If you feel that there is 'far too much month left at the end of the money' and you would like to do something about it, this short article may help.
There are three ways to find extra cash:
- You can sell something
- You can generate extra income
- You can reduce your spending
However, the following may act as a useful aide-memoire if you are in need of extra money and slightly stumped as to the best way to get it.
Sell sell sell…
A friend’s son talked his parents into a 50/50 split on any of their possessions he could sell on eBay. They spent an hour going round the house gathering up unwanted items, including magazines, books, clothes, jewellery, some prints, a 1970s fondue set, a genuine cowboy hat and a cappuccino machine.
Over the next two months, he sold almost all of it and raised, to my amazement, a staggering €2,100. A surprisingly large percentage of this sum was generated by grossly inflating the cost of postage and packing.
He sold old copies of magazines for 10c each but charged €2.50 for the envelope and stamps. Anyway, I won’t labour the point. Selling possessions you no longer require may rake in more cash than you imagine.
Cash in on your clear out: A guide to selling clothing online
Could you be earning more
"It is true," quipped Ronald Reagan, "hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?"
On the other hand, a bit of hard work is maybe what you need to do if you want to boost your income. Here is a checklist of the different ways in which you can earn more:
- Negotiate a pay rise
- Work overtime if you are allowed
- Take on a second job
- Start your own small business
How to spend less
What one wants to do, of course, is spend less without it dramatically affecting one’s lifestyle. This may be easier than you imagine because one of the key features of our consumer culture is a vast amount of waste.
We pay a great deal, too, for so-called convenience. A simple illustration of this is the difference in price between dishwasher powder and the more expensive pre-formed tablets.
By working through one’s regular expenditure it may be possible for you to make some major savings without feeling any the worse for it. Indeed, the opposite could well be true.
Keep a money diary
At the risk of repeating myself, one of the most effective ways of reducing one’s outgoings is to keep track of every single penny one spends. Carry around a notebook or download an app (the Money Doctors app for example) that allows you to jot everything — matches, stamps, newspapers, train tickets, car insurance, ice cream cones, bag of nails, I mean everything — as you pay for it.
Just do it for four or five weeks to capture your excesses. Then you can review every transaction and see where the money is going Seeing it in black and white almost always has the effect of highlighting items of expenditure that aren’t really necessary.
Somebody who buys three lattés a day will be horrified to know the thousands of euro that can add up to in a year. It will also help you to identify the areas where the biggest savings can be made.
Let me know how you could find extra cash….
For more information click on John Lowe's profile above or on his website.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ.
