There’s only a few areas of my life that I have together…and none of them come to mind right now. So if you don’t have any money saved up for Christmas yet, don’t worry. It’s going to be ok.
You have most of November and December to save as much from your normal income as possible. When you make up your budget for these months, funnel as much cash to Christmas as you can.
If you’re like us….that won’t be enough. How much cash do you need? If you missed my post yesterday, there was a video to help you figure out how much cash you actually need. Do that first and you’ll have a concrete goal.
Let’s pretend you need $600, and subtract the amount of money you can save from November and December’s income. Just for an example, it’s $200. That leaves us with $400 left to get.
Ideas to generate cash:
1. Donate Plasma: Most clinics pay $20 for the first visit and $40 for the second in the same week, for a monthly income of $240. Do that two months and you’d have $80 extra :). (Health restrictions apply.) And a bonus….it saves lives.
2. Emergency clean houses: Going rate $1o-15 an hour. Work 26-40 hours doing this over the next 2 months and voila.
3. Cook two meals when you are cooking for your family and offer a delivery service for working Moms. Going rate: $20-30 for the meal (of course this all depends on the number of servings and the cost of ingredients.) Net profit about $15. 26 meals over 2 months and you’re done 🙂
4. Sell some stuff on Craigslist, Fabric destashers, or consignment stores.
5. Combine ideas. You don’t have to work 40 hours cleaning, what if you only worked 10, sold some stuff, and donated a little plasma? Figure out what works into your schedule.
When offering services on Facebook, be specific about what you are offering and what your terms are: “I’m cleaning houses to help busy families get ready for their holiday gatherings. I charge $10 an hour and can clean an average house in 4 hours. Send me a message and we’ll schedule it.” That makes others feel more comfortable to hire you than if you say, “I’m willing to work and need cash if anyone has anything that needs done.”
When you need cash fast, how do you earn it? I’m always looking for new ideas 🙂
Housecleaning pays more like $20-$25 minimum and I have paid more than that. It’s hard work so don’t under pay yourself 🙂
Joanna, That’s awesome! Thanks for the tip.
Just today I made $53 for my clothes at Plato’s Closet and Clothes Mentor. My goal was $60 😉 Also, they gave me A LOT of my stuff back – things I was ready to part with – but this time since I knew I needed the money and I was really also trying to purge, I pulled items that I still like and are still like-new but the reality is, I’ve looked at those pieces and haven’t chosen them recently so the likelihood that I will wear them is not great. I decided to try to get money for them now before they’re even more out of style 😉
I also just got a postcard in the mail for my neighborhood plasma donation center and was going to hit them up (You get an extra $5 if you bring the flyer in!) this week except I wasn’t feeling well. But next week I’m there!!
Lastly, I too think your cleaning rate could be bumped up. I found a gal at my church one time when I needed her and when I offered $20 she was ecstatic. She was hoping for $15. Anyway, $10 is too low in my opinion. Hopefully people can make more than that and if people are hiring the service are also willing to a pay a little more.
As usual, thanks for all your great tips!!
Here’s to a fabulous holiday season!
Awesome for you being able to make so much on your clothes! I’m excited to know you can make more cleaning. I usually hire teenagers for the $10 rate, but they aren’t as skilled/experienced as I’m sure our readers are.
Oh! And look to see if your neighborhood/area has a Facebook page for online sales. I’m in a few different groups and in preparation for a cross-country move have been doing A LOT of purging. I sell what I can and what doesn’t go after a couple weeks, I donate.