Last week, RJ of Gen Y Wealth wrote a post asking “52 Questions That Can Make You Rich.”
RJ suggested that his readers spend 20 minutes a week (one question a year) contemplating one of the 52 questions. As I read through them, I realized the wisdom of his advice, and decided to blog about my thoughts.
Question 1: If I had to increase my income by 5% by the end of the week, how would I do it?
First things, first: How much is 5%?
The first thing to consider is what does 5% of our income look like?
Every month, my husband and I pull in roughly $3,500 after taxes. So 5% of that would be $175 a month, or $43.75 a week. That looks pretty do-able.
Okay so… Long-term increase or short-term increase?
The question is open-ended in this regard. RJ doesn’t suggest that we have to increase our income 5% long-term, just that we think about how we would do it at all.
But a long-term increase is a different challenge than a short-term increase, so I’ll consider both.
Short-term
If Ben and I wanted to make $175 before Sunday this week, there are a few ways we could do it.
Sell our stuff
For example, we have a sizable collection of DVDs, video games, books, and CDs. Not to mention the gaming systems that go with our video games, some of which we haven’t used is years.
It’s been a while since I price-checked the contents of our media library, but I suspect we could come up with enough seldom-watched/-played games to make it to $175.
Offer to help a friend/neighbor
There are at least four families in my apartment complex with young children who might be in need of a ‘sitter. The church that my grandmother attends has no shortage of people who might a) need a ‘sitter, b) need someone to help them around their house/yard.
Bank on existing skills
I happen to have some skill with organizing, and could offer my organizational services to friends, family-members, community-members, etc. for a nominal fee. $10 or $15 an hour is not an unreasonable fee for helping someone organize their life.
Long-term
Ask for a raise
This works best if you’re paid on a salary, as my husband is. If he asked for a raise of even $2,500 (to his annual income), that would easily get us the 5% increase per month.
Work longer hours/get a second job
This works best if you’re paid hourly, which I happen to be. I also currently have two jobs, which makes this one of the most feasible ways to increase our income. I could easily ask for more hours at one of my jobs, and would likely get them.
This might only be a short-term solution, however. Working two jobs can wear you down pretty quickly, especially if you’re routinely working 50-60 hour weeks. (Most people who’ve only had one job don’t believe me, but I maintain that it is more draining to work 50-60 hours split between two jobs than it is to work the same number of hours at one job. We can agree to disagree, if you like.)
Freelance/Set up a side business
If your community’s job market won’t support a second job, setting up a side business is a possibility for increasing income.
Due to a short-term layoff at the beginning of last year, I already have laid the ground-work for a side business as a virtual assistant / website manager.
While I was unemployed, I did some VA and website work for several of my family members who own their own brick-and-mortar businesses. I also helped several online business owners manage and organize their online businesses. If I needed to, I could probably pick up a few hours here and there doing similar work, netting us at least $175 a month. It would just be a matter of a few emails/phone calls to see if anyone in my old network needed work done, or knew people who did. (This, for the record, is why it’s a good idea to keep your bridges intact and well-maintained.)
What about you?
So how about it? Have you given it some thought? If you had to increase your income by 5% by the end of the week, how would you do it?
