Saving and earning do not negate each other. If you play your cards, you can achieve both. The right balance can make it less stressful to save and more enjoyable to earn. How exactly you reach this balance is up to you, but not entirely.

We tend to think that the opportunities we face in life are the complete sum of what is possible. Until we encounter some new options, we might not think that they were available in the first place. That’s why all the search for balance in life starts with seeing what is available. This article is all about this.

Tips For Spending Less

Budgeting Goals

There is no saving without proper budgeting. Luckily, you are already doing it to some extent. We all have some number, probably below our income, that we are comfortable spending each month. Part of it goes to groceries, another part to rent, and so on.

Budgeting entails a conscious effort to categorize and then control your monthly, quarterly, or yearly spending. The first step is to determine what you are already spending and what you want to spend in the future. You can start marking your spending in a notebook or an Excel sheet, but nowadays, there are helpful budgeting apps.

I’m not a big fan of them, as most of them will try to lure you into a monthly subscription for some unnecessary features. The end result is the same as with more modest methods – clear knowledge of your spending habits and ways to raise new goals.

Don’t be too hard on yourself straight away. Start with modest goals that don’t reduce your budget by more than 10 percent. Lower spending in unwanted areas gradually. Otherwise, there might be too much stress in budgeting, and you risk dropping it altogether. It’s better to budget modestly than not do it at all. 

Review Debt

It’s best not to have any debt, but most of us do. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you can manage it correctly. Simply making the monthly payments isn’t enough. You must track what offers there are currently and see if you can refinance or return the debt sooner.

Often, banks confuse your financial statements on purpose, so you won’t understand how much debt you have and whether you aren’t overpaying. Just like with budgeting, you should keep track of every debt you have and what percentages you are paying on it. If you have large financial responsibilities, such as a mortgage, consider consulting with a Certified Consumer Debt Specialist (CCDS).

Tips for Earning More

Online Side-Hustles

The internet is an exceptionally great place for finding ways to earn money. I’m not saying you cannot find a side hustle without it, but the internet has made it possible for people to find new opportunities without any special skills or connections.

Food delivery and ride-hailing are, perhaps, the most known examples, but that’s what makes them unprofitable. Everybody and their neighbor is doing these popular side hustles. The competition is fierce, and the corporations controlling it are lowering rates for everyone.

Besides, the real online earning methods will allow you to stay at home when earning money and not move around in your car. These are the two reasons I recommend starting with less popular side hustles. There are more of them than you think.

• • Paid online surveys reward people for answering questions about topics of interest to government and companies. Various payment options are available, from bank transfers and gift cards to cryptocurrency. Finding legit surveys for gift cards isn’t easy, but once you find them, you can earn $5 per week effortlessly.

• Micro-tasks are small and monotonous jobs that corporations don’t want workers on their payroll to be bothered with. That’s why they use micro-jobs platforms to outsource tasks like data entry, email writing, event planning, and similar.

• Software testing isn’t necessarily just for those who have coding experience. Many companies test websites and applications by allowing a crowd of common people to navigate the UI and give their feedback.

• Bandiwht Sharing is a way to earn money passively by running specific apps on your device that create it as a point of connection for others. All you need is a spare device and an internet connection to start earning from unused internet bandwidth.

Invest

If you have some spare finances saved already, looking for investment options might be the best way to earn. Micro-investing platforms, cryptocurrency, high-yield savings accounts, or traditional real estate are all options available for a common person.

The only catch is that you have to take your time to research these options properly before starting to spend any money. However, if you have enough money already saved, this might be the best way to reach a suitable balance between earning and saving.

Reselling

We all have unused things lying around in the house. It might not seem so, but once you try to find what to sell, something always comes out. There’s a big cultural stigma surrounding selling your own stuff, as it’s taken as a sign of living poorly, but it’s exactly the opposite.

Embracing minimalism will not only make your home more tidy but can also open up earning possibilities. Once I started looking around my own old stuff, I noticed some good deals on Etsy and eBay. It took some time, but I started reselling deals I found online for profit.

It takes some specialization. I started with laptop parts, but once you get the hang of it in one niche, it can be a source of side income. 

Final Words

Saving and earning are two sides of the same coin because they both impact how you manage your time. It’s the most important resource you have. Saving too much might not be worth it if you can instead spend the time investing. This is a crucial part of calculating the balance of options provided above.