When I had 6 months to do whatever I could to earn and save money, best believe I got stuck in very swiftly and worked very hard. It was so worth all my efforts because I managed to stay motivated and save even more than I was expecting to! As far as I'm concerned, whether you are fresh out of high school, studying or completed your studies, there is a job (or two) out there for you. You have to start somewhere so don't be too picky, and remember that a job isn't just going to fall on your lap while you're watching series reruns on the couch. Go out there and make some money! Here are some ways you can do so:
Earning
Waitress/Bartender
I cannot tell you how much hesitation I had when a friend of mine mentioned they were looking for waitresses at this small Irish pub in Durban North (close to my varsity). I was slowly becoming financially independent from my parents and needed to prove to them that I could save money for my overseas trip, so I thought lets try this whole waitress thing! Well I can't tell you how much I learnt about myself and how much respect I gained for people in the service industry.
On top of that I learnt people skills (talking to complete strangers all day) and I could choose what shifts I wanted each week. Not only is this one of the most versatile jobs to have, there is no excuse to miss lectures or other commitments. If I wanted to work every night of the week and make as much as possible I could, and if I wanted to take a break to go back home and visit my parents that was also fine. I went from waitressing at that small Irish pub to being a bartender at a very prestigious bar in Umhlanga. Find a bar or restaurant close to where you live or study, and you will make friends and earn easy money.
Aupair
To find an aupair job you have to do a bit of networking. Leave your C.V or a flyer at schools or with mothers in the car park, look on job sites such as Careers24 and Gumtree, or sign up to www.aupairsa.co.za and get matched with a family. I was lucky enough to have got my aupair job through a friend of a friend, and it really is an awesome job if you work well with children.
Depending on how much the parents need from you, aupair jobs vary from just picking up and dropping off from school and extra activities, or it could be making snacks, doing homework and playing games with them. You just have to be straight-forward with the parents in terms of how many hours you are willing to work per day. As an aupair you also get paid per kilometer you drive, and its so much fun thinking up places to go and activities to do with them.
Tutor
If you want to be a tutor you need to decide whether you have good teaching skills, especially if you are tutoring at a high school level. Think of which subjects you really enjoyed and got good grades for in high school and focus on tutoring based on your strengths. If you are anything like me for example, you shouldn't teach maths if you hate maths! Similarly to finding an aupair job, ask around and leave flyers with your name and number. There are lots of kids who learn better one on one so take advantage of the opportunity and charge by the hour.
Promoter
I'm pretty sure most people have done at least one promotion in their lives! Promotions are so popular cause you don't have to have any qualifications to do them. Some promo's require guys and girls of a specific look, age and ethnicity, and others are more laid back. There is a variation of promo's such as competitions, golf days, handing out flyers, events, conventions and so on. The only thing is that they can be inconsistent, but I have always found that if you stick with one particular promo company and do a good job, they tend to call you up first. Try these promotion companies in Durban, or else just do a quick search as to which promo companies are in your area.
- Purple Rocket
- Veritas
- Isilumko Media
- Connexit
- Point Blank
- Car Time
House sitter
House sitting is another one of those inconsistent jobs, but why not do it as a side thing, especially when you are only required to be there at night or to feed pets. People need to know they can trust you, so you will usually only get this opportunity with friends and family to begin with, but build up your rep and people will start referring you to others. I once house sat a home that had a room full of live snakes in glass cages- you're going to experience some weird stuff I'm sure!
Sales Rep
Being a sales rep is awesome because you are pretty much your own boss. You decide how much you want to sell, how much time you are going to spend doing so, and you get to keep all your commission! Not only that, you can also purchase products for yourself at cost price- can it get any better than that? Anyone can be a sales rep if you have your own car and a good credit score. Even if you don't have a car, you can attempt door to door sales like they did back in the day. I cant promise you wont get a few doors slammed in your face though!
Build up your customer numbers by handing out adverts, booklets and flyers with your name, number and email address. reach out to friends, family members, schools and people at work. The most well-known sales rep companies are Honey and Avon, but do some research about other good quality brands.
Saving
Go without
My guilty pleasures are shoes, magazines, smoothies at gym and BBQ chicken pancakes from Woolworths (they will change your LIFE). During the time that I was grafting and saving like a machine, best believe I had to go without these guilty pleasures. I literally cut them out because they were unnecessary items that I could live without (not as easily though, I might add).
In the long run I appreciated cutting back on the luxuries, and realised that all those small things add up over days and weeks. I learnt how to make homemade smoothies, and borrowed magazines from my mom after she read them.
Savings Account
I don't know if every bank offers this option, but the best thing is to get a 30-day interest savings account linked to your normal account. All you do is go into your bank and ask one of the finance clerks to create and link it. It only takes a few minutes to set up and works instantly.
The beauty of this type of savings account is that your money earns interest while it is sitting in your account, and you are not able to draw money out of your savings account unless you go into the bank and ask for it. Even then, you will only be able to access your money after 30 days. You therefore have no choice but to save money because you would have to make a conscious well-thought out decision to have the money accessible to you.
Being disciplined
When putting money into your savings account, you have to form a routine and stay disciplined. This is especially difficult when you are getting paid in cash. If you have to deposit cash, do so as soon as you can to avoid spending it just because its simply sitting in your purse.
There is a whole mindset that if we have money we must spend it- so stop yourself from making excuses and save it instead! If you tell yourself that every Monday (or the beginning of the month) you are going to put a specific amount of money into your savings account, then you will mindfully make sure that a) you have earned enough to put away and b) you can't spend it. x
No comments :
Post a Comment