The stretch from December to January is so festive, so cheerful – and so expensive. There are the gifts for your family and friends, new outfits for dinners and parties, booze and food for your own shindigs, airfare or petrol, holiday cards… the list goes on. In my house, at least, the late-January credit bills always bring a horrified reckoning and promises to do better next year.
Photo by pogonici via Shutterstock
But if you’re a person, like me, who really doesn’t want to cut down on their spending, you have another option: Make money this holiday season. Even if you manage to pull in just a little more than you normally would, it will offset that terrible minus column and maybe even keep you out of the red in January. Below, a few holiday money-making schemes to keep your budget balanced this season.
Rent Out Your Place
If you’re travelling to see family, chances are someone from far away is travelling to see family near you. If you aren’t already set up on Airbnb, here’s how to get started, but if all that seems like a lot of effort, try Gumtree, SabbaticalHomes if you’re in academia, or even better, ask local friends on social media if they need a place for family to crash while in town.
Bartending/Catering Holiday Parties
If you have the right black-and-white outfit, you can pick up some food-service work at private and corporate parties over the next couple of months. Call your local restaurants, catering companies and event spaces and ask for the hiring manager. And I can tell you as a veteran of cater-waiter jobs, you’ll get more work if you’re ready to take a gig at a moment’s notice – these kinds of jobs have a lot of last-minute cancellations, so check in regularly and keep your outfit ironed and ready to go.
Seasonal Retail Work
All those shoppers means stores need extra help. Your local shopping centre will be looking for greeters, gift wrappers, Santas – though I would rather die than have that many children jumping on me – and temporary sales associates. Check out job sites and websites for stores such as Target, Big W and Myer. Consider what local businesses might be ramping up this time of year, such as bakeries (Christmas cookies!), theatres and cinemas (holiday blockbusters!), and drop by with a résumé and an offer to help. You might get lucky and have someone put you to work right away.
Personal Shopper/Assistant
People have a lot of chores they want to outsource this time of year – mailing packages, wrapping presents, cleaning their houses for guests, even hanging up holiday decorations. You can sign up to be a handyperson/general helper on Airtasker, or even just put up flyers and put the word out on social media that you’re available to help for holiday assistance and prep work.
Pet-Sitting/Plant-Sitting/House-Sitting
If your neighbours are travelling and you aren’t, you can make a few bucks by walking Fido, refreshing Tabby’s catnip, and watering the plants. If you’re lucky, you won’t have to do things such as scrape tartar off a cat’s teeth or force a growling dog to swallow a pill – all things I’ve risked my life doing for other people’s pets.
Sell Stuff
I start to get antsy around this time of year, because I know we’re going to get an influx of clothes and toys and have nowhere to put them. So I start putting outgrown things, and unplayed-with toys, on sites such as Gumtree, eBay and my local parents’ Facebook group. It never yields ton of money – a few bucks here and there – but I keep the cash in an unmarked envelope in my drawer. And then, when January rolls around and the credit-card bills aren’t quite as horrifying as they used to be, I get myself a pedicure or some small treat. Because if you aren’t in the red in January, you deserve to spend a few dollars on yourself.
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