A penny saved, is a dollar earned ~ Benjamin Franklin
So now that you've got an idea of sorting your expenses out and how you might be able to reduce them, the second way of increasing your savings, is to increase your income. Obvious isn't it? However, while it may seem the obvious thing to do, you'd be surprise to learn how many people don't seem to have enough no matter how much money comes into their pocket. Instead of more savings as a result of more income, what occurs is an increase in expenditure! This is because with an increased income, the person normally feels that now he/she can afford that much coveted item to satisfy his or her desire. From eons of studies & examples, human nature is such that there's no such thing as satisfying a desire. As soon as one desire is satisfied, human nature finds another desire to be satisfied. As such, disciplining yourself into parking your extra income may be a challenging thing to do.
What then would be a good approach? Well, I think that if you're earning extra income, be it from your year-end bonus or an extra job, that you should reward yourself. Since you are working harder for that money it would seem criminal not to feel good about yourself for receiving some much deserved extras. So go out, enjoy yourself, pamper yourself a bit, have a beer or buy that bag you much longed for or what else you want...BUT all in total of a certain percentage of the extra income. What do I mean by this? Means if you earn an extra of $1000 for the month, that you should portion out about 20% to be spend on leisure items & activities while saving the balance 80%. This way, you get to feel that satisfaction and still not resent saving.
These are some ideas to increase your income:
1. Get a second job - dog walking, babysitting, tuition, etc.
2. Start an internet business
3. Do paid online surveys - CashCrate.com, OnlinePaidSurveys.net etc.
4. Join affiliate programs & market their products. - Amazon.com, ClickBank.com etc.
5. Go into consultation with regards to your expertise
6. Publish and sell your ebook or if you're driven enough, aim to publish a book proper
7. Do freelance work.
8. Provide financial planning services part-time - Prudential, IPP etc.
9. Sell yours or other peoples old unwanted stuff - Ebay.com, garage sales, push carts
10. Provide a service - offer to clean your mum's or neighbour's house for a fee
11. Rent out a room
12. Rent out a service - web designing, computer fixing/servicing, paint a friend's house, help someone to move, etc.
Well, personally I know how tedious these tasks can be. Myself, I have only just begun in my search increasing my income. I was previously concentrating a lot on investment vehicles which I will share in future posts. Currently, am looking into starting an internet business but have not decided my niche as yet. Things like this will take time, be it starting an internet business, writing an ebook & getting it sold, renting out a room etc. All this takes time to build. The important thing is to get yourself started. With persistence, once you start moving, the momentum you gain will propel you on to bigger things.
Hope this helps.
Till next time,
~K
