4 Ways to Increase Your Income in 2011

By Charissa

Let’s face it. You can never make too much money. Every dollar that you earn can be used for something that you need or want. Whether you sock away the extra cash for a rainy day or opt to replace an aging appliance, one thing is certain.  Money makes it easier for you to accomplish short-term and long-term goals. Without it, you may be stuck using something far longer than its intended use or worse yet, you may have to make do with nothing at all or go into debt.

Many Americans are unable to make ends meet.  Those that are fortunate to have a job may be stretched so thin that they are unable to see the silver lining among the clouds.  The following four suggestions can help give your income a boost this year.

• Sell something. Whether it’s through eBay, ETSY, Amazon or Craigslist, a lot can be said about setting up shop and having your very own online storefront.  Each website listed here requires very little input from you which makes online selling the perfect source of supplemental income for you and your family.  You can sleep and still make money.  That’s a great arrangement if you ask me!
• Freelance. Are you an aspiring writer or graphic designer?  Do you have Internet access at home?  If you answered yes, then I have another source of income for you.  Websites like oDesk, Elance, and iFreelancer allow you to set-up a profile, name your price, and search through a database of potential jobs.  If writing is your thing, you could always think about writing for Demand Media. There are even iPhone apps for many of these three services which makes following up on a potential gig that much easier.
• Join a bartering network and get items for free opposed to shelling out your hard earned cash for them. I’m personally a big fan of Swap.com, PaperbackSwap, and thredUp.  Hundreds of these types of sites exist.  By being creative, you can make do with whatever income you are earning and still live what is thought to be a luxurious life.  Save money on everything you can by swapping with others.
• Start a blog and capitalize on paid advertising. Sell space on your blog to advertisers.  Also set up a Google Adsense account.  This will allow you to capitalize on ad revenue on a monthly basis.  You can sign into your free account at any time to track your profits. If you’ve been following Generation X Finance since the beginning you may recall that this site was started as just a weekend hobby and didn’t make a dime. Today it’s a full-time business. You never know what could happen.

Any passive or even semi-passive  income that you make can improve your finances tremendously.  You can use it to pad your savings account, pay off some debt, or to make a much needed repair to your home or vehicle.  The point here is to use your imagination.  If you can conceive it and it makes you money, then it is definitely worth looking into. And don’t discount the little things. The founder of Entrepreneur Magazine has often said that it’s easier to find ten ways to make $1,000 than it is to find one way to make $10,000. It’s true on any scale. If your goal is just to bring in an extra $250 a month don’t look at it as finding some new business idea that suddenly generates that money. Instead, maybe look for five different ways to make or save just $50 a month. You’ll find it’s a lot easier to reach your goals when they are broken into manageable chunks.