Yahoo Finance 7 Holiday Side Hustles to Pay off Your Mortgage
Any additional money you can pay on your mortgage helps you pay it off faster and saves you money on interest. If you owe $200,000, paying just one extra payment every year allows you to pay off the loan in 26 years, saving you thousands of dollars.
The simplest way to achieve this is to pick up seasonal work during the holidays, when many companies and individuals need an extra hand. Here are seven holiday side hustles that will allow you to make an extra payment before year's end.
[Read: You Finally Paid Off Your Mortgage. What Now?]
1. Start a Decorating Business
Are you particularly skilled at decorating for Christmas? If your decorations look more elegant than elementary, you can start a side business decorating for parties, companies and busy professionals who don't have time to deck out their own homes.
2. Retail Job
During the busy holiday season, businesses need additional people to cover the massive influx of shoppers. For example, Kohl's reportedly hired about 69,000 seasonal workers last year. An added perk is that most of these retailers offer a discount, so you can also save a little on your own Christmas shopping and put that money toward paying off your mortgage.
3. Airbnb Rentals
If you have an extra room or small garage apartment, you can rent out space for the holidays to another family. Many people love to escape for a few days during the holiday season or soon after. The kids are out of a school for a few weeks, and many industries can take some time off this time of year. If you have a home in a tourist area, such as near the beach, so much the better.
[Read: What You Should Know About Adjustable-Rate Mortgages.]
4. Uber or Lyft Driver
Another thing you can do for extra money to pay off your mortgage is to sign up to be an Uber or Lyft driver. You can choose to work when you want and take the fares you want. You'll be more likely to get steady fares if you live near a bigger city, but it's still a good way to make those extra funds without making a long-term commitment.
5. Sell Crafts
If you're good at artistic endeavors, you can start ahead of time and create a number of items to sell at local craft fairs and Christmas bazaars. You can create personalized signs for the front door, customize wooden trays and even make front door mats. What is something you'd enjoy putting in your own home? This is likely something others will enjoy as well.
6. Housesitting or Pet Sitting
In 2016, approximately 72 percent of Americans traveled between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, according to Orbitz.com, creating an opportunity for you to launch a housesitting and pet sitting service. Whether you simply check in a couple of times a day to make sure Fido has everything he needs, or you stay at the house to keep it occupied while the owners are away, it's an opportunity to make a few extra bucks. If you're housesitting, you could also do other work while there, like making crafts to sell at a bazaar.
7. Food Server
If you love people and have a cheerful demeanor, can pay attention to detail and don't mind working weekends, then working as a food server can bring in a bit of additional money. While most restaurants don't pay much per hour to their servers, the tips can more than make up for that. In more populous cities, servers have the opportunity to bring in more cash as well -- the top 10 percent of servers in Houston make as much as $62,000 per year, according to SimplyHired.com. A fraction of that income during the holiday season could make your extra mortgage payment and then some. Even better, most restaurants will work around your schedule for your day job and will likely appreciate your preference for evenings and weekends, as those are busier times.
[Read: Can You Actually Refinance Your Mortgage Too Often?]
These simple side hustles can help you come up with the extra money to make an additional mortgage payment this year. Who knows -- you just might enjoy making a dent in your mortgage so much that you keep the side hustle and pay your house off even faster.
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