I Need to Make Extra Money for Christmas. What Are My Real Options? (2026)
The short answer
You want money in hand by the 20th. Every ad on your phone says it is easy.
Your real options are a seasonal job, driving for an app, or selling what you own. Each one is a few weeks of work. None leaves you with customers of your own.
And the jobs are thin. By October 1, only two stores had given hiring numbers, says Challenger, Gray & Christmas: Spirit Halloween and Michaels.
Driving for an app needs a hard look too. In February, Walmart agreed to a $100 million judgment. The FTC and 11 states sued over its Spark Driver app. They say it showed drivers pay they did not always get. Walmart did not admit the charges.
A seasonal job ends with the season. The friends who trust you are still there in February.
What this guide answers
Who is actually hiring for Christmas this year?
Quick answer: by October 1, only two retailers had put a number on it, Challenger says. One of them sells Halloween costumes.
It is eleven at night. The kitchen is dark except the one light over the island. You have added up December twice.
The plane tickets. The gift list taped inside the pantry door. The bigger grocery run for the 24th. The tires you put on the card in September. December is spending you, not the other way around.
So you look at who is hiring. Challenger, Gray & Christmas tracks what employers announce. By October 1, it counted only two stores that had given hiring numbers. Spirit Halloween and Michaels, about 62,000 jobs between them.
Twenty minutes, and you decide nothing on the call
Working out what comes next? Book the twenty minutes. I will answer whatever you ask.
You can always say no.Last September, seasonal employers had announced 100,800 jobs, says the firm's October 1 report.
The same firm expects stores to add 450,000 jobs this quarter. Last year was 461,500, the smallest since 2008.
Then UPS spoke up. It plans 100,000 seasonal hires, down from 110,000, Quartz reported on October 7.
So the jobs are there, just fewer. Next, you look at the apps.
What does the FTC say Walmart's app left out?
Quick answer: by the FTC's account, sometimes the full tip. The complaint says Spark showed drivers pay and tips they did not always get.
You want money on your own hours, in your own car. Nothing wrong with wanting that. The trouble is the number on the screen.
Walmart runs a delivery app called Spark Driver. You pick up orders at a Walmart store and drive them to the door. Each offer shows the pay and the tip before you take it.
In February 2026, the FTC and 11 states sued Walmart over that number. The complaint says that since at least 2021, the screen and the pay did not always match.
It says Walmart split some orders between drivers, then split the tip. Each driver, it says, had been shown the full tip.
It says Walmart pulled orders out of a batch after a driver said yes. The pay and tips went with them, it says, often without a word to the driver.
It says Walmart told shoppers that 100% of tips go to drivers. In its words, "in numerous instances, Walmart charges Customers for tips that Drivers do not receive."
And it quotes a Spark manager on the tip splitting. The system, the manager said, was "working as designed."
Walmart agreed to a $100 million judgment to settle. The order says Walmart "neither admits nor denies" the charges.
None of that is about how hard a driver works. It is about who sets the number. You can ask about it before you start.
What are my real options before Christmas?
Quick answer: a store, an app, or your own closet. Each has one question to ask first.
A seasonal job
Apply this week, not in December. Before you say yes, ask if the job ever stays on after the holidays.
It can. Michaels said nearly half of last year's seasonal store roles became regular jobs, Challenger reported.
Driving for an app
Ask one thing first: can the pay drop after you accept? Under the Walmart order, Spark cannot cut an offer after a driver says yes. There are some exceptions. Ask any app the same. If it dodges, that is your answer.
Then take out gas, insurance and wear on your car. What is left is what the driving really pays.
Selling what you already own
The coat with the tags on, the bread machine in the hall closet, the second slow cooker, the boots from a trip you never took. Your stuff, your price.
Ask one thing first: would you buy it again today? If not, it goes.
The record, on one page.
| What you hear | What the record shows | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|
| Stores are hiring for Christmas | By October 1, two retailers had given hiring numbers, about 62,000 jobs. Last September the count was 100,800. | Challenger, Gray & Christmas, October 2026 |
| The offer shows what you will be paid | The complaint says Spark showed drivers tips and base pay they did not always get | FTC and 11 states v. Walmart, February 2026 |
| A $100 million settlement proves it | Walmart neither admitted nor denied the charges, and agreed to a $100 million judgment | Court order, March 2026 |
Nobody hands you that table in a job ad. So you close the laptop and look out at the yard. December is one question. February is the other.
Isn't this just another pitch?
Quick answer: partly, and here is the part I will not dress up.
If you need money in your hand by December 20, take the seasonal job. What I do is not a Christmas paycheck. I will not pretend it is.
And the order makes Walmart check, for ten years, that drivers get what the offer showed. That is a real change, and I will say so.
Switch to America sells straight from the manufacturer. No middlemen and no markup. No minimums, no maximums.
You pay what a brand new shopper pays. And there is no list of ten people you know. I do not teach that.
Walmart put a number on every offer. I will not put one in front of you, because nobody can promise you one.
What would I do first this week?
Quick answer: pick the date you need the money by. Then notice who already asks you what to buy.
Pick the date first
Write it on the calendar by the fridge. If it is December 20, the season is your answer. Go apply tomorrow.
Notice who already asks you
The friend you walk the tree rows with every December. She asks what you would do before she does it.
Nobody is asking you to sell to them. Just notice who already trusts you. In February, they are still there.
Shannon's Advice
Straight talk from ShannonI do not call them grocery stores. They are poison centers meant to do you and your family harm. It is not just the brands who are doing the harm, it is the stores themselves. They allow these toxic products on their shelves. People are sick and dying. This is a very serious matter. How can we ever trust them again?
We can't trust them. That is where Switch to America comes in. We are a new supply chain, built on family values, trust and affordability.
You do not have to take my word for it. The proof is in my blog posts, the recalls, the lawsuits and the fines. Also, inside my Switch Circle private community, we talk about real solutions.
Women come to me exhausted, in pain, stressed out, and on a list of prescriptions they never wanted. I have spent over 20 years helping women get off prescription medications. I help families reclaim their health.
We cannot stop them. I have stopped expecting to. However, we can stop walking into their stores. We are linking arms and together taking our control back. Control of our health and our finances.
Start by clicking the link below and booking the twenty minutes.
Where to check me
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas, October 1, 2026. Spirit Halloween and Michaels were the only retailers it counted with hiring numbers, a combined 62,000. Last September: 100,800. Plain translation: fewer doors open this fall.
- Challenger holiday outlook, September 23, 2026. A forecast of 450,000 retail jobs this quarter, below last year's 461,500, the smallest since 2008. Plain translation: a thin season.
- Quartz, October 7, 2026. UPS plans 100,000 seasonal hires, down from 110,000 in 2025. Plain translation: shippers are hiring less too.
- FTC and 11 states v. Walmart, complaint, February 26, 2026, Case 3:26-cv-01655, Northern District of California. It alleges Spark showed drivers tips and base pay they did not get, and charged shoppers for tips drivers never got. Allegations only. Plain translation: the number on the offer is the seller's number.
- Court order, entered March 3, 2026. A $100 million judgment, no cutting an offer after a driver accepts it, with some exceptions, and Walmart "neither admits nor denies" the allegations. Plain translation: Walmart agreed to a judgment and new rules without admitting the charges.
- Utah Division of Consumer Protection, February 26, 2026. Of the $100 million, $89 million is set aside to pay people back, and $11 million goes to the states. Plain translation: most of it is meant to go back.
Who do you become?
It is a Saturday in February. The frost is still on the field when you walk out to the back gate. Your coat is open, because the sun is already on the stone wall.
December is behind you. You asked if the pay could change before you said yes. And you are not adding anything up on this walk.
The friend from the tree farm still calls to ask what you would do. You become the one other women ask first, in February too.
Twenty minutes, on video, no slides
You ask, I answer, including the awkward ones. If it is not for you I would rather find out on the call.
You can always say no, and there is no follow up if you do.What else are women asking me about this?
What is the fastest way to make extra money before Christmas?
A seasonal job, or selling what you already own. Those two you control this month. Both are short, so plan for them to stop.
Is driving for an app worth it for Christmas money?
Only if the pay still works after gas, insurance and wear on your car. And ask first if the pay can drop after you accept.
Are stores still hiring for the holidays in 2026?
Yes, but fewer have said so. By October 1, Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted only two, Spirit Halloween and Michaels. Quartz reported on October 7 that UPS plans 100,000 seasonal hires.
Can I take a seasonal job and still start something?
Yes. They do not compete. The seasonal job covers December. What you start sits beside it.
Worth reading next
- What are the real extra income options?
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- How do you tell if an offer is real?
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