How Can a Fall Side Hustle Boost My Holiday Budget?

Ralph00:00:00

Hey, listen, the holidays are just around the corner. Yes, I know it's August, but trust me, they're just around the corner and so are the expenses. You know, those gifts, the travel and those gatherings.So let me ask you this question. Does the thought of holiday bills fill you with dread and financial stress?But what if you could effortlessly boost your budget and approach the season with financial peace and not panic? Well, stick with me because I've got some great tips on exactly how to make that happen and I'm going to share those on today's show.

Podcast Announcer00:00:33

This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Ralph00:00:44

Hey there and welcome back to your daily Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph and I am so happy that you've chosen to join me as we celebrate Christmas in the summertime.Well, as we always do, we're trying to answer that big question and that's how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we're well in our series of smart money for back to school and beyond. So today we're really talking about that beyond time.I want to help equip you and your family for a thriving school year and also start thinking about what's going to happen at year end.Now yesterday we talked about one of those big year end things and that was getting organized for year end tax planning now to save your stress later. So I hope you caught it. If you didn't, you can check out all of our episodes at Financially Confident Christian.Now today we're building on that by exploring a practical way to boost your income. Yeah. As fall approaches and the holidays loom, I'm going to share some great ideas for fall side hustles. Yeah. How to make a little extra money.So today I'm going to answer this question. How can a fall side hustle boost my holiday budget? Hey, you know what?If you're like me, you got this feeling, you're already starting to approach the holiday season with some financial anxiety.You're thinking about all the gifts and maybe you've got some travel to do and you know, you've got these expenses ahead of you for gifts like I mentioned and maybe travel and those, those big elaborate festive meals or hey, maybe those decorations. You want to really do some over the top decorations this year.You know that stuff is coming and you're starting to feel that your current income just isn't going to be enough to cover everything that you want to do without derailing your budget or maybe Even worse, a lot of us find ourselves in this at year end piling on debt. And see, the problem is if you don't start to plan for that now, like most people, you're going to rely on credit cards for holiday spending.And that's truly going to sacrifice other financial goals like paying off debt or saving for retirement or building up that emergency fund that creates this massive pressure of holiday spending without having adequate funds. And unfortunately for many of us, it turns a time meant for joy and generosity and into a financial strain and a time of financial regret.But here's the thing. Fall also offers some unique side hustle opportunities. Hey, there's a bunch of seasonal needs. There's people that need help with holiday prep.So I thought as I was preparing for the show, what about engaging in a side hustle to be proactive in creating some financial margin? Because truly this is an act of diligent stewardship.So let's talk about some of the biblical principles surrounding this biblical principle number one. Hey, if you don't understand this, in the Bible, the Bible calls us to hard work and specifically hard work brings profit.Look at the book of Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 23. It says it as clearly as can be said. It says this, all hard work brings a profit. But mere talk leads only to poverty.Hey, listen, if you listen to my show every day, you know, I talk about intentions are great, but it's action that makes a difference. So that's exactly what this is saying. All hard work brings a profit.But mere talk, hey, if you're just talking, you know where you're going to end up. As the Bible says, you're going to end up in poverty. Well, more practically, you're going to end up in debt.You're not going to meet your financial goals. So that's the first biblical principle, hard work brings profit. Let's look at this one. Principle number two, and that's multiplying talents.Now this is talked about in the book, the parable, the talents, Matthew, chapter 25. I'm not going to cover that. It's a big long verse and I've talked about on the show.But it's all about that idea of investing and multiplying what's been given you. So those are really the two core biblical principles that I want to talk about today.Because the impact of this, the true impact of this is wise stewardship. And you all want to strive for that wise stewardship.So the benefit here, by doing this, it's going to generate some extra income that can Fund that how they cheer and listen. Here's the best part. It can do it debt free and really align with generosity.And the outcome of this, if you're able to do it, is going to reduce your stress during a hugely demanding season. Many people have told me, ralph, the holiday season is a stress season for a lot of reasons. So now you're saying, ralph, this is great.I love this idea. But, but how do we make this happen?How can I transform this financial dread of holiday spending into a place of peace, into a place of joy and truly savvy spending? Well, I've got a single solution for you today. I'm going to encourage you to just identify one or two realistic false side hustle ideas.Look at your skills and look at your available time and commit to taking an actionable step to explore or start one of those to proactively boost your holiday budget and create your own financial margin for the holiday. So here's your one action step for today with the goal of boosting your holiday budget with a. With a real strong false side hustle.First thing I'm going to encourage you to do is start with just a brainstorming session. Just think about those false side hustle ideas. Hey, it doesn't have to take a long time. It's maybe five or ten minutes. Think through your skills.Think of the things that you really have a passion for. Maybe it's some hobbies that you like to do. I, I came up with some for the show today. Maybe tutoring. Maybe you like to tutor people.There's a great side hustle. Hey, school's back in. Kids need that tutoring help. That would be a great side hustle for this time of year about baking.Maybe you like to bake some cookies or cakes. It's not my area of expertise, but a lot of people do that. Hey, here's a great one. Think about the holidays and all those craft fairs coming up.Maybe you're a crafty person. Hey, this is the kind of thing that you can do once the kids go to bed at night or when the kids are out playing in the yard.You can build some crafts that you could resell in time for some extra money for the holidays. And hey, here's a couple others. How about organizing. Help people organize their clutter.I did a show about that the other day about how decluttering can help your life.How about some pet sitting or, or maybe some fall yard work, cleanup, maybe you're a pretty handy person and you could out there and help them rake up those leads or get their houses in order for the fall.So just take a few minutes and just think about those seasonal needs, that decorating needs or maybe gift wrapping or maybe even some shopping assistance. One of the things I'm going to encourage you to do is think about some online opportunities.There's a whole lot of those, maybe in the area of transcription or in virtual assistance. So just start there, just list a few ideas, brainstorm, think about your skillset and your pass and write just a few of those things down.And then the next step I want you to do is really set a holiday income goal. See, really think about that. So you thought about that, you brainstormed some, some ideas for work.Well, now start to brainstorm your holiday expenses. Start to think through how much extra money that you really need to earn. How much do you specifically need for those holiday expenses?And I'm going to encourage you just like you wrote down those ideas, write this goal down, put it on paper so that you can see it, and then I'm going to encourage you to just choose one or two ideas and take action. Like I said earlier, it's one thing like the Bible verse said, mere talk's not going to get you there.So pick one or two realistic side hustle ideas and then just commit to one small actionable step today or this week to get started. Maybe that, maybe that means you start by researching how to get started. You know, look at what are people are charging.Hey, look and see if you need a license for this.Last thing you want to do is cost yourself money down the road and, and then create one simple online profile or post an offer, maybe tell three people what you're offering for the service and ask them to sort of spread the word. And then as you make that money and listen, I have confidence in you, you can do this.As you make that money, allocate those earnings to a dedicated, I'll call it the dedicated holiday fund. Set those things aside and immediately put those into that. You know, that holiday fund, it's called sort of like a sinking fund.I've talked about that on the show before. Because we want to ensure that that extra money goes directly to its intended purpose.You know, you've thought about that side hustle, you thought about how much money you want to make. Then you just got to set up, maybe you set up a separate account for this or put it in a separate envelope so that it goes for that intended purpose.Now you might be saying to yourself, ralph, that sounds great, but is that really going to help me well, absolutely it will because it's going to fight that struggle and that stress of holiday financial pressure.Listen, if you've been through the holidays before, and chances are, if you're listening, you've been through the holidays before, you know, this can be a time of incredible financial struggle and incredible financial stress.And all the things I talked about today is really going to empower you to be proactive in your income creation, to really have a great time funding those holiday celebrations. And here's the best part, doing it debt free. And this will transform that potential anxiety of the holidays into joy and into peace.And, and at the same time, it aligns your work and your financial efforts with wise stewardship, which is the whole goal of the show. How about we pray together now? Father God, we just thank you for providing us with skills and Lord, with opportunities to work.And we have to confess that approaching the holiday season, Lord, often brings financial anxiety for so many of us.So please grant us wisdom to identify some realistic fall ideas, some side hustle opportunities for us, Lord, and give us diligence in our work and creativity in leveraging our skills and the talents that you've given us, Lord. Guide us in our efforts to increase our income for your purposes, Lord, and bless us to fund our holiday joy with financial peace.And we ask this in confidence, Lord, in Jesus name, amen. Hey. A false side hustle is a powerful way to empower your holiday budget and truly approach the season with peace.So I'm just going to encourage you again, take that step today to explore just one realistic idea and start planning your extra income. Because here's the secret. If you listen to me every day, you are moving towards true freedom.And if this episode, it has resonated with you, I want you to consider sharing it with someone who might need to hear, hey, there's a lot of people that need to start thinking about maybe making a little extra money building that margin for the holidays.You can find our resources at our website, that's@financially confidentchristian.com and hey, if you've got friends or people in your family that may be feeling that holiday stress, and listen, it's only a few months away.Send them a text, send them an email, just point them directly to our website and say, hey, Ralph's got some great ideas for some fall and holiday side hustles. Now tomorrow we're going to be talking about another way to bring joy and peace this fall, and that's this.How to budget for fall fun like festival sports and affordable entertainment without overspending and without going into debt. So I'm going to encourage you. Don't want to miss it. So make sure you join me tomorrow.Now, let's all go out there today and be those financially confident Christians. You can do this. I have confidence in you. Have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy. God bless you, and you have a great day today.