It’s that time of year again: fall and the fast-approaching holiday season. That means it’s time to plan for extra holiday expenses like flights to visit family, gifts, and decorations. Oh my! Everything is so dang expensive! And stressful! The solution? Earn extra cash for the holidays with a side hustle.
This is perfect if you’ve thought about getting a side hustle to conquer your debt and earn extra cash but feel a little hesitant. Maybe you feel “above” working an extra job. Or it can seem like a major commitment to add additional hours to your already hectic work schedule. The beauty of seasonal side hustles is you don’t have to commit long-term!
Here’s My Seven Best Side Hustle Ideas for Extra Holiday Cash
1. Make Money with Your Car
Earn an income with your car! You can become an Uber or Lyft driver. When I was without a car for a couple of months (here’s more on my experience of life without a car), I used ride sharing more than normal. ALL my drivers told me they enjoyed the flexibility and extra cash. You can make your own schedule and drive before work, in the evenings, or on the weekends.
Another way to use your car to make money is to list your car to be rented with apps like Turo and Getaround. It’s less time intensive! Instead of driving others around, just coordinate handing over the keys for your car to be a temp car rental.
2. Make Money with Your Home
Going away for the holidays? List your home or apartment on sites like Airbnb or Homeaway to help pay for your travel costs.
Now that I’m living in an RV full-time, I’ve recently heard of sites to rent out RV’s for extra cash like RVShare and Outdoorsy. If you have an RV in storage or parked on your property, consider renting it out!
3. Be a Caregiver
Do you love babies!? Have a soft spot in your heart for elderly peeps? Or maybe you’re a dog (or cat) lover! Then, consider being a caregiver. You can find babysitting gigs through your own personal network. Or checkout sites like Care, Urban Sitter, and Sitter City to find caregiving gigs. Lifehacker reported that babysitters in 75 cities surveyed all made over $13 an hour.
For dog walking or house sitting opportunities, you can look on sites like Rover.com. They advertise that you can earn up to $1,000 a month.
4. Work in Fitness
We all know that unfortunately it’s easy to pack on the pounds during the holiday season. Take on a job at your favorite gym or yoga studio. This is a win-win: you get the extra cash, a free membership, and motivation to stay fit.
Or you can look for an opportunity to be a coach for a kids’ league for your favorite sport or ref games. For example, Glassdoor estimates that a soccer ref makes about $21 an hour.
5. Part-Time Retail Jobs
Walk into any store and you’ll see Christmas trees and decorations galore. I used to gag seeing Christmas decorations in October, but now’s the time to beat retailers at their own game. Pick your favorite store that offers a fantabulous employee discount (to get your holiday gifts on the cheap!) and work as a seasonal employee.
For example, Target is hiring 125,000 seasonal employees with pay starting at $13 an hour. Target offers an employee discount of 10% storewide and 20% off wellness products.
A side note, check out my guide on holiday spending 101 and my secret weapon for holiday spending!
6. Deliver or Sort Mail
Mail spikes during the holiday season, so consider working part-time delivering or sorting mail. UPS has about 100,000 seasonal jobs and positions with pay of $14- $18 an hour. Amazon has over 50,000 seasonal and permanent job openings with pay starting at $15 an hour. Here’s job openings with Amazon.
7. Pursue your Passion
The best way to earn extra holiday cash with a side hustle is to pursue your passion. We are all put on this planet for a reason. As Marie Forleo says, “The world needs that special gift, that only you have.” If you have a day job that doesn’t align with what you feel like you were born to do, then use seasonal work as a chance to experiment in a new field.
What natural skills and talents do you have that you’d like to develop further? Maybe you’re a CPA or engineer because that was the “safe and stable” path, but you’re naturally good at photography. Stop daydreaming about being a photographer and start pursuing your passion. In this example you could offer 1-hour family photo sessions or work as an assistant with an established photographer.
Get motivated to pursue your passion with this story on how Brendan paid off his car and credit cards (over $8k!) with his side hustle doing something he loved.
Those are My Seven Best Side Hustles for Extra Holiday Cash!
This holiday season boost your income with these side hustle ideas. Take a chance on something new. Your future self with thank you for it.
