It Starts With Coffee

OK so I have been reading Michelles blog for a really long time and one of the reasons is I find her truly inspring. As a self proclaimed shopoholic I love reading finance blogs about how to better my spending habits and great tips on earning extra income. At Michelles blog you will never be disappointed and one of these days I feel she will be a best selling finance author…JUST WAIT!

Also after her guest post is a great giveaway anyone would want to win!

Hey everyone! I’m happy to be posting over here for Neely today.  I talk a lot about personal finance on my blog for many reasons. I like to be able to save and pay for the things that I truly want in life. This can be nice vacations, clothes, and mainly to retire early.

Just recently, I had a post on my blog about how I made an EXTRA $3,275 in only one month. I also cut my unnecessary expenses by over $1,000 a month.

If you’re looking to save or have extra money in your pockets for any reason: to pay off those student loans, car loan, save for Christmas or anything else, then keep on reading J

I am a firm believer in not drastically changing your lifestyle unless you have to. You want Starbucks everyday? Then go for it! As long as you can pay for it, then why not enjoy life with the money that you do have?

Expenses that you can possibly cut:

1. Gym membership. Do you honestly go enough to make it worthwhile? Is there a gym that is closer then the one that you go to so that you can save on the cost of gas?

We cut our gym memberships completely out for many reasons. The drive was a little far for the 24 hour gym that we went to (and there were no other 24 hour gyms close by) and I wanted to make it a goal of mine to run outside with my dog and enjoy it more.

2. Lower your bills. Try calling your phone company to see if any fees can be waived, or any parts of your bill qualify for a discount.  Calling pretty much any of your bills (cable, home phone, insurance, etc.) and asking for a discount nearly always works, so I would definitely try it.

3. Coupon. I personally do not coupon unless I am given coupons. I don’t have the patience. However, last year I tried using coupons and it worked out well! I got tons of items for free or nearly free. Also, I love using Restaurant.com for gift certificates. You can usually save a lot of money when eating out if you use these.

Ways to make extra money:

1. Staff write. I make around $500 a month from staff writing. There are a lot of blogs out there who need help, and if they ever ask for help, don’t hesitate to e-mail them.

2. Sell stuff. Try selling your stuff that you no longer want. I recently sold a Versace purse that I received as a gift a couple of years ago. I never used it (not even once), mainly because I was terrified of ruining it. I sold it to a purse resale shop. They ended up selling it for around $1,700 online, so I’m a little disappointed by the amount they gave me ($500), but it’s still $500 that I didn’t have before!

3. Rent out a room. We currently rent out a spare room at our house to my sister for $325 per month. We had the extra room, so why not? It’s easy money and we still have two extra bedrooms so it’s not like we’re missing the space.

What do you do to save money or make more money?

You can also find Michelle here:

http://www.twitter.com/#!/senseofcents
http://feeds.feedburner.com/MakingSenseofCents
http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/2806129/making-sense-of-cents

And today I’m giving away $25 in Paypal cash. Hopefully it’ll help you reach your goals a little quicker!

Enter below with Rafflecopter 🙂
a Rafflecopter giveaway