working online<\/a>. I built up my income slowly and replaced what I was making at my jobs with online income. For the next couple of years I earned in the $30-$40k range.<\/p>\nThen at the end of 2014 I had a bit of a breakthrough. In 2015 I grossed $63,000. This year I should gross $80-$90,000.<\/p>\n
In the span of four years I have almost tripled my income.<\/p>\n
Again, I understand that for many earning this amount doesn\u2019t seem astronomical but for me it most definitely was a total game changer. So how did earning more make me feel?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s What I\u2019ve Realized<\/h2>\n
Perhaps my biggest realization has been that once I got past a certain point money just didn\u2019t feel important me. When I was earning half as much and was supporting my two daughters by myself money felt VERY important. Now that I\u2019ve hit many of my goals, money just doesn\u2019t feel as important.<\/p>\n
Instead, what feels important is accomplishing goals. While I\u2019m thankful that I\u2019ve been able to build financial stability along the way I\u2019ve also come to appreciate that the excitement is in the challenge.<\/strong><\/p>\nHonestly, after you\u2019re able to meet ideal living arrangements and can cover all the basics without relying on debt and with having a cash buffer, the excess just isn\u2019t exciting.<\/p>\n
There are some good things about earning more \u2013 like being able to purchase items my kids need without having to look for the best deal or wait until the next paycheck. But earning $80k hasn\u2019t made me any happier or better of a person than earning $40k did.<\/p>\n
The Happiness Curve<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re on a mission to earn extra money here\u2019s what I recommend:<\/p>\n
# 1 \u2013 Learn to live within your means before you have extra income.<\/strong> If you don\u2019t you\u2019ll end up just pissing all your money away like you do now. Seriously, extra money with the same bad habits won\u2019t do a thing for you.<\/p>\n# 2 \u2013 Have goals in place.<\/strong> Goals are what kept me going. After a certain point accomplishing goals is what helped contribute to my happiness and overall personal development.<\/p>\n# 3 \u2013 Realize that money doesn\u2019t equal happiness<\/strong>. A lack of money can cause you to be downright miserable but once you get your financial cards in order an excess of money won\u2019t necessarily make you anymore happy.<\/p>\nPractice Gratitude<\/h2>\n
I don\u2019t want this post to come across as me feeling ungrateful about earning more. That\u2019s not the case at all. In fact, I\u2019ll continue trying to earn more and save the money for my family and our future.<\/p>\n
I just think it\u2019s interesting how I thought earning more would make feel and the reality of how it does feel. Once you get your finances in order the money goals become less important and new challenges are needed to keep that same level of excitement going.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever been in this position, how did earning more money make you feel? Am I crazy?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you wondered what it would feel like if you could double your income in a couple years\u2019 time? Would it feel magical or a bit anticlimactic? Would your plan for that extra income go smoothly or would you succumb to lifestyle inflation? Today I\u2019m going to get personal and share what my journey has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[439,363,305],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Everything](\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/what-does-it-feel-like-to-earn-more-money-193x300.jpg\")
Have you wondered what it would feel like if you could double your income in a couple years\u2019 time? Would it feel magical or a bit anticlimactic? Would your plan for that extra income go smoothly or would you succumb to lifestyle inflation?<\/p>\n![\"median-income\"](\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Median-Income.png\")
<\/p>\n