u/SheKnowsThingss

Did you buy something for yourself?

Give money to your parents?

Save it?

Invest it?

What do you think is the best way to spend it???

so for years i heard "diversify your income" and pictured myself running an etsy shop at 11pm after my day job, hating my life. tried it. quit after 3 months. made like $40 total.

turns out i had the order completely backwards.

here's what actually worked, in the order i did it:

1. got paid more for what i already knew how to do

before touching anything "passive," i just... asked for more money at my actual job, and picked up freelance work in the same skillset. no new skills needed, no startup cost. this alone did more for my finances than anything else on this list.

2. turned that same skill into something repeatable

once i had a few freelance clients, i noticed i was answering the same questions over and over. so i made a template/guide out of it and started selling that instead of my time. this took maybe a weekend to set up and still makes more per hour than the freelancing did.

3. the boring middle everyone skips, just investing consistently

nothing exciting here. just automated a chunk into index funds every month and didn't touch it. this is the one nobody wants to talk about because it's not a "hustle," it's just time + consistency.

4. only THEN did i look at bigger stuff (real estate, etc)

and honestly still haven't pulled the trigger on this one. it needs capital the first 3 steps build up, and i see so many people trying to start here first and getting overwhelmed/broke.

the actual lesson: everyone tells you to diversify income like it's one big leap. it's not, it's a ladder. you use the income from step 1 to fund step 2, etc. trying to start at step 3 or 4 with nothing behind you is why it feels impossible.

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so for years i heard "diversify your income" and pictured myself running an etsy shop at 11pm after my day job, hating my life. tried it. quit after 3 months. made like $40 total.

turns out i had the order completely backwards.

here's what actually worked, in the order i did it:

1. got paid more for what i already knew how to do

before touching anything "passive," i just... asked for more money at my actual job, and picked up freelance work in the same skillset. no new skills needed, no startup cost. this alone did more for my finances than anything else on this list.

2. turned that same skill into something repeatable

once i had a few freelance clients, i noticed i was answering the same questions over and over. so i made a template/guide out of it and started selling that instead of my time. this took maybe a weekend to set up and still makes more per hour than the freelancing did.

3. the boring middle everyone skips, just investing consistently

nothing exciting here. just automated a chunk into index funds every month and didn't touch it. this is the one nobody wants to talk about because it's not a "hustle," it's just time + consistency.

4. only THEN did i look at bigger stuff (real estate, etc)

and honestly still haven't pulled the trigger on this one. it needs capital the first 3 steps build up, and i see so many people trying to start here first and getting overwhelmed/broke.

the actual lesson: everyone tells you to diversify income like it's one big leap. it's not, it's a ladder. you use the income from step 1 to fund step 2, etc. trying to start at step 3 or 4 with nothing behind you is why it feels impossible.

I (27F) have been married for a couple of years and my husband (27M) is brining in about $925 a week. We’re in the South and I think I have been brainwashed into thinking my husband cant earn more. To paint our financial issues briefly, we have: 2 kids, close to 30k in credit card debt, a bachelors degree each, and side jobs. I make a teachers salary but my checks are very humble due to our health insurance. I take home about $1,300 every two weeks and am currently working on my masters. I’ve started serving tables this summer to pay down the debt. I’m at a point where I need a reality check. I may be engaging in too much comparison but I cannot feel slighted that my husband does not work in his degree field and also does not try to look for better work. He landed this job after being fired from another and promised to look for better work but hasn’t. He also started and stopped a masters. When I brought up to him that he had $12,000 in his bank account when he was 19 and has never even been close to that amount of money again he could not engage any further. I also brought up that he consciously opted out of retirement for the last 6 years despite having a freaking economics degree. I was trying to suggest that that be a wake up call to him and that if he could do it then, he could do it now. I just don’t see why my husband went down this path of indifference and lack of motivation. I am sorry to say that when I was falling in love with my college sweetheart that I didnt think he’d end up being a construction worker where we can barely make ends meet and would go in to CC debt to survive. I thought I was getting a lawyer, an accountant, a financial advisor… something. I fear that I got trapped with hope, potential, words, and a baby. I’m looking for advice in every direction I guess but mainly my mindset. I want more. I am working towards more. However, every time I look beside me it’s like I’m looking at my the man sabotaging my life. I am the point of wanting to break free or give him an ultimatum because he is not working with me and we do not have the same goals.