The great thing about
doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own
terms. The more hard work, time, and
creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make. You can hustle as little or as much as you
want, whenever you want. It’s your extra
money, and you can choose how you want to spend it. Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing
on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your
situation.
Did everyone have a good
January? With balancing out work, social
life, a 7-month-old baby, and a dog, it seems like time just flew past us.
Highlights from our short
vacations
He was very fascinated by all of the colorful
sea creatures.
 |
| Grass fed burger with grilled onions and applewood smoked bacon |
I had a paid work conference in Las Vegas, so I brought the family for a 3-night stay. Our son loved looking around and seeing all
of the bright lights and crowds of people.
One day, we enjoyed lunch at Burger Bar
at the Mandalay Bay shopping center.
 |
| American kobe beef burger with swiss, caramelized onions and sliced avocados |
Another day, we enjoyed lunch at Cucina by
Wolfgang Puck in the Aria shopping center. I had the burger (really been craving burgers lately) and my wife had the tortelloni).
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| Wood grilled burger with calabrian ketchup, fontina cheese and prosciutto |
To keep things simple, we got take-out one night and ate in the hotel
room.
January was an expensive
month for us
I’m glad that we are
natural savers since we spent much more money this past month than we normally
do.
It’s been getting cold in our area and our 1980s aluminum single pane windows have not been able to keep heat inside our room. We’ve
never felt the need to upgrade our windows before. But now with a baby in the house, we decided
that it was time to improve our windows.
Upgrading our windows to energy efficient dual pane windows cost us $6,960.
Anyone that owns a home over 30 years old knows that upgrades and
repairs are always on the horizon. A
home is not
an investment (great rant from Ramit Sethi); it’s a stable place to live.
Since the lease on my
wife’s previous vehicle expired, we bought a new car and paid cash. The total after taxes, license, and vehicle
registration was a whopping $36,313.64. One of my big financial regrets was leasing a
vehicle 3 years ago. At the time it
seemed fun - get a brand new vehicle
with no money down, have a low monthly payment, and then return it for another
vehicle after 3 years. We aren’t really
“car people” and as long as a car can bring us to where we want to go safely,
we are not too picky. I felt pretty
annoyed having to make so many monthly payments with nothing to show for it at
the end. Leasing may make sense to a lot
of people (such as independent contractors who can write off the lease payment,
or car lovers who want to drive a new vehicle every 3 years), but I am glad
that we paid cash for our newest vehicle – no more monthly car payments! I looked into a used vehicle purchase, but
could not find one with considerable savings.
We were comfortable buying new and will own this car for a long
time.
Going on vacations
subsidized with points or paid for by an employer is great, but it still
involves spending money to eat out and be entertained. Since we don’t eat out often, every time we
get a chance to go eat at a restaurant, it feels like the ultimate luxury -
even if it’s an economically priced restaurant.
We definitely spent a lot more money on eating out this past month - $625.97 in January! Clearcheckbook
and Mint help us track our finances easily.
When we are away from
home, we need a pet sitter. We have
several graduate school students available to watch our dog Abby every time we
are out. The going rate for a pet sitter
in our area is about $30 a day, so for our 5 days out of town, we paid $170 (tip included).
As our son is getting larger,
he has quickly outgrown the infant car seat and stroller that was donated to
us. Thanks to Slickdeals, I was
able to find a hot deal on the Diono Radian
RXT (a highly rated and extremely safe car seat) for $184.44 after tax, when it normally sells for around $280.
We also picked up a Mamas & Papas Armadillo (a nicely rated
stroller) for $221.02 after tax,
when it normally sells for around $299.
That’s $405.46 worth of baby
stuff; the most we’ve spent on our son since he was born. Thankfully, pretty much all of his other
items including clothes, high chair, toys, infant car seat and stroller,
swings, and more were all donated. We
purchased durable items because we will be using the stroller until our son is
around 3 years old and will be using the car seat until our son is around 4
years old.
One month of side hustles
doesn’t cover all of our expenses; our savings does. Having regular side hustle income definitely
helps cover our costs and allow us to invest regularly. Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it can buy
you peace of mind and freedom from stress.
Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous
month of January:
