Before reading the article, it is recommended that you read the Part 1 about the benefits of spending less than you earn and Part 2 about How to spend less than you earn 
So here is a guide on how to increase your income:
- Stop wasting your time. Especially at work. The terms “time is money” is true; but you can get more than that. There are many things you can do rather than just wasting your time. Just checkout the list under, and you’ll see why you really shouldn’t waste your time.
- Improve the transferable skills (skills that can be used in almost any career path). One of the popular transferable skills is public speaking. If there’s any opportunities to do so, then do it and speak your mind in front of public. Another example is the time management; and you can learn to build an effective time management scheme such as organizing and filing your paperwork, Brainstorming ideas, etc. Other examples of transferable skills are setting the standard procedures of your work, take charge of a work project etc. All of these things push you towards developing skills that are genuinely useful no matter where you’re heading in life.
- build a strong network and relationship with many people as you can, and try to give a bigger portion to the relationships in your field. This can be done by simply sending emails to people you’ve interacted and keep up with what they’re doing. If you have an opportunity to connect people that can help each other, do it immediately, without hesitation. Share what you know and be valuable to others.
- Start a side business. Turn a passion you have into money. Don’t know what that could possibly be? Think about it carefully and I might post interesting ideas to start a side business for you
- Finally, stand out at work. Speak up at meetings. Show empathy for the problems that others have. Take on only projects you can handle, but do them well. Get to know the support staff – and treat them well. Don’t burn bridges when you move on – make an extra effort to maintain good relationships when you leave. These little things add up to a huge difference.
Keep that rule in mind: spend less than you earn. Each move you make to maximize the gap between what you earn and what you spend will put you in a better place in your life.
Like this article? State your ideas or questions below. Any ideas much appreciated.
Before reading this part, please do visit my previous post that talked about the benefits of spending less than you earn
So now we are going to talk about how to actually spend less than you earn. And here are some tips/guides on how to do it:
- Check your monthly required bill. Do you really need this stuff? Can you replace this service by doing something that will bring you more health? Ask yourself these kind of questions for things related to your cell phone, premium cable, or unlimited text message.
- Diligently, keep tracking your spending. The simple process of writing this down every expense will make you think twice about the unnecessary ones. At the end of the month, take a careful look at them and ask the same question: do I really need these? Do these really contribute to the value of my life?
- Carefully look at your routines. Are there things in your routines that cost money? Trimming $1 from your daily spending saves you $365 a year.
Switch to a bank that respects you. No interest at all on their checking accounts. Tons of fees for ATM use. Draconian overdraft policies. A tiny interest rate on savings accounts. Monthly usage fees of all kinds. All of these things are a waste of money.
- Go green! Going green can be a solution to cut your spending and increase your money!
So now we move on to the next level: how to increase your income
If you’ve read many rules about finance, then you should come to the same basic rule as this one:
Spend less than you earn.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is that simple. But why are there so many people who are buried in debt or simply living from paycheck to paycheck?
There are several benefits you gain by spending less than you earn.
- You start treading on the path to omitting your debts. By spending less than you earn, you have enough money to pay your debts. The debts decease to exist, cutting down your monthly bills and frees you from worries!
- You begin to save. Now you have enough money to save. It will save (literally) you in times of emergencies (like job loss), and give you room to enjoy having the control to your future and old age.
- You are happier. With fewer debts, emergencies covered, retirement planned, there’s much less to worry about. Like old saying: no worries, no disease. Okay I made that up. It’s true though. It will make you happier for sure.
- Now you have opened wider possibilities that were closed to you. Now you can choose to move on to other things you like to do for living, or maybe chase your dreams! You have more freedom. Doesn’t that sound good?
So our next stop is: How do you actually can spend less than you earned
Shopping is our daily activity. We often to go to grocery store more than once a day; to buy this and that stuffs. So here’s what I used to do when I went to a store, whether it’s a grocery store or mall. I went to the store to buy something that I need, but I ended up buying things that I thought I need or things that comes with special offers such as discounts.
So the interesting thing here is that those things aren’t so expensive; if I see them individually. But when I got to the cashier, I’m often surprised by the amount of money that I had to pay.
So I noticed that there is something wrong here. And here’s how to say it: we made many decisions during our time in the grocery store; and it is often about whether we can save 1 dollar or spend 1 more dollar.
Here are the typical situation:
“There is a discount on the meat, should I stock it up?”
“Which one, the big tomatoes can or the smaller one?”
But in the end, I (and maybe some of you) is forced to admit that we are not a smart buyer….
Today I will propose a step-by-step solution to this problem, so that me and you won’t excessively spend money in stores:
- Make a shopping list before going to the grocery store. This is important to reduce the number of decisions you have to make.
- Make a specific list of things. If you are used to buy juice (such as V8 Fusion); write the size of it on your list, to prevent you from buying the larger one.
- Mark items that you’re not simply searching for the cheapest version of. So for other items, find the cheapest. Remember, even a dollar counts.
- The most important thing is this part. You have to stick to the plan. Stay firm and hold tight to the shopping list. Do not purchase things outside the list.
So there, Hopefully this post can help you saving some money at the grocery store. Every single penny counts
Whether you consider yourself as a shopaholic or not, shopping is always one nice activity to do for every one especially for woman. Either they are teenager or housewives but shopping is always something heaven for them. They do need the product or not, is not really a matter. They could really afford it or not, that also another problem but one thing they want to know is that how to get that product to be theirs.
Sometimes when we shop we tried to be wise and tried to be as selective as we can. We would think that we are smart enough when we do that until we re-count it again what we have bought and brought to home then we will be forced to admit that we are not really that smart actually. You may be asking yourself should you buy this brand or that brand.
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Fist of all, I recommend you to read our fine article related to this post here… So basically the principal of saving is no more different then the saving guides and habits of a 3 year old kid saving guide.
So what I’m trying to say is the general guides of saving has never change, and here is the 3 yr old kids saving guides that will work well for adults too:
- Set a clear, tangible goal for savings.
Yes, this is exactly what you have to know when you start saving: What are you saving for? My suggestion is that you should know exactly what you’re saving for and keep it in mind. Figure out the exact dollar amount you need to reach. Know what the reward is for reaching that dollar amount. The more tangible your goal is, the easier it is to reach for it.
- Set up milestones along the way so you can see progress.
Take your time. If you want to collect $10,000 then you should transform your way of thinking a bit. It is a lot easier to look at it this way: set the goal into $100 a month. With that little goal each month, you can reach your big goal in a bit less than eight years. Then push yourself just to reach that little goal each month – or to exceed it!
- Keep the savings in your mind.
Put up reminders of your goals in places where they’ll have impact for you. Wrap a picture of your kids or your dream house around your credit cards. Write the dollar amount on a Post-It note and keep it on the bottom of your rear view mirror. Keep that goal in your mind and you’ll stay focused on it.
So basically that is the adult version of 3 yr old kid’s saving guides. What do you think? share your comments under
Here is a good news for all of those students studying in the Hartwick College in New York. So according to the news release from the college, the students might be able to save more than US$40,000 on their education by participating in a new 3-years degree program.
So the college will cut the colleges cost by 25% and students are still provided with “rich educational experience” which is characteristic of the school.
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