As the proud driver of a two-door Fiat and the renter of a tiny apartment, I know firsthand we can't all drive for Uber and rent our places out on Airbnb to make some extra cash.
As the holidays approach (as well as the bills that come with them), many of us find ourselves thinking about different ways to earn some side cash.
I mean, how are we going to afford all those presents without it?
If you're wondering how it's going to all come together, here are a six ideas for getting your side hustle on:
1. Sell your old clothes to someone who will actually wear them.
Sites like Tradesy and ThredUp allow you to sell your old clothes, shoes and bags for money. They take the consignment shop concept to another level and actually make it worth your time.
All you have to do is make an account, take photos of your clothes and post them up.
If you have nicer clothes in good condition, you can make quite the pretty penny, perhaps even enough to cover those holiday expenses.
Some of these sites even cover shipping, so you don't have to stress about the details.
2. Pretend you're a coupon queen.
If you're not using Honey yet, you're literally missing out on free money.
You can install Honey right into your browser, and it will automatically find coupon codes for things you're buying while you're shopping.
As you're going through the online checkout on any website, the coupons will come up, and it'll save you money right there without you having to do any of the coupon-searching work.
It sort of feels like you're beating the system. Pretty soon, you'll forget how you ever lived without it.
3. Be a brand ambassador on Instagram.
I recently discovered Heartbeat, a company that pays women for posting about brands and products they love on their social media accounts.
You know how Kylie Jenner posts about products like FitTea? Well, now you can do that, even if you only have 300 Instagram followers instead of 300,000.
Heartbeat rewards its ambassadors (they call them BAEs: Brand Ambassadors Extraordinaire) with either cash or products, and it can be a really fun way to use social media for good.
4. Get paid to work out with your friends.
Gym enthusiasts, rejoice! Did you know you can get paid for working out?
Apps like HealthyWage and DietBet actually pay you to set and keep goals for exercising. Keeping them is the challenge, of course.
Studies have shown incentivizing people with money can actually help them achieve their fitness goals, so if you're looking to make some cash and keep the holiday sweets in check, this might be the way to go.
5. Be a professional part-timer.
Fiverr pays you $5 to accomplish small tasks.
It's mostly work other people don't want to do like data entry (boring), but those small projects can really add up.
You're technically benefiting from other people's laziness, so grab those odd jobs and bring in the extra cash.
6. Be a mystery shopper.
Yes, this really exists.
You can sign up with Marketforce or Best Mark to become a registered mystery shopper.
Stores and brands want to know what the consumer experience is really like, and luckily enough, you're a consumer.
All you have to do is visit retail stores and give details about what happened, how the store representatives treated you and what the customer service and satisfaction was like.
It turns out there are plenty of simple ways to make money on the side, and you don't have to rearrange your entire life to make it happen.
These easy things to do will have you making so much extra cash on the side that you may not even have to spend your paycheck on gifts this year.
