15 Early Morning Jobs To Jump-Start Your Day

By nature, I am not an early riser. But I became one after learning that the most successful people have a common trait: waking up before dawn. There are many things you can do in the early mornings. You can do something creative, learn something new, or be more productive. I personally take advantage of the extra hours with early morning jobs to earn extra money while other people sleep. There are many early morning jobs to jump-start the day that one can choose from. Not all of them require leaving home. This blog post covers 15 early morning jobs for different kinds of people and personalities. Find one that is right for you!

15 Early Morning Jobs to Jump-Start The Day

Early morning baker

Bakeries need early morning bakers to prepare pastries and bread in time for opening hour at pastry and coffee shops. This shift usually begins a little after midnight and run until the shops open at 7:00am. It is the perfect shift for someone who likes physical work that has some creativity to it. I wrote about my personal experience as an early morning baker here. I loved this job, and I got to take home freshly baked goods at the end of my shift, too!

Dog Walker / Rover

Dog walking is a great job for those who like to be active and outdoors, bright and early. It’s also perfect for those who like animals or take care of pets. Technically, this job doubles are getting exercise in. And if you wake up five minutes earlier, you can also get a cup of coffee in, too!

I dog sit while pet parents are on holiday, which means part of the job is walking the dogs bright and early. Rover is a great app that connects dog walkers with dog sitters for FREE. The app charges a 20% fee for each booking, but you get to set your rates. If you want to see if taking care of dogs is the right thing for you, check out this post on how to make money dog-sitting with Rover.

I have also written a guide on how to start your own pet-sitting business! While it takes a few extra steps, I have found that creating a pet sitting business earns way more than going through the Rover app. We make $1-2k per month with our pet sitting business RMV Tail and Paws. You can learn how to create your own with my free guide!

Blogger

Blogging is a great early morning job for those who want a slower start to their day. Earning extra money while staying in pajamas sounds extra nice, doesn’t it? It is also a great option for the more creative person who does not mind being independent. You have full control of what, how, and when to write.

Blogging, however, is more than just writing. Creative content such as images need to be made. Statistics needs to be analyzed. And strategies need to be implemented in order to make money off of a blog. I started with learning about affiliate marketing. I highly recommend this affiliate marketing course if you wish to make money with the blog. (Yes, this is an affiliate link!)

You can also check out my extra income reports. In it, I outline how much I earn each month and where I earn the money from. So far, I have made over $5,900 by blogging from home.

Freelancer

Freelancing is essentially connecting to different employers and making extra money on the side doing different things. Writing for other blogs is a form of freelancing and can be an option for those who don’t want to deal with the business side of blogging.

Other freelancing fields include:

Accounting and Financing
Administrative
Customer Service
Computer and IT
Translations
Editing
HR & Recruiting
Education & Training

From this list, you can see that freelancing can supplement many professions. It spans many fields, and there are definitely options for everyone.

Online Survey Taker

This is yet another early morning job that you can do in your pajamas. It is also a great job for busy people in general. It’s very difficult to get an extra job when one is balancing school and work, or parenthood and work. Online surveys have the flexibility to be done anywhere, at the times that work best.

I am blown away by the bloggers who make good money taking surveys online. If you don’t mind the tedious work, you could earn up a few dollars per survey! The best way to do this is to sign up for as any survey companies as possible. While I have not tried it before, I do think it would be an easy, low-stress way to make extra cash.

Personal Assistant

Most people are over-stretched and over-whelmed these days. A personal assistant is a fulfilling job that can help alleviate someone from their work. Similar to free-lancing, being a personal assistant is a broad job position. In the early mornings, you can check emails for someone. You can organize their daily calendar. Or you can run errands before the day starts.

Fitness Instructor

Working out before work is very popular these days. Why not work out AND earn money? Being a fitness instructor would be a great option for those who want flexibility. My best friend used to teach yoga classes before and after going to her classes at the University. You can either work at a gym, studio, or at home. Some personal trainers like to help their clients at their home, especially if they own the equipment. Either way, this is a great job for those who like physical activity or working out.

Rideshare Driver

Rideshare drivers are needed to bring people on their commutes to work, school, or the airport. Early morning flights usually start at 6:00am sharp. If you are an early riser, this would be a great way to increase your savings. Just make yourself a cup of coffee before heading out the door!

Cleaner

Having a cleaning company is surprisingly lucrative business. Many offices and schools look for cleaners to come in the early morning so that the space is clean when doors open. We have cleaners clean our dental office once a week. If you don’t mind the physical work, this could be a great job! It is mostly solitary work, perfect for listening to music or a podcast!

Barista

Working at a coffee shop is a great way to start the day. Serve other people their coffees while they start their day. If you have a later start to your day job or school, why not get a quick shift in? A four hour shift could end as early as 10am. Plus, you may get perks at your coffee shop! Free coffee, anyone?

International Tutor

After-school hours in Europe equate to early morning hours in California. If you are good at teaching a certain topic, why not do some international tutoring. Many kids across the globe want to learn English as a second language. You can also tutor math or science. This is a perfect side-hustle for teachers looking to make extra cash. When I was a college student myself, I tutored high-school kids as one of my three college jobs!

Visual Designs Specialist for Retail Stores

A previous job I had entailed doing visual design for a retail store. My shifts started at 6 am, since I needed to finish the store displays before the mall opened at 10 am. I took new, incoming merchandise and displayed them according to the retail store’s guidebook. I also styled mannequins and hung displays on the walls. Posters and signage regarding current styles and sales needed to go up as well. The work was perfect for me, since I liked to be creative and work solitarily as well.

Stockist

Working as a stockist means you are unpacking deliveries at stores and placing them on the shelves. Stockists do a lot of behind-the-scenes work where we do our shopping. I worked at the same time as stockists in my previously mentioned retail job. Early morning truck deliveries mean stocking starts around 4:00am. The gals in the back of the store unboxed and unwrapped new clothing styles, and then placed them on racks for me to display on the sales floor.

Farmer

If you like to work outdoors and with your hands, farming might be a great option for you. Many farmers like to start their days bright and early, as there are plenty of things to do. I volunteer my time at a local farm and work before my day job begins. Of course, you can work at a farm and get paid. Usually, shifts start as the sun rises, which would be around 6 am.

Gardener

This might sound silly, but there are plenty of people out there who need help maintaining their front lawns, backyards, and gardens. You can easily post a Craigslist ad or Facebook ad to get a maintenance gig. Most people who work on maintaining outdoor spaces work in the early mornings, because it gets too hot. Since this job allows you to choose your own hours, why not set it up so that you mow a lawn or trim a few hedges before your work day?

There you have it. A list of my best 15 early morning job ideas that can boost your savings in no time. You can start any of these jobs NOW, without any additional degrees or training. All you have to do is be willing to wake up a little bit earlier than everyone else. If you want to read about my own personal experience with early morning jobs, here are 3 Early Morning Jobs I’ve Done to Earn Extra Money.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

How I Made $466.34 in January 2022 Blogging From Home

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

In this post, I go through how I made $466.34 in extra income blogging from home. Admittedly, I am quite pleased with this year’s start. January was quite the busy month for me. I am just now catching up on sponsored posts, having gone away for a camping trip hosted by Texino. I somehow managed to stay on top of my workout goals, as well as watch over a few dogs. The healthcare industry is a wee bit stretched these days, so energy definitely ran low as I focused on my mental health over blog productivity.

That’s the great thing about blogs and why I continue to run one. Blogs are a source of passive income. It provides for others as it does for me. Blogs are a great side hustle because it does not require active work to make money (see all of my side hustles here). Eventually, blogs can run on their own. As long as it provides value for someone in the community, it is valid.

In January 2022, I earned $466.34 blogging from home. The main way I earn extra income is through affiliate marketing. Before I go into the nitty gritty details of this month’s Extra Income Report, which you are always welcome to skip to below, here is a little summary as to how I make money blogging, as well as a few recommended posts if you want to increase your income.

I started blogging right after graduating from dental school without ever thinking I’d earn money from it. At the time, I turned to this blog as a place to record my daily life. Ever since teenhood, I have kept some sort of journal or diary, which has evolved over time from paper to Xanga to Melodramatic, and now onto WordPress. For almost twenty years, I’ve processed information through writing, but never once did I think I would earn money from it.

It’s been three years since owning this site but I am happy to say that it is now getting a little bit of traction and has started to earn me a little income. If I wasn’t working as a dentist during the day, I could see how this could become a steady day job. Still, even with my day job, it had turned into a fun side-hustle for me. I decided to log my earnings for my own personal tracking but also to share publicly how much one can make blogging from home.

Now that remote work seems to be in the near future for many, I do think that blogging is a good option for people who wish to work from home. Likewise, it is an opportunity to be your own boss and have your own space. Since you are writing your own content, you have the flexibility to work whenever you want to, which I know can be a good or bad thing. Of course, you can always practice habits that will separate work from home. Lastly, this is a great hobby or job for creative people. You have autonomy over how to execute your ideas and thoughts, making this a very freeing experience for those who don’t quite fall neatly into a traditional work environment or big company hierarchy.

But first, how did I start to monetize the blog?

If you are new to blogging, you may not know that you can earn income from owning such a space. I certainly didn’t. But then I took this course called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, and it changed my life.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is working with brands that you love in order to spread the word about their products and in return receiving commissions for any referred patrons. Sometimes these are physical products from almost any company you can think of. Other times, they are intellectual products such as courses or services that help improve other people’s lives. The best part is that you don’t have to “sell out” to do affiliate marketing. You don’t have to scheme or cheat people. For me, it’s really just promoting companies that I believe in. For example, the companies I choose to partner with are those that promote sustainably sourced products using fair trade and ethical factory conditions. I like to promote small name businesses trying to create social or environmental impact. I try to keep it to an exclusive few even though I’ve been approved for over 2,000 different companies (so far).

There are a few nuances to affiliate marketing and I didn’t know much about it prior to the course. But the course helped me to learn A LOT and it’s just another case of “you don’t know what you don’t know.” You could learn it all yourself, but it’s hard to without a guide to get you through the basics.

I highly recommend this course if you wish to monetize your blog but don’t know where to start.

Extra Income Report

Now, onto the numbers. In January 2022, I made $466.34 in extra income.

Of that, this is the breakdown:

$338 is from sponsored posts. I count the monetary value of products that I receive as “income”. I do not accept products for review without first learning about the company and product. As a minimalist, I also only look for products that we currently need. I am honest in all my product reviews and list both pros and cons because I want to be as helpful to the consumer and the company, both. Companies that have supported the blog this month include Misona, Sort Joy, Balmuda, and W&P.
$124 of the income is via a partially sponsored trip by Texino. I have wanted to try campervan living for a while now, and Texino helped make my dream a reality. Interested in alternative modes of frugal and simple living, I was impressed with the outfittings of Texino’s vans and could definitely see how fellow frugalists have made a living out of automotive vehicles.
The rest of the income was due to affiliate link commissions. These are links that I have posted throughout my blog prior which continually earn me commission for every successful sale.

So far, since March of 2020, I have earned $6,419.03!!

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but as something I do for fun, I think it’s a nice little additional income. Over time, I hope to continue posting more income reports. Maybe it will help others looking for a side-hustle get a feel for whether blogging could become an alternative for them.

As always, my goal with this blog is to promote intentional living. Writing is a way to create a lifestyle that is in tune with what you want to do. Sure, it may not be the perfect job, but if working from home and having flexibility help allow you to live your dream life (one that includes traveling the world or becoming a stay-at-home parent), then I hope this space brings you that value.

If you are interested in starting a blog, I use WordPress. Feel free to sign up using my affiliate link.

If you already have a blog, I want to refer you to the course that helped me monetize mine. It’s a really great starting point. It’s called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

3 Early Morning Jobs I’ve Done to Earn Extra Money

As a child, I have never been an early riser. To be honest, I really loved my sleep. Stories from my childhood entailed snoring away at restaurants, my head dipping into food, or sleeping through the afternoons. It also included tantrums and melt-downs when I didn’t get my rest. I continued afternoon naps through my teen years, not that it helped me to grow taller. But all that changed when I learned that the most successful people in life woke up early. Which is why I wanted to share how I earn extra money with early morning jobs.

Early morning jobs are the best-kept money-making secret.

There are many reasons why I think early morning jobs are the secret to catapulting you to your financial goals. As I mentioned earlier, I am not naturally an early morning person. However, even though I could choose to take a late-night job, I decided that early morning ones are better. Why?

Getting up early in the morning is really a form of discipline for me. If I can make myself consistently do it, then I am training myself to conquer the difficult parts in life. This builds resilience, a trait that is necessary when the going gets tough.

Secondly, as long as I sleep enough hours, I know that my energy will be highest in the morning before my day job. I have had both early morning and late night jobs before. But when I add a day job to the equation, I am just too tired to really do night shifts anymore. So I use early day jobs to earn extra money, taking advantage of the time of day when I have high energy.

Lastly, I am motivated by checking things off my list. If feels good to start work at my day job having accomplished so much more than the average person. Early morning jobs give me that triumphant boost, which then inspires me to keep going with the rest of my day.

My 3 Noteworthy Early Morning Jobs

I have had 3 noteworthy early morning jobs that increased my savings. I LOVED all three of them, because they were jobs that I enjoyed. It is very important to choose jobs that you truly enjoy to earn extra income. Day jobs are hard enough. Usually, day jobs are our professions and careers. They aren’t always fun. However, if you choose an early morning job that you are passionate about, you may be surprised to get mind-blowing results. More importantly, you will stick with it for longer. I wanted to share with you my 3 early morning jobs in the hopes that it would give you an idea of the lifestyle entailed.

My first early morning job: Retail.

When I was going to college, I was paying for my own tuition. This led me to working three jobs at the same time, one of which was in the early mornings. My first early morning job was at a retail store when I was 18 years old. The position I held was Design Specialist. The job description included displaying incoming products. I also styled mannequins in the windows, changed out displays, and hung artwork. I maneuvered ladders on heels, and I moved shelving – all before the mall opened. My four-hour shift started at 6:00am.

I didn’t drink coffee back then, and I remember the bleary mornings when my alarm clock would rudely awake me at 5:30am. Dressing up was a challenge in the dark, especially since I was performing the task with half-shut eyes. I snuck out the door, into the freezing cold car parked in our driveway.

Once inside the store, I would get to work. In place of caffeine was adrenaline. I loved setting displays. Other than a guide book outlining the areas where new clothes would go, I had creative control. I worked solitarily, while other people unpacked products in the back. This was before airpods, where I was left drowning in my thoughts. It was physical work. The mannequins were taller than me and weighed half as much. The wall displays required use of tools and hardware. I learned how to balance on a ladder carrying fragile items and I learned how to stick a nail in the wall.

I left each early morning shift feeling accomplished, energized, and extremely happy. Sometimes, I would walk away with a bruised finger or two. Never anything worthy of dwelling. I had to rush on to get to class at the University.

(For the curious, this was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also worked at the retail store on weekends, fixing all that customers ruffled. After my early morning shift, I went to school, and then I tutored high-school students in the evenings. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and every other Saturday, I worked as a dental assistant. If it was finals week, I would squeeze in emergency tutoring sessions somehow. This was life in my late teens through early twenties.)

My second early morning job: Baker

Fast forward to my thirties when I decided to become a baker. I really got into sourdough, and wanted to learn more about the craft. I asked to help out a local cottage bakery who was, at the time, operating from their garage. They were slinging the best bread and pastry in OC. In February 2022, I was hired by Rye Goods as their early morning baker. It was a dream job.

The early morning bakers make sure that bread and pastry are ready for the shops when doors open. Since most cafes and bakeries open at 7:00am, the early morning baker must start their shift at 2:00 a.m. At the time, we were living in the heart of downtown next to a club that closed at the same time I was waking up. They said I was crazy to take the job, but I was also crazy about bread. My romantic experience as an early morning baker is detailed in this post.

I eventually left the bread baker position to start my own bread bakery. I still had to wake early and throw bread babies into the ovens at an early hour. Local deliveries were at 7:00am sharp, and breads needed 35 minutes in the oven. By the time I clocked in for my shift at the dental office, people were eating Avocado toast on my bread. Unfortunately, I closed the bakery when the pandemic started.

My current early morning job: Blogger

Nowadays, my early morning job is this blog space. I wake up with the cat, make a cup of coffee, and proceed to write. Sometimes I send emails. Other times, I work on creative content. It isn’t a steady pay-check, but it’s a job of my choosing and making. That makes it worth it. It feels amazing to get something out there into the world before the world wakes.

I never expected to make money with blogging. But after sharing my student debt repayment story a few times, I started to gain an audience of my own. My work today entails sharing my experiences (such as these early morning jobs) in the hopes of helping others out there in similar situations. If you like to write, this job is a great option. Blogging lets me work from home, at my own pace, and on my own time. Since writing is also a hobby, it never feels like ‘work’. Although there are days where I have to do the non-writing business side of things, too.

Of course, this is just my story. Early morning jobs work for me, but I know other people who catapult their way to financial freedom by taking on night shifts. Either way, there are many solutions to increasing one’s income. Don’t be afraid to traverse unexplored avenues of increasing your savings. I believe that nothing is negligible. With determination and hard-work, anyone can achieve their financial goals.

Photo by Íris Juana on Unsplash

Why I Chose to Live a Frugal Life

Prior to the pandemic, I had made student loans my identity, hence the name of this blog. That is the reason why I initially started to live a frugal life. I figured, accepting my surmounting student debt, face-on instead of running away from it, would make it easier. I was commended many times over for being courageous and sharing my story. The truth of the matter was, I was just hoping I could reign it in and control it before it did me.

Sometimes though, when you take a part of your life and make it the definition of yourself, it could make you forget the other bits of you. I was fiery, yes, but so was it. I was fighting fire with fire, and I can’t be sure who was winning.

That’s what the pandemic gifted me. It deferred student loan repayment (it’s been almost a two year stint now) and thereby took away the identity that was eating me alive from the inside. These past two years have been a blessing. I’ve not only rediscovered the “old me” but I also was able to shed negative bits of the “new me”. It gave me the space to be able to step back (from everything) and to re-evaluate which parts I wanted to keep. It gave me options.

But the student loans gave me good things, too. And those, I chose to keep. It taught me how to live a frugal life. There are things a frugal life affords you that rich people will never find.

As Soetsu Yanagi wrote in his book, The Beauty of Everyday Things,

“Some day in the future the West will undoubtedly welcome this magnificent gift. Muji can alternatively be called simplicity. In religious terms it might be liked to the virtue of honest poverty, a poverty that is replete with riches. The beatuy of muji is the beauty of poverty. Roughness and quiet appreciation characterize this beauty.”
Soetsu Yanagi

I discovered the art of mindful living and the perks of simplicity. I learned the skill of decluttering and giving gratitude. These parts of frugal living I did not abandon.

So one of the negative things about the student loan deferral is this stagnant limbo I’ve been in these past two years. With the space I have now, it’s quite easy to forgo frugality. The pressure to pinch pennies has slackened. The success rate isn’t as high. But that’s the thing about frugal living. It has room for grace.

Frugal living does not mean deprivation. Neither is it black or white. It is a practice in reigning in it, just a bit, to make room for what matters more. Frugal living is another aspect of mindfulness, intentionality, simplicity, and minimalism. Those things go hand-in-hand and compliment one another, without the need to be extreme.

For those who are on the fence about trying it, why not take a it a step at a time? I find that Marie Kondo was on to something. The easiest thing to start with is clothes. Try to declutter your entire clothing closet, then set a challenge to not add anything back for 6 months. Trust me, after all that hard work, you won’t want to anyway! It’s a great place to start, because we all have too much clothes. It’s not something you would miss. Then challenge yourself little by little, day by day. Frugal living actually ends up being fun.

Read this for a list of frugal ideas!

How to Lower the Electricity Bill

At our household, we are always looking for ways to save money. One of the things we do is lower the electricity bill. There are many ways to cut down on the electricity bill without having to sacrifice comfort. It just takes a little planning, a little compromise, and a little mindfulness. Simple changes in daily habits really make a big difference, so never assume that one action makes too small a difference. Per usual, I would recommend setting this one up as a month-long frugal challenge. Try to adopt as many of these tips and see how low you can get your electricity bill!

Ways to Lower the Electricity Bill

Lighting

Turn off unnecessary lights.
When the house has holiday lights on, we keep the rest of the lights off. The soft glow of the Christmas tree is enough to read a book by.
Use natural light whenever possible. I throw open the blinds the minute I wake up to allow natural light in. During the day, all doors are kept open to dissipate light into areas of the home with less windows.
Use task lighting as much as possible. Task lights use up less electricity than turning on the ceiling lights in a room. (This one is a favorite). I also really love under-counter lights in the kitchen. You can rig a set easily under your kitchen cupboards.
Install dimmers on your lights. We have a dimmer on all the important lights, including the bedroom, living room, and guest room.
Opt for better bulbs. LED is great!
Use candles. I love writing and reading by candlelight. One birthday, Mike gifted me a handful of candlesticks. I love using them with this Notary Ceramics candle holder.

Temperature

Invest in good insulation in the doorways and windows.
Turn off AC/the heater when not at home.
Use a fan instead of an AC.
Layer up instead of turning on the heat.
Lower the thermostat. Lowering the thermostat by 2 degrees Fahrenheit can lower the electricity bill by 5%!
Allow daylight to warm up the house during the day. We see a difference in temperature as big as 10 degrees Fahrenheit! This is especially useful in the winter.
Close the drapes and blinds to prevent heat from escaping in the evenings. This will keep the house warmer during the day.
Keep up with replacing air filters for AC.
Use a programmable thermostat.

Water

Take a quick shower. If possible, take a shower in cold water. We have an electric water heater so any hot water uses up electricity.
Avoid baths.
Turn off the water when shaving, brushing your teeth, or lathering with soap in the shower.
Fix any leaky faucets.

Electronics

Unplug unused electronics. Use a power strip to plug in all electronics in the same area. Turn off the power strip when they are not in use. For example, we have a power strip in our media console, as well as in Mike’s office. This one is pretty AND affordable!
Don’t run the TV in the background. Some people love background noise. Luckily, I absolutely abhor it. I find it too distracting. While I can’t speak for the value of having a TV on in the background (some swear by it!), I can definitely say you’ll save more money if you turn the TV off.
The same tip goes for keeping the TV on for aesthetics. We own Samsung’s 65″ Frame TV and I love that it looks like a picture frame when you keep a still image on it. But we do NOT leave it on ALL day long. In fact, our Frame TV automatically turns off within a few minutes of not sensing movement in the room. I will turn it on to photograph the space, but even with guests around, most of the time the TV is actually off!
Opt for doing analog activities over digital ones. Save electricity by playing outside instead of playing video games, reading a book instead of reading on the laptop, or playing a boardgame instead of watching TV.

Cooking

Reduce heat in the kitchen in the summer months by grilling outdoors. This will reduce your need to use AC. Mike gifted me an Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven for Christmas. I will be using it on our balcony for more than just pizza all summer long. It can grill meats and veggies on a cast iron, as well as bake sourdough bread. We chose the Koda 16 because it is gas powered and for its larger size. The Koda 12 can do the same thing for cheaper, as well as take up less real estate, but the pizzas are tiny!
When heating up food on the stove, add a lid which will help heat it up faster.
Keep the oven doors closed until the last minute.
Avoid broiling food. Broiling is the most energy inefficient cooking method. If there is an alternative, do that instead.
Use the toaster oven instead of the oven. My Balmuda toaster oven pretty does everything my oven could. Since it is a smaller space, there is no need to waste time pre-heating. I use it to make individual servings of garlic bread, when I bake cookies, small servings of casserole, and more. This toaster is seriously amazing! My review on why I love the Balmuda toaster can be read here.
Declutter the fridge. This might sound like an odd one, but the efficiency of your fridge depends on the ability of the air inside to circulate. It may be impeded when the fridge is very full!
Meal prep and cook all the meals in one day. By doing so, you will have to preheat appliances less. It also makes the week way easier!

Washers

Wash laundry with cold water. It will be just as clean, promise!
Hang dry the laundry. We first came across this on our trip to New Zealand, and then again in Australia, Spain, and Mexico. The rest of the world does it, why don’t we? By the way, the California Energy Commission says that a dryer uses up 6% of a home’s electricity bill. WOW!
Wash full loads of laundry. I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t? Do the same with the dishwasher.
Skip the heat dry function on the dishwasher. I just run ours on wash, and then open the door afterward to allow the dishes to air dry.

Other

Install solar panels. We just moved into our new home in November and thankfully own our own roof! We are installing Tesla panels early 2021 to reduce our electricity bill as well as become more environmentally friendly.
Know your electric company’s Residential T.O.U. (Time of Use). Our electric company is SDG&E. They have different TOUs and charge different rates for each time period. The cheapest rate per kWh is between 12pm to 6am, when electricity use is “Super-Off Peak”. The most expensive rates occur between 4pm and 9pm, when electricity usage is “On-Peak”. Lastly, the middle ground, or “Off-Peak” Hours are from 6am to 4pm, and from 9pm to 12pm. This means that we are better off running the heat at night between 12pm and 6pm. We do our laundry and take showers during the day, between 6am and 4pm. We cook meals and meal prep before 4pm if possible. And we run the dishwasher after 9pm.
Participate in OhmConnect.
Opt for a tiny home!

This barely grazes the surface but I hope you find ideas in this post. I hope it helps you in your frugal challenge to reduce your energy bill. If you have other ideas, please share with the community!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

How I Made $99.87 in November 2021 NOT Blogging From Home

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

In this post, I go through how I made $99.87 in extra income NOT blogging from home. I know what you’re thinking. The title looks a bit different this time. That’s because November was a whirlwind of a month that required me to spend 100% of my attention on my personal life. Which meant I did not have the time to reach out to companies and create collaborations.

We returned from a vacation on November 2nd, closed escrow on a new townhome on November 5th, moved our stuff on the 6th so that we could close our escrow on our old place on the 9th. I spent the next two weeks unpacking, tidying, ordering things, and doing minor repairs. A renovation to install lighting happened at the end of week 2. I spent all of week three baking 9 pies, housing guests for a week, dogsitting, and preparing for three Thanksgiving meals, two of which we hosted in our new home. And just like that, it’s December.

So how did I make money NOT blogging in November? Well, that’s the great thing about blogs and why I continue to run one. Blogs are a source of passive income. It provides for others as it does for me. Blogs are a great side hustle because it does not require active work to make money (see all of my side hustles here). Eventually, blogs can run on their own. As long as it provides value for someone in the community, it is valid.

In November 2021, I earned $99.87 NOT blogging from home. The main way I earn extra income is through affiliate marketing. Before I go into the nitty gritty details of this month’s Extra Income Report, which you are always welcome to skip to below, here is a little summary as to how I make money blogging, as well as a few recommended posts if you want to increase your income.

But first, how did I start to monetize the blog?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

I highly recommend this course if you wish to monetize your blog but don’t know where to start.

Extra Income Report

Now, onto the numbers. In November 2021, I made $99.87 in extra income.

Of that, this is the breakdown:

100% of this month’s income comes from affiliate links. I did not do any collaborations with companies this month. All the money I earned was from referral links to products that I have found helpful. Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money without having to do additional work.

So far, since March of 2020, I have earned $5,952.69!! Of that, $3,655.30 was earned in 2021.

If you are interested in starting a blog, I use WordPress. Feel free to sign up using my affiliate link.

If you already have a blog, I want to refer you to the course that helped me monetize mine. It’s a really great starting point. It’s called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

How Home Ownership Sped Up My $575,000 Student Loan Repayment

Now that we have moved into our new space, I have a moment to write down a few words on home ownership as a tool to facilitate student loan repayment. If you haven’t been following along on my journey thus far, first, welcome to my little pocket on the internet!

My name is Sam and I graduated dental school at 26 years old with $575,000 of student debt. You can listen to my story in this interview. It was a crippling number and instead of waiting 25 years for loan forgiveness (which would put me at slightly over 50 years old), I decided to pay it back as fast as I can. I experimented with non-traditional ways of living, which included small space living, finding a roommate to live with my married husband and I, scrounging for hand-me-downs, living a minimalist life, and delving into side-hustles. However, one of the more traditional decisions we made was to buy a home. And it paid us back tremendously!

Why We Decided to Buy a Home

We live in Southern California, which is a fairly expensive place to call home. When we first rented a space, it was costing us $2,800 a month to live in a 1500 square foot live/work loft. Even after we negotiated with the landlord to lower the lease to $2,600 a month, we still felt like it was a big chunk to throw into someone else’s pocket. We decided it would be better to funnel that money into equity of our own. That way, we would be paying the same amount of money to put a roof over our head, but still be growing our wealth.

After a year of renting, we knew the next move would be to buy a home. I advise any young person to get their foot into real estate as soon as they can. Even if it is the tiniest home. If you can afford to pay the mortgage, put that renter’s money back into your own pocket.

How We Bought Our First Home with $575,000 of Student Debt

The first thing we did was negotiate with our current landlord a lower monthly fee. The second thing we did was get a roommate, to further reduce the monthly rent. The extra money we saved went directly into a savings account. I recommend a Marcus High Yield Savings Account to hold short-term savings. Meanwhile, we implemented the strategies of frugality (here is a list of Frugal life hacks) to save even more. We shopped for a good deal on a mortgage loan and within six months, we were signing documents for a live/work loft of our own. This was early on in my loan repayment journey, before I delved into side hustles. I probably could have sped up the process by earning more income with side hustles (here is my list of side-hustles).

How to Find a Deal on a Home

We chose a live/work loft that was similar to the one we were currently living in. It had 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 stories, a 2 car garage and 1500 square feet of space. It was built in 2004. As a live/work loft, the property was commercially zoned, and the downstairs faced the heart of downtown. The exact same loft in the community we were renting from was going for $650,000. We found one that was in a more central location, listed at $499,000. In California, that is a steal.

My first tip is to be patient. Look for a long time and don’t jump on the very first opportunity. To be honest, I scoured the listing for 6 months while we were saving money. 6 months is a very long time if you already have the funds, but the best deals come to those who wait.

My second tip is to keep the search well-focused. I limited my search to live/work lofts because of the lifestyle we wanted. I knew I wanted two bedrooms because we wanted to keep our roommate (which we ended up having for 3 years). Having a roommate was great because it helped us pay for our mortgage. At the same time, we knew we wanted a minimalist space. A small space meant we could spend less to own a home. If I wasn’t this focused on what I wanted, I could have easily gotten carried away with buying a bigger, more expensive home. I made sure that the home fit our needs, and nothing more.

My third tip is to not let emotions get the better of you. Buy with your head, not your heart. Society sells us the idea of a dream home. But a dream home won’t make you free from student loans. A dream home will end up being a money pit. And dreams change. I mean, we sold our live/work loft and moved to a ranch community, and it has only been three years. I just remind myself, having a dream house is not my goal. It is a means to reach an end. You can read more about my thoughts on why property ownership is not about finding your dream home here.

How Much It Cost to Buy Our Home

You may be wondering how much it cost to get one’s foot in the real-estate-door. That depends on a whole bunch of factors, such as where you live, or what you are willing to live in. Our first home cost us $499,000. We put down 5%, which was $25,000. Added to that would be closing costs which was an additional $10,000. Total, we needed $36,000 to close the deal on our home.

We chose an online lending company that gave us better deals than a well-known bank could. I would definitely do some shopping around! At first, we thought the Doctor Loan would be the best move. But after doing the math (which you should always do!), we found that the Doctor Loan had a higher interest rate than a conventional loan, which made the monthly payments pretty high. It ended up being cheaper to do a conventional loan with 5% down (which is available for first-time home buyers) plus the added PMI. Moral of the story: do price comparisons.

How Much It Cost to Own a Home

Our monthly mortgage was about $3,000 a month. We had HOA fees that cost $222 per month. Utilities cost about $175 per month. We had a roommate that we charged $700 a month to have her own bedroom and full bathroom. Our total portion per month without utilities was $2,522, which is cheaper than when we were renting under a negotiated price. After two years, we refinanced and brought the monthly mortgage down to $2,500. After another five months, I refinanced a second time and got the monthly mortgage payment down to $1,900! I did the back-to-back refinancing because we were losing our roommate. It was all about bringing that monthly number down as much as possible. However, we ended up pivoting when the market took a turn for the better.

How Much Value The Home Accrued

To our lovely surprise, 2020 and 2021 ended up being pivotal years for us home owners. 2021 alone saw a 20% increase in home value in Southern California. To put it into perspective, in March of 2020, the value of our home was around $510,000. By October 2021, we were able to sell our home at $660,000. We had bought our loft in September of 2018. In three years, the value of our home increased by $160,000!

Why We Sold Our Home and Bought A Second One

We decided to sell our live/work loft and realize the earnings while the market was hot. So as not to miss out on the possibility of continual market increase, we purchased a townhome with half of the revenue from the first loft, and are funneling the other half of the revenue into student loans come February. Our townhome is newer (2018) and is five minutes from my job which nixes my commute. It is also in a much nicer community, down the street from my parent’s house, and within 5 miles of where I grew up. Since we lost our roommate, we bought a townhome that is smaller, but still has 2 bedroom, 2 and a half baths, 2 stories and a 2 car garage. We are using the second bedroom as Mike’s office now that he is WFH.

With the revenue we received, we were able to put 10% down into a $670,000 home. That’s right! We traded our first home for one with the same value. Both homes increased the same amount over the last two years. We gave up 200 square feet of space for a nicer neighborhood and no commute. And with 10% down, we placed more initial equity in this home ($67,000) than our initial home ($25,000). This is without us having to save money or anything. This is just half of what we earned from our daily living expense of putting a roof over our head. For this reason alone, I would definitely recommend buying a home.

How Home Ownership Sped Up My $575,000 Student Loan Repayment

Back to the original title of this post: How did home ownership help with my loans? It gave us an extra $75,000 to funnel into my student loans come February. (The discrepancy between the $160k earned and the amount used for the home and loans is attributed to the closing costs of the sale and the purchase of a home.) This additional $75k towards student loans reduces my student loan repayment timeline by one whole year! And to think, this money would have just gone into some other person’s pocket if we continued to rent.

The Moral of the Story

My advice for young people who are broke but want to own a home is to do what it takes to save the money. Buy the smallest home possible for yourself to start. Consider the possibility of having a roommate for the first few years. Stay determined to live frugally, and reap the benefits a few years down the road. Good things come to those who are patient and wait.

Photo by MinuteKEY on Unsplash

How I Made $460.95 in October 2021 Blogging From Home

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

In this post, I go through how I made $460.95 in extra income blogging from home. October was a crazy month for us! I thought it was going be a month of slow living but in a whimsical effort to prep us for the resumption of loan repayment in February, we decided to sell our loft and take advantage of the seller’s market. Mid-October, we made an offer on a townhome in the area where I grew up, not thinking it would be accepted within twenty four hours. Two days later, we were doing photoshoots for our loft in order to list it and transition homes within the same week.

To be honest, I am quite excited to make the move. The new townhome is located down the street from both my parents’ home and the dental office I now work at. With the advent of rising gas prices and my plan to resume working more regularly in the dental office in order to pay down my student debt, I felt that the move killed two birds with one stone – reducing the commute time and gas money while increasing our student loan repayment. But this meant that for the most of October, we were hustling getting documents signed in order to meet the short deadlines.

Still, I would like to report that in October 2021, I earned $460.95 blogging from home. Before I go into the nitty gritty details of this month’s Extra Income Report, which you are always welcome to skip to below, here is a little summary as to how I make money blogging, as well as a few recommended posts if you want to increase your income.

Related Posts:

But first, how did I start to monetize the blog?

What is Affiliate Marketing?

I highly recommend this course if you wish to monetize your blog but don’t know where to start.

Extra Income Report

Now, onto the numbers. In October 2021, I made $460.95 in extra income.

Of that, this is the breakdown:

$378 is from sponsored posts. I count the monetary value of products that I receive as “income”. I do not accept products for review without first learning about the company and product. As a minimalist, I also only look for products that we currently need. I am honest in all my product reviews and list both pros and cons because I want to be as helpful to the consumer and the company, both. Companies that have supported the blog this month include Lo and Sons, a company making high-quality professional travel bags for the versatile lives of entrepreneurs. I had the privilege of trying out Lo and Son’s OG2 bag, and let me tell you, it is a life changer! This bag transitions perfectly through a morning gym class, an entire work day including business meetings, and a night of travel.
The rest of the income ($82.95) was due to affiliate link commissions. These are links that I have posted throughout my blog which continually earn me commission for every successful sale. It is the best method of passive income for bloggers, as it connects your audience with valuable products and services that you recommend, while paying you for your work.

So far, since March of 2020, I have earned $5,852.82!! Of that, $3,555.43 was earned in 2021.

If you are interested in starting a blog, I use WordPress. Feel free to sign up using my affiliate link.

If you already have a blog, I want to refer you to the course that helped me monetize mine. It’s a really great starting point. It’s called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.