More Money Common Sense

The way to more spendable money is not complicated. You either decrease expense or you increase income. Decreasing expense is the subject of numerous other articles at this site. Increasing money and doing it through a common sense approach is the current subject.

How Much and Why? - Without an objective, how will you ever know when, or even if, you ever arrive? And without a plan, you will be setting a course without any idea of what direction to choose. Therefore the first common sense questions are the following:

What are you trying to do?
Are you seeking short term or long term money?
Do you need a monthly stream of money or a lump sum?
How much money do you need and by when?
How will you use this additional money?
Do you have a spending plan (budget) to know for certain what you need?

Existing Money - There are always multiple ways of accomplishing the same thing. And common sense truly needs to be supreme. What are you doing that can be changed to save money?

There are numerous articles at this site and elsewhere on the web designed to save money in your lifestyle. You simply must be motivated to find the new ways of doing things and changing habits. In other articles I demonstrate how you can find 10% of your gross income to pay off bills by simply altering your lifestyle. And in still other articles I demonstrate how the average American can give themselves a 40% tax free pay increase by eliminating all their debt including their mortgage in less than 8 years.

Savings - If cash flow is the problem, I discourage tapping into such things as life insurance, 401(k), or even your savings. The tax consequences and payback can be devastating. The exception to the rule may be to pay off all debt and even then I recommend only using savings and not something like a 401(k). In a case such as debt elimination, it can make sense to convert a 3% savings account into a debt free life style. However, using savings to pay off debt so that you can create more debt is insane.

Savings, though, is an option. Just remember that America is truly in a state where our debt far outweighs our savings. And a crunch may well be coming. If you have no savings and an emergency hits, what will you do?

Sell Something - View your assets. Do you have properties big or small that you can relinquish? Can you advertise the item especially for free or have a garage sale or join with others for a joint garage sale? Can you market your own services selling yourself? Is there a local e-bay broker?

Salary Increase - How could you get a raise on your job and how soon? Is it worth it? Are there other jobs that pay better for doing the same thing? Is there a part time opportunity available? BTW Be careful of opportunities that sound too good to be true.

Added Income - This was the option I chose. I wanted an additional income that I could earn in my spare time from my computer and therefore I took advantage of the option at the top of the page right above the article title. There are many options available but I found this to best fit my needs.

Pueblo - Federal Citizens Information Center (1-888 878 3256) offers a multitude of publications loaded with advice on saving money, employment, housing and a great deal more.

Now it's up to you. If you are serious about more money, make it a priority and work towards that end. But first of all re-read the first paragraph "How Much and Why"

. Readers will probably be interested to know Mike, the author of this article, also offers a free debt elimination mini-course via e-mail. You can enroll at Debt Free In 7.5 Years.