How to Save $1,000 in time for Christmas

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The holidays are literally right around the corner. One more month and it’ll be holiday shopping time! Start thinking about saving money NOW! I’m serious. You have the perfect amount of time to raise a cool $1,000 for buying holiday gifts, holiday outfits, keeping your fridge stocked for big family dinners and events at the house and more. Here are 6+ ways to save money for Christmas.

Do a Winter Cleaning

So this would be more like a pre-Winter or a Fall cleaning. It works the same way a Spring cleaning does but instead of throwing out your stuff, you’re gonna sell it!

Take inventory of your home goods and sell off unwanted items. Here are some examples:

• Unused gifts in good condition (instead of regifting)
• Outgrown kids clothes and unused kids toys
• Clothes you never wear anymore
• Duplicate kitchen appliances (Am I the only one with 2 toasters, 2 waffle makers, etc.?)

Some places to sell your stuff:

Gazelle: This place is for your used electronics. Upgrade your phone? Send your old one to Gazelle. Not using your tablet anymore? Turn it into Gazelle. They have a huge list of eligible electronics you can sell.

Thredup: These guys are an online consignment shop. They take clothing, footwear, accessories, handbags and more. Great for selling AND great for buying. I go school clothes shopping with this company regularly. I often get brand new stuff with tags still attached for a killer steal. Ideas for Christmas shopping.

Rent out a spare room

Do you have an extra room in your house? I know we do. It’s fully furnished and we use it as a spare room.   Our family lives hundreds of miles away and visit us a few times a year. They’ll stay in that room. When they’re not, we can rent it out. This is something I don’t have experience with but would totally do.

Get with AirBNB and rent out that room. Imagine $60/night booking weekends only. That’s $180/weekend or $720/month extra for that lonely room that you spend no time in. Try this out.

Make room in your budget

Raise money for holiday shopping by saving money in other areas of your budget. Groceries, lowering your bills, reducing your gas bill, are all ways to save.

For groceries, reduce your bill with these apps:

• Ibotta: Find deals, shop sales, scan your receipt, save money. It is SO EASY.
• Checkout 51: Built-in features to help you save grocery shopping.
• Your grocery chain app: See if your local grocer has an app. They may send you coupons or special deals as a part of having their app or if they have a rewards program, participate in it!

Save money on your monthly purchases

You know that monthly shopping you do. Replacing curtains, buying towels, buying replacement silverware for all those lost spoons that feel like evaporated into thin air (this happens to us a lot). When you buy, do it through a cashback program.

These 2 are my favorite:

Dosh

You get the free app on your cell phone, then link your debit card or credit card.  When you’re out and about, the app will tell you which retailers in the area are offering cashback.  When you shop those stores with the card(s) linked to the app, it AUTOMATICALLY sends the cashback to your Dosh balance. Then when you hit $25 you can cash out! Pretty cool, right? It’s free to use. Claim your $5 bonus cash for signing up.

TopCashBack

You get your free TopCashBack account and access your favorite online retailers through their site. So, you click through the retailer on the site, it’ll take you to the retailers site and when you buy, you’ll be eligible for cash back!

I did this the other day when I had to buy a new lawnmower from Lowes. I spent a few hundred dollars and got around $15 cash back on my purchase. $15 might not sound like a lot but it’s a free $15 for doing nothing more than I’d be doing anyway, shopping online for a lawn mower.  Sign up here.

Ask for Overtime

One of the best ways to raise money is to work more. Do you work a 9 to 5? Ask your boss for overtime hours. At time and a half or double time, it’s a great way to raise money. Do it now before the season sets in, so you won’t be competing with your coworkers for that time.

Take on a Second Job

An alternative to getting more hours at work is to get a second job. This can be seasonal. A lot of retailers hire extra help as the holiday season approaches. I earned a full time income working part time at a big department store in my college years during a holiday rush. Stores are busy, time flies, it’s great.

Start a Side Business

Need some ideas? Check out these 50+ side businesses you can start while keeping your full time job. Some of my favorites? Dropshipping lets you work at your own pace and you can make a lot of money fast, to the the tune of four, five, and even six figures in a month!

I did dropshipping in my first years as an entrepreneur and I got up to $30K per month selling womens apparel and accessories. I have friends that did even better than that. Check out my quick course, Dropship Rocket to learn exactly how I did it so you can replicate my actions and get awesome results.

Start Blogging

Bloggers make money. I was surprised to learn you can earn five and six figures per month as a blogger, until I did it myself! This blogger makes $50,000+ per month from affiliate marketing alone. She teaches her strategy here.

How to get started?

Step 1.) Pick your blog niche and blog name

Step 2.) Buy hosting and domain

Step 3.) Connect WordPress

Step 4.) Add your content and publish!

Wrap Up

Give you some ideas? Comment below if you have other ways to save for the holidays. We can keep expanding on this!