At 3pm my time, the talk radio shows I listen to pretty much come down to two choices: Michael Savage or Dave Ramsey. I often enjoy Savage's show, but there are times that his angst and aggravation seems infectious, so I have to switch him off. I discovered recently that Dave Ramsey's show is on in the same time slot on a different station, so that's who I have tuned into more often lately.

I'm definitely part of Dave's target audience as I have some debts and I think it's a crap lifestyle. I've been working at incorporating his advice into my financial routines; a large part of that is budget cutting, hence the reference to "beans and rice" in the heading of this post - beans and rice are a cheap and nutritious food selection, something Dave mentions every single day that he's on the air. Budget cutting can only get you so far, however. You can cut all the way down to absolute necessities and no more. While this can help to free up cash to eliminate debts with, coming up with additional income can do much more.

I've had second jobs at various points in my life. The toughest by far was my graveyard shift job at a neighborhood convenience store when I was in the Army. I think back to that job in particular when I weigh the pro's and con's of taking another job as the hours and physical requirements of my present employment would most closely resemble that old arrangement were I to attempt it now. I think I'll pass!

I need alternatives then, and a quick mental inventory of my activities outside of work reveals a few things I'm already doing that I could perhaps consider a "second job." If you're thinking the same thing I am, maybe one of these things could help you:

1. Blogging - I've written about this before, of course, but it's worth exploring again in light of these musings. With some cheap and easy to set up web hosting you can be off and running with this source of additional income in no time. Webhostinggeeks.com is where I would start your search for a provider (which I need to do again myself - my present domain registration service has become too expensive, despite the business expense deduction). Just find web hosting that includes free domain name registration and you're on your way!

2. Forex trading - I've been doing this successfully for a while, but I've never thought of it as a "job" before, only as part of my total investment portfolio. If I dedicate a portion (or even all) of the income from this activity to eliminating my debts faster, I guess I could consider it a second job. This stuff is not for the faint of heart, and the price of inexperience in that market is HIGH, so if you consider this route at all, start with a game account before committing any money.

3. Selling stuff - Just today I went on to eBay to get a new optical mouse (my old one's scroll wheel stopped working). The seller I purchased the mouse through is doing hundreds of sales a week. I don't think I have the time, resources, or inventory to approach that level of activity, but I have been looking around my house today going "hrm... wonder if someone would want this..."

There are many more ways to go about this than these ideas, this is just what comes to mind right now. And therein lies the key, really: you just have to keep thinking about potential solutions and eventually you'll hit upon one.