Saving Money Vs Earning More

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  • #3740

    I love saving money. I’m the one who handles the majority of the finances in our household, and I love seeing how much money we’re spending each month and trying to find ways to cut unnecessary expenses. A lot of people probably do this. They look at their budget and they try to find ways to reduce the money that’s going out. But how about the money that’s coming in? Isn’t that something we ought to focus on too?

    When we think about budgets and finances, or at least when I typically do, I focus on ways to lower my expenses so that I’m able to save more and pay off any outstanding debt. But in addition to cutting expenses, we ought to also be focusing on ways to increase our income. Sometimes, as much as we try to cut out expenses, our main issue is an income issue, and what we really need to do is find was to make more money. Sometimes that requires a total career change, sometimes that requires an additional part-time job, and other times a little extra income can be earned through some freelance work and/or side gigs.

    As a blogger and online influencer, I’ve been super fortunate to earn extra income in addition to my full-time job for the past two years or so, and it’s definitely helped my husband and I with our financial plan. Sure, it’s more work. Sure, there are times when all I want to do is relax on the couch, but instead, I hustle, and it’s paid off. So I’m curious…have any of you been in a similar position where you’ve picked up some additional work to help out your budget? If so, what have you done to increase your income?

    #3747

    This is such a great topic, Kayla! I am just now starting to think about ways to do this. Years ago, I would sometimes do side writing projects in addition to my full time job. My last project like that was creating all the copy for a friend’s website. It was a pretty big site that they were revamping, and the writing took a lot of time, but hey, that’s why we can charge more, right? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I am wondering now how to pick up more of this kind of work – to make it more of a regular thing instead of just a one-off favor for friends, the way it was for me in the past. I’m not a big networking or self-promoting type of person, so finding new gigs is my main challenge…

    #3754

    Another great topic! A few thoughts come to mind:

    1. Lisa, Kayla – have you guys looked at websites that connect creative freelancers with clients? Fiverr and 99Designs are a popular ones, but I know there are others. You sign up with the site to be a service provider; clients come to the website and choose from the provider list who they want to do their project. The idea is to take the marketing/networking/billing part of the job off your plate, so you can focus on just doing the work. It gets you in front of many more potential clients than you might meet on your own.

    2. When it comes to saving more, SUM180 has found that having a specific savings goal in mind can really help. It’s a very motivating first step – when you know how much you need to save, it can really kickstart your thinking and spark creative ideas about how to get there. I think it also helps focus your thinking.

    One example – side gigs are great, but what about cost-sharing, too? Under the “cost sharing” umbrella alone, there may be dozens of ways to “share” the cost of expenses we currently cover alone. One example: subscriptions and memberships sometimes allow family sharing plans. If you split the cost with someone else who had individual subscriptions, your savings can add up. I can see this as a good way to build $500 in savings or so, over a few months.

    If my savings goal were bigger – say $10,000 or more – I’d probably think seriously about a housemate. Cutting my rent in half would move me towards my goal faster than smaller cost cutting measures would, for sure!

    Just some thoughts. ๐Ÿ™‚

    #3775

    Income is my number one problem. I can save and save and save but I took a pay cut and itโ€™s starting to hurt. So while looking for a new full time job Iโ€™ve gotten a holiday job, I manage social media for clients and I pick up income blogging. Anything to hustle and make sure I can live lol

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