They are leveraging share economy platforms to make a little pocket money and ease the financial stress of the silly season.

For many peer-to-peer platforms, demand increases over the holiday period.

While car share company DriveMyCar averaged about 50 per cent utilisation of vehicles throughout the year, between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day this jumped to 92 per cent in Perth, 86 per cent in Brisbane, 80 per cent in each Sydney and Adelaide, and 73 per cent in Melbourne.

DriveMyCar chief executive Chris Noone said people listing their car in December enjoyed a slight price increase in response to demand – but prices still remained lower than traditional car hire.

He said the company also tended to see an increase in car listings after the Christmas period as people re-evaluated their finances for the New Year.

“People have a bit of time off work and they are thinking about how they are going to make money and about how much money they spent on Christmas and are looking at ways to get their assets working for them,” he said.

Kara Dennis, from Manly, NSW, used DriveMyCar and made about $600 a month.

“The money I earn through renting my car not only covers some of the cost of the car lease but it also provides me with extra money to live on and at this time of year it’s especially handy to put towards Christmas presents,” she said.

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Ms Dennis, who works in financial services, bought her car to drive to work in Neutral Bay but found less need for it when she switched to a job in Sydney CBD and began catching the ferry.

“I also stopped using it as much on the weekend as I had started using Uber a lot more,” she said.

“I had a lease on my car and it was simply sitting unused, and felt like a waste.”

Natalie and Dominic Dirupo listed their two Melbourne properties on Airbnb for the Christmas period with plans to use the extra money to fund their own celebrations.

“We go away to see family at Christmas time so we rent both places out and that pays for our flights,” she said.

“My husband’s parents are in Europe and my parents are in Queensland so we do two big trips each year.

“It also gives other people the opportunity to stay in our places and it’s a lot more affordable than staying in a hotel. They are able to visit their family in Melbourne so it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Uber was another platform in demand over the holiday season.

A spokeswoman said they expected this Christmas and New Year to be the busiest period yet for both ride sharing app Uber and food delivery service UberEats.

Nicolas Canon, a marketing and business student from Colombia who has been living in Brisbane since April, spent seven to eight hours a day delivering for UberEats.

He worked every day except Tuesdays and earned $700 to $800 a week.

“That is good money if we keep in mind the kind of job,” he said.

“Holidays means more free time and in this period of the year the amount of UberEats orders increases, so it is perfect if I want to earn extra money.

“I’ve been saving so I’m going to Sydney for the New Year.”

Peer-to-peer courier service Go People had its peak season in the lead up to Christmas.

More than 30,000 deliveries had already been made this December across Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth and another 1000 were expected over the Christmas and New Year period.

Hamed Mehrzadeh, an IT student from Iran studying in Sydney, made about $1100 a week delivering for Go People.

He worked 10am to 6pm most days.

Although he planned to work over the holidays he wasn’t going to increase his hours, instead opting to enjoy his time without university.

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