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Cutting expenses doesn’t always work. Here’s why.
Most of you have experienced the worry of a tight budget at least once, and usually more than once.
To try and come up with more money, decide you need to cut expenses.
However, while sifting through your bank statements, you realize you have a decision to make: Do I cancel my Spotify subscription so I can boost my savings a bit?
Your first instinct may be not to cancel the subscription because you enjoy it too much. Who only wants 6 song skips an hour anyways?
After that, you may think that the smart decision would be to cancel said subscription.
Don’t.
Is the extra few dollars saved each month from cutting out the subscription worth all of the enjoyment and utility you’d lose? Would that few extra dollars make the difference between having a roof over your head and having the top of a cardboard box over your head?
Hell no!
So what is the solution then?
Simple: Start a side hustle.
You can only cut down spending so far, until your life sucks for a few extra pennies. Even then, what happens when you can’t afford your bills, but your spending is practically nonexistent?
On the other hand, there is essentially no cap on the level of income you have.
While you can ask for a raise or pray for a bonus at work, what you REALLY need to do is start a side hustle. I know it sounds cheesy what with all of the talk of “hustling” and “grinding” nowadays, but I really believe it is essential.
Making some extra money on the side can give your budget some breathing room. If you can start bringing in no more than $100 a month from a side hustle, that could cover most of your grocery bill for the month. All for doing something you’re good at, something you enjoy doing, or something you learned on the internet for free.
After those first few bucks roll in, you’ll most likely be motivated like never before to start making more money. Your bank account will start looking healthy, and your bills will no longer keep you up at night.
Who knows, maybe your side hustle will be successful enough to allow you to quit your job!
On the topic of quitting your job to focus full time on a business, there’s a few caveats. Before you do that, you want to pay down all your debt that is unrelated to your side hustle and have multiple months of living expenses saved up. If you’d don’t do this, you’ll be right back to square one if your business isn’t successful.
But I digress.
Things seem to get more expensive every day. Gas prices increasing, college tuition skyrocketing, rent going up, and more. In this day and age, cutting expenses isn’t always a solution and can act as more of a band-aid.
What you need to do is start a side hustle and start making your own money. The sky is the limit when it comes to increasing your income. As a famous musician once said:
“And but for the sky, there were no fences facing.” -Bob Dylan