Increase your income by doing what you love.

The first part of the Magical Formula for Financial Successincludes maximizing your income. Yes, I’m recommending you get some side gigs. This doesn’t have to be a chore, though! I’ve done a number of random, crazy, fun jobs on the side for extra cash. My dad always said that Jay Leno taughthim something about making money. Jay made a comment once on his show about how you should try to pay your bills with your hobbies. This has stuck with me and I’ve tried to live by it. Here are some ways to start making money with a fun side-hustle.

My Money-Making Hobbies

Freelance Social Media Contractor – I create social media campaigns for companies to increase their audience engagement, awareness and website traffic.

Zumba and Pound Fitness Instructor – For 4 years now, I have been teaching Zumba while going to school. This one not only makes me money, but it keeps me in shape. I know

Weekend Photo Booths – Whenever my contact needs me, I will take a few hours out of my Friday or Saturday night to set up and run a photo booth at weddings or events. I get to work with some cool people, I get delicious catered food and it’s an easy hundred dollars just for giving up one night. I highly recommend finding an opportunity like this in your area.

Other Ideas

• Starbucks barista (you know I love my coffee!)
• E-commerce (blogging, vlogging, etc.)
• Freelance
• Writing
• Photography
• Graphics
• Logos
• Social Media Campaigns

What do you do for extra cash? Share your ideas in the comments below!

Keep growing.

-College Cents

Create a timeline and manageable goals to pay off your student loans quicker!

Some of my graduated friends are paying off their school loans within 2 – 3 years and they have shared how they do it! My personal goal is to pay off my student loans within 2 years of graduating, and I’m eager to get on top of it now rather than later. After talking to my financially intelligent friends, this is what they recommend:

1. Pick up side-hustles.
This doesn’t have to be a chore – get creative to find something you’re interested in! This could be a weekend gig or an in-between class type of job. Whatever you can do to increase your income definely helps your financial status –it’s the fist step. The next step mastering how you take care of your money or make your money work for you. But we’ll get there.

2. Skip the Extras
This is everybody’s least favorite part of paying off loans (besides giving gobs of money away at a time). I firmly believe that you don’t have to skip your daily coffee to be financially successful. However, in this particular stage of your journey to wealth, you have to pack lightly –which means make your own coffee for a while. Here’s some ideas to lower your expenses:

• Get rid of your premium account on Spotify.
• Do your own manicures.
• Try tanning lotion rather than a monthly tanning membership.
• See if a parent will contribute to your financial success –ask them to pay for your Netflix.
• Ditch cable – get Netflix or Hulu.
• Ride your bike or walk when possible 
• DON’T EAT OUT (so much)! Start saving on groceries.
• Comment below with more ideas!

3. Get a Roommate
If you’re following the Magical Formula for Financial Success, you’re trying to maximize your income and lower your expenses. A huge way to save on your monthly spending is to find a roommate. A great website that connects you with potential roommates is http://www.roommates.com.

4. Make money while you sleep.
There are TONS of ways to make money online, and my favorite is the idea of making money while you sleep. If you create a blog, video, membership site or downloadable file (such as an e-book or PDF), people around the world are viewing your content and making you money. Find what you have that others want and sell it online.

5. Pay off your subsidized loans first
The difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans is that the government is paying the interest for you while you’re in school with subsidized loans. With unsubsidized loans, the interest keeps accumulating while you’re in the classroom. These are the loans you want to pay of AS SOON as you can.


All of these tips are simply creative ways to follow the Magic Formula for Financial Success. Have you found more ways? Share it with us all in the comments below!

Keep growing.

-College Cents

Photo found on http://bit.ly/1WsMeWs 

There is one formula that, should you follow it, will GAURANTEE that you will never go in the red. It may seem like common sense, but nearly 30% of Americans are in debt, according to CBS News. Are you ready? Here it is: make sure your income > expenses. Tah –dah! Don’t spend more than you have. I don’t mean to come off as mocking, but while this may be basic knowledge, an incredible amount of people don’t follow it.

Do you need the $40,000 car when you only have $10,000 to spend? (The answer is no, if you are serious about this Money Thing.) When you borrow money, what you owe is never just the sticker price, but a ridiculous amount more, because of the interest rates. This is how people fall into thousands and thousands of dollars of credit card debt. (However, credit cards aren’t evil! In fact, they’re incredibly helpful, when used right). Basically, if you don’t have the money already, don’t spend it.

If you’re like me, at a college that you couldn’t afford on your own, then you have some debt. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about that too. I just want to set up a basic framework for how we are going to look at this whole Money Thing. Getting out of debt is step one. Step two is using the magical formula to never be in debt again. Finally, we’re going to look at how to make your money work and grow for you. Today’s formula was common sense; but we’re in this for the long haul – college cents.