Gig Economy Holiday Side Hustles That Will Pay For Your Presents
Are you already stressing about paying for all those holiday necessities? Decorations, gifts, dinner parties: you name it, you probably have to pay for it. According to CBS News, the average American will spend approximately $1,455 this year on holiday shopping alone. This is about the same as last year, but since prices of goods are up about 10% across the board, Americans will be buying fewer gifts this year. In any case, that’s quite a bit of extra cash you’ll need on hand!
As a strong advocate of the gig economy and the ability for people to empower themselves through side work, I’ve outlined seven side gigs and ways to start a side hustle that you can do now to help offset those holiday bills:
1. Become an Instacart or Shipt Shopper
During the holiday season, people have less time to complete their day-to-day responsibilities, including weekly grocery shopping. Luckily, grocery delivery services like Instacart and Shipt can offer much-needed assistance. Tons of people have grown accustomed to having their groceries delivered especially since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Now, it’s become a way of life for consumers and has created new income opportunities for go-getters like you.
Sign up for Instacart or Shipt and become a full-time or part-time Shopper; you’ll be able to go shopping for groceries and get paid to shop. The best part about these gigs is that you can work on your own time, accept only the orders you want right from your smartphone, and you keep 100% of the tips you earn. Your wallet will thank you, and you’ll be paying for all those gifts in no time.
2. Rent out your empty space for storage on Neighbor
What if I told you that you could make money storing other people’s belongings in your spare room, closet, or attic crawl space? If this could work for you, I highly recommend becoming a host on Neighbor. The platform is designed to connect you with other people in your community looking for space to store their extra belongings as an alternative to storage units. For example, renting out a small closet on Neighbor can sometimes cost $25-50 per month. So instead of someone paying $100-200 per month for a small storage unit, you bank an extra $25-50 per month storing their belongings while they save $75-150 per month; it’s a win-win situation!
3. Rent your vehicle on Turo
With Turo, you can make your car work for you. If you have a spare vehicle or don’t use your primary vehicle too often, this is the gig for you. The peer-to-peer car-sharing platform allows you to rent out your vehicle for as long or as short of a period as you want on your terms. You set the days and times the car will be available, the daily rental price, and any rules for using your vehicle. You’ll have to ensure your vehicle is cleaned and sanitized before each new renter. All in all, this is another easy passive income opportunity. Sign up to rent your car on Turo and start making passive income!
4. Deliver food with Uber Eats or GrubHub
If you’re a foodie, then this could be a fun gig for you! As an UberEats courier or GrubHub driver, you can choose your hours and work on your own time. Depending on your metro area, you may even be able to do this gig without a car and deliver with a bike or a scooter instead! All you’ll have to do is pass a quick background check, and you’ll be ready to start accepting orders in your area right from your smartphone. Sign up for UberEats or GrubHub and get earning now!
5. Use your digital skills to make a few extra bucks on Fiverr or Upwork
So, you already have a full-time job. But you can take your applicable skills and do freelance work. You can easily make money online if you have digital skills like copywriting, marketing, graphic design, photography, or digital marketing. In your downtime, why not put your skills to work on digital freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork?
6. Scan your grocery receipts on Ibotta or Fetch
A crucial part of the holiday season is, of course, grocery shopping. You need to get that turkey for the 20-person Thanksgiving you’ll be hosting once again, and don’t forget about the spiral ham for Christmas Day. Indeed, those holiday food expenses can certainly add up. But you can earn cash back for many items by scanning your grocery receipts with apps like Ibotta and Fetch. You’ll quickly earn $1.00 back on those extra cans of cranberry sauce, or 25 points for that last-minute grocery run an hour before the relatives arrive. Once you reach a $20 minimum on Ibotta, you’ll be able to cash out directly to your PayPal account. On Fetch, all you need is a minimum of 3,000 points ($3), and you’ll be able to cash out for a gift card to a retailer of your choice!
7. Take lots of surveys
So you don’t have time to do extra work outside of the house, but you could use those extra dollars before the end of the year. Luckily, it’s not hard to take some online surveys at home with Survey Junkie, right from your computer or smartphone. Within hours, you can earn points to redeem for real money, which you can cash out via PayPal, gift cards, or a bank transfer. This way, you’ll be able to pay for those gifts you’re already going to buy anyway.
8. Rent out your spare room on Airbnb
Do you have a spare room in your house or apartment that you scarcely use or that’s already set up as a guest bedroom for when the in-laws visit? Well, you can earn passive income this holiday by renting out your extra space on your terms. You’ll make extra income before the holidays and earn more money to pay off those pesky December credit card bills and buy all those presents. Sign up to become an Airbnb host today!
9. Try TaskRabbit
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And guess what? The floors need to be vacuumed and mopped, the bathroom needs to sparkle, piles of laundry need to be washed and folded, you need to clean out the hall closet, and even the leaves from this fall need to be cleaned up! But let’s be honest: who’s got the time between working a full-time job, taking care of the kids, and all the other obligations in life?
If you have some spare time and are handy around the house, we recommend signing up to become a Tasker on TaskRabbit. The platform connects you to people in your town or city who need help doing everyday tasks for themselves and their families that they don’t have the time for. Taskers on Reddit say they’ve been able to earn an average of $6K per month completing odd jobs for people.
Just imagine how much extra cash you could make with just a few hours of work before the holidays!
