The holiday season is here. Before you start brainstorming Christmas gift lists from your kids and other loved ones, you’ll probably want to figure out how you’re going to pay for all the extra expenses you’ll have over the next few weeks.

One of the easiest ways to make extra money is to pick up more hours at your current job.

If that’s not possible or if you’d rather not spend more time at your day job, there are plenty of things you can do to make extra money for the holidays. 

If you’re short on cash and don’t want to go into debt this holiday season, here are 5 easy ways to make extra money on your terms. 

5 Ways to Make Extra Money For the Holidays

1. Rideshare Driver

Uber and Lyft have become one of the most popular side hustle around for generating fast and easy income. As long as you have a vehicle and some free time being a rideshare driver can become the perfect way to make some easy cash. With a simple vehicle inspection, background check and driving documents, you will be driving and making money in no time. 

What I love about Uber and Lyft is that you can set your own hours and even work around your busy schedule. Uber and Lyft pay drivers weekly. Plus, there’s the option of cashing out your payments even earlier after paying a small $0.50 fee. This means you can drive and make cash for the holidays right up to Christmas or New Year’s Day if you need to.

2. Take Photos

If you have an eye for photography, you can make a decent extra income taking photos for the holiday season. Families will be getting ready to take portraits and send out holiday greeting cards. You can market your services online and offer on location photoshoots with props for a fee.

You can also take random images that you send to stock photos to get paid for your work. Blogs and websites are always looking for the perfect image to pair with their content. Websites like Shutterfly and Alamy have thousands of people visit their sites looking for stock photos and they want more photographers to submit their photos to the site to sell them.

You get a commission each time your photo is purchased and downloaded from a stock photo site. So instead of letting your photos sit on your SD card and not be used, why not try and make some money off of them just in time for the holidays?

3. Airbnb

If you have an extra room you are not using, lend it out for the weekend on Airbnb. It’s an easy way to make money and potentially new friends. This can be especially profitable given that fact that many people may be traveling for the holidays.

You’ll have full control over who will be the one sleeping in your home so you don’t have to feel uncomfortable. You can ask any questions or concerns on the app and view each traveler’s profile for reviews from their previous hosts.

We have a guest room and rarely have guests so it can be pretty easy to get your space Airbnb ready or even rent out your whole place if you’ll be doing a lot of traveling for the holidays.

4. Join Focus Groups

Use some of your time to participate in a focus group. Focus groups allow you to get paid for your thoughts and opinions. Market research companies host focus groups to talk with consumers and compensate them typically anywhere from $50 – $250 per hour.

You could be asked to take part in a focus group after a pre-screen to determine if you’re a good fit. Focus groups can take place at a central location, at your own home, or even online via a video interview.

Some opportunities could be a multi-day experience where you could make even more money. I just participated in a focus group last month that paid me $75 for an hour for my time and they also paid for my parking. Not a bad deal at all!

5. Deliver Meals

If you prefer not to drive people around using a ridesharing app like Uber or Lyft, you can make extra money for the holidays by delivering food instead through other apps like UberEats, Doordash, Postmates, and Grubhub.

Just sign up and apply, then turn the app on and off whenever you are ready to work and make money.  The drop-offs are usually in close proximity to the restaurant (in order to keep the food fresh) so you won’t have to worry about driving long distances. 

Summary

Don’t let finances set you back this holiday season. There is still time to make extra money for the holidays so you can cover all your expenses and avoid credit cards and loans. The key is to choose something flexible and profitable so you can make good money during your spare time. Each of these 5 easy extra income ideas is worth exploring. 

Which is your favorite?