Sep 10, 2026

5 Ways To Earn $1K in Passive Income Before the Holidays

Written by Marc Guberti
|
Edited by Zuri Anderson
5 Ways To Earn $1K in Passive Income Before the Holidays

Earning an extra $1,000 in passive income before the holidays can make it easier to give gifts without getting deep into debt. You can also rely on this income stream after the holidays and get closer to your long-term financial goals.

Very few income sources are truly passive, and most of them require some initial work to set up. However, these same options can be very rewarding once you have systems in place.

Learn More: 3 Passive Income Strategies To Build Monthly Cash Flow Anywhere

Try This: 8 Low-Effort Ways To Make Passive Income (You Can Start This Week)

An online course consists of several videos that focus on learning key skills. Platforms like Udemy and Skillshare let you create courses that are showcased to their large number of students. 

Putting your course on those platforms won’t be enough to get a steady stream of students. The most successful online course creators regularly promote their courses. That entails a lot of work, but this product allows you to make money while you sleep.

If you price a training course at $50, you only have to sell 20 of them each month to maintain $1,000. Most Udemy course sales come through discounts, so you may need more sales on that platform. Skillshare pays instructors based on how much engagement their courses generate. If you put your course on Teachable, you have more flexibility over pricing and when the course launches. Pricing your course at $100 means you only need to secure 10 sales to earn $1,000.

Sites like Airbnb and VRBO make it easy for you to rent your room and generate passive income. You will have to accommodate a stranger, and some people are eager for the opportunity to meet new people this way. 

One of the perks of renting your room is that you are generating passive income from your existing home that you can turn on or off at any time. For instance, you can mark your room as unavailable throughout the holidays or on days when you want some alone time.

The amount you earn each day will depend on your location, amenities, the size of the room, and other factors. However, you may have to rent it out for most of the month to earn $1,000.

You can also consider a long-term rental with someone you know to make that passive income source more predictable. Short-term rentals require more work since you have to attract customers and clean the room in between visits, but it can yield more income than a long-term rental.

If you have an extra vehicle in your driveway, you can rent it out on a platform like Turo. Some people need temporary car rentals when they are on vacation. Some Uber drivers will rent a vehicle on Turo to service passengers, but this practice is banned in some states, and not all Turo hosts permit this for their vehicles. 

Drivers may also use Turo to rent a vehicle for delivery work, like DoorDash or Uber Eats. The amount you earn depends on the vehicle and how long you rent it out. Luxury cars can command thousands of dollars per month, but an economic car can get a few hundred dollars per month if you rent it out. 

You can use the Turo Calculator to see how much you can earn with a specific model.

A newsletter involves emailing your audience about a specific topic at a regular cadence, and if you get enough paying subscribers, you can build up to a consistent $1,000 or more in passive income each month. A newsletter is an ideal setup since it offers recurring revenue, and you don’t have to work many extra hours regardless of whether you are earning $1,000 per month or $10,000 per month.

However, it takes a while to build a newsletter and attract an audience. That part can take several months, but it can work well with a training course. If you have a paid subscription for $5 per month, you need 200 paying subscribers to earn $1,000 per month. 

This option has the highest ceiling and can enable other passive income sources, but it takes a while to get it right. Beehiiv and Substack are two popular platforms for starting and building a newsletter.

REITs are real estate investment trusts that give you exposure to various real estate holdings. You don’t have to worry about maintaining properties, repairs or any of the complexities involved with real estate. 

These assets work like dividend stocks. You buy shares in a REIT and generate passive income. These funds have higher yields than most dividend stocks, but the distributions are treated as ordinary income instead of long-term capital gains.

Some mutual funds and ETFs offer exposure to a collection of REITs to make it easier to diversify your capital. If you average a 5% yield across REITs, you will need $240,000 in those REITs to earn $1,000 per month.

It’s pure passive income, but the main downside is how much capital you need to make it work. The other strategies don’t require much capital but involve considerable time to set up.

This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.

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Written by
Marc Guberti
Edited by
Zuri Anderson