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Written by Skye Thomas
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Monday, 23 October 2006 |
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Word Count: 2215 15 Ways to Create Some Extra Holiday Money
Originally this was going to be a list for my two teenagers but some of these
ideas are better suited to adults with a valid driver's license and a bit of
know-how. Some of these take a bit of planning and organizing, but most of them
could be done on a fairly spur of the moment case by case basis. The great thing
about a lot of these ideas is that you're spreading holiday cheer by helping to
make someone else's otherwise stressful and overwhelming to-do list a little bit
easier. Who wouldn't pay to have someone come do a few of these things for you?
Mostly, what's important is that you remember to provide a quality item or
service to the buyer with a smile on your face and in your heart. Have fun with
these!
1. Baby-sit for people who need to do some Christmas shopping without their
little ones tagging along. Anyone trustworthy who is over the age of about
thirteen or fourteen can do this one. It's hectic enough to get in and out of
the malls and shopping centers without having to drag toddlers along. Contact
friends, family, coworkers, and members of your spiritual community to let them
know that you're available for holiday babysitting. This can include time that
the parents need to get away for office parties, charity events, and
volunteering to help the elderly and less fortunate members of their community.
2. Grab a ladder and offer to clean leaves out of your neighbors' gutters. Many
people are so busy during the summer months that they completely forget to clean
all of the debris from their gutters when the sun is out and it's dry outside.
It's cold and yucky outside now and many people are too busy to get to it
themselves. They'll probably be glad that you offered and they can check it off
of their to-do lists. This isn't one for the younger kids. However, they can
offer to rake up the leaves in their neighbors' yards. Adults could offer to do
both the gutters and the yard as one big project for a nice reasonable price. It
could also be a father & son side business that you do together - while dad
cleans the neighbors gutters, junior rakes up the leaves in the lawn.
3. Bake something amazing and offer to sell it to your friends and coworkers so
they won't have to do their own holiday baking. You probably have to be careful
about selling your baked goods to professional organizations and such, but you
could do some sideline baking to help out your friends, neighbors, and coworkers
who are going to be entertaining guests over the holidays and simply won't have
the time to do their own baking. Have you got an awesome recipe that stands out
as everyone's absolute favorite? It's the hit of every potluck? Make up some
tiny sample sizes or bring it in to the office break room and serve up samples
to your potential clients. Then while their mouths are watering, tell them that
for a fee you'll bring them one to their home the day before their guests are to
arrive. You'll have to work out the scheduling and cost of ingredients and such,
but this could be a fun way to make some money and spread some serious joy. The
hostess will be so pleased when she pulls your work of art out of the fridge and
her guests ooh and ah over the scrumptious homemade dessert she didn't even have
to bake herself.
4. Offer to collect people's empty soda cans and cash them in. My son raised
almost $300 last spring doing this so that he could go to a training course to
become a camp counselor for the little kids at our church. He went door to door
offering to do yard work and most people just handed him bags and bags of pop
cans they didn't want to take the time to cash in. He collected most of them
over one weekend and then cashed them all in the following weekend. We live
really close to a grocery store where he could walk to cash them in, so I didn't
even have to get my car dirty with sticky soda drippings! This is a really good
one for the younger kids to do.
5. Sell something on eBay. I know a number of people who make a decent second
income all year round by digging around for antiques and such from the Goodwill
and then fixing them, cleaning them up, and selling them for a much higher price
on eBay. You have to know what to look for, but these folks will pick up an old
pair of stereo speakers for $10 or $15 and then sell them on eBay for $200. The
customer pays for shipping. You can also do this through garage sales, flea
markets, and estate sells too. Most of the time and work goes into hunting for
the cool treasures that someone will want to purchase.
6. Hang up people's outdoor Holiday lights for them. As a single mom, I would
have loved it if someone had come to my house and hung the Christmas lights on
my house for me. My children always wanted us to decorate the outside of the
house and I hated not being able to do that for them. I didn't know the first
thing about how to go about hanging them up. I didn't even own a ladder! So, I
would think that you could go around offering to hang up people's outdoor
holiday lights for a fee. It they are like me and don't even have lights but
want to get some, you could offer your expertise as to which kind to buy and
where to get the best prices and such.
7. Grab a broom or a shovel and offer to clean the neighborhood sidewalks. This
is another good one for the younger teens. There's always sidewalks that need
swept or shoveled. And there's always someone too busy or too tired to do it
themselves.
8. Work a second job as seasonal help at one of the department stores in the
mall. Most of the major department stores hire extra help in October or November
so they can have them fully trained by the time the really busy holiday shopping
season kicks in. They are kept on until after the inventory counts are done in
January. Then most are let go if they haven't quit already. Those who have
proven themselves to be quality employees will often be asked to stay on longer.
9. Sell something at holiday bazaars. I suspect that you have to get these kinds
of events lined up ahead of time with a bit of preplanning and such, but plenty
of folks make a decent seasonal income by selling cool arts and crafts type
items at those holiday bazaars. Often a percentage of the sales goes towards a
fundraiser, but you still make enough to make it worth your time and energy to
create the art and to hang out at the art shows.
10. Sell your plasma. We all know how important it is to donate blood during the
holidays, but many people don't know that you can get paid for sitting through a
procedure quite similar to the donation process. The difference is that they run
your blood through a machine that separates the plasma from the red blood cells
and puts the red blood cells back into your body. It take longer and I guess
that's why they are willing to pay you for your time. Years ago, I used to do
this when my kids were really little and we needed some extra money for upcoming
birthdays and such. They wouldn't let you do it more than once a week or so and
they only paid about $25 each time, so you had to plan ahead if you were going
to raise $100 or $200 for something you wanted to purchase. Contact your local
Red Cross or other blood donation centers for help finding the plasma centers.
11. Clean houses for others who have holiday guests coming. Typically, if
someone has out of town guests coming for the holidays, they have a lot more on
their to-do list then just cleaning their toilets and shampooing the carpets.
You could become a real lifesaver for those in a crunch who are too busy, too
old, or too tired to do a thorough deep cleaning before the guests arrive. Some
might even hire you again to clean up after the guests leave too! Teens can do
this just as easily as the adults can.
12. Run errands and do odd holiday jobs like wrapping gifts or delivering
packages to the post office. You could start a little side business where all
you do is run other people's errands for them. Drop off and pick up the dry
cleaning. Take their pet to the vet. Deliver cupcakes to the charity fundraiser.
Pick up a handful of gift certificates from national department stores that will
later be mailed out. Address and stamp their Christmas cards for them. Do their
grocery shopping. Pick up new printer cartridge and some desk calendars for
them. It's all of those tiny little errands that make for frazzled schedules and
crazy timelines. For a fee, you could do it for them.
13. Decorate the inside of people's homes or offices for the holidays. You don't
have to be a professional interior decorator to be helpful. If you've got a
reputation as having a good eye for attractive and festive decorating, you can
help others to set up their trees, hang garland, and place some nice poinsettia
here and there. You can help make people's homes and their office space a warm
inviting environment and also include coming back after the holidays to break it
all down into to storage containers as part of the deal. I hate tearing down the
decorations and would love to pay someone to put it all back away!
14. Cater some dinners for the extremely busy shoppers or for Holiday parties.
Those who are not awesome cooks need not apply for this one! Let's say that your
boss is having the annual company Christmas party at his house and his wife is
swamped with running kids back and forth to choir concerts and peewee football
camp while shopping and planning for her in-laws who will be flying in to visit
only three days after her husband's company party at her house!!! You could
offer to cook and cater the event for her. You'd once again be making someone
else's holiday season so much easier while earning extra money for yourself.
Decide in advance on a menu and who's purchasing the ingredients needed. Then
all you have to come up with is a dollar figure for your time and grandma's
secret recipe for those little mini-cakes that everyone loves so much.
15. Chauffer someone's children to and from school and other activities so the
parents have some free time. This isn't quite the same as babysitting. You'd be
amazed at how much time a person can spend picking up and driving two or three
kids to different events and hauling musical instruments and sporting gear from
one event to the next. You could simply run a taxi service for children and
teenagers who need rides from point A to B. You don't have to hang out and watch
them once they get there. Just make sure they arrive on time. Even just having
an afternoon at home to cook and clean house while someone else gathers up all
of the kids and brings them all home could make a world of difference for
someone.
As you can see, some of these services could easily be turned into a year-round
side job or they could be dropped as soon as the holidays are over. Perhaps
you'll find that you love catering people's meals, you love refurbishing
antiques, or you love running errands and taxiing others around from place to
place. You could go into business for yourself and by next year, you could quit
your 'real job' and be happily self-employed. Then again, your teenager could
discover how much time and work it takes just to raise enough money for some
generous Christmas shopping. After learning the value of a dollar earned, they
might decide that college is a good idea after all!
Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge
About The Author
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow's Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps
of faith. She became a writer in 1999 after twenty years of studying
spirituality, metaphysics, astrology, personal growth, motivation, soulmates,
and parenting. Her books, articles, and astrological forecasts have inspired
people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of
happiness. To read more of her articles and to sign up to receive her free
weekly newsletter, go to
www.TomorrowsEdge.net . To download free previews of her books, go to
www.SkyeThomas.com .
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