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Right now, I owe quite a bit in credit card debt, mainly because of bad financial decisions when I younger, since then, I've become more financially aware and started to learn how to manage my money. Still, I'm currently living paycheck to paycheck and the monthly payments are taking away a portion of my income away, an extra grand a month would be very beneficial in my case. Any thoughts?
@Anonymous wrote:Right now, I owe quite a bit in credit card debt, mainly because of bad financial decisions when I younger, since then, I've become more financially aware and started to learn how to manage my money. Still, I'm currently living paycheck to paycheck and the monthly payments are taking away a portion of my income away, an extra grand a month would be very beneficial in my case. Any thoughts?
You could maybe take on a part time job, go over your budget and spending habits and cut corners wherever you can.
There is a lot of YMMV for an extra 1k for a month. I too have contemplated this for purposes of reducing student loan debt in an even faster manner than refi will help me get to. Here are a few ideas (that probably sound like clickbait things you read on other personal finance blogs):
1. Look at Steady, Fiverr or Freelancer for gigs. In disclosure, I have a law degree and look for low hanging fruit like NDA reviews, contract review, basic business plan safety and soundness reviews, etc. If you have some experience in any sort of high-level writing, editing, or some other talent that you can leverage--and also have the time to do this--these are decent items to do in the wee hours of your free time.
2. Reevaluate your budget: Are there corners you can cut? Peanut butter sandwiches all week for lunch instead of take out? Some sort of way to drink cheaper at the bar when you go out? A gym membership you forgot you were even paying for? Premium cable when all you do is watch netflix? A lot of micro-budget items can go a long way.
3. Adding a second job. If all else fails, find something part-time that you can do when you aren't workign your day job (and won't affect your output at your day job). In law school, I worked as a research assistant during the day and a shelf stocker at night so I could keep my rent going while minimizing the loans I took out (let me laugh for a second as job market and economy died shortly thereafter and most of my classmates ended up underemployed for the first 3+ years). That said, if--and only if--it works for you, this should be an option.
I hope this helped and didn't sound condescending or cliche. Best of luck!
Great answers everyone! Thank you all for your inputs.