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How To Afford Christmas in 2023
Need extra money for Christmas time?
Christmas is my most favorite holiday ever and I love finding ways to make extra cash for the busy holiday season!
While Christmas is a happy time for gathering with friends and family, for many it’s a time of dread.
Especially if you find yourself asking questions like:
— How will I afford Christmas gifts for everybody?
— What will this vacation do to my wallet??
— Can I host Christmas Day without breaking the bank???
Take comfort in the fact that you are certainly not alone!
Did you know…
Americans spend on average $998 on Christmas gifts and holiday items?
It’s no wonder that the thought of forking out for these extra things at holiday time builds the pressure!
That’s what inspired me to put this useful list together to ease some of that money stress and get you earning some extra cash for the holidays.
Think what you could do if you had an extra $1,000 to spend at Christmas time!
With a little planning ahead, this is definitely achievable and you can start earning extra cash to help relieve some of the financial strain during the busy Christmas period.
The best thing about these side hustles are that they can be done in your spare time and from home.
And if you start NOW, you can build up a nice little Christmas fund to spend when the holiday season kicks in.
So if you’re ready to start earning for Christmas this year, keep reading!
1. Take a Survey!
Taking surveys over a period of time are one of the easiest ways to build up a decent amount of cash and gift cards. Which can then go towards presents for your family and friends, or towards a vacation.
Companies really value open and honest opinions and will reward well to get that feedback from people like yourself.
So if you want an easy and legitimate way to earn spare cash in the months leading up to Christmas, complete as many surveys as you can in your spare time! That way, you can easily earn a few extra hundred dollars for the holidays.
I highly recommend reading my post 9 BEST Apps That Pay You Cash in 2023! You can sign up with these today and start earning.
Remember, the more you sign up with, the more cash and gift cards you will earn.
2. Dog lover? Earn Extra Cash while Playing with Pooches
One of my personal favorites is Rover, a pet sitting and dog walking service that allows you to become a “pet parent”.
Rover has been around for 10 years and they have services in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.
You can choose sitting jobs to suit your schedule, set your own prices and pet preferences.
Boarding services will earn you the most money so you can earn even more if you’re able to take a pet overnight.
So if you love dogs and think you could become a pet sitter, then you can sign up here and earn up to $1,000 a month!
3. Clean Up For Christmas Cash!
Don’t wait until after Christmas has finished, why not clear out the things you no longer use to make way for the Christmas haul?
As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
Clean out your unwanted items in exchange for holiday cash. Plus, it’s a good feeling knowing you’re getting rid of clutter!
There are some great online marketplaces and apps that we’ve used to help sell my unwanted items. You might be surprised at the earning potential, and they are super easy to use too.
Ready to sell up and cash in? I’ll share my favorite sites to help you along below:
- Gazelle – This is an online platform for buying and selling used electronics like smartphones, tablets etc. So if you have any old electronic devices you want to get rid of, you can sell them here.
- eBay – You can sell just about anything in your house here. It’s easy to use and as you’re probably aware, eBay has millions of viewers ready to buy. eBay does take a small percentage of your sale, however it is still worth selling your used items here.
- Facebook Marketplace – This is best for selling locally in your area. You can search for just about anything on Facebook marketplace and see what other people are setting prices for to determine your own pricing. If you haven’t used Facebook marketplace yet, I recommend you give it a try because you can make a few hundred dollars selling your old stuff here.
4. Do Some Freelancing
Another way on how to afford Christmas is by doing freelancing.
Freelancing today has more opportunities than it ever did, for both writers and designers.
With many businesses needing to free up their busy schedule, they look to outsource time consuming work.
These include things like content writing, web and logo design, pinterest pins and so much more.
Some great platforms to get you started are listed below:
Related post:
— How To Make Money as a Freelance Writer
5. Test Websites for Money!
No experience needed, get paid to test out websites to help brands build better products and experiences for people around the world.
It’s a fun way to earn a little extra cash and all you need is a reliable internet connection.
A couple of the best sites for user testing are:
- User Testing – by signing up with this site you can get $10 via PayPal for every 20 minute video you complete. They will pay you to visit and use websites and apps. You just need to install their testing software and you’re ready to go!
- Userbrain – with Userbrain, you get paid to speak your thoughts while going through a set of tasks. You can earn $5 per test via PayPal.
6. Sell Your Photos Online
If you’re anything like me you have thousands of photos on your smartphone. I just love taking photos!
So if you’re the same and love to take snaps with your phone, you might want to consider selling your photos to companies like Shutterstock.
They will need to be of high quality, and luckily cameras on smartphones have that ability to capture great shots.
Every time your photo or video is sold on Shutterstock you earn 30% of the sale price. So it’s definitely worth checking out!
7. Earn Christmas Cash With Your Car!
Helping people get around during the busy holiday season is a great opportunity to earn some serious cash.
From airport pickups to parties to shopping trips, it’s an incredibly busy time of year. And people need drivers to get them to and from their destinations.
People also need food delivered for various holiday events and I’ve searched for and found the best companies to sign up with so you can start earning cash for the holidays:
I’ve written a detailed post on the Best Delivery Apps To Make Money in 2023, so be sure to give it a read because it’s a fantastic way to earn money as a part time or even full time job.
8. Type and Earn
Are you fast at typing with a high accuracy rate? Then you could get paid to type with TranscribeAnywhere.
I have personally worked as a legal transcriptionist and really enjoyed it for some extra cash. You can easily do this from home, listening to audio files and then typing them up into a document.
To find out more about becoming a transcriber, you can check out our post here and scroll down to item number 4.
9. Cash in with Amazon
Did you know you can trade in your old items like phones, books, gaming devices etc. and Amazon will give you gift cards for them?
Yep!
So if you have any old items like these lying around you can trade them in with Amazon’s Trade-In Program and use the gift cards to spend on your family and friends for Christmas. Pretty neat!
Learn more about Amazon’s Trade-In Program here.
10. Get Cash Back For Your Holiday Spending
Since spending money at Christmas time is pretty much a given, why not earn back some of that cash back at the same time?
If you’re not already taking advantage of these cash back companies below, you’re leaving money on the table!
You can get some seriously good deals with the following companies when you shop through them:
- Fetch Rewards – A brilliant cash back app on your groceries where you can earn points without any restrictions!
- Rakuten – A popular favorite for cash back and coupon deals. Many of my friends have earned a few hundred dollars simply by doing what they do best: shopping online! And if you prefer to shop in-store, you can connect your debit cards to Rakuten and still reap the rewards.
11. Get Paid To Shop
Yes! It’s true – you really can get paid to shop.
Mystery shopping jobs are a legitimate way to make some decent cash while having some fun. And if you start looking at and applying for mystery shopping jobs in the months leading up to Christmas, this will give you the best head start on earning more.
There are genuine, reputable companies you can apply to work with that won’t waste your time. I’ve listed 9 of the best to check out in my post 9 Mystery Shopper Jobs To Make Money.
Mystery shoppers can earn on average around $967 a week. But even if you earnt less than that, that’s still extra money you can put away for Christmas!
12. Use InboxDollars To Earn More
InboxDollars is the perfect way for anyone to earn a little bit of extra cash on the side.
You’ll get paid to answer easy questions like ‘do you recall seeing advertisements for McDonald’s in the last week’ and so on.
This is a fun and simple way to make some extra spending money and I believe InboxDollars is worth signing up to. You’ll complete simple tasks like taking surveys, watching videos and doing online shopping in exchange for cash and rewards.
InboxDollars makes it easy for anyone to earn with just a small amount of time each day. So definitely give InboxDollars a try.
13. Make and Sell Things on Etsy
You can earn a lot of money selling things on Etsy.
From jewelry to handmade cards to printables to wall art, if you love the idea of opening an online store and have the time to be able to do so, then selling on Etsy could be for you.
It can take some time to build up a store, gain customers and start making decent income on Etsy. So the sooner you start, the better!
Take a look at my post 35 Best Things To Sell on Etsy To Make Money for some inspiration and see what’s popular to sell on Etsy.
14. Look For Gigs That Pay Fast
There are many ways to leverage your skills and services leading up to Christmas. Finding odd jobs and one-off gigs are great ways to earn some extra money quickly. And the great thing about these is you generally get paid instantly after you’ve completed the job.
Some ways to find jobs are to post in local Facebook groups, if the group’s rules allow, offering your services. You can also find jobs on Craigslist, and you can also sign up to places like taskrabbit and find jobs to complete on a weekly basis.
15. Micro Task Arbitrage
A somewhat new side hustle that isn’t widely known yet is Micro Task Arbitrage. It involves leveraging online platforms that offer micro tasks. You complete small jobs like data labeling, image annotation or small administrative tasks.
So, have you heard of Clickworker? It’s this cool online platform that brings together people who want flexible work and businesses that have these little tasks they need help with. It’s like a matchmaker for work!
On Clickworker, you can find all kinds of tasks that you can do from home, like entering data, doing research, creating content, tagging images and even transcribing stuff. These tasks aren’t too long or complicated, so you can do them whenever you have time. It’s perfect as a part-time gig or for making some extra cash on the side.
Here’s how it works: you sign up as a Clickworker and get access to the platform. You can log in and see all the tasks available and just pick the ones that interest you or ones that you’re good at. They give you all the instructions and guidelines you need to complete the tasks, and sometimes they even provide tools or software to help you out.
Once you finish a task, you submit it through the platform. They’ll review it and make sure you did a good job. If everything’s okay, you get paid for your work.
The amount you get paid depends on how complex and time consuming the task was. And what’s super handy is they offer different payment methods like PayPal or bank transfer, making payment secure, quick and convenient.
Clickworker is a great way to earn money from home outside your regular job. It gives businesses a chance to get these small tasks done by a bunch of people from all over, so it’s efficient and cost effective. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved!
Final Words
There certainly are a lot of different ways you can earn cash and rewards when you’re learning about how to afford Christmas.
The above ways will definitely earn some cash on the side to help out with holiday spending. I’ve listed the ones I think are the best and fastest, but also high paying and fun!
If you combined all of the above ways to make some cash, then hopefully the Christmas period is a little less stressful. And a bit easier on the credit cards!
Let me know if these helped in the comments section below, I’d love to hear all about how any of these ideas have helped you!
Related posts:
— 16 Ways To Make $300 Fast When You Need it Now
— 10 Best Money Making Apps For Fast Cash in 2023
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