Christmas is less than one month away, and we all know this is an expensive time of year. You could apply for a personal loan, or try to make more money to cover the extra expenses.

While we have already gone over a few ways to make extra money during the holidays, I’d like to talk specifically about Christmas today, and how you can make more money at your normal job.

Deserve a Christmas bonus

Most of my old companies used to give out bonuses for Christmas. Usually, it was about a month’s pay. Safe for the last company, that was stupid enough to give the same bonus to everyone, from the secretary to the manager, a fabulous incentive not to push yourself harder at all, most companies will give you a bonus based on how well you have worked during the past year. So be the best worker you can. Unless you work for a company that will reward bad employees the same, that is.

I often see lists of jobs people think deserve a Christmas tip. In my family, my mum used to tip the mailman, the firefighters, and the building’s janitor. Our teachers and piano or tennis professors didn’t get anything, but I see some family will tip you for Christmas. While it is not to be expected, being the best worker you can never hurts, and if you feel you are being paid too little, January is a great period to raise your rates.

Prepare your raise

Speaking of which, December is also time for performance reviews. Make a list of all the things you have done at your job, that were going beyond your job description. If you are in sales, it is easier to see the direct economic benefit of your presence on the company. If you work an entry level job, you can ask your coworkers what problems they would like fixed and try to fix that for them. Help them save time and effort in doing their job, and you will be everyone’s hero.

You should have clear arguments about your raise, why you think you deserve it and how much you think you deserve. It doesn’t mean you will get it, but it never hurts to try.

Work more

I am not a big fan of Christmas, so I never mind working during those days. Most people have families and do mind working. That is the perfect time to log in some extra hours, and get super grateful colleagues, plus extra pay on bank holidays. You can get more days off at other times (and make an extended holiday out of it, or have dibs on other bank holidays), or make more money.

Working more can mean doing what you usually do for more hours, or become part of the Christmas staff, which is like taking a second job for a few weeks. Except that job is held at the same place your work at, so you don’t have to commute more or fill some paperwork.

I was working at a sport shop while in college, and Christmas was the sales season. While I worked the cash registry most of the time, during the Christmas sales, I was hired extra to do inventories at night, and to restock the aisles at the end of the day. Since it was on top of my normal contract, I got 125% of my usual hourly rate. Had I gone to work for another company I wouldn’t have been able to get that rate, or to pick up a new shift right after my day one finished.

Sell stuff to your boss

For Christmas, your company is probably going to look for contractors and companies to buy some Christmas goodies, clean their gutters, shovel their snow… Over the years, my companies have bought Christmas cards with pictures of us on it, wine, Christmas baskets with gourmet foods, sweaters with company name and Christmas colors, the list goes on.

While you may not be an expert at arranging the perfect food basket, taking a picture of your coworkers and having 100 cards printed is pretty easy. Or vice versa.

Your baked and canned goods can fill the Christmas baskets, your church group can knit Christmas sweaters, you can shovel the snow one hour before work, etc.

At the end of the year, companies are often feeling generous, so you can get them to support your charity project as well, and offer to manage a small PR campaign for the world to know how good they have been.

How else can you leverage your day job around the holidays to make more?