This post is by our regular contributor Kristi.
Not to scare you out or anything, but December is only 4 weeks away, and the holidays are almost upon us.
Are you ready for the holidays? Have you even started thinking about the expenses that come along with Holiday preparations?
If you started making out your holiday gift list for others, you might be getting worried about how you’re going to afford it all.
Did you know that the average family will spend $861 on gifts during the holidays? Some people are even willing to go into massive credit card debt to pay for all of their holiday expenses. Don’t be one of those people.
If you have a gift list as long as St. Nick’s, and you’re not willing to skimp on gifts this year, you’re going to need to find a way to foot the bill without adding any unwanted credit debt and ruining your finances for the start of the New Year.
If you haven’t yet started prepping for the holidays, now is the time to start.
Here are 15 ways to make extra money to cover all of your gift purchases and all of the extra holiday expenses that pop up this time of year.
1) Ebates
You’re going to be shopping for Christmas gifts anyway, so why not get cash back? Sign up for Ebates and do all your shopping through their portal to get cash back on purchases you would be making anyway.
And if you use our link you’ll get an extra $10 right off the bat!
2) Qmee
Make extra money for the holidays just by installing Qmee and using the internet as usual. To earn money, search online through Google, Amazon, EBay, Yahoo, or Bing and click on sponsored advertisements. Earn anywhere from 5 to 20 cents just by doing something you would have been doing anyway.
3) Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a simple way to make extra money for the holidays. You can get paid simply for searching through their search engine instead of Google. You can also get paid to watch videos, play games, or shop online with one of their partners.
4) Surveys
Online surveys are quick and easy way to make some extra money ahead of the holidays. Here’s some of the companies you should consider working with:
- Harris Poll
- VIP Voice
- Pinecone Research
- EarningStation
- Nielsen Digital Voice
- OneOpinion
- SpringBoard America
- OpinionNetwork
- Shopper’s Voice
- ShopTracker
- The Panel Station
Some surveys take as little as 5 minutes and some take up to an hour. Generally, the longer they take, the more you will get paid. You can also earn Swag Bucks through taking surveys through the Swagbucks site.
5) Craigslist
Use Craigslist to offload your stuff before the Holiday gift exchanges start and make some extra money to pay for all of your holiday expenses. When selling your items, try to group things like clothes, books, and movies in sets. People like to get a good deal on a bulk of items, so you’ll be more likely to sell your items if they’re bundled together.
Remember to never accept anything but cash in hand, and don’t fall for the “I just have to run up to the bank line.” Don’t let them remove the item or items from your home or into their car until you have been paid the full amount. And as always, stay safe when using Craigslist.
6) Uber
Become an Uber Driver and earn money as an independent contractor with Uber. You will have complete freedom and flexibility to drive set your own schedule, so you can earn as much or as little as you like.
Are you an introvert and the idea of driving people around is just too much? Consider signing up to be a delivery driver (or biker) on UberEats. They are actively recruiting delivery drivers so you have a good chance of getting started right away.
7) Amazon
If you have items that you initially bought on Amazon just sitting around not getting any use, submit them back to Amazon’s trade-in program. If they accept your items as in acceptable condition, you will receive an Amazon gift card as compensation. Books, movies, and video games all re-sell pretty well with their trade-in program. Don’t worry, if they don’t accept your items, they will ship them back to you free of charge.
8) Care.com
Find a job on Care.com as a caregiver of any kind. You could do in home care, babysitting, dog walking, tutoring, house-sitting, and much more. Make money by offering care services in whichever niche you have a gift for.
9) Airbnb
If you live in a popular tourist city like New York, Los Angeles, or San Diego, consider becoming host for Air bnb. If you love meeting new people, learning more about different cultures and backgrounds, offer your home as a tourist destination. You’ll meet interesting people while simultaneously reaping the rewards of their stay.
If you haven’t signed up for Airbnb yet, you can get a free $20 credit by signing up with this link.
10) Ask for a raise
It can be hard to ask for more money, since so many companies have a tendency to be stingy with their pay-out policies. It doesn’t hurt to ask though, especially if you have a proven record of good work with the company. The worst that can happen is they say no.
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11) Apply for a seasonal job
Every year, roughly 700,000 jobs are added to the work force just to cover for the Holidays. Find a seasonal job on Monster.com, Craigslist, or even just your local retail store.
Crafts stores and sporting goods stores both hire large numbers of seasonal workers. The best part is that these jobs are usually night and weekend hours, so they won’t conflict with your regular 9-5 job.
12) Freelance write
Find a gig as a freelance writer. You can earn anywhere from $5 to $500 per article depending on your expertise level and how long you have been a writer. Many people, myself included, make a full-time career out of freelance writing.
5) Sign up for a Free Capital One 360 Savings Account – get $25
Here’s a really easy way to make some extra money: sign up for a Capital One 360 Savings account and deposit $250 or more and get a free $25. It’s that easy!
Why would banks give you money just for signing up? Well…they make billions and billions in profits each year, so they aren’t hurting.
14) Enter giveaways
DC has great tips in his recent post about how to make money entering giveaways.
His success at winning a $5,000 trip to Hawaii is proof that giveaways can and do work, and normal everyday people do win them. Be on the lookout for giveaways on your favorite blogs, websites, and apps.
15) Sell your clothes
Sell your name brand clothes to Thred Up or Plato’s Closet and make extra money for your holiday gift list. Thred Up is online and Plato’s Closet is a chain of physical thrift stores, but they both follow similar policies. They typically buy items that have been in the retail stores within the past 12 to 18 months and are current teen and young adult styles that are still seen in mall window fronts.
Make money not debt this season
There’s no reason to put yourself in debt. These are just 15 of the countless ways to make extra money to spend on the holidays and avoid any sort of credit card debt.
Get creative, get out there, and use your time wisely in the days leading up to the holidays. You’ll have more than enough money to cover the cost of gifts, holiday meals, and maybe even travel costs.
How do you plan to cover the costs of the holidays? What are your favorite ways to earn extra money?
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We shop with a list and set spending limits to keep out holiday budget in check. When shopping online I use an app call “Honey” to save money by finding discount codes before checkout.
I plan for holidays months before. We always make extra money before buying all the gifts for kids and it helps us to stay on budget. I have always used Craigslist to sell my items I no longer need. Great for decluttering and making some extra cash :)
Great tips to earn some extra cash before the holidays Kristi! We budget throughout the year for Christmas. We usually charge whatever it is we’re going to buy and pay it off with what we pulled out of the budget. It’s easy and we know exactly what we’re working with.
We keep non salary money saved up to use for one offs like holiday shopping or trips. Not having to use regular bill pay money for extras is very nice.
We are going very frugal this holiday season. I have some cash rewards saved up that should pay for the gifts we are buying.
I’m working on getting extra freelancing gigs in order to cover holiday costs, and Rick is working OT when it’s available. The extra money adds up quickly when you put in a serious effort. Great post, Kristi!
Just started using Bing a few months ago (my wife too). I think we average about $10 in amazon rewards a month…could probably get more if we were really on top of it. I know people who annually get into credit card debt buying lavish Christmas gifts. Fortunately, for us…we really don’t do much gift giving. Luckily our son is still too young to ask for presents or care too much…other than him, my wife and I just give a gift to our respective parents and a small gift to each other
DebtDiscipline I haven’t heard of that app, I will have to check it out. Thanks!
Reelika @Financially Wise On Heels I love using Craigslist to declutter and make money. It’s probably my favorite money making tip on the list (besides freelance writing of course).
FrugalRules Using the credit card strategically like you do is a fantastic way to make money off of purchases you would have had to make anyway. Great tip!
Eyesonthedollar That’s spot on advice. Problems arise when people start pulling their bill pay money to cover the holiday costs. That’s how bad credit debt starts to creep in.
houseoftre Cash rewards are so helpful for gift buying!
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Thank you! Same here, Laurie! My husband is working a lot of overtime and I’m picking up a lot of extra jobs as well. The extra effort really does pay off.
Andrew LivingRichCheaply $10 a month is great. Every little bit helps! I’m with you. We don’t spend a fortune on Christmas every year either. We get maybe one or two gifts for each other and a few small things, pajamas, and books for the kids.
I’ve been really lucky with my giveaways recently! Two books (which will be passed on as gifts), and $15 in Amazon cash.
I’m easily distracted, so I try to keep plug-ins off my browser, but I think they’re great for others.
Hannah UnplannedFinance Wow, that is lucky! So far my browser plug-ins don’t cause too much distraction, but I understand wanting to avoid another thing that could tempt you away from the tasks you have at hand.
Wow, a couple of these I hadn’t even heard of, like Qmee and Bing Rewards. Great list!
Great ideas! I tracked my spending last year and found out I spent more than $700 on Christmas stuff last year. Even though I didn’t go into extra debt because of it, I felt super broke in January so I started saving up earlier this year and picking up extra side hustles.
Laura Beth @ How To Get Rich Slowly I’m glad you found it helpful!
Chonce It’s great that you recognized a problem and took steps to fix it for this year!
Over the past few years I have found that creating hampers for people is a really nice way to keep costs down and make lovely gifts. Filling them with their favourite baked goods, soaps and drinks can not only be a good way to save money, but it’s a really original gift that people will love!
karenjames It definitely sounds original! Very cool gift idea. I’m all about practical gifts!