Money

The gig economy is booming! So if you’re looking for a way to make a little extra money, now is the time to go for it!

Business columnist Julia Horowitz says, we’re Uber-ing and Airbnb-ing more than ever this year, defying predictions! 

And if you have something you own, there’s probably someone out there who will be happy to pay you to borrow it, whether it’s your house, your car, your boat, or even your swimming pool!

For example: Bookings on Airbnb have jumped 24%, compared to this time period – pre-covid – in 2019.  

Uber, the ride-hailing service, pretty much collapsed in 2020. But now, the number of consumers and drivers using Uber is at an all-time high! 

Also Swimply, the Airbnb for swimming pools, has seen an 18-THOUSAND PERCENT increase in bookings over the last 3 years……

And if you want to borrow someone’s boat – Boatsetter is the app to use! And they’ve just raised $38 million in new funding. 

So what’s going on?? Well, inflation is affecting everyone, of course, and all the houses people bought over the last 2 years, all the boats, all the cars – need to be paid for. So many people are renting them out to pay the bills! As a result, side hustles have never been hotter!

These days, the WAY people are spending their money is becoming more intentional, and is more of a  reflection of their priorities and values…… 

So, the trend now is on things that improve our lives, relationships and mental health in some way. 

For example:

A new Charles Schwab survey shows 40% of adults plan to spend more money on travel. People want to take vacations that offer new experiences and memories that’ll last a lifetime.  

1-in-3 people also want to focus on socializing……And want to spend on meals with friends and family to support that priority. 

And one in 5 people want to throw more dinner parties. As financial coach Ana Ribeiro puts it, “what we are seeing now are more and more examples of “intentional” spending that aligns with a person’s values, and are intended to increase personal development.

If you’re looking to earn some extra money, here are a few side hustles to consider: 

First: Teach classes online. It’s fairly easy to share your skills for things like cooking, quilting, coding, gardening, and do-it-yourself projects. With just a smartphone camera, and a few editing skills, you can post classes on a website like Teachable or Udemy — that’s U-D-E-M-Y. The websites take a percentage, but once your class is uploaded, you earn money whenever someone watches your course videos. 

Another way to make extra money: Selling photos of local events, like farmers markets, fairs, sporting events, and school performances. All you have to do is post them on Snapped4U…… That’s Snapped, the number 4 and the letter “U”. That way, anyone who wants a copy just pays and downloads the file. 

Finally: If you’re really good at catching grammar and punctuation mistakes, try proofreading! Websites like Polished Paper and Upwork hire freelancers to proofread books, medical papers, school essays and more. And you can earn $26 dollars an hour, on average.

A recent study on the scent of orange has yielded  some powerful results.,,, With home-sales and students’ performance in the classroom. 

First…Here is what the scent of orange has to do with the selling price of your home, 

We now know people spend 20% more on a home when they smell just the scent of orange. This was tested in a study in the Journal of Retailing. For the experiment, researchers used a home-goods store to test two similar scents that had been determined to be equally pleasant and equally subtle. 

One was the simple scent of orange; the other was a more complex blend of orange, basil, and green tea. Over several weeks of testing, the researchers found that customers spent 20% more when the store smelled only of oranges. 

Then, the researchers did another experiment……. 

This time, they scented classrooms with the same two fragrances to see if it affected students’ grades. And it did! Students who took a test in an orange-scented room solved a higher percentage of problems correctly, and solved them more quickly. 

So why would a single-note-scent be more effective? It’s because complex scents are too overpowering for the brain. Your brain ends up working in the background trying to figure out what it’s smelling, so it cannot focus on anything else. 

Bottom-lining this:  Home buyers will spend 20% more on a home, and students will perform better in the classroom when they smell the scent of orange.

If you want to stick to a budget and save money, both of those things can be accomplished with one technique……and it’s going viral.

It’s the “cash stuffing” trend, which has nearly 400-million views on TikTok. All you need is some cold, hard cash and a set of envelopes.

You start by dividing up your envelopes into categories and labeling them. For example, date night, rent, utilities, vacation, et cetera.

Then divide up your cash into the respective category, or envelope, it’s allocated for.

That’s it – you’re just putting cash in envelopes……so what’s the big deal?

Well, credit cards and payment apps raise the risk of overspending – because they’re so fast and easy……And it doesn’t seem like you’re spending real money. But according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and MIT, when we use cash money – we actually feel psychological pain. They’ve seen this in brain scans. It’s a fact that we spend less frivolously when we pay with cash.

Also, when you pay with cash, you can only spend what you actually have.

So there you go… that’s the “cash stuffing” trend.

Think about where you make most of your important money decisions. 

Are you in an office building, several floors above the street……or are you at home, signing checks and paying bills on the GROUND floor?

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, how you answer that question plays a role in how much control you have over your money. Because we tend to make the SAFEST financial decisions when we’re on the ground floor……

But the higher up we go, even just to the second floor of your house, the riskier your money moves get! Psychologists say it’s because being higher up – whether you’re in a high-rise office building, or the 2^nd floor of your home – gives your subconscious an elevated sense of power. 

So, if you need help sticking to a budget – or you just want to make better financial decisions – this new study makes it clear: Stay grounded, literally……and make your decisions on the ground floor.

Why Dating on a Budget is Not a Deal Breaker

In dating news…the Wall Street Journal reports that “the first date dinner-date is dead!” Because the price of dinner and drinks has spiked 17%!

And that’s reflected in people’s profiles on dating apps, too!

Mentions of picnics, drive-ins, mini-golf, street food, and camping have all increased on dating apps. And 25% of singles on Tinder said they’re drinking less on dates because it’s so expensive. Also,  more people on first dates are splitting the bill!

But dating on a budget isn’t a deal breaker. In fact, according to a survey by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, women believe a man who cares about saving money is thoughtful, stable and responsible. All attractive qualities, of course,  in a potential romantic partner!