Life has so many competing financial requirements and many of us could benefit from a little extra money.

Whether you have an extra $100 a month or $100 a week, it can make a really big difference to your finances and to your lifestyle.

My good friend and money expert Whitney Hansen of WhitneyHansen.com and host of The Money Nerd Podcast discuss below the two main ways to have more money is by working on saving more money or by earning more money. You can do either in isolation or combine them to get ahead financially even faster!

Here are three tips to work on saving more:

1. Reduce how often you eat out. Eating out at restaurants or even ordering in can be very costly. Without realizing, this expense can add up quickly and amount to a significant part of your income. By cutting back on the frequency you eat out, you can easily save that $100.

2. Prioritize paying off debt every month. Each time you make a payment towards your debt, you are essentially paying for yesterday’s purchases with interest. Paying your debt off as quickly as possible, will allow you to pocket the amount you are paying on interest in the future.

3. Automate your savings. Most of us are so busy with our daily lives that although we plan to save, we often don’t get around to putting that money away. If you automate your savings, you don’t’ have to think about it, money will be transferred into your savings account on a regular basis.

Here are Three Tips to making more money:

1. Make money online. Making money online is easier than ever! You can create an Etsy Store at ETSY.com. You can also create useful forms or documents that people can purchase and download. The advantage of this is that once you have created a printable, it can be downloaded and purchased by different customers over and over again without any extra effort from you

GoRead.com is another way in which one can make money online. It is a great website that I use personally. If you enjoy writing, this is for you. All you have to do is set up an author’s account, pay a nominal fee, do a few simple tasks online and then write short articles on topics that interests you. The financial reward definitely makes it worthwhile…

2. Sell your junk! We all have so much junk lying around our homes which we no longer use or want. What is one man’s junk, is another man’s treasure. Whether you have old furniture or anything else that is just lying around, make some money and sell it to someone who wants it. It is fairly simple to sell items online through Craigslist or Kijiji

3. Rent any additional space. You could rent a spare bedroom to a friend or family member who might want to stay for a short period of time. Perhaps you have a storage locker that you’re not using which could be useful to someone else. Another popular rental space in downtown locations is renting out a parking space or driveway during the day. With parking at a premium, it’s an easy way to make money with little effort. By renting out space, no matter how big or small, there’s no extra work for you and the money will just come your way.

With a little bit of creativity and effort, you could easily save some extra money and earn additional cash each month giving you a little extra financial breathing room and allow you to achieve your financial goals.