Frugal Fridays: Utilizing Your Free Time
This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.Even after slimming your budget, most people still find themselves falling short. According to Huffington Post more than three-fourths of us are failing at being able to build an emergency fund and/or savings.
Personally, I am part of that 75%. Since college I have been a pay check to pay check employee. In my mind bills were paid. But, this mentality isn't going to protect you. This mentality is not going to push you towards success. It took an epiphany for me to realize I needed to change this. Six months later, I am starting to get on the right track.
Don't find yourself in an emergency before you start saving. If you cannot do 10%, at least start somewhere.
The problem lies in how are you going to make money you don't have appear for savings? You have already slimmed your budget, so what money you do have shouldn't be going to waste.
None of these options will pay the bills. These ideas are designed to help you brainstorm ways to help build your savings.
The first thing you can do is look at your talents.
Have you mastered something well enough to teach? Could you teach an (art/computer/fitness/writing/health/cooking/etc) class at a community center?
How are your language skills? Could you freelance as a translator or an editor? Do you have a skill you can sell online? Guru and oDesk are awesome freelancing platforms.
Utilizing your talents can mean an investment. If not money, then for sure time. It involves networking and developing a reputation. In my case, it was definitely worth the investment.
While you work on getting started in utilizing a talent, there are other things you can do to start saving money.
Online surveys are a great option. For 15-30 minutes of your time many companies will pay you in cash or reward points. Make sure you vet any survey company you sign up with. If they work on a reward point system make sure you are taking the time weekly to check your points and cash yourself out if you are eligible.
Some survey companies I love are:
Unique Rewards Inc.: Simple surveys that pay out (when requested) every Monday.
Ipsos Survey Panel (if you are from Canada click here): An easy way to take surveys online and earn rewards. I have used Ipsos survey for years and love them. They are currently seeking Females with children under 3 and Males ages 18-25.
Pay Deals: Pays you for sharing deals with your friends! Easy and fun to use!
PanelPlace.com: An awesome tool that optimizes your survey earnings. This company works with an array of survey companies and tailors all of your options into one place. No more jumping around from survey site to survey site, they do the tedious work for you.
These aren't meant to make you money quickly. But, $3-10 in a savings account every week will add up.
Another option is Amazon's MTurk. This is a mixture of freelance work and surveys. Your qualifications will control what you are eligible for on this site. Also a lot of Turks are very low paid, so if you go this route make sure you are getting paid for your time. Every penny counts...but, if you could be doing something more profitable...If you are interested in MTurk here is a guide on how to get started.
Other things you could easily do in your free time to make money are:
-clean houses
-have a garage sale
-baby or pet sit (Care.com is an awesome place to find work for this)
-do yard work
The options are only limited by your creativity! With all of these options remember the goal is to save money. Get a savings account that you will not touch. Research interest rates. My advice is to get an online account without a debit card. That way your savings will be working for you.
