Easy ways to raise holiday cash fast

NEW YORK (WABC) -- You can make virtual money work for you by barely lifting a finger. You can connect right from your phone to people interested in renting everything from your bowling ball to your boat.

Chances are you've got something in your garage that a neighbor is willing to pay you for; not to buy, but to rent.

"You don't have to part ways and this way you can make a few extra bucks for the holidays," said Farnoosh Torabi, nerdwallet.com's financial guru.

Torabi says cash can come fast by loaning out your idle stuff, like strollers, bicycles, power tools, and trailer hitches.

Even that Harley your wife hardly wants you to ride anymore can make you money.

"So spinlister allows you rent your bike by the hour or by the day to people in your neighborhood," says Torabi.

Spinlister.com hooks up surfers, skaters with your boards, blades, and bikes. Listings are free, and items are protected against loss or damage, but you'll fork over 17.5% of the rental price to the site.

You can name your price to rent power tools out too.

Sites like loanables.com and Zilok.com let you loan or borrow snowblowers, lawnmowers or even rent video games, kitchen tools, party toys and apparel.

Torabi says the price it right though. Loanable lister pays 10%, and Zilok requires a commission based on what you make.

If you choose to sell your stuff instead, a new free app on the market is LetGo. It's like Pinterest meets CraigsList where user post pics and sell items. You can also clean out your closet, selling clothes and shoes on consignment through the site Threadflip.

"From your garage and your basement and kids rooms that's outgrown," Torabi said.

And even though Rich LaTerra says he hasn't outgrown his Harley, "I would rent this out, yes," he said.

He could rent the bike or one of the quads by the hour, the day, or the week. Peer to Peer vehicle sharing sites like Turo and Getaround, connect car owners with travelers or neighbors looking for wheels to borrow and the sites even offer insurance.

"Most of the day your car is sitting idle, so why not make some money," Torabi said.

When renting or sharing your car, most people worry about insurance. The site Getaround offers $1 million in coverage, backed by Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway, but you definitely want to check your policies before you hand your keys off. If it works, you could potentially cover all the costs of owning a car.