How to Increase Your Income in a Poor Economy

Just about everybody is looking to increase household income in this challenging economy. With the price of daily supplies such as gas and food rising, with no end in sight, it takes more and more belt tightening to make it from one paycheck to the next. If you have pulled in your belt so tight that you can’t breathe, the only thing left to do is to increase your income.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Utilize the Internet. Rather than going to the local grocery store to get a part-time job, use the Internet. Not only is it convenient, because most people have Internet access at home, it bypasses the additional burden of spending money on gas to get to a second, part-time job.

2. Brush up on your writing skills. One of the best ways to increase your income in a poor economy is to earn money on the Internet is writing. There are several content sites looking for freelance writers such as Suite 101, Textbroker and eHow. Even if your skills are not that great, write about topics that are you’re passionate about. The passion can help to compensate for the initial lack of writing skills understanding that the more you write about something you’re passionate about, the better your writing skills become. Some sites, like Suite 101, offer editorial feedback, which serves as a teaching mechanism for improving writing skills.

3. Join a few reputable pay for survey sites. Another way to increase your income is to register for a few survey sites. Cashcrate.com, for example pays for people to take surveys. The only disadvantage of such sites is that you end up trading time for money. Therefore, if something happens and you’re unable to get to the site to perform the task of taking the survey, you will not earn money.

4. Pay interest-bearing debt creatively. While paying debt creatively doesn’t increase your income directly, it does help to save money by paying off the debts faster. If you bank online, you can send additional payments electronically without incurring the expense of stamps. If your monthly credit card amount is say, $100 per month, by sending in $25 per week, you’re cutting down on accrued interest and making a larger dent into the principal balance. Paying your bills creatively so will help to eradicate your interest bearing debt quicker.

5. Remain focused. The only way to successfully increase your income in this tight economy (or any economy for that matter) is to remain focused on the goal. You may not feel like working on an additional financial endeavor after putting in a full day of work, but with today’s economy, you might not have a choice.

Resources

• Cash Crate.com
• How to Earn Money with Textbroker.com
• Paying Credit Card Debt Creatively

[motherNN]

on 10/23/2008 Well done!

[PajamaMommy]

on 10/4/2008 Thanks for the useful ideas.

[Angelgirlpj]

on 10/1/2008 Good thoughts and great tips.