Declutter Your Life!

Last night I was thinking about clutter, but not the kind of clutter you have around your house. I decluttered a lot of that a few years ago, but I do still have some more that could be done. I am not nor was I ever a hoarder, but last night I was thinking about all the unnecessary financial clutter I have in my life. 

When I mention 'financial clutter' this is what I mean. Last night I was thinking about inflation and how it impacts all of us. Everything we do or buy seems to be 10 to 50 percent more than it was just over a year ago. And unfortunately those of us that understand basic economics we know there are two ways for us to handle rising prices. 

1. Increase our income
2. Cut our spending

I think we all like the sound of option 1! Who wouldn't want to increase their income? However, many people with families don't want to spend more time away from their families working a part-time job. There are ways to increase your income without leaving the comfort of your home. We live in what is now being called the 'Gig Economy'. Many of these gigs require you to be away from family. Uber, Door Dash, Grub Hub and many others have you on the road either delivering food or delivering people to their specified locations. The good benefit is that you choose when you work.

​Now Fiverr is a great way to utilize a skillset you have at your own time and from the privacy of your own home. There are countless services you can offer to people and/or businesses. The drawback is you do the work once you get paid once.

This is why I preach the power of residual income. You do the work once and you could get paid on it over and over again, each and every month. Check out our New Project to learn more.

I have personally done #1, I have increased my income. So today, was all about #2, cutting my spending. I have a nice simple budget I do using excel. They have really nice templates that are free to use as well. If you don't know where your money is going you need to do this ASAP.

As I suspected, I had a lot of useless clutter in my budget. Streaming services I rarely used, overlapping services with multiple providers and quite honestly, things I didn't want to jump through hoops to cancel. By the way, companies that make it difficult to cancel are one of my pet peeves. Once I got done running through my budget, I had cutout roughly 7 monthly bills and increased my income by $300 each month. 

​Should you declutter your home, closet, office, car, etc.? Absolutely! But while you are at it, don't forget to declutter your finances. In doing so, you just might increase your income!