Second jobs, more savings, no interest

^ a preview of my budget



Danielle's been bugging me for weeks, if not months to work at the restaurant where she manages, the Fox Den.

After much cajoling I finally agreed. First I was a little hesitant about the job. I have never served and have a terrible short term memory.

But I reluctantly agreed and as of today worked my third shift.

Taking the job was a ver important step towards our goal of world travel. In order to go out there, we obviously need all the money we can get and as it stands, Danielle makes more money than I do.

It's one of the things that is often overlooked when you're trying to save money. We've already cut our expenses down to the bone, upped our savings and done just about as much as we can to be frugal. So what's left?

What's left is also one of the best ways to increase savings - increasing your income.

Most people, like myself, have a few hours a week that could honestly be better spent. I'm only working about one day a week, but it's helping me make about $100 a shift, from wages and tips.

And that's all I need. That extra money means that I can almost save my entire newspaper paycheque, at least the 2/3 that doesn't go to bills.

Plus, last month, I spent much too much money on trip supplies and found I had an unusually high cell phone bill so I was almost panicking in terms of how I pay off my upcoming bills.

As a plus note, it only reduce my monthly savings deposit to pay those, but it's still not something I wanted to do.

So with the help of the second job, I manage to do just that. Balance my books and even earn a little extra.

The fact that I was only worried about digging into my savings instead of defaulting on a payment is my next important point.

I use the BUDGET app on my iPhone. It works like a giant cheque book where I record all my income and expenses.

The way I use it is that as soon as I get paid, I automatically subtract my upcoming expenses. That way the moneys already allocated and I don't have to worry.

For instance, I've got about $1,700 in my chequing account, but on my Budget app it says I'm in the hole $150 because i've already allocated money for rent, insurance, cell phone bills and all the money I've put on my credit and debit cards. Come the first of the month, I won't even know I've physically paid the bills (added to that, all my bills, including my credit card, are pre authorized so I literally don't think about it.) I'll be out of that $150 hole when I get my paycheque from the Fox Den.

The biggest benefit of budgeting here is that it's a load off my mind.

And lastly I'll touch on the fact that I refuse to pay credit card interest. I could easily have dealt with mybudget if I hadn't gotten a second job if I decided to just pay some of my credit card bill. But why give credit card companies more of my money?

So in closing, remember these few things.
- the easiest way to save money is to earn more of it.
- budgeting takes a load off your mind and keeps a load in your wallet.
- interest is money you're just throwing away.

Cheers!