If you’re struggling to meet your financial obligations, there are two things you can do to improve your situation. First, you can reduce your spending. To do this, you need to figure out where your money is going. This means tracking your expenses – probably for at least a month. You will need to divide them into categories such as transportation, food, clothing, entertainment and so forth. This will give you a clear picture of your finances and may help you understand where you can make some cuts.
Increase your income
If you don’t want to try to cut your spending for some reason, the alternative is to increase your income. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking a second job either. There are a number of ways you can increase your income in your spare time.
You could spend just a few hours on Saturday and Sunday hitting garage sales in your neighborhood and then reselling the stuff you find on eBay. I know people who make several hundred dollars a week just by doing this. It’s important to remember that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. If you “shop” neighborhood garage sales carefully you might be surprised at what you find. However, one word of warning – before you run out and start buying stuff, spend some time on eBay to see what’s popular and what it’s selling for. It won’t do you a lick of good to spend $50 on a bunch of things only to find you can’t sell them. You could use the time between garage sales to repair things, get your items organized and write descriptions and put them for sale on eBay.
Paint curbs
I know a guy who goes from house to house offering to paint people’s street addresses on their curbs. He tells prospects, and it’s true, that having your address on your curb helps friends, family, police officers and firefighters find your house faster. This guy charges $20 per address and his only out-of-pocket is five dollars for a can of spray paint. He tells me that he often makes $100 in less than an hour. Multiply this by the number of hours you could spend painting curbs on Saturday and Sunday and you might be surprised how quickly this could get you out of debt.
Babysit
If you haven’t hired a babysitter recently, you may not be aware of what they’re now charging. In my city, the going rate is $10 an hour and good babysitters can be hard to find. Depending on where you live, you might have to register or at least fill in some paperwork but just imagine how much you could earn over a weekend by babysitting for just eight hours. That’s $80 a weekend or $320 a month. Wouldn’t that help improve your financial position?
Be a part-time nanny
The fact that there are so many working couples means there are many kids who get out of school at maybe 3:00 PM but their parents don’t get home until 5:30 or later. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, you might put up flyers around a nearby elementary school offering to pick up children, ferry them home, fix them snacks, take them to dental and doctors appointments, etc. as a part-time nanny. All you would need is one customer at 15 hours a week and you should make at least $150.
Quite possibly the best way to deal with big debt
If you owe $7500 or more, these little offbeat ways to make money are probably not going to be an answer. But our debt consolidation providers could be. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee that we can help you get out of debt in a reasonable amount of time. For that matter, if you are ever unsatisfied with our recommended debt relief programs, you can walk away with no penalties and no fees whatsoever. Call our toll-free number today for immediate help or fill out the form at the top of this page for a free debt analysis and estimate.