Is Penny Pinching Worth It?

I know I’ve written posts before about keeping an eye on what you spend and ways to make sure you’re not paying for something you’re not using. But, recently I thought about overdoing it and wondered if penny pinching is worth it? 

Let me explain…

I will always be cautious about the money I spend due to my upbringing. Being raised by a single mother (not by her choosing) of 4. We learned how to make do with little. I won’t say I’m a miser with my money but I know the value of a dollar. 

I recall when I first started working at 13 I would look at something I wanted and think, I’d have to work X hours to get that. After consideration I’d rethink if it was really worth it.

So, recently several annual subscriptions started showing up in my inbox. I was a bit frustrated for a few different reasons. Like, dang! Why are all of these coming in at the same time and, what are they? Do I still need them? 

And of course as a marketer and service owner myself, I thought why wasn’t I notified that these annual subscriptions were coming due soon?

So, I revert back momentarily to my younger years and panic a moment. I start reviewing these subscriptions and think okay if I just switch this to a different service I can cancel this one and if I… WAIT A MOMENT FRANK! 

I had to stop my thinking, And remind myself you’ve already reviewed these products you bought them for a reason. There is no need to reevaluate and spend the time to be “CHEAP”. 

Every single one of them I’m still using for myself or a client. And I reminded myself.

YOU JUST NEED TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

Doesn’t it make more sense to make more money instead of spending so much time pinching pennies? And then I had to laugh pretty hard at myself. Why? Because I’ve created a course about side hustles. Making extra money on the side.

I created this course because I find it an adventure to see all of these opportunities that are now available for someone to make money online with little or no effort. I also decided to share some of the “tricks” i’ve learned to make money without even thinking about it.

For example, one tip I share on occasion with people is the domain redirect. Let’s say I find a product that I like and even use. I check to see they have an affiliate program. Some call this a referral program. Basically you get paid when you tell someone else about the product and that person buys. The product owner will give you a percentage of the sale. 

What I like to do though, is look for a similar domain for that product or even a misspelling. 

For example a service that I’ve used for years for creating membership sites is Wishlist Member. It’s a great product. I use it for myself and the membership sites I build for customers. Wishlist Member is a plugin for websites built on the WordPress platform. If you’re familiar with WordPress and everything associated with it, It is often abbreviated WP. 

You cannot use the WordPress name in any domains so many plugin sites utilize “WP” as part of their domain. In this case I purchased the domain name WPMember.com to promote the  Wishlist Member product. Actually, I just grabbed my affiliate link after signing up logged in to the place where I bought the domain and redirected the domain via my affiliate link to their site. I have a free video on my YouTube Channel that explains how to redirect your domain name. 

I could’ve built a website and added content to it but that just creates something else I have to keep up maintenance on. The redirect method is a set it and forget it type of thing. I enjoy getting affiliate commission checks as people use my link to find a membership plugin for wordpress. Of course I will write blog posts or referral videos and such to promote the link which is more cost effective than creating a website for it. 

That’s just one method, but you can see why it was comical to worry about a few pennies here or there when there are so many possibilities to earn a little extra income online.

That’s actually the name of my training “A Little Extra Income”. I share tips to things I’ve been doing online for over 20 years. Some of them are MUCH easier now than they were then. Some of the training is new things that are now available. There’s actually two of the trainings, I admit that I’ve never done but recorded live as I set them up and show my failures and successes in completing them. 

This training has over 20 modules and more are being added. I’ve shared way more strategies than I thought I would but I find it fun to provide these for others to learn. If you want to check it out visit the site by click here.

So while penny pinching may or may not be worth it, I think the lesson here is what is your mindset when it comes to saving, earning, or making money. 

I hope this article helps you break through some of the things from holding you back from reaching your goals.