As the holidays quickly approach, it can be discouraging to realize you might not have enough extra cash on hand. Between days off, gift-buying, or traveling to visit family, your budget can become particularly tight during this time of year. Luckily, picking up a side hustle and earning extra money during the holiday season has never been easier. So if you need extra cash to spend during the holidays, We’ve got a list of everything from taking surveys for money to dog-walking.
Food Delivery
Whether you choose Doordash, Uber Eats, Bite Squad, Postmates, or more, food delivery has virtually limitless opportunities for people to make money delivering meals, especially if you enroll in one or more apps at the same time. This opportunity is particularly plentiful in big cities with many different restaurants and large residential areas.
All you’ll need to do is sign up with your personal information on one of the apps, register your car or bike, and start taking orders from restaurants and delivering them to customers. The apps walk you through the entire process, and you can even do everything on your phone!
Grocery Delivery
Grocery delivery using sites like Instacart is another similar opportunity for those who have a vehicle. Grocery delivery is usually more intensive than food delivery, however, because Instacart requires that those doing grocery delivery actually go in and shop for all the items themselves.
This gig can be much more time-consuming than restaurant food delivery but also much more lucrative. To do grocery delivery, you will also need cooler bags to keep groceries cold or frozen while you deliver them.
Drive for Uber or Lyft
Driving for Uber or Lyft is another great side hustle if you own a car. Uber and Lyft are services people need consistently, whether they live in massive metropolitan areas or small towns. You can start and stop driving whenever you have free time and accept or decline trips at your will.
Each trip you complete is more money earned, and the faster you complete them, the more money you can make! Additionally, if you are an excellent driver and make your passengers feel comfortable, they may feel inclined to tip you handsomely.
Paid Online Surveys
Paid online surveys are one of the most popular side hustles around the holidays, and it’s no secret why. You can take surveys for cash anytime, day or night. Taking surveys for money is easy, and you can earn between $.50 to $2 for each survey you take. Sometimes, longer surveys pay even more.
Branded Surveys
If you want to get paid to take surveys, there are many places to do so. But you need to be careful of scams. Branded Surveys is one of the most popular and trustworthy paid survey sites. The site uses high-level encryption to protect your data and has only a $5 minimum balance to get paid. Plus, they have been around for more than a decade.
Branded Surveys has nearly 94,000 genuine customer reviews and a rating of excellent on Trustpilot, making it one of the most trusted survey sites online. Branded connects its consumer base with companies, institutions, and researchers who value the opinions and experiences of others and are willing to pay for them.
Freelance Work
No matter what type of freelance work you decide to do, whether it’s writing, graphic design, web design, or copyediting, you can make quite a bit of money remotely. The popularity of online freelance work has only increased in the wake of COVID-19, so there has never been a better time to try it out!
You can come into online freelance work with a variety of skill sets. But it can even be profitable for those who have minimal experience. Additionally, there are many free online classes to help you learn marketable skills that can earn you big money in your spare time.
Sell Digital Products
While you might think the digital product market, particularly on Etsy, is already saturated, there is still plenty of space for new creators. Digital products are items designed and sold online and printed by the consumer. This includes planners, calendars, prints, habit worksheets, budget worksheets, teacher/school worksheets and activities, and more!
Many facets of the digital product market have yet to be explored. If you can think of a problem to be solved using a graphic design tool like Canva or Photoshop, you can create digital products and earn passive income.
Dog Walking
Dog Walking Apps like Rover and Wag have streamlined the process of dog walking, but the traditional routine is still there. So whether you decide to go door-to-door in your neighborhood or sign up for an app like Rover, dog walking is a great way to make money by doing something you love and even getting some exercise along the way.
While dog walking has historically been associated with being a job for young teenagers, dog walking is a great side hustle for anyone who loves animals and being outdoors.
Rent Your Car
Sites and apps like Turo have streamlined the car rental process and made car rentals much more straightforward. For those who own a vehicle, you can register your car on Turo and rent it out to those who need a car when you aren’t using yours. The amount of money you can make depends on your car type and whether you offer daily or weekly rentals.
This service is excellent if you live near a major airport where people always need to rent vehicles. If you really want to drum up business, you can be competitive with your pricing against the major car rental companies.
Turn Your Property Into an Airbnb
This next tip is suitable for people with multiple properties or a lot of extra space in their homes. Turning your property into an Airbnb can be an incredibly profitable side hustle for those who live in major metropolitan areas or popular rural vacation spots. You can rent out a whole house, apartment, or even just one room!
Invest in some simple decorations and furnishings for your place, modernize it, take photos, and then list it! You can choose when the property is available for booking, so you won’t ever be surprised by random guests.
Create an Online Class
If you have a special skill or a degree you can put to use, you can create an online class that people will pay to access. Whether you’re a painter, mathematician, graphic designer, videographer, or have some other unique talent, creating online courses is an excellent way to earn money.
Publish your course online to YouTube, Vimeo, or some other site. Then when customers purchase it, the unlisted or private link gets automatically sent to them. You can also use a professional course-creation site like Teachable, Thinkific, or Podia. These services handle all the work for you, so your income is completely passive.
