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For many of us our income never seems to be enough and we constantly battle to find extra dollars to pay the regular bills. Not too mention trying to muster up enough cash to pay a little extra off the credit cards or even make extra payments on the home loan home.
If you want to earn more and the prospect of changing to a higher paid job is out of the question then you have two methods of increasing your income, legally of course.
The first requires that you give up your spare time (what’s left of it anyway) and consider the following:
1. Turn your hobby into cash – got a hobby like dressmaking, pottery, or painting? Then why not turn your creations into cash. Offer your services to your friends and family or chat to a stallholder at your local markets to see if they will sell your wares. Many people make a fairly decent income from their hobbies and find it relaxing at the same time.
2. Sell some of your unwanted things – this is a short term way to earn cash however if you have an extra TV, a set of sporting equipment or anything else you don’t use any more take them to your nearest second hand store and sell them.
3. Buy and selling things – use the old saying one persons trash is another persons treasure to your advantage. Scan the classifieds sections of newspapers or go to garage sales. If you are a bit creative or handy you might be able to restore or improve on what you buy and then re sell it.
4. Join a network marketing program – Amway, Network 21, Avon, Tupperware etc. There are plenty of these organisations around where you can make some really good money. The trick however is that you need to put in a real effort to make good money.
5. Do odd jobs – if kids can go house to house asking for odd jobs why cant you? There’s some easy cash to be made by doing odd jobs like babysitting, gardening or even pet sitting.
6. Get a weekend job - 28.5% of your earning potential is not being used! That is the amount of working time lost every week on the weekends. If your time and energy permits look for a weekend job.
7. Sell the kids!! – Got cute kids? Why not call up a few talent agencies and see if there are any opportunities to use your kids for advertising photo shoots or commercials. The money’s not bad and who knows what opportunities may open up for them as well.
One thing you need to know is that the Tax Office is not all that worried when you earn small amounts here and there however if you start earning thousands then you will need to declare it.
Now if you don’t have the time or are not interested in any of the above the second method requires you to change the way you handle your money.
Chances are by taking a good hard look at the way you spend it and by making a few cut backs you will be able increase the amount of money in your hand each month. Unfortunately, many of us don’t keep track of where we spend our money and before we know it we’re back at the bank or ATM withdrawing more cash.
When you stop and think about it there could be many areas where you might be wasting money and no matter how much extra money you earn you may still blow it simply because you are not in control of your spending.
First things first. If you don’t have a clue where all your money goes, take a note book with you for a two week period and write down a list of everywhere you spend your money. At the end of the two weeks take a closer look at the amounts and look for areas where you may be able to cut back on or in fact cut out.
If for example you are an average smoker you might be able to cut back by say one pack a week that would save you around $400 a year. If you work in the city and drink coffee, instead of paying for two coffees a day cut back to one and you will save around $14 dollars a week or $700 a year. Alternatively, if you buy your lunch each day chances are that you’d be spending $50 a week (or $2,600 a year). Cut it back to by half by bringing your lunch from home and you’ll save around $1,300 a year. The list goes on. Now I’m not advocating that you go cold turkey and eat tinned beans I’m simply suggesting that if you look closely at the way you spend your money on things and make a few small adjustments can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. And best of all it doesn’t require you to work longer hours or pay extra tax.
All you need is a bit of effort and discipline to make the changes - and maybe even someone to coach you.
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