Make Money for Your Holiday Budget Now with Work-from-Home Gigs

Planning ahead for your holiday budget doesn’t have to wait until the holidays. 

One reason why people sometimes need credit card debt relief is overspending during the holidays and other special occasions. 

If you want to confidently go shopping and treat your loved ones to the best of the holiday season, work on saving up extra money for your holiday budget ahead of time. There are several ways to make extra money with work-from-home gigs, side hustles, and seasonal work. Use the extra cash to boost your savings for your holiday budget, or increase your emergency fund for any time of year. 

Here are a few tips for how to fund your holiday budget in advance with convenient, flexible work-from-home gigs. 

First, Create a Holiday Budget

Before you search for work-from-home money-making opportunities, get a sense of your current financial situation. The best way to do this is to create a holiday budget. This might be easier to do if you already have a monthly household budget, so start there. By understanding your current finances and what amount can be used for holiday spending, you can get a better sense of how much money you need to make and save toward your holiday budget. 

For example, let’s say you want to save $1,500 for your holiday budget, and you can make $15 per hour after taxes with a work-from-home side hustle. That means you need to work 100 hours to reach your holiday budget goal. If you work an extra eight hours per week at your side gig, you could reach that goal in a little over three months. 

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or some other winter holiday, most people tend to splurge a little more than usual in November and December. Celebrating the holidays is important. But it’s not worth going into holiday debt. As with any ordinary household budget, your winter holiday budget should include your typical monthly expenses (including savings) and regular income. Then add in any amount you want to earmark for special meals, gifts, or events.

Now that you have a holiday budget that includes your regular expenses plus splurges, you may even be able to estimate how many hours you’ll want to work to get to the amount needed for your extras this year. Your budget may also give some insight into where you could save more money, like by canceling subscriptions or cutting back on takeout meals.

You may also find that taking on work-from-home-side hustles can help you save money beyond your holiday budget. Socking money away could put you on a path to saving for bigger goals like college, retirement, or a new home.

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What Work-From-Home Gigs Best Fit Your Skills and Needs?

There are many kinds of work-from-home gigs and side hustles in the world. But you might have the best experience making money from home if you choose a gig that fits your skills. The work could be more enjoyable and might even pay better. 

Just like full-time employment, consider what you’re good at and what you like to do. Are you a people person? A customer service job could be a good fit. Prefer to quietly work behind the scenes and dig into the details? Tax prep or data entry might be your best bet.

With these factors in mind, here are a few types of work-from-home gigs and side hustles that could help you save money for your holiday budget.

Mystery shopping

Mystery shoppers are nothing new in the world of shopping malls. But online retailers also hire mystery shoppers to fine-tune their customer experience. The holiday shopping season is the busiest time of year for most retail businesses, so many companies hire more mystery shoppers during the last few months of the year. 

You can find a reputable mystery shopping gig by checking the company’s employee reviews and Better Business Bureau ratings. A few examples of companies that hire mystery shoppers include BestMark, IntelliShop, and MarketForce.

Call centers

Along with mystery shopping gigs, many companies hire extra customer service reps during the holiday season. They may hire work-from-home customer service people who can help manage orders, answer questions, process, exchanges and returns, and help other shoppers have a happier holiday season. 

Customer service is often a great choice for side hustles or work-from-home part-time jobs, because this type of work is available year-round. You can work for a call center no matter where you live, and many employers don’t require previous call center experience.

Sales

If you’re outgoing, energetic, and good at talking with customers, a work-from-home side hustle that might pay better than customer service is sales. Many companies need salespeople who can work from home in flexible ways. If you have previous sales experience in your career, or if you’re willing to try new things, working from home as a part-time sales rep can be a good way to make extra money for your holiday budget. 

Crafts and gifts

If you’re crafty and creative, making crafts to sell could be a great choice for a side hustle. People are always looking for unique, locally made gifts to give friends and family members. Your community may host seasonal bazaars or “maker fairs.” And there are plenty of online marketplaces for homemade goods, such as Etsy and Makers Market.

Corporate day job skills

If you have the right skills and experience from your day job, office and corporate work could be done from home as a side hustle. Companies often hire part-time and flexible gig workers who can help with projects such as workflow analysis, project management, quality assurance, logistics and shipping, event planning, content marketing, freelance writing, software development, and graphic design roles. Check the major job sites like Indeed, Monster, ZipRecruiter, and FlexJobs to find companies that are hiring.

Other Year-Round Side Gigs To Save For Your Holiday Budget

Some side hustles are seasonal gigs, with more hiring demand during specific times of year. But many kinds of work-from-home gigs are year-round opportunities. There’s never a wrong time of year to save money for your holiday budget. Making extra cash can be beneficial all year round. 

Here are a few examples of year-round work-from-home side hustles. 

Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants, or VAs, handle administrative tasks for organizations or individuals. VAs may schedule appointments, make phone calls, or help with social tasks (such as sending thank-you notes). If you have specialized skills, you may be able to earn more by performing tasks such as bookkeeping or putting together online presentations.

Online surveys

What if you could make money working from home by taking online surveys? Some companies hire people to do this and other online tasks. You could also get paid for other online task-based work, such as helping companies do market research and trying new websites. Do the math to decide whether the rate of pay per survey is worth your time by comparing it to the hourly rate of other part-time gigs. 

A few examples of companies where you can get paid to do online surveys include Pinecone Research, American Consumer Opinion, and Swagbucks. ySense is a good example of a micro-task company that offers cash to complete surveys, sign up for websites, or complete other small online projects. 

Training AI 

Other companies make it easy to earn at home by doing AI training. With this type of work from home side hustle, you get paid to do tasks like transcription or evaluating videos for accuracy. There’s been massive demand recently for new AI tools. Some people make money from home by helping to train AI and make it more accurate. Clickworker and CrowdGen are examples of companies that offer AI-training gigs.

Selling online

Do you have valuable items that are just taking up space? Your bicycle, musical instrument, or baseball card collection might be worth money that could go toward your savings goals. It may be time to set up an eBay account and sell your unused treasures online.

If You’ve Made Extra Money Working a Side Hustle, Stick To Your Budget

If you’ve found a great work-from-home side hustle, congratulations! Now you can make a plan to use your extra cash  for your holiday budget and other financial goals. Take a fresh look at your holiday budget while adding in the income from your side gig. How much can you afford to spend on each person on your holiday gift list? What if you’re making more money than you expected from your side hustle—do you want to upgrade your holiday plans with nice dinners out, decorations, special events, or holiday travel? 

Before you start spending every dollar of your side hustle income, think about using some of that money to pay off debts. Some people spend a little too freely during the holidays, and end up with too much credit card debt. If your holiday budget is making you feel stressed, if you’re falling behind on your bills, or if you need a side hustle not just to save for the holidays but to keep paying your rent or auto loan this month, you might want to think about getting help from a debt relief program.

It’s good to be generous with your loved ones and to make happy holiday memories. But try to keep your holiday budget in line with your other financial goals—like saving for a new car, saving for a down payment on a home, saving and investing for retirement, and so on. If you’re working extra hours at a side hustle, try to make sure that some of the extra money goes beyond your holiday budget and helps strengthen your finances for years to come.