Half of people in Shropshire are moonlighting to fund festivities

With turkey, presents and parties to pay for, Christmas can be an expensive time of year for families.

But a survey by Freelancer.co.uk found that 47 per cent of the 350 respondents in the county earned extra money by freelancing or taking on part-time jobs to pay for the festive excesses.

The survey found more people are now working from home for employers across UK and even the world by finding part-time jobs on freelancing websites.

Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.co.uk, the world's largest online jobs site, said people were keen to avoid getting into debt.

He said: "It's the time of year when people get into unsustainable debt. Yet it seems lessons have been learnt and people want to avoid getting into debt this festive season, yet they don't want to spend less. Our survey has found that more people have earned extra money by moonlighting in their spare time from their homes.

"More of them are finding work via the internet, work they can do for a couple of hours a night. As Christmas approaches even more people are going online to find extra work and even more jobs are available as businesses try to take advantage of the extra spending this festive season."

The survey covered 2,000 people in the UK with the national results showing 56 per cent of respondents earned extra cash moonlighting.

Shropshire-born Bill Little, Europe director of Freelancer.co.uk, said: "People living in Shropshire have taken the lead in reducing their Christmas debt."

Figures show a 64 per cent rise in earnings from people using the site in the last two months of 2012.