Personal Finance: 3 Ways to Earn Extra Income

One of the main tenets of personal finance is "living below your means." While applying that principle is very much needed, since we all have a tendency to spend more than we should at times, only focusing on spending less creates an imbalance in your personal finance strategy. Why? Because you are only focusing on the first part of the statement - "living below"- so you ONLY focus on spending less, instead of also focusing on the second part of the statement - "your means." You can only live so low, but there is no limit to how much you can increase your means.

So let's focus on the latter today. While there are numerous ways in which you can increase your income, I'll only touch on 3 here.

#1 Ask for Overtime - The first place you should look for increasing your income is your own place of work. I believe a good business is always slightly understaffed. The reason is that employees are fixed costs (salaries) while the work available for them to do may be seaonal or variable. If companies hire staff based on peak times, the work may eventually decrease but the company will still have to pay the extra salaries which they've taken on to cover the work. Instead of risking overstaffing, companies can instead hire enough staff to handle most of the work volume and pay overtime as necessary to cover peak times. When the peak work volume stops, the overtime can stop. Your employer may or may not disclose to you when extra manpower is needed, but why not ask and see if they could use some extra help (for pay of course)? Your employer gets the extra manpower they need, and you've just gotten the increase in income that you need. Don't be shy, ask!

#2 Get paid for your talents - If Lebron can get paid for taking his talents to South Beach, why can't you (the getting paid part, not taking them to South Beach)? Everyone has at least one innate or acquired talent, whether it be cooking, writing, designing, or what have you. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay for good work, you just have to put yourself out there as someone whose talents are available. Let your friends and family know about your skills so that they can keep you in mind for their future needs. Also check out sites such as freelance.com, elance.com, and Odesk.com which help match those looking to offer their talents and services with those who need and are willing to pay for them.

#3 Turn your belongings into cash - Most of us don't realize how much extra stuff we have lying around. Do you have any extra clothes, shoes (ladies?), old phones, used books, or seldom used furniture which you could dispose of? Why not begin a "recycling" program in which you sell the old whenever you bring in something new to replace it? This may not drastically increase your income, but every little bit helps when you need it.

Do you have any other ways to earn extra income? Share them in the comments.

~Willie