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Living life from cover to cover

Using your skills to find part-time income

by Jana 9 Comments

My little sister is a dancer. She’s been dancing for pretty much her whole life. It is something she loves and is extremely passionate about. In fact, she’s so passionate about it, it was her minor in college and she was on her school’s dance team for 3 years. Even now, she still takes classes to maintain her skills.

She’s been able to do something else with her love of dance. She’s been able to turn it into a part-time income. When she relocated after college, one of the first things she did was find a dance studio and now, she’s a teacher at that studio. She is also working on a business endeavor that will incorporate her love of dance into her current position at another part-time job (have I mentioned that my sister works full-time, has a part-time job, goes to grad school and has an active social life? Yeah, she’s awesome). For her, dance is a skill she’s been able to maintain and turn into a money making side gig.

There’s a lesson in my sister’s story: if you have a skill, it’s possible to use it and parlay it into a part-time (or even full-time) job. This is especially important if you’re looking for a way to increase your income for savings, debt repayment, or if you’re saving up for a ridiculous kitchen renovation.  It’s also a counterpoint to the argument “there are no jobs”. I agree; it’s way harder to find a job now than it was several years ago. So, as talented, skillful, creative people, I encourage you to go out and make your own job.

You might be wondering if I have any ideas or suggestions for skills or talents that can be turned into a part-time job. It just so happens that I do. Here are a few:

  • Music. If you can play an instrument or sing, you can have a part-time job. I had a friend in graduate school who taught piano lessons to supplement our meager stipend and my guitar teacher also had a day job. If you prefer not to give lessons, you can form a band and play various gigs. I have a friend who is a nurse by trade but is also the singer in a band. While the gigs may not make a fortune, people do buy their t-shirts and CDs and they do make money off of that. This is going to take some hustling and some self-promotion but it’s not impossible.
  • Education. If you are a teacher, you can offer your services as a tutor, either freelance or through a company. I believe there are also online tutoring sites. You can get a part-time job teaching religious classes (if that is in line with your beliefs, of course); my mom used to do this. For extra money, she taught Hebrew school classes at her temple. My only caution for tutoring through a company is to pay attention to how much the company charges the clients versus how much you get paid. If you’re getting screwed, you might want to think about branching out on your own.
  • Sports. There are opportunities abound for those graced with athletic ability. In my area, the school districts and sometimes even the local community colleges are always looking for coaches. I have a co-worker that umpires baseball games and a friend who is a soccer referee. My YMCA uses part-time staff to teach their group classes. My husband’s cousin was a lifeguard. Some of these options may involve a few dollars of investment in gear or certification, but the earning potential outweighs the upfront cost.
  • Art. I know several people who have been able to earn part-time income from their craftiness. One woman started a handmade purse business and another would make one of kind picture frames. They would sell their wares on Etsy or at craft shows or home shows, and were able to turn a profit. Other ways you can make money through your craftiness is to teach classes either at a local community center or YMCA or even at in-home parties. I’m sure there’s a market for kids’ birthday parties in there, too.
  • Cooking. If you have a talent for baking or cooking, you can sell homemade goods or start a birthday/wedding cake business. You can teach cooking classes.  Offer to cater small scale events. If you have a full-time job, this is a great place to start to drum up business.  And think creatively. Locally, there is a company that makes gourmet pet treats. It was a business that started in one of the owners’ kitchens. They peddled their goods and eventually landed an exclusive contract with the largest local pet store chain.

If you’re serious about any of these, make sure you do the research regarding business licenses, taxes, certifications—anything that may be potentially related to starting your own business (should you go that route). You don’t want to be faced with any problems that might crop up, wiping out all that you’ve saved.

I believe that even in the current economic climate (whatever that actually means), it’s possible to save money and get out of debt. I may be overly optimistic but I think that people need a dose of optimism. I look at it this way–even if you fail, you’ll still learn some lessons. And that’s not really failing.

What skills have you been able to use to create part-time income?

 

Reader Question: Am I doing the right things to get out of debt and save for a family?

by Jana 5 Comments

One of my favorite parts of blogging is my readers. I’m so appreciative and grateful for all of your comments and engagement on Daily Money Shot. It’s what keeps me wanting to do better.  I especially enjoy hearing from my readers via email.

Last week, one of my readers, Krista, contacted me asking for help. She desperately wants to pay off debt and start having kids. I encourage both of these! However, in her email, she stated that she was unsure if she was doing the right things to get on track to pay off her debt by the time she’s 30 and to start planning for a family. After analyzing her situation based on the information she provided, my unprofessional opinion is that she is doing the right things. With a little tweaking, I think both of her dreams can come true.

The facts

Krista brings many positives to the table. First, she’s young–she’s only 25. This means that by getting things under control now, she’ll have a long, happy debt free future. Second, she has the motivation to get out of debt. Motivation is essential. Without motivation, her goals will fall flat. Third, she is already aware of her debt. I firmly believe that the first action step towards paying off debt is to know exactly how much debt you have. She’s already added it up! She knows what she’s in for. Fourth, and most importantly, she has goals–to be debt free, to have children, to save money. Establishing goals is key. You need to know what you’re working towards. Haphazardly paying off debt or saving without a purpose gives you the latitude to be lazy.

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Managing December birthdays

by Jana 21 Comments

My daughter was born in December. (In fact, her 5th birthday is next week and I have a very special Money Tune Tuesday planned in honor of her birthday.)

When most people hear that, their first comment is “Wow. That’s awful! What do you do? Do you just combine her birthday with Christmas?” The answer is a resounding no (for the record, we also don’t combine it with Hanukkah, which we also celebrate.  And also, thanks for telling me that my daughter’s birthday is awful. While I understand what you mean, it is still rude).

When we found out that I was pregnant and that my due date was December 23, we immediately began a conversation about how we were going to handle her birthday among the other holidays. We agreed that she would never have a birthday present under the tree, she would never get a birthday present after lighting the menorah nor would she get a holiday present at her birthday party.  It was (and still is) extremely important to my husband and I that we recognize the importance of our daughter’s birthday.

We also realized that our budget was going to take a huge hit every December. To combat that, we had lengthy discussion about how we could plan and budget for both without going bankrupt. Since we knew it was important to make them separate and distinct, we had to plan very carefully. And, as all of these events happen every December, there’s no reason for surprise.

So what do we do to financially plan for the onslaught of holidays as well as keep her birthday separate? We follow these steps:

Separating her birthday

  1. Plan her birthday party at least 2 weeks before Christmas. This way, there’s a clear distinction between her birthday and Christmas.   As she gets older, we will probably do something small with just her close friends and then do a larger party in June.
  2. Let our families know that we will not be combining her birthday with the other holidays. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, well meaning family friends—they all like to give gifts and like so many others, like to combine them. This obviously does not mesh with our desire to separate them. By telling them our preference, we eliminate those problems. However, should her birthday fall during Hanukkah (which is does every other year), we are fine with giving her a birthday present and a Hanukkah present on the same day. As long as they are wrapped in different paper or there is some way to distinguish one from the other.
  3. Make the day all about her. Every year, on her actual birthday, one or both of us will take the day off of work and let her do whatever she wants (we don’t send her to school if her birthday falls on a weekday). We let her pick what we’re having for dinner and we make sure there’s a cake or cupcakes just for our family.  This is also when she gets her card and gift from us.

Financially planning

  1. Have a specific budget for each. We have a very specific price limit for each event. Her birthday party usually takes up most of the birthday budget but we still get her a small gift.
  2. We maximize our Dependent Care account. We contribute the maximum amount allowable every year and, because of the way we structure the payments combined with the cost of daycare, we have a huge surplus every December. That money helps offset the cost of her birthday party as well as buying last minute Hanukkah and Christmas gifts.
  3. We shop as early as possible. I can’t stand Black Friday. I can’t stand the stores at holiday time. People are pushy, rude and generally unpleasant. By getting the shopping done as early as possible (or online), I don’t have to deal with the crowds.  That way, by the time her birthday and the holidays come around, I have everything on hand. And I get the added bonus of spending my weekends at home instead of battling a crazy person for a parking spot.

To most people, it would just seem easier, financially and logistically, to include her birthday with Christmas (and, in my house, Hanukkah). However, I believe that her birthday is special, and should be treated as separate and distinct from other holidays in that month. Even if it means spending extra money.  By planning for it, it’s not an extra burden and my daughter never feels that her birthday has been overshadowed by something else.

Do you have a December baby? Are you a December baby? How do you feel about separating birthdays from Christmas and Hanukkah?

 

Money for nothing

by Jana 14 Comments

Back when we hit our financial low point, our grocery budget was $30 for every two, sometimes 3 weeks, for the two of us. It was during this time that I learned how to cook on a very strict budget and the cookbook Cheap. Fast. Good. was our saving grace. That $30 budget made me really appreciate the day our grocery budget hit $100 per week.

When I first started shopping with $100 each week, I felt rich! The first time I walked into the supermarket with that much money in my wallet, I didn’t know what do to with myself. It was as on odd feeling to be able to walk down the aisles and the perimeter of the store with the ability to buy extras and stop looking wistfully at items like Sabra hummus or Ben and Jerry’s ice cream or pomegranates. Even with that money, I still shopped sales, bought generics as much as possible but it was weird (and almost unsettling) to have that much money to buy food each and every week. I had longed for the day of being able to shop with more than $30 and here it was!

One of the side effects of our increased budget was having more treats in our diets (this happened mostly due to my newfound love of baking pretty much any sweet you can imagine). Another side effect was buying things like cheese and fish (the two reasons I will never be vegan). We were finally able to start building a small stockpile of staples like rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, and beans. More fresh fruits and vegetables found their way into our fridge. I was such a wonderful feeling to expand our menu plans and have a few more choices. We started sailing along on our $100 budget with no problems.

Until recently. I’d been reading a lot in the news lately about the increasing cost of food, the incredible shrinking food packages but it wasn’t something that I had really noticed. I figured the cost increase was mainly on foods that I didn’t eat. But recently, I’ve noticed the huge spike in seasonal produce. I’ve noticed that the jars of peanut butter don’t have the same amount of services or if the servings are the same, the price is much higher. I’ve noticed that the sales aren’t as good as they used to be, or happen as frequently as they used to. Our $100 budget isn’t going nearly as far as it used to. Sometimes, I come home from grocery shopping having spent $80, $90 or even the full $100 and I feel like I’ve spent my money for nothing. Like this weekend’s trip:

$80 worth of groceries. So very sad.

It’s frustrating and aggravating to feel like we’ve come so far in our food budget only to feel like we’re taking a step back. So, to combat the increasing prices, and since coupons make me both dizzy and annoyed, I’ve started implementing the following strategies:

  1. Stockpiling on good sales. For instance, our supermarket is having a deal on canned organic beans (I do not like dried beans. I never, ever cook them correctly and they taste atrocious. So I buy canned beans), and they are only one penny more than the store brand. Each week, I’ve been buying a few cans of each kind of beans. This way, when the sales stop and everything is back to their normal price, I don’t need to buy them.
  2. Avoiding prepared foods whenever possible. I try to make as much as I can from scratch but I did have a few cheats–spaghetti sauce, enchilada sauce, Morningstar Farms soy products. As the price of healthy items has been going up, I’ve cut back on all of these considerably and I even make my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and other sauces from scratch. Also, I’ve been paying much greater attention to ingredients and the vegetarian substitutes are pretty much a pricy chemistry experiment.
  3. Having a very strict shopping list. I usually make a detailed menu plan and shop with a specific list but I had become very lax about picking up items that were not on the list because I could afford them. Not so much any more. If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t go in the wagon. When the husband and the daughter come with me, I have to patrol them very carefully–nonapproved items have a tendency to sneak into the wagon when I’m not looking. One caveat: I keep a tally with the calculator on my phone. If I am very under budget and all necessary items have been purchased, I will allow one or two extras.
  4. Comparison shopping. A few weeks ago, in order to get my food shopping done as efficiently as possible, I went to a supermarket that was on the way to my daughter’s school. Historically, this store has been less expensive to the one I normally use and I was looking forward to the savings. I don’t say this often but I was wrong. Something happened and now this store is exponentially more expensive than my regular one. Needless to say, I will not be shopping at this supermarket on a regular basis.

I know that these are common sense strategies, and ones that are advocated by all smart and savvy grocery shoppers. But I’ve had to remind myself that I need to implement these strategies or I need to increase my grocery budget and compromise on other areas. It’s taken too long to actually have a restaurant budget and a “fun” budget; I don’t want to have to sacrifice those in order to afford my weekly groceries.

What changes have you had to make to deal with rising food prices?

The price of a vice

by Jana 16 Comments

Here’s a fact about me: I hate coffee. Like really, passionately hate coffee. There is nothing about coffee that I find enticing or desirable. It smells bad, it tastes bad, it gives you disgusting breath. It is a vile, awful drink.

My hatred of coffee is not arbitrary. There’s a real reason behind it. The reason? Is my 11th grade math teacher. He had the worst coffee breath of anyone ever. And he always had putrid coffee sitting in a mug that never looked quite clean enough. And I had the good fortune to sit right in front of his desk, during first period, at 7:30 in the morning when the smell was nice and fresh. Every day. For an entire school year. Needless to say, it traumatized me. Traumatized me to the point that I never, ever drink coffee. Ever. (I also have a severe hatred of anything orange smelling/flavored but that is another story for another time). In fact, no form of coffee is acceptable. Unless it’s a Coffee Crisp. Those are totally acceptable.

My aversion to coffee got me thinking. When someone is trying to cut expenses, what is one of the first suggestions? Make coffee at home. I understand the suggestion. Typically, when you make something at home, you spend a lot less money than if you get it somewhere else (clarification: this applies mainly to food. Usually. There are circumstances where food in a restaurant is cheaper than making the same food at home). I would assume that this applies to coffee as well. Or does it? Let’s examine (admin note: these numbers come from my mother. I love her but she is not the most reliable source for prices. And, as always, prices fluctuate based on brand, location, amounts, preferences, etc. The prices used are Long Island prices).

Scenario #1: Purchasing coffee from Dunkin Donuts. From my understanding (read: information from my mother), a medium coffee from DD costs approximately $3. Assuming one coffee per day, 7 days per week, someone would spend $21 per week. Average monthly cost: $84 

Scenario #2: Making coffee at home. Again from my understanding (again, information from my mother), a pound of coffee costs around $10, filters are $2 for 100, a standard coffee maker is around $35. A reusable coffee mug (’cause if we’re saving money, we’re going to save the environment, too) costs around $10. That’s a total of $57 just to get started. Based on my scientific research (Google search), a pound of coffee  lasts roughly 2 weeks, so that’s 2 pounds of coffee every month. Then let’s assume that you need one of those fancy flavor things (because I can’t imagine even wanting to taste coffee without some enhancement). So that’s what? An extra $4 per week, or $20 per month. I won’t factor in milk or sugar since you’d probably buy those anyway and the amount is nominal. Average monthly cost after start-up costs: $42

The monthly savings is around $42 for making coffee at home. That’s a pretty hefty difference for someone trying to make ends meet or trying to meet a savings goal. $42 can go a long way and represent a big surplus in a budget.

Obviously, there are a ton of variables at play: how much a person drinks, how big of a size coffee is purchased from DD, if the coffee is bought from somewhere other than DD, the brand of store bought coffee that is used. These will all affect the net savings. But the point that making coffee at home is, overall, cheaper than purchasing coffee from DD or Wawa or Starbucks is not lost. Mathematically, it makes sense. And if you’re struggling or need to free up extra money, this is a good place to start.

Of course, I advocate that everyone gives up coffee altogether. Because when I rule the world? That will happen.

Coffee beans are the root of all evil

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