How to Increase Your Income

In order to improve your financial picture, you need to reduce expenses and increase income.   Today I want to talk about income.  There are several ways to add to the budget through additional income.  I am a big supporter of multiple streams of income, not depending on one source of income.  In the same way you want to diversify your investments, you want to diversify your monthly income.  In financial terms, "you hedge your risk of loss" by having multiple streams of income, you lose one source of income, you have others to fill in the gap.  If you lose your sole source of income, you lose everything.  

In addition to "hedging your bets" with multiple sources of income, the extra income can help pay off debt and build your emergency fund.   It doesn't take a lot of extra income, sometimes as little as an extra hundred dollars a month can make all the difference.  Twelve hundred dollars a year can save you $153 in interest on a credit card charging 22%.

I think we all agree extra income is a good thing, but how?  If you are able to work a part time job at a local retailer, that may be the easiest way to bring in money on a short term basis.  For some, a retail job just is not feasible-could be you are already working two/three jobs, maybe child care is a concern, or maybe there aren't jobs that fit your schedule, in any case there are other options. 





Other ways to earn extra income that may  fit your schedule better and may be on a more long term basis are:

Sell items on Ebay-things we may never use that just sit in a closet can bring in some cash.
Take on line surveys-some pay in cash, some gift cards. 
Look to do freelance work through sites like Elance, or Odesk.
Look to write content on sites like Textbroker.
Start a store on Etsy and sell crafts.

The key is to think outside the box and find something that will fit your life.  As with most things, it may be slow at first, but given time it can pick up, just have faith.