By now you’ve probably had that “morning after feeling” for Christmas. Any Christmas spirit that may have lingered after the event has well and truly vanished now that most folks will have had their Christmas Credit Card Bombshells Bills through.

Hopefully you followed my advice to live according to your means, and the bombshell was more of a pleasant surprise instead. But sometimes, good intentions just aren’t enough.

Exploring the alternatives for making extra income can be an overwhelming process, especially if you don’t know where to start. Before taking on a second job just to cover a few days of silly spending, however, there are methods that you can employ to earn money from home on your own time. A creative approach to the solution of debt reduction may lead you to sell DVDs online, tap into your creative talents, or use your professional expertise outside of your full-time job. Here are some ideas you might not even have considered …

Write for money

If you possess an excellent command of the English language, you can use it to make you money. Writing for blogs is a great way to receive an extra pay packet, and it can often be done from home, which means that you won’t have to spend money on a commute, and you can make it fit with your current schedule. If you have a hobby or any personal interests, such as cars, fashion, or sports, try to find a web site or publication that will pay you for your expertise or opinion.

(And let’s be brutally honest – if I can manage it …)

Turn your hobby into a part-time business

If you are particularly skilled at an activity, such as baking, painting, doll-making or gardening, consider transforming your talent into extra income with a side business. You won’t need a fancy business plan or advertising; you can operate solely on the materials that you already have in your possession to get started and spread the word to friends and family who are willing to buy from you. Slowly gaining more income from your hobby is a low-cost, easy way to help pay off your financial obligations and a way to not only do what you enjoy doing, but get paid for it as well.

Sell your unwanted items

The Internet can be a useful tool in finding buyers for the belongings that you don’t want, don’t need, don’t have a use for anymore, or never wanted in the first place (unwanted Christmas presents included!). You can sell everything from clothing to exercise equipment on web sites like Gumtree or eBay. You can sell DVDs online along with CDs and video games without having to pay for the shipping or even leave your home through MusicMagpie, which is another useful site that can help you turn these items into cash.

Help others advance their careers

This is a good option for professional careerists who know what to do and what not to do to land a job. In the economic recovery, many people will be putting themselves on the job market for the first time in years, and you can offer your services as a resume editor and interview coach to put them on the path to employment. To set yourself apart from the competition and gain a wide client base, undercut the service of competitors by one or two per cent.

The key message is even in a downturn, certain areas of business will flourish.

Become a tutor

If you’ve yet to land that first post-graduate job, you can still use your know-how to make money from home. University students can offer to tutor their fellow scholars in a particular subject area. This kind of work is also flexible, which is a big plus for students searching for a way to make money around their class schedules. To make sure that your tutorials make a lasting impact, consider coming up with your own teaching materials for students who don’t learn well by the book.

With GCSE and A-Level students soon to be gearing up for exams again, now could be the time to find out if teaching one-to-one is something you find rewarding not just in a financial sense but also a psychological one.

(For most of these endeavors, a state-of-the-art computer is a great asset. Use this Lenovo promotional code and save money on technology!)