Turning off your TV can make you money. Seriously. Over at TheSecondDollar, there’s an excellent article about reducing TV time and increasing your cash flow. I especially liked this tip:
Start a second business. I keep this blog running on less time than I used to spend watching television each night and it is earning some money. I also started a computer consulting business, where I fix people’s computers locally. This has opened up two solid revenue streams for me that, added together, approximate what I made from my job before. This has made me feel much less stressed about work – I do my job, but it no longer has the paralyzing “Oh my God what if they downsize?” fear that it used to have.
When I first became a consultant, I launched my business on a part-time basis. When I did that, I scaled back on watching TV. If you currently spend a couple of hours watching TV each night, you’ve actually got about 60 hours a month you could be using to run a consulting business. Even if you just worked 20 percent of the time and billed just $50 an hour, you could be making $600 a month — $7200 a year.
Wow. Turn your TV off a couple of nights a week and make an extra $7200 a year…or more. Sounds like a "get rich quick" scheme, but it worked for me.
Absolutely! If you’re unwilling to give up TV, then invest a small amount in a TiVo or DVR.
This is probably hard for a lot of people to do, but you would be amazed at how much time you will save. Don’t get me wrong, I do have my few shows that I really enjoy watching and would have a hard time giving up.