Weekend Challenge 13: Increasing Your Income

This week the challenge is focused on helping you to increase your earning power. If you are progressing steadily towards your financial goals, and feel that you have a good handle on how much time you spend working and how much time you spend enjoying life, you may not need to participate in this challenge. However if you are struggling to make ends meet, and you feel overwhelmed by the amount of debt that you have or if you just have difficulty meeting your monthly obligations you should take time to complete the challenge.

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Do You Need a Temporary or Permanent Solution?

increase your income
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The first thing you need to determine is whether or not you need to find a permanent solution or a temporary one to help you get out of a difficult financial situation. If you have just had your income increase, but you are having a difficult time managing your debt payments, you may just need to increase your income until you clear up your debt. If you are running negative each month, you will likely need a long term solution to the problem. You need to take the time to consider how serious your problem is. This means creating a budget and determining the minimum amount that you need to get by. Then you need a second amount that will represent being able to live comfortably. You need to get your income up to the minimum amount quickly, and then work on ways to get up to the second amount. Even if you are looking for a more permanent solution, a short-term one can help you get by why you look for a better job or work on getting a degree.

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Temporary Solutions

If you are simply looking for a way to help you get control of your debt, but you make enough money if you were debt free, then you are looking for a temporary solution to your income problem. This means that you will likely just need to take on an extra job to solve your problems. When you make the choice to take on an extra job, you need to be sure that it is worth your time and effort. As a professional, there may be many things that you can do to earn more than minimum wage at your second job. The more you make per hour the more effective that extra job will be and the less you will have to work. Also if you can find a job that will pay you in tips in addition to your salary, you can increase the amount you earn and get out of debt more quickly.

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Permanent Solutions

If you are having trouble paying for your day-to-day expenses, then you need to look at a long-term solution to your problems. First, you need to decide if you can earn more money in your current field of work at a different job or through promotions at work. If this is the case, it may be worth staying with your current employer and participating in any training options that they have. Otherwise, you may need to look into returning to school for additional training. If you are thinking about going back to school, find out if your employer offers a program where they will reimburse your tuition. You may also consider starting your own business as a way to increase your income. You should also utilize temporary solutions while you work on your long-term plan.

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