In my last post I spoke about ways to unwind in stressful times. As it gets closer and closer to Christmas, I realize I have been a little delayed in getting things started. In fact, just this past weekend is when I put up my tree, and hung a wreath on my door. The rest of my neighborhood homes, put mine to shame because they are so nicely decorated.

We had some very much needed rain recently here in Southern California, and already the effects of the rain were spread across the news channels. Cars being washed away, homes on the burnt out mountain sides preparing for landslides, flooded roads and neighborhoods- talk about stressful!

So how do we deal with all this? I have found the perfect way for me- music. Music that is cheerful, songs about Christmas and Santa coming down the chimney, and most importantly for me, songs that remind me of the real reason we celebrate Christmas- Immanuel( God with us).

When we put things in perspective (as I am trying to do several times of the day), my stress level goes down. I took a break the other day in the midst of doing house chores, and asked myself, ” what is the one thing if I had it, would totally eradicate my stressors in this season?” My answer? A resounding, “Money!”

So what would I do with this money? Firstly, I would remove all the carpet from my home and replace it with some beautiful hardwood floors I have been eyeing for a while. I would pay someone to deck out both inside and outside of my home with decorations and lights that could be a beacon for ships calling them home to berth(even though our home is far from the sea), I would spend Christmas in another country, and I would give away more.

When you become aware of something, you start seeing that particular thing more often because your conscious ( or is it subconscious?) mind starts looking for it. Becoming aware of my lack of money to do what I really wanted, I started to look for the many ways I could earn some money quickly. I realized that because of all the advertisements out there about shopping and giving gifts, there is definitely a myriad of others who wanted the same thing.

I am a little embarrassed to say this, but the very first thing I did in my quest for money was to buy a scratch off lottery ticket, hoping that behind one of those symbols I would see a number revealed with many zeros following it. After all, many people have done this and won money, so I could be one of them. It did not work, I just earned another similarly priced ticket- there is still hope for me!

Since my radar is working and detecting what is closely related to making money, I thought about my email which was overflowing with so many money making offers. Some of them I would have to pay for, and others, I could try them for free. I went searching in my email for a few of them I found interesting.

When I first decided that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, the one thing I knew I wanted to do was start a blog and eventually monetize it. I was happy to see that this was the second option on the list. I started my blog and I am enjoying it.

Here Are A Few More Money Making Options I Had Also Considered:

• Copywriting for others. This was something I was interested in, and even completed a mini course to ensure success. Lack of experience hindered my success. I think I will again try for this because the more I create my blog posts, my writing skills will improve, and then I will have the experience.
• Selling created items on Etsy. I used to be very ‘crafty’ when I was younger, so I figured this would be easy. Not really, there are some really creative and beautiful items for sale there, and I did not think I could compete.
• Dog walking or dog sitting. This was right up my street because I love dogs. The only dog I ended up walking and sitting was Rella ( the dog I share with our son).
• Listing a spare room on Airbnb. I thought about this in regards to my guest room. There seemed to be too many hoops to jump through to get this going, in addition to the idea of a stranger in my home.
• Trading in electronics and slightly worn clothes for cash. My overflowing closets and cupboards told me I could do this. I lost interest in searching for items after a while.
• Baby sitting. I love kids, but the responsibility of caring for the precious cargo of parents, caused me anxiety.
• Renting out my car. This looked like it would work because my car spends most of her life in my garage. However the insurance liability scared me.

In reading this list of the options that interested me, you can see that I did not choose any of them. I discovered that Blogging was my passion. I recently heard from a short video clip on Instagram that, ” If you do what you are passionate about, the money will come.” This is what I am doing. I know I am not yet at the place where I will make enough for this holiday season, but it is coming!

In the meantime, I will keep creating content for my blog from the many ideas and thoughts that flood my mind. I will also continue buying those scratch off tickets, and keep looking for that number and the many zeros that come next. Just thinking of the possibility of winning, excites me, not to mention the anticipation of not knowing what is under the foil. To me, this is just like solving a problem or a mystery.

Would you try any of the methods I listed? Is there any you would add to the list? What have you done in the past or present? How is it going, or how was it?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

I always keep my Promises!