How Make An Extra $1,000 In Time To Enjoy The Holidays (Part 1)

With the holidays right around the corner, you may be wondering how you can possibly make some extra money to spend on gifts for others, (and yourself!) this holiday season.

Like most people, it probably feels like all you seem to do is spend everything you earn.  It’s easy to see your pay-check disappear over the month. There’s rent, bills, going out, travel, gym membership, socializing, new clothes, birthdays – the list is never ending.  You’re lucky if there’s anything left for you to save.

We promise you that you can save money even if it seems like an impossibility, you just need to really stick to a budget and make some small but significant changes to what you do with your time and money to reap the rewards.  So we’re going to take you through twelve weeks’ worth of money saving and making ideas that leave you with plenty of extra cash for holiday gifts and to enjoy over the vacation period (and beyond too).

Maybe you’re saving for a first apartment, a special trip abroad, a car or just because you’re thinking of your future, there are plenty of ways to maximize on what you’ve got; you just need to know how.

Week One

The quickest and easiest win is to switch your bank account.  There are plenty of American banks online (and offline) who really want your business. As an added incentive, when you move over to their bank, many offer financial rewards such as $150 (Key Bank) just for the privilege.  Then, you could take that money and move it to a savings account – there, that’s $150 extra already. Click Here For More Info

$150 earned

Week Two

Clear out all your wardrobes and get rid of anything you haven’t worn in over two years.  EBay is the best online market place for selling your unwanted goods, from clothes to shoes, handbags, accessories and even broken technology.  Spend a couple of evenings sorting through what you don’t want and list it all as a buy it now price or an auction.  As an example, designer bags often go for up to 50% of what was originally paid.

Here are a few tips on how to really maximize what you sell on Ebay.com:

• Organise your listing so it starts at lunchtime or between 7 and 9pm during weekdays (when lots of people are at home, browsing). Sundays are also great days to list items.
• Remember, if you list an item as an auction, much of the bidding occurs right at the very end so try and make sure your item is visible. List for minimum 3 days – 24 hours doesn’t seem to get as many views as auctions that are on for longer.  You can also try and close your auction during the evening and on Sunday nights, again, people are usually in and browsing online.  Try not to close out auctions on Friday and Saturday nights as people tend to go out and socialize.
• Take advantage of free listings, generally sellers can list up to 20 items per month free, this saves you money (remember, EBay take 10% of the final sale price and this includes postage). There are also additional free listing periods, take advantage of these.
• Share your listing on social media; it all helps to gain interest!
• There was some interesting research at a British University (Birmingham) which showed how some words sold better, e.g. Men’s watches sold for $45 whereas using the word “Gent’s” more than doubled in price! Genuine isn’t as popular as authentic, as an example, fragrances marked as genuine sold for around $35 whereas authentic sold for $50.
• Designer goods sell so if you have old, unused designer-wear you should make great money. As a tip, whenever you buy new designer-wear, keep the bag, labels and any other detail as all this helps to boost your final sale price.
• Broken also sells, especially in technology as lots of people can repair electrical items or want spare parts.

There are other sites that also sell unwanted items, try Craigslist and Oodle.  You’ll also find that Facebook.com has many groups in your area that sell stuff for free, so no fees to pay.

$100 earned

Week Three

Hold a yard sale and by that, we mean join up with one in your area (or host your own if there’s not one close-by).  If you’re unsure whether there’s one near you, you can check this useful link https://yardsales.net/.

The New York Times did some research into yard sales and found that, if you do it properly, you can make $500 to $1000!  So sort out some old things you don’t want or need, beg borrow and steal from your friends and family and organize a weekend yard sale at a popular location (check the website for the best ones close to you).

The best days are Saturday and Sunday as that’s when people go out shopping.  You can also opt not to price your goods and that way you can let the buyer name their price.  If the price is what you wanted, great, and if not just say no.

Advertise on your social media that you’re doing a yard sale too.  One more tip, clean everything before you sell it as that way everything will look its best and try playing some soothing background music at your stall, this encourages people to browse for longer.

$200 earned

Week Four

There’s no doubt that you probably have lots of different talents.  Did you know that you can definitely make some extra cash putting them to good use?  For example, can you write?  Can you design a website from scratch?

Perhaps you’re the best Personal Assistant in the USA or maybe you have a design background?  It could be that you’re a social media whizz and know how to build up a worthy following.

There are lots of online freelancing sites just waiting to hire you and there are plenty of people out there looking for your skills.  Look at upwork.com or guru.com.  Others include Toptal, Freelancer and even Craigslist.

If you have a full-time job, you can do some adhoc evening or weekend work. You don’t need an office, just your laptop, Mac book or similar – you can even work from your bed if you’d rather! Just take care to look at any tax implications because some people can earn $$$ using these web platforms.

To get going, start your hourly rate or your fixed project cost lower than you normally would to encourage clients and when you’ve built up some great feedback, you can raise your fees accordingly.

$100 earned

TOTAL: +$550

These should work to get you started. Stay tuned for Part 2 – Coming soon!