Christmas shopping is getting more and more expensive each year. With over 70% of Americans reported to be living paycheck to paycheck, where does the money come from for Christmas shopping? Here are 5 tips to getting some extra money for holiday shopping:

1 – Sell items on Ebay

Everyone is buying right now. Why not have them buy what you have for sale? All different types of items sell on ebay – the clothes your kids never even wore that still have the tags on them, DVD’s, collectible items sitting around just collecting, and any other “hot” items you may have lying around.

2 – Garage Sale

Do a little ‘Winter Cleaning” and make room for those Christmas decorations and presents. A Saturday morning garage sale can make you $50-$500, or more. One person's junk is another's treasure!

3 – Collect your Unclaimed Money

There is an estimated $25 billion dollars of unclaimed money in the U.S. On the Oprah Winfrey TV Show it was announced 8 out of 9 Americans have unclaimed money.This money comes from many places. For example it could be an old checking or savings account your forgot about, an inheritance, savings bonds, uncashed checks or money orders, the list goes on and on. This money is yours and just sitting there waiting for you to claim it. A simple search in a quality database that includes all states and federal unclaimed money could mean a check in your mailbox!