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Let’s get one thing straight: we know that saving up is hard to do. The cost of living has risen exponentially over the last decade, and with so many things young people are likely to spend on—travel, eating out, new phones and laptops, shopping—saving up for a new home is something that a lot of people will find almost impossible to do.
But let’s also get another thing straight: Millenials are interested in buying homes. According to Lamudi, most of the property seekers for both condominiums and houses are people aged 25-34 years old with the top areas being in Quezon City, Paranaque, Las Pinas, and Pasig within NCR. For condominiums, unsurprisingly, the preferred locations are Makati, Quezon City, and BGC.
With this in mind, how can Millenials start earning extra for their dream home? The thing is, before finding ways to earn extra to be able to afford a new home, you need to commit that this is a priority for you and that means cultivating an investment mindset. Millennial spending habits are always characterized to be focused on the now: they’d rather spend on eating out, traveling, booking a new adventure or going on a road trip. But if you really want to save up for a new home, you should develop thinking long-term: while a house of your own is not an immediate need, this is something that will benefit you ten to 20 years from now. Once you make this a priority, everything else will follow.
So now that you’re sure that you want to earn extra so you can start saving up for a home, here are a few suggestions that won’t involve you becoming an influencer and start monetizing your social media clout:
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Be a freelance writer or editor
If you are a writer by nature, there are a lot of freelance writing jobs you can take on. A lot of websites need freelance SEO writers to populate their sites with content, and this is something you can do after you get home from your full-time job and at the comfort of our own home. You can even choose to contribute to publications if the opportunity arises.
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Be a part-time financial adviser
As the Philippines is largely an under-insured country, the potential for growth in the insurance industry is big. It would be wise to get training from the big and reputable life insurance companies, and most of them do not really have strict quotas for their agents. If you like talking to people and helping them out, this is one of the more ideal ways to earn extra as it is also something you can do on weekends, or you can even meet up with your potential clients after work.
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Start an online store
Do you have a cookie recipe that your friends have always raved about? Are you able to source designer bags cheaply to sell for profit? The advent of social media now makes it so much easier to sell things online. You only need to be very smart about it since a lot of people are doing it already, but don’t let that deter you: that means there’s so much business potential to be tapped! It would be good to focus on a specialty: you can do designer bags, swimsuits, beach gear, anything! Isn’t that exciting?
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Do consultancy work
You actually probably already do this for free: friends who go to you for marketing advice, social media management inputs, favors to edit videos for weddings or events. You can now start charging for that talent you are readily giving away for free. Don’t feel guilty if you start telling people that you can’t do these favors for free. Real friends will support you, and decent people will readily pay for things that take a lot of talent to do.
After earning extra money, you also need to make sure your monthly expenses stay the same. This means that you have to adhere to a strict budget. On paper, it seems easy — allot money for bills, groceries, just one movie a month, no shopping for clothes and shoes that you don’t need. In reality, you’ll need more than commitment and follow-through.
Remember how elderly people would always tell you ‘if there’s a will, there’s a way’? This is why it’s so important to have an investment mindset: because there’s so much sacrifice and hard work involved. Choosing to earn extra by taking on extra jobs will also mean saying no to a lot of things: a relaxing weekend, going straight home after work or drinks with your colleagues because you have to work on your other stuff. But when you finally step inside a home that you call your own? All that sacrifice will be worth it.
Sources: Real Living PH
Read our previous journal for more features.
