Scenario A: You make decent money but it never feels like enough. So you track every expense, meal prep, cancel subscriptions, buy generic brands. You’re doing everything “right” but progress feels slow. Scenario B: Your income isn’t consistent, so instead of cutting back more, you’re finding ways to make extra - freelancing, side gigs, overtime, whatever works. More money in = more financial breathing room.
That’s a tough one . The younger me would have definitely chosen option B, but I’m at a point where I’m prioritizing stability and managing what I already have. It’s option A for me.
Option A for me because honestly… I’m too tired for hustle life.
Right now I’m just trying to control what I can, budgeting, cutting back, being more intentional,a nd hoping that consistency pays off.
For me, it’s making more money My needs are a lot and I love a luxurious life and one income won’t cover all my perfumes and clothes. I buy nice things and I don’t mind working harder for it.
I have tracked my finances item by item for about seven years now and I can say with confidence that I see the trees and miss the forest. I.e. I’m great at avoiding little expenditures, horrible with big stuff like trips, which cost more than a thousand cups of coffee when you add them up.
Great question. I’m somewhere in both but I started with Option A.
Budgeting gave me real visibility into my spending and exposed a few weak spots​, which helps make sure extra income doesn’t just disappear into higher spending.
Try to have as many side hustles as possible because even small increments will add up and you’ll get surprised when you have an abundant amount sitting there
Why is it we don’t count those mini purchases like our guilty pleasures? Like for me a bag of chips that’s $1.75 CDN and never factor in how many times a year we do it?
Example:
I buy that bag of chips about 25 times a year, so just over twice a year.
25 x $1.75 = $43.75 annually…
I also do that for Tim Hortons but double that number and $0.75 more on each as I get the x-large size of coffee.
50 x $2.50 = $125.00 annually…
I also smoke cigarettes so that’s another…
$960.00 annually…
So in total I COULD be saving annually just from these 3 items roughly $1128.75 annually.
I have been doing this for 15 years roughly…
So just from those items I could have banked without interest profit building upon it:
$16931.25!
Ugh, now I shake my head as I head outside for another cigarette lol
. The younger me would have definitely chosen option B, but I’m at a point where I’m prioritizing stability and managing what I already have. It’s option A for me.