With Christmas fast approaching, buying baby food and paying for after school activities will soon prove to be the least of your financial concerns. According to a survey published by The Independant in 2018, UK families will part with an average of up to £2,700 during the festive season – with buying gifts for friends and family making up the vast majority of this spend. Naturally, therefore, finding additional ways to pay for fancy chocolates and scrumptious nibbles, amongst the mountain of presents you’d like to treat your children with, is more than desirable.
So, in this post we’re outlining 4 ways that stay at home parents can make money in time for Christmas. From picking up a side job that you could form into a career to quick and easy one-off opportunities to make an extra bit of cash, we’ll help you find new ways to fund the festivities and make Christmas that bit more special this year
Get rid of last year’s secret Santa gifts
When it comes to earning a few extra quid ahead of this Christmas, the easiest place to start is in your own home – looking through those boxes in the attic and crawling under your children’s beds to discover those old, unopened and unused Christmas presents and furnishings continuing to collect dust in hidden away places. It’s important to remember that what you consider to be junk may indeed be thought of as treasure to someone else.
As such, in any spare moment of time you have, be sure to clear out your space and abolish sentimental thoughts when deciding what to rehome. Using sites like Gumtree and eBay will allow you to quickly and easily list your items, attracting users from all over the country to invest their money in your unwanted items as you spend your pennies on new alternatives!
Rent out your car parking space
If you’re fortunate enough to have a spare car parking space in your garage or on your drive – or perhaps you aren’t using one of yours during typical working hours – then renting out your space to people who might be currently paying a high price to park their car at work (or spending money on public transport) might be a perfect option for you. What’s more, you don’t even have to do anything!
Whether you live close to the city centre or are situated next to a large business or corporation, you might not appreciate how valuable your space could be to someone else. As a result, try and use sites such as Your Parking Space, where you can list your parking space and rent it out on a monthly basis (or even hourly) basis.
Become a mystery shopper
Simply put, mystery shopping is where you are paid for checking a retailer or restaurant’s customer service. While technically not something you can do from home, becoming a mystery shopper can be done alongside your other errands and can even involve you taking your kids with you!
Not only will you receive some money for providing your feedback on the experience you had, but you will also receive your meal or shopping paid for – allowing you to stock up on a few extra brussel sprouts for Christmas dinner this year.
Try online forex trading
Generally understood as the world’s most liquid market, the forex market is incredibly accessible and can now be traded in 24 hours a day, 5 days a week – all you need is a suitable internet connection. As such, this is an incredibly desirable option and adaptable to the hectic nature of a stay at home parent’s lifestyle.
So, as soon as you’ve spent some time learning all about the forex market by trialing demo accounts and expanding your forex knowledge, you’ll stand a chance of securing yourself a pleasant source of additional income to help you afford the large turkey at the butchers.
As we’re sure you’ll be able to see from the above, there are plenty of opportunities out there that almost any stay at home parent could pursue ahead of the festivities in order to earn a little extra cash this Christmas. By being smart, doing your research and investing a few hours from your undoubtedly busy day into one of the above, you can earn some money to make this Christmas that little bit more special.
Author bio: John James is a content writer for Learn To Trade, the foreign exchange education and learning specialists – offering a range of training courses to help people understand the currency trading market, as well as its opportunities and risks.
