Women often feel pressured to create the perfect holiday season with decorations, food, and gifts, leaving them with a stack of bills to start the new year. In fact, women were more likely than men — 43% compared to 39% — to say they don’t make enough money to lower their debt, according to a GOBankingRates National Debt Relief survey conducted earlier this year.
Long-term strategies like passing laws to strengthen equal pay protections and enforcement mechanisms take time to close the gender pay gap. However, in the short term, women can create passive income streams to make money during the holidays and cover those extra expenses without taking on debt.
1. Sell Printables On Etsy
Create and sell digital printables, such as planners, wall art, cards, or seasonal items. “Once created and uploaded, these can generate passive income as customers purchase and download them on their own — with little to no work done on your end besides creating and uploading,” said Emily Luk, CEO and co-founder of Plenty, a wealth-building platform that helps couples invest and plan for their future together.
2. Launch a Course on Kajabi
Kajabi is a platform that provides marketing, selling, and digital production tools to help people create and manage online businesses. For example, you can create online courses, coaching programs, and membership sites. Kajabi helps users market their services, build a website, create landing pages and social media, and process payments.
“If you have expertise in a specific area, like cooking, finance and budgeting, or a technological skill, you can create a course to share your expertise,” Luk said. “You can generate revenue and passive income as users sign up for your courses.”
3. Leverage Your Current Space
Sign up for platforms like Peerspace and Neighbor, especially if you don’t decorate your home for the holidays. Sometimes called the “Airbnb of the events world,” Peerspace is an online marketplace that pairs people and businesses with unique spaces to host events. Neighbor is a Utah-based company that connects people with unused space to those looking for storage.
“Peerspace allows you to rent out spaces like your backyard or home by the hour for other people to host gatherings, photo shoots, or other activities,” said Dylan Jarhaus, an Etsy retailer who coaches others to sell on Etsy.
“Imagine going to work, having someone rent your home for a video shoot while you’re at the office and then coming home eight hours later to an empty house and an extra $800 in your pocket.”
In addition, Neighbor allows homeowners to rent storage spaces such as a shed, garage, or driveway. “Again, this leverages your resources and brings in passive income,” Jarhaus said. “Leveraging your current space allows you to make use of the space you already have and are already paying for. It’s similar to house hacking, but you don’t have someone living with you.”
4. Cancel Unnecessary Subscriptions
Canceling unnecessary or unused subscriptions is not necessarily an income stream. However, subscriptions can add up. “Ask yourself if you really need those streaming services, subscription apps, or memberships you don’t use,” Jarhaus said. “If it’s not something that helps you save time or make money, I recommend canceling it. This alone can save you hundreds of dollars per month, which is immediate cash back in your pocket.”
Finally, Jarhaus said, while cultivating passive income streams takes time, it can help women achieve financial freedom throughout the year. “It takes patience and consistency, and don’t jump from one passive income idea to another,” Jarhaus said. “In 2025, it’s not having the best ‘job’ that will make you wealthy. It’s being the most strategic with your time and resources to create multiple streams of income that will build stability, security, and options in your life.”
Source: GOBankingRates
