The holidays are probably the most expensive season of the year.
And, unless you’re the type of person who starts saving up in January and has all of their gifts purchased by the end of the summer, you’re likely pretty stressed out right now.
How are you going to afford all of the gifts, the white elephant parties, the food, the travel, etc? You don’t have time to commit to a second job. Here are a few other things that you can try.
Offer Massages
Are you good with your hands? Are your friends always after you for a quick shoulder rub or scalp massage?
Why not invest in a portable massage chair and offer to give your friends and family an extended session in exchange for a small fee? You could also set up the chair in your office and offer the same service to your coworkers.
If you like the work, you could enroll in a massage therapy training program and get your official license so you can offer massages professionally and start your own freelance massage therapy business when you’ve completed your training.
Sell Your Old Electronics
Did you know that the Apple store will offer you a gift card in exchange for your old iPhones and iPads? Depending on the device’s age and usability, you could get as much as $200 to spend in the store!
Amazon also accepts electronics via trade in. You can look up your devices to find out how much Amazon credit you’ll get before you send in your old gadgets and Amazon will pay for the shipping.
There are also sites like DeCluttr, etc that will buy your old electronics from you. Just make sure you wipe the hard drives and reset the factory settings before you send anything in.
Sell Old Clothes
There are probably at least a few consignment stores that will give you cash for your old clothes (provided they are in good condition). You could also sell your threads through sites like ThredUp, Poshmark, and Tradesy for a better profit.
In addition to making extra cash, you’ll clear out room for all of the clothes you’ll inevitably be given by your older relatives who don’t know what else to give you.
Sell Gift Cards
Do you have a bunch of gift cards sitting around for stores you don’t usually frequent? One option, of course, is to use the gift cards to buy gifts for others. Another option is to sell your gift cards in exchange for cash.
You can do this pretty easily either by offering them up to your friends and family or through the web. There are sites built specifically for this sort of trade-off. You could also offer them through Craigslist.
Drive Your Car
You can sign up for Uber or Lyft and make money driving people home after their own holiday parties. If you don’t want strangers in your car, you can sign up to drive for delivery services like Postmates, Yummy, InstaCart, GrubHub, Yelp Eats, etc.
The nice thing about driving for these services is that you can accept tips, and if you’re fast and accurate, the tips–especially during the holiday season–can add up pretty quickly!
Sell Your Time
Are you great at decorating? Do you have unending patience for untangling strings of holiday lights? Do you enjoy cleaning and organizing? Offer these services locally in exchange for an hourly fee.
You will be surprised by how many people will gladly pay cash to not have to set up their own trees, hang their own holiday lights, or deep clean their homes before their holiday parties.
Pet Sit
Pet sitting and dog walking can bring in serious cash–especially if you host someone’s pets in your own home. You can charge anywhere from $20 per pet per day for a quick house visit to $100 per day for in-home boarding.
What you charge will depend a lot on the going rate for these services in your area, so take some time to research rates and services offered by your local pet sitters before you try to join their ranks.
Sell Your Media
Did you know that people will pay tons of money for original VHS movies? This is particularly true for Disney-branded films. And you can sell pretty much anything on DeCluttr or eBay these days. You’ll be amazed at how quickly someone will jump on your old books, tchotchkes, etc.
These are just some of the ways you can earn extra cash this holiday season. The nice thing about each of these options is that they don’t require a long time commitment. And, better, you can use them at any time during the year when you find yourself in need of extra cash!
