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9 Christmas cash crackers: how to make possibly £1,000+ of easy cash in time for the big day

£175+ bank switch cash, £115 supermarket vouchers, £26 cashback bonus & more...

If we're not careful, the high-spend festive season can leave us with a serious financial hangover come January. Moderation helps, but for those who want to indulge a little we've put together nine quick ways to get legit free cash (or vouchers) to help with the cost.

Some are small, some larger, some easy, some more complicated - but there should be something for everyone. And for each, we've put when you can expect the cash - all of these pay in full or in part before the big day...

1. New. Free £30 when you spend £5+. Newbies to HSBC-owned Zing* can get a £30 welcome bonus when signing up via our link and spending £5+ using the physical or virtual card before Thu 21 Nov.
   
   Zing is a prepaid travel card, meaning you can load it up in pounds, then convert in advance to one of more than 20 currencies (or just leave money in pounds and it'll do the conversion when you spend).
   
   Yet the £5+ you need to spend to trigger the free £30 can be in any currency, including pounds, so you can just use the card in the UK if you're not going overseas. Full info in Prepaid travel cards.
   
   How long till you get the cash? The free £30 should be loaded on to the card within 30 days of you making the £5+ spend.
   
   
2. Get £100s (or even £1,000s) back on Christmas (and other) shopping, plus an extra £26 when spending £5+. Cashback sites make their money through affiliate links, which allow the retailer to track where the traffic is coming from and then pay the cashback sites for the lead. To get you to use them, they offer you a cut of the money they make (this is similar to the way MSE is financed - though for us it pays for the site and NEVER affects what we write or include).
   
   So if there's something you want to buy, and you've checked where it's cheapest, see whether you can buy it via a top cashback site. Many MoneySavers have made £100s and even £1,000s using them tactically to purchase items they'd have bought anyway.
   
   New. Grab an extra £26 when spending £5+ online, with 15,000 available. If you're new to top-pick site Topcashback, we've blagged this special offer - full info on how to get it in Topcashback boost.
   
   How long till you get the cash? It can take anything from a couple of weeks to a few months for sites to pay out, depending on where you spend (Topcashback gives you an expected time for each retailer), so some purchases won't fill your Christmas coffers. And do keep in mind that cashback's not guaranteed and it's best not to consider it yours until it's in your bank account.
   
   
3. New. FREE £180 just for switching account, but it mightn't be around long (luckily there are three others). NatWest Reward's free £180* is the latest to join the bank switching fray, meaning there are now four big upfront switch-bonus payers. This is especially useful to regular switchers as you usually need to be a new customer and not have had a switch bonus from them before to qualify.
   
   All pay out well before Christmas (provided you get your skates on to meet the switch criteria). For full info on eligibility, see Best bank accounts, but we've a brief overview here to help you decide...
   
   

   CURRENT FREE BANK-SWITCH BONUSES
   ACCOUNT Min pay-in (1)	PERKS & OUR THOUGHTS	PAYOUT TIME (2)
   Club Lloyds Min pay-in: £2,000/mth (£3/mth fee otherwise)	FREE £200 so largest upfront cash, perks too, but hefty monthly pay-in. Perks include 12mths' Disney+ (with ads) & a linked 6.25% saver you can put £400/mth in (max it out for £150 total interest). See full Club Lloyds review.	Early Nov
   NatWest Reward* Min pay-in: £1,250/mth	FREE £180 upfront, plus £3/mth cashback (so £216 over the first year). You also get access to a saver you can put up to £150/mth in - it pays 6.17% on up to £5,000 (pay in the max for a year for £60 interest). See full NatWest Reward review.	Early Nov
   First Direct 1st Account* Min pay-in: None (£1,000 initial deposit for free cash)	FREE £175 upfront, top service, top-rate linked savings & cheap spending abroad. 91% rate it 'great' for service - and it's come top or near top of every poll we've done. It also gives many a £250 0% overdraft, plus all can access a 7% linked saver you can put up to £300/mth in (max it out for £136.50 total interest). Plus, its debit card gives you near-perfect exchange rates abroad. See full First Direct review.	Mid Nov
   Nationwide FlexDirect Min pay-in: None (£1,000 initial deposit for free cash)	FREE £175 upfront plus 1% spending cashback (max £5/mth) for 12mths. Plus 5% on up to £1,500, also for 12mths. See full Nationwide review.	Early Nov
   (1) You need this much going into the account to get all the perks fee-free. (2) Rough date cash received if you start the switch today (Tue) and meet all the criteria.

   
   
4. Get another £180 cashback on top of your bank switch bribe. The Chase current account* is a different beast from those above, and you can combine them. That's because it's an app-based bank you can just open (you DON'T need to switch to it), and there's no hard credit check (just an ID check).
   
   Spend on its debit card and you'll get at least a year's 1% cashback on all normal daily debit-card spending up to £15/mth (it generally excludes bills, investments and major purchases, such as cars). If you hit the max, which many who put all family spending on it do, you'd make a further £180 a year.
   
   This is stupidly easy to do. Just use the other, switch-bribe-paying accounts to pay your salary into and pay bills from, then fund Chase and use its debit card to spend on. It's also the top card for spending abroad, as it pays cashback on overseas spending too. Plus you get an OK 3.75% interest on its linked easy-access saver (though other top savings beat it).
   
   How long till you get the cash? Cashback's paid a couple of days after each qualifying spend you make (max £15/mth).
   
   
5. Get a cheque for up to £1,006 when you claim the Marriage Tax Allowance. Claiming tax allowances isn't traditional Christmas fare, but it is a quick way for two million eligible couples not currently claiming to get an up to £1,260 tax refund - for many this will include a cheque for over £1,000. To get it, you need to first be married or in a civil partnership. Then:
   
   - One needs to be a NON-taxpayer (earning under £12,570/yr)
   - The other needs to pay 20% basic-rate tax (earning £12,570 to £50,270/yr; applies to earnings of £12,570 to £43,662 in Scotland)
   
   If eligible, the non-taxpayer can transfer 10% of the amount they can earn tax-free each year to the taxpayer, so they pay less tax. Better still, this can be backdated for up to four years if you were eligible then. Full help, pros and cons in claim £1,260 of Marriage Tax Allowance.
   
   When will you get the cash? For this year's allowance, worth £252, the taxpayer's tax code is changed, so they pay less tax during the year. However, if you're eligible for backdating, worth up to £1,006, that's paid as a cheque or bank transfer taking around six weeks, so you could have it by early December.
   
   
6. Boost Christmas supermarket spend coffers by up to 5%. Supermarkets' Christmas saving schemes encourage year-long saving, yet a loophole lets you get a year's bonus within a few weeks. Deadlines for the Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons schemes approach.
   
   When will you get the boost? Depends on the scheme. Some pay within 24 hours, others pay on a set date - but all pay well before the big day. Check your supermarket's payout date.
   
   
7. Spending around £1,000 a month? Easy way to bag a £115 voucher for Amazon, Sainsbury's & more. There's a way some bigger spenders can take advantage of this high-spend time of year. Newbies accepted for an Amex Gold* credit card (check acceptance odds) who spend £3,000 on it within the first three months then get enough bonus reward points for a £115 voucher at top high-street and online retailers including Amazon, Sainsbury's, M&S & more. You can also get two £5 Deliveroo cashbacks a month (worth up to £120/yr).
   
   That's a huge return on the spending, at no cost. Of course, as always, only do this if you'll clear the card IN FULL each month to avoid the 30.7% rep APR interest. Do note a £195/yr fee starts after you've had the card a year, so cancel before then if you want to avoid it. Full help and more options in Top reward cards.
   
   When will you get the points? They usually come within a couple of days of spending £3,000 (though it can take up to a month), so it depends how quickly you hit that.
   
   
8. Walk around your home and ask 'What haven't I used in the last year?' You could be sitting on stock worth £100s. Why keep it if you're not using it? Find the items you've not used in a year, and then consider flogging them. For help on how to do that, see our how to sell on eBay, how to sell on Vinted and how to sell on Facebook tips. Or if you feel up to braving a cold morning in a field, you could head to a car boot sale and sell your stuff on the spot for cash-in-hand.
   
   When will you get the cash? For eBay and Vinted, within a few days (though some stuff will take a while to sell). For Facebook and car boots, you usually swap the item for cash in person.
   
   
9. Earn a free £30 to spend at Amazon doing quick online activities. Every little helps, and if you're new to paid survey site Swagbucks, you can get a bonus £20 Amazon voucher once you've earned £10 from answering surveys, watching videos or playing games - which you must do within 30 days of signing up.
   
   When will you get the voucher? Within 10 days of earning the £10, so if you start now, by the end of November at the latest.

PS: Do you really need extra cash for Christmas? The simple way to 'earn' cash is not to spend it in the first place. 
Now's the time to discuss with friends & family about BANNING unnecessary Christmas presents. Could you release each other from the obligation of buying, or do a secret Santa, or just donate to charity? Read the full theory in Martin's Ban unnecessary Christmas gifts blog, which contains his viral video on this.