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Advice/How To

Easy ways to make some extra money

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By: Brayden Marsh

Photo by John Guccione http://www.advergroup.com on Pexels.com

Everyone at some point in their life has wanted a couple more bucks whether it be for investing and saving or spending. I believe that it’s important for everyone to have enough money to be able to do all of these things comfortably, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by one of these things and forget the other ones and overdo it. I also think it’s important for everyone to monitor their spending and saving habits as the more you pay attention to those, the more you learn about your habits and how to improve them. This guide will not only explain how to make extra money, but how to also make it seem like you’re making extra money by just avoiding certain purchases.

1.    Wants and needs

It is extremely important to differentiate between your wants and needs, and if you are able to differentiate them well and for the most part only buy needs, it will appear you have made money, when in reality you just didn’t spend it in the first place. This is arguably the simplest, but also most difficult idea to follow through on. The idea is that if it is not necessary for living comfortably you probably don’t need it as much as you think you do.

A good example of this is junk food. Whether it’s fast food or candy, it all makes an impact on our spending habits. The biggest issue with junk food is that its so cheap you barely even think about it when you buy it, but eating it often can stack up extremely fast. The average person spends about $148 per month on fast food. While this might not seem like a lot for a month’s worth, this is $1,776 worth of fast food in 1 year. If we multiply this by the average amount of years a person spends in the workforce, this adds up to almost $80,000. Now obviously this number isn’t accurate for most people, because eating habits change with time, but regardless, this is a huge chunk of money that could be saved and used in better areas.

While junk food is a very big part of this topic, it’s only 1 side of it. Just about every day we buy something that we don’t really need and it’s important to recognize this and save the money instead. More good examples of this might be expensive clothing, expensive hair products or makeup, technology, accessories for your living space, and lots of other things.

A good rule to follow is called the 48 hour rule. This rule says that if you want an item, wait 48 hours before buying it and chances are you won’t want it as much anymore. If you can recognize your wants and needs when shopping, you will most likely save significant amounts of money that you didn’t think you could.

2.    Side hustles

Side hustles are a very common way of making extra money that have gained significant popularity within the past few years. Some big examples of this might be selling or reselling stuff online, pet or baby sitting, seasonal yard work for neighbors, simple landscaping jobs, and the list goes on. Although side hustles may not provide enough money to live on, they do generate some extra income if you have the time to do so.

Some side hustles may be better than others at generating income, and some may be more laborious than others, but there are practically unlimited options you can choose from. Side hustles can also be very experimental, meaning you can try something you come up with and see if it works. Many side hustles are also cheap and quick to start and are easy to change up, meaning if one doesn’t work, it isn’t very difficult to switch to another. Overall, side hustles are a great way to generate some income quickly.

3.    Investing and saving

While it might not be fast, investing and saving are some of, if not the best ways, to make passive income and is too important to not mention. The easiest way to save is to put some of your money in a savings account and let it sit, as a regular savings account has an interest rate of about 0.39%-0.45% per year, which means every year your money will grow exponentially by that amount. Putting money in a savings account is very safe, the only risks being the bank failing, in which case each person would fund up to $250,000 per person, and the other case being inflation lowering the value of your money in savings and the inflation rate beating the interest rate.

The other main option is investing in stocks. This option is more risky due to you investing money in businesses that can potentially lower in value, or even go bankrupt. However, this method is also extremely profitable and works a lot faster than savings accounts. The S&P 500 is an index fund that when bought, splits your money to the top 500 biggest businesses. Historically, the S&P 500 goes up in value about 10% every year, and your money grows exponentially. This means that if you put $10,000 in the S&P, it’s predicted to be about $11,000 the next year, $12,100 the next year, and by the 50th year, this number would be $1,067,190.

However, this is not guaranteed. When big changes happen in the world, this can impact the S&P in ways that may bring the value up or down, meaning you can also lose money on it. Some years it might go 5% up, some years it might be 15% up, and some years it might go down 10%. For example in 2022, the S&P dropped about 19.4% mainly because of high inflation rates and technology not doing great that year. Although these aren’t the only ways to generate passive income, they are both fairly reliable and the most commonly used ways to make some money.

Conclusion

People often won’t use these methods because of laziness, risk factors, and it takes a lot of time, effort, experience and information to use each of these methods to make extra money. However, these methods are also almost always worth the time and effort to try.

Advice/How To

How to care for hedgehogs

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By: Maya Song

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Hedgehogs are considered to be exotic pets, thus the care for them needs to be understood before purchasing one. A pet hedgehog’s life span is usually 4-6 years but they can live up to over 8 years. Most hedgehogs are nocturnal so when you’re awake they’ll most likely be sleeping but there are a few species of hedgehogs that are diurnal.

Can hedgehogs even be house pets? While most of the United States thinks that is completely fine, the few states and areas that disagree are: Georgia, Hawaii, California, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and the five boroughs of New York City. Even though hedgehogs are not native to North America they have been becoming more popular as pets.

If you keep a pet hedgehog you need to make sure they have plenty of things to do to occupy themselves such as toys; items like balls, stuffed animals, and small cars are very common. Hedgehogs are naturally very curious animals and love to explore, so things like tunnels and tubes would also be a good idea. It must also be kept in mind that hedgehogs need exercise so a pet exercise wheel is highly recommended.

The hedgehog’s diet is very large so you need to be making sure everything you give your hedgehog is safe and healthy for them. A few examples of food for your hedgehog would be things like: cat food, dog food, meats, mice, insects, caterpillars, mealworms, earthworms, eggs, bananas, cherries, watermelon, fruit, berry, peaches, kiwi, vegetables, apple, broccoli, leafy greens, pears, and papaya. These foods are examples of what to feed your hedgehog on a daily basis. It is recommended that hedgehogs eat at least once a day with 3-4 teaspoons per serving.

If you choose to own a hedgehog you must be prepared in order to be successful. Making sure that the hedgehog has items to occupy itself with, food to eat, and making sure that it’s legal to own it should be considered. That being said, they are adorable, and worth the effort.

Advice/How To

Some things to know before getting a cat 

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By: Jooney Freddieson & Aalovely Lor

Planning on getting a cat? Here are some important things you should know before adopting.

Before owning a cat there are several things you should consider like: financial cost, health care, environment, and whether you want to keep it indoors or outdoors.

Initial Cost

First you should consider adopting from a local shelter or a rescue organization instead of choosing a breeder which costs a lot more money.

When adopting from a shelter there are options for vaccinations, microchips, and spaying/neutering.

The average cost of vaccinations for cats usually falls under 10$-50$ per shot depending on what type of vaccines.

Microchips are a small device that’s injected into a cat’s skin that links to their owners. This helps you identify where your cat might be if they get lost or run away from home. These usually cost 20$.

Spaying/Neutering is a surgical procedure that removes a female cat’s uterus and a male cat’s testicles to prevent them from reproducing. When I (Jooney) got my male cat neutered the cost came to about 115$. It depends on what clinic/vet you go to but the average cost falls between 100$-200$.

This is useful if you don’t plan on having more cats or to prevent your male cats from aggression and female cats from mammary cancer.

Initial Needs

Cats require essential needs like food, water, litter box, toys, and scratching posts. This is an ongoing cost and a financial investment that is required when owning a cat.

Since cats are independent they often require lots of space. They need room for their food/water bowls, litter box, and vertical space for them to climb.

According to Cats.org.uk, it’s important for cats to have something to scratch. Scratching is natural behavior, so they’ll consistently need a place to go to when they need to get their claws into something. This could be a scratch post or allowing them to go outside and cling onto trees.

You should be committed, having time dedicated out of your day to tend to them. Despite their independence, they still require interaction and attention daily.

Another thing to take into consideration about commitment is that healthy cats live up to 12-18 years, some even go up to 20. If you’re only willing to dedicate 3 years or less to that cat you should rethink your decision. 

Indoor Cat vs Outdoor Cat

Indoor cats and outdoor cats each have their own pros and cons.

Indoor cats have a longer lifespan than outdoor cats. Their lifespan is around 12-18 years while outdoor cats fall between 5-10 years, which is a huge difference.

Another thing to consider with indoor cats, according to Sfspca.org, they could suffer from boredom which leads to stress and behavioral problems. Cats need to be able to roam around and consistently have things to do or focus on.

Although outdoor cats have their freedom, this allows them to be at a higher risk for diseases, injuries, and getting lost.

Vaccinations play an important role in your cat’s life, whether they’re an indoor or outdoor cat. If your cat is actively outside, you’ll want to go into the vet for regular deworming and checkups.

If you’re planning on allowing your cat to be an outdoor cat, it’s important to consider installing a fence in which they can’t escape your area and other cats can’t roam in.

If you’re planning on keeping an indoors cat, offer them plenty of enrichment and play time. It’s important to make sure your cat stays healthy by keeping them stimulated and going.

In the end, your cat could be an indoor cat who loves going outside. It’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s what you want.

Final decision

After reading this article and you feel positive about your decision, go for it! There are many cats looking for a place to call home and that could be yours.

If you’re having doubts, take more time to think about it. Not everything listed should affect your decision, but they’re important things to consider.

Advice/How To

Procrastination: How to break the habit

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By: Hermekay Dehaney  

Photo by Mat Brown on Pexels.com

The definition of procrastination is, “The act of delaying something that you should do, usually because you do not want to do it.” It’s safe to say that the majority of us have had this habit once in our lifetime, by telling ourselves, “I’ll start tomorrow,” when it comes to delaying doing our homework, chores, or studying.

It’s often frustrating dealing with such a habit, especially if you want to be a person who’s always on top of assignments, but it’s harder to say than do, which often leads to self-criticism.

But how exactly do you break free from this habit? 

Well, for starters, we need to identify the six types of procrastinators. The types of procrastinators are not based on personalities, so you don’t have to  fall under one specific type. Your reason for procrastinating can change based on factors and experiences on what you’re procrastinating from. So yes, it’s likely you can fall into different styles. 

Knowing which one you are in that moment is a step closer to breaking the habit, as different strategies work best for different types. Here is a breakdown of the six types: 

  1. The perfectionist: They avoid starting or finishing tasks for fear of not being able to do them perfectly.  Dr. Linda Sapadin says, “The perfectionist pays too much attention to detail, and you would think a perfectionist does not procrastinate, but that’s not true because a perfectionist pays so much attention to detail that they often can’t finish a project.”

Tips:  Focus on progress rather than perfection – remind yourselves that it’s okay to make mistakes. Set realistic over idealistic goals, you can start by making time limits for yourselves when doing an assignment to avoid spending a lot of time obsessing over it. 

  1. The dreamer: Puts off tasks because they are not good at paying attention to detail. Similar to perfectionists, they have big ideas, but dreamers struggle with taking action. 

Tips: Create a to-do list, make small daily goals that are achievable that are realistic, and set a realistic time to do it. That doesn’t mean giving up on your bigger long-term goals, set time apart regularly to do them, little by little, it will eventually build up over time. 

  1. The worrier:  This is usually the “what ifs”; they overthink to the point where they fear failing, so they avoid the task altogether.

Tips:  A quote by George Clooney says, “The only failure is not to try.” By letting fear overthrow you, that will allow you to never see your full potential. Try to prioritize important tasks and create a clear plan. Worrying is often a sign of anxiety, so try to share concerns with trusted and supportive friends and family, or a therapist. Try to alleviate fear to the best of your ability by meditation, and journaling.

  1. The defier: They procrastinate because they don’t like being told what to do. 

Tips: Try to turn assignments into a personal task rather than an obligation. Set a personal schedule when you want to accomplish an assignment, this tip will help you feel in control. 

  1. Crisis-maker: They purposely put off tasks because they like the adrenaline of working under pressure. 

Tips: Try to find healthier habits for using adrenaline, such as sports. Try to start assignments on time by rewarding yourself when you do. Create your own earlier deadline as well as a small competition with yourself for each task to avoid last-minute rushing. 

  1.  Over-doer: Takes on too many tasks at once, leading to a struggle to find the time to complete all of the tasks. 

Tips: Try to create a to-do list, make sure to prioritize the more important tasks first such as studying for a big summative. Don’t burn yourself out, maybe set 1-2 hours a day to doing 2 assignments, make sure to give yourselves 10-15 minute breaks in between. 

Staying consistent might not be easy, but when you try, you will notice a difference in your everyday life. 

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Advice/How To

Learning how to love yourself

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By: Kate Tabor

Image created with ChatGPT

Learning how to love yourself is something that everyone always preaches about, but how do you actually practice self love? Well, it starts with focusing on yourself, and being the best version of you that you can be, which can be tricky.

In order to focus on yourself, you need to let go of other people’s opinions of you. Validation is always nice, but the only person you really need it from is yourself. As long as you’re happy with yourself, nobody else’s opinion matters.

Focusing on yourself doesn’t stop with that though. Start doing things for yourself that you want to do. For example, joining a gym, like the JCC, joining a club, trying a new sport, exploring a new hiking trail, etc. It doesn’t always have to take you out of your comfort zone either, maybe you’re letting yourself take a break, staying in more often, letting yourself relax. It’s important to have a mix of putting yourself out there, and knowing when to let yourself take a break.

In order to move forward and love yourself, you need to let go of the past. Let go of all the things you think you should’ve done, and all the things you wish you hadn’t. You can’t change the past, so there’s no point of holding on to it. Reflect on those moments, accept what happened, and take your newfound wisdom with you into future experiences.

Start accepting the parts of yourself and your life that you can’t change. Life can be hard, but it’s those moments that matter the most, and that make you who you are. Let yourself go through pain in order to overcome it. Then, take a step back, and appreciate what you gained from that situation. Find the good in every situation you find yourself in. You can’t love yourself if you bury the experiences that made you who you are.

Everything happens for a reason, and you won’t be able to fully appreciate your wins if you don’t let yourself feel your losses.

Be the person you can always count on to give you love.

Advice/How To

Why are dogs a good pet to have?

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By: Isabel Strack

There are many benefits to owning a dog. Here are some of the health benefits that a person may get from having a dog as a pet.

Dogs are good pets to have because they can help you feel less alone. Dogs can help a lot with your mental and physical health and they can help you even when other people can’t. Owning a dog can lower your chance of feeling socially isolated, which can reduce the risks of heart attacks. When someone is socially isolated it can affect your mental health.

Dogs encourage you to move and get out of the house. Owners spend almost 300 minutes every week walking their dog. That is 200 more minutes of walking than for people who aren’t pet owners. When walking your dog, it can make you look more approachable and give someone a good conversation starter. Researchers found that about 40% of dog owners have a easier time meeting new people and making new friends. Dog owners can interact with more people like other dog owners they encounter on their daily walks.

Dogs can help lower your stress level. Many studies have shown that dogs can help relieve stress and anxiety. Just petting a dog that you may know can help lower your blood pressure, slow your breathing, and help relax tense muscles. Research has shown that a bond between humans and dogs can lower your stress levels, which is a big cause of cardiovascular problems.

Dogs help you increase your activities. They give you reasons to go outside and get physical activity everyday. Dogs force you to get up and move. A research study has found that people who own dogs are more likely to do regular physical activities, then for people that don’t own any dogs. They require daily exercise. Over time this exercise can help strengthen your muscles, bones and joints. You might notice that your usual walk or run with your dog will start to feel easier.

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