To help you with your Christmas coffers, Martin Lewis and the Money Saving Expert team have found a number of ways you can put as much as £1,000 into your pockets in time for the big day.
From switching bank accounts to supermarket vouches, cashback bonuses to unclaimed benefits, there are a number of ways you can earn some bonus Christmas cash.
The Money Saving Expert team explained: “If we’re not careful, the high-spend festive season can leave us with a serious financial hangover come January.
“Moderation helps, but for those who want to indulge a little we’ve put together nine quick ways to get legit free cash (or vouchers) to help with the cost.
“Some are small, some larger, some easy, some more complicated – but there should be something for everyone.
“And for each, we’ve put when you can expect the cash – all of these pay in full or in part before the big day.”
Here are some of Martin Lewis and the Money Saving Expert team’s top tips for earning some easy money ahead of Christmas.
Free £30 from Zing
Zing is a prepaid travel card, owned by HSBC. Newbies to the platform can get a welcome bonus of £30 when they sign up via a Money Saving Expert link and spend £5 on to the card before Thursday, November 21.
The free £30 will be loaded on to the card within 30 days.
Get cashback on Christmas shopping
The Money Saving Expert team explained: “Cashback sites make their money through affiliate links, which allow the retailer to track where the traffic is coming from and then pay the cashback sites for the lead. To get you to use them, they offer you a cut of the money they make.
“So, if there’s something you want to buy, and you’ve checked where it’s cheapest, see whether you can buy it via a top cashback site.”
Money for switching bank accounts
Banks sometimes offer bonuses to new customers who switch in an existing current account to a new current account with them.
Lloyds bank is currently offering £200, plus a choice of reward including 12 months’ Disney+ (with ads) membership for people who switch to their Club Lloyds account.
While NatWest will give you £180 plus a £3 a month cashback for switching to their NatWest Reward account.
Marriage Tax Allowance
Marriage Allowance saves couples money by allowing the lower or non-earner to reduce the amount of tax their partner pays.
Most people have a Personal Allowance, normally £12,570 – the amount of income they do not have to pay tax on.
Marriage Allowance lets the lower earner transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner.
This can reduce their tax by up to £252 annually. If eligible, couples can also backdate their claim for the previous 4 tax years and receive a lump-sum payment worth more than £1,000.
To benefit from the tax relief, one partner must have income less than £12,570 and the higher earning partner’s income must be between £12,571 and £50,270 (£43,662 in Scotland).
Sell what you don’t use
The Money Saving Expert team recommends looking round your house at all the things you don’t use and consider selling it.
They say you could be sitting on £100s and recommend looking at selling it on places like eBay, Vinted or Facebook Marketplace.
