for creative ways to make extra money for the holidays.
Family gatherings and holiday parties aren’t cheap, especially if you’re expected to get gifts for several folks. Add grocery shopping, decorations, and maybe additional travel to see relatives and you might have quite a hefty bill to start planning for.
If you have children, you probably want to make sure they have the best memories of that holiday, and gifts might be involved in that memory.
If gifts are too expensive and stressful to plan for, I recommend talking to your family and friends about this. Propose a Secret Santa or gift swap where it minimizes the cost. Or discuss with your family the idea of doing a gift-free celebration.
Trying to save for this occasion, either way can be tough. With the help of side hustles and options to increase your income this holiday season, we have a few ideas that might help you out.
6 Ways to Make Extra Money For The Holidays
We didn’t talk about options like making money with a blog, selling digital products, or paid research studies in this article. Even though those are all great options, they aren’t going to be able to get you the amount of money you need in time.
That still shouldn’t deter you from exploring other income options that you want to build well past the holidays.
Let’s dive into these six quickest ways to make money for this holiday season.
1. Get Paid For Pet Care
If you love pets, use an app like Rover to make extra money.
The demand for pet sitters skyrockets in the months of November and December with the amount of people traveling to visit family for those holiday months.
With more people traveling, more pets are left behind and need care during that time. Also, for the folks that aren’t leaving town but there is more demand of their time to be with family or throw events, will need folks to help them out with their furbabies. They might need walking or several drop in visits which are also services you can do through the app.
Check out our review of Rover to learn more.
2. Make Extra Money With Gig Apps
If you have the extra hours each week to work a couple of gigs for extra cash, try out gig apps for a temporary holiday side hustle.
A couple of gig apps to download and try:
- Instacart: Sign up to deliver groceries or be a shopper if you don’t have a car. This is a great way to earn extra cash during the holidays when several folks rather hire out their holiday shopping.
- Shovler: Get paid to snow plow or shovel snow for others.
- DoorDash: Sign up to deliver restaurant orders to people.
- Hyrecar: Rent out your car using this app.
- Handy: Find gigs in areas like carpentry, furniture assembly, decorating, cleaning, etc.
- TaskRabbit: Do tasks for others such as cleaning, decorating, hanging holiday lights, repairs, painting, and more.
Related: 15 Side Hustle Apps to Make Extra Money
3. Freelance Out a Skill of Yours
Think of a skill that you have like writing, graphic design, or web development.
There are actually ways you can monetize those skills by reaching out to small businesses and online creators that may need your skillset (especially during a peak season like the holidays).
Here are some places you can start looking for those freelance jobs:
- Search Facebook groups using keywords like “freelance + [skill]” like “freelance writing” and find groups like the Binders Full of Writing Jobs FB group
- Twitter: Use the Twitter search to find freelance gigs. A popular hashtag I follow are #callforpitches.
- Linkedin: For all types of freelancers and consultants. Opt to be a Linkedin Service Provider so your ideal clients can find you on Linkedin services page and in Linkedin search. Also search Linkedin posts for the words “hiring” and “freelance” to search for any short-term gigs that might be a good fit.
- Problogger: For writing, ghostwriting, content, editing, proofreading, and more.
- Upwork: A freelance marketplace and job board for all types of freelancers.
- Behance: For graphics designers and creatives.
Check out this full guide on how to get started as a freelance writer.
4. Sell Items Online
You can also sell items online to make extra cash. These items can be past gifts you didn’t want or end up using or other items you already have but don’t need nor want anymore.
The absolute easiest platform to sell items fast (in my experience) is Facebook Marketplace. You can either sell the items locally and arrange to pick up or sell to anyone regardless of location and ship the items to them through the app. The app also has secure payment tool integration with tools like PayPal that make the payment pretty instant.
Keep in mind there is a haggle culture on Facebook Marketplace, so some folks will try and negotiate the price with you.
Other platforms to explore when selling or reselling items online:
- eBay: Best for electronics and collectibles.
- ThredUp: Best for selling clothes. What the platform doesn’t sell, they recycles for you!
- Poshmark: Best for designer brands and accessories.
- Mercari: Best for home and kitchen items as well as children’s toys.
Check out these 9 different selling apps to sell items online.
5. Become a Part-Time Remote Virtual Assistant
If you are savvy with social media, love organizing for others, or love doing anything technical, you can work as a virtual assistant during some of your free weekend hours as you try to save up for the holidays. You can find work by reaching out to small businesses on social media or looking on Facebook Groups where folks post virtual assistant jobs.
Places that are hiring VAs include:
- Search Facebook groups using keywords like “virtual assistant” or the specialty you do like “social media managers,” “content managers,” or “proofreaders,“ to look for folks posting that they are looking for virtual assistants and to build relationships with other virtual assistants.
- Fancy Hands (use for starting out but doesn’t pay enough to continue work on – use it for starter experience)
- Talent.Hubstaff.com
- Delegated
Related: 11 Best Side Hustles for Introverts That Pay Well
7. Look for Part-Time Seasonal Work
If you rather have a more stable source of extra income this holiday season, I recommend you look into part-time seasonal work in your area.
This could be:
- Seasonal customer service jobs (including remote jobs)
- Seasonal retail jobs
- Snow removal
- Holiday decorating
- Holiday events like light displays, Santa meetups, parades, and more
Companies that hire for seasonal jobs:
- Target
- Grocery stores
- Malls
- Godiva
- Nordstrom
- Wayfair
Job boards to use to look for seasonal jobs:
- CoolWorks: Find seasonal jobs in a variety of categories.
- SeasonWorkers: Find seasonal winter jobs in hospitality, ski resorts, child care, and more.
- SnagAJob: Find seasonal hourly work.
- PeopleReady: Look for seasonal retail, manufacturing, distribution, warehouse, hospitality, hotel, and event seasonal jobs.
Bonus Cash Opportunities
With all the different ways to take on extra work for an extra income source this holiday season, there are other ways to earn cash.
These simple hacks can help add a couple of extra bucks to your savings:
- Open a high-yield savings account to start saving for next year’s holiday season and earn interest on that amount.
- Download Ibotta and Fetch and get cash back and rewards for your holiday shopping.
- Get $30 when signing up for Rakuten and get cash back when shopping for gifts.
- Make money with your data by downloading Nielsen on your devices.
- Get paid for mini-studies on Respondent.
- Negotiate your bills with Trim.
- Earn free gift cards with this guide.
- Look for missing money and unclaimed money.
They may not be able to get you much but they do add up.
Happy Holidays
As you are looking through this list and thinking of all the possibilities, don’t get caught for too long comparing the different options. Pick the one that best resonates with you and give it a go.
Which one are you going to give a try? Let us know in the comments.
Happy dabbling and happy holidays!
More holiday budgeting tips
Inflation may make enjoying the holidays harder this year, but you can still be merry on a budget. Learn more about how to be thrifty this holiday season.
This article originally appeared on Iliketodabble.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
7 tips for balancing work & family during the holidays
This time of year, it’s all I can do to not turn into a puddle on the ground trying to balance between being a mom and an entrepreneur. There are the kids’ school plays. Deadlines at work. The company Thanksgiving potluck and holiday party. Cards to send. Gifts to buy. Dinner to make. Arggh! It’s stressing me out just writing that.
If I didn’t have my own system in place to balance work and family, I would go crazy. But it’s the holiday season when I rely on that system the most. Hopefully you can get some relief from these tips so that you don’t pull all of your hair out!
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Here’s a little secret: You do not have to say “yes” to every opportunity that comes your way this holiday season. In fact, you shouldn’t. So pretend you have three cards in your back pocket, each with the word “No” on them.
Every time you get invited to a party or asked to volunteer for your kids’ events, consider whether you want to go, or if doing so is the best use of your time. For three of those events, feel free to mentally take that card out and politely decline the offer. Believe me: The world won’t fall apart if you don’t attend a party. People probably won’t even notice your absence.
Use that freed-up time to relax. Spend time with your family. Do something you wouldn’t otherwise have time to do.
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Many of us take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s, but some entrepreneurs keep right on working, even if they’re on a beach with the family. That’s not really conducive for having an enjoyable vacation with your clan, so plan weeks out how you can work ahead of time to get your duties taken care of. That way, you can be fully present in your downtime. Your family can feel the difference, trust me.
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Most people I know would rather have time than money. That’s hard to come by when you’re running the company, but there are ways.
Find an employee that you trust implicitly, and begin to teach him or her some of the tasks you have to handle. That way, when you want to take off a Friday afternoon (or a few weeks for a longer vacation), you’re not wasting all your energy worrying about the work that’s piling up. You’ll know it’s being handled well by someone you trust.
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If you’re like me, you started a business to have flexibility in your schedule, so you could spend time with your family. Sometimes we get away from that reason and need to be reminded of it. When better than during this joyful season to spend more time with your family? Use this time to reflect on how much you enjoy being together, and vow to have more of it in 2016.
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I have been known to buy holiday cards in October. I start thinking about gifts for my team months ahead. The end of the year seems to rush by, and I just don’t want one more thing on my plate, so I try to spread out the work.
The same can apply to the gifts you buy for friends and family. Try to keep an eye out year-round for gifts you think a loved one would enjoy, and store them until Christmas. You’ll drastically cut down on that last-minute shopping stress!
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If you send or give gifts to clients, streamline the process by sending the same gift. Whether it’s a tin of delicious cookies or a floral arrangement, you can find gifts that everyone will appreciate, and you’ll cut down on the time it takes to hunt for the perfect gift. Some sites like Harry & David will even send you last year’s shopping list so you can easily reorder gifts this year.
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Sure, everyone’s off on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, but think of how happy your team would be with an extra day off. Most of the time, especially on the day before a holiday, nobody’s getting work done anyway, as they’re planning tomorrow’s festivities. Be an awesome boss by surprising them with an extra day (or three) off, then go enjoy yours with your family.
Whether you choose to strike the balance by preparing ahead of time or making executive scheduling decisions, it’s important to take advantage of the time you gain. Follow these tips and you’ll have lots of happy people, whether they’re your family members, clients or employees. Then, when it’s time to get back to work, you’ll be refreshed and ready to take on the new year.
Want more tips for your business? Check out this guide for managing debt.
This article originally appeared on the QuickBooks Resource Center and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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Featured Image Credit: Kerkez/iStock.
