No Money? How to get everything cheap/free and make more while working less

[reverette]

Hi all! Coming back to camming after 2 years and I've always wanted to say a big thank you to every girl here who has generously lent their expertise, tips, inspiring successes, learning experiences, and just general support. I honestly would have been too overwhelmed to start if I didn't have pages and pages of help and support.

So with that in mind, I wanted to try to give back just a bit of value as a thank you.
Everyone knows that life these days is getting more and more expensive and sometimes it can feel like it's all work, work, work just to barely get by. Today I want to show you some ways that I can still get (almost) everything I need for free or very low cost, and some easy ways to make money your friend instead of enemy.

At about 3,100 words, this is a long post, but I hope that it is of some use to you guys.

FITNESS
You don't need to shell out hundreds of dollars a month in order to feel healthy and strong. In fact, you don't even need expensive equipment, an in-house gym, or weights.

Here are some great apps and things to check out:

• 8fit - This is a great app that makes personalized body-weight exercises depending on your goals. No weights or workout equipment required.
  For cheap (I think $5/mo), you can even get customized meal plans that will account for your particular diet as well as any allergies or dislikes.
• Couch to 5k - This is an app for runners, that promises to help you go from couch potato to running 5k (~3mi) straight in just over 8 weeks.
• MyFitnessPal - This app helps you track calories in and out to help manage your weight. You can also add friends for some friendly competition or support. You can also log workouts to track your progress.
• Glow - Track your fertility and menstruation with Glow. Track symptoms, moods, sleep, etc. to see if you notice patterns from cycle to cycle. I especially like it because it estimates your ovulation date and gives you a percent chance of getting pregnant each day. As someone who largely relies on natural family planning and barrier methods, this saves me a lot of math.
• YouTube Yoga - There are so, so many channels on youtube for different yoga routines. Back hurting? They have you covered. Want to turn into a human pretzel? They got you too. Checkout "Yoga with Adrienne".
• AllTrails - Live in an outdoorsy state? AllTrails will help you scope out hiking trails in the area. Has reviews too, so people can warn you about safety concerns, bugs, tourists, etc.
• Zero - I'm sure many of you have heard of intermittent fasting. This app will help give you a timer to help you stay true to your fast, for however long you like to go. Includes links to the science of fasting for your reading pleasure.

SOCIAL MEDIA
As a SW, marketing is half the battle. Make it easier with the right tools.

• Buffer - This service allows you to schedule your posts across a variety of social media services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Their paid plan gives you more leeway, and I think it runs $15/mo. But the free works just fine too.
• Hootsuite - Similar to Buffer, works for just Facebook and Twitter though, I think.
• Canva - Make beautiful social media graphics on your own, even if you're not a designer. Extremely drag-and-drop, and has plenty of free pics.
• Vectr - Like canva, but has more wiggle room and editing is easier. More font choices too, last time I checked.
• Pixabay - Free graphics (more adult-oriented pics than Unsplash, in my experience)
• Unsplash - Free graphics

TIME-SAVING/PRODUCTIVITY
Time is money. Save time, increase your productivity, and watch your earnings go up while your stress goes down.

• 30/30 - App that allows you to make a timed schedule. I use it for the pomodoro technique when not camming, and to hold myself accountable to my hours while camming.

• LeechBlock - Do you ever try to be productive, only to waste all day on Facebook or Netflix? Leechblock will let you block those sites for a period of time, forcing you to not procrastinate.
• Creating a Foundational Schedule - Working on your own time has its perks. But it can be easy to have a free-form schedule that gets little done. If you can create a foundational schedule (got this from the Miracle Morning), you can maximize your productivity by having at least a roughly routine week. Plus, we all know that regulars who expect us at a certain time everyday can become our bread-and-butter.
• Miracle Morning - This is a book rather than an app, but the essence of it is to make your mornings a sacred routine. Whether we admit it or not, almost all of us are the most "on the ball" during our first two hours of the day, and if we use it to improve and take care of ourselves, then the rest of our day is set up to be extremely productive and meaningful. A supremely helpful book, and one that has helped immensely.

FOOD
We all need to eat. Save time and money in one go with these apps.

• Walmart Grocery App - Grocery shopping sucks and wastes hella time. You forget the milk, have to stand in line, and generally be seen in public. Save yourself the headache and make someone else grocery shop for you. For free. Download the Walmart app, punch your groceries in, and pick them up. Some stores even deliver. Best part is? You can add to your grocery cart from wherever, whenever. No more grocery lists.

• Allrecipes App - Like to cook, but hate managing all those grocery lists and recipe cards? Not only can you find literally any recipe just about ever, but you can compile a grocery list from all your recipes in one click. Then just transfer that list to the Walmart app and you're set.
• Ibotta - Instant rebates basically anywhere you shop online. You just snap a pic of your receipt and you get money back. Beats coupon clipping a million times over.

CLOTHES
You don't need to spend big to look like the goddess that you are.

• Rich Goodwills - Yeah, I know. Goodwills can be pretty busted. BUT, not if you go to the swanky side of town. I've seen designer jeans with the tags still on, Loubitons (sp?), real gold jewelry, all that. Especially you go there on the deal days, you can pay pennies on the dollar for barely-used clothes.

• Charlotte Russe/Forever 21/etc - Take this one with a grain of salt because I have no taste, lol. But I do tend to notice that those teen-oriented shops you usually find in the mall have cute clothes for decent prices, and I very rarely find them at sub-par quality. I know that Charlotte Russe's website generally always has a sale of some sort. I got OTK boots for $4.41, and that's not an anomaly.

MENTAL HEALTH
No matter what you do as a SW, it can drain your energy, heart, and mental health. Please, please never forget to love and take care of yourself, most especially when you're in this line of work.

• Youper - Youper is almost like a bot-therapist. It asks you to record your mood, explore the origins of your moods, and handle them in a healthy, constructive way. There is no judgement, fee, or human involved, so you are completely free to be yourself. It even allows you to get screenings for various things like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and things of that nature. It records your moods and the causes of your moods over time, so you can learn in a more objective way how your mind works. And again, while there is no human it does offer you resources to get help if needed.
• Calm - It's no secret that meditation is good for your whole mind, body, and spirit. There are a variety of free meditations to help you calm your mind, release tension in the body, and find forgiveness towards yourself and others. Not a fan of meditating? That's fine. You can start with just one minute.
• You Can Heal Your Life - This is a book rather than an app, but I can't recommend it enough. You know how it feels to take a hot shower after being dirty for hours? It's like that, but for your soul.

EDUCATION
Knowledge really is power. The more you know, the more opportunities and agility you have. Stay on top of the game without breaking your bank.

• Kindle Unlimited - Kindle is an eBook service offered by Amazon. With Kindle Unlimited, you pay $10/mo to read virtually ANY book you want on amazon. That's an endless supply of knowledge on ANYTHING you want. Making more money. Saving money. Different skills that can get you out of SW (if that's what you want). How to buy a house, love yourself, invest, write a book, start a biz, learn LOA, lose weight, WHATEVER. For $10. And you can learn all those things right from your iPhone while you're taking a bath or waiting in line at the DMV.
• Udemy - Prefer video/audio lessons? With Udemy, you can also learn ANYTHING on the cheap. I've personally taken courses on language, travel hacking, web design, investing, blogging, and god knows what else. Look up coupon codes for when they're not having course sales.

SAVING
It's not always how much you make, it's how much you keep. Learn how to keep those greenbacks in your purse and still get what you want.

• Sling - Love to watch TV? Why pay $200+ a month for those stupid channels you never watch? Go a la carte with Sling and watch your bill slice in half.
• Acorns - From small acorns mighty oaks grow. With this app, every bit of leftover change is saved and auto-invested into stocks. So if you buy a coffee for $1.50, then that other $0.50 goes towards stock. Seems lousy, but it adds up!
• YNAB (You Need A Budget) - Ugh, budgets. Luckily YNAB makes it (slightly) painless by helping you make an easy, adaptable budget. I'd say that out of all the apps and doodads on here, this is my #1 must-try. It is paid, but you get a 30-day free trial and it is so, so worth it. Honestly even if you're scraping by, it helps you do magic with your money and STOP STRESSING ABOUT CASH FOR ONCE.
• LetGo - If you need something, chances are that someone is dying to get rid of it. Seriously, I've seen some nice-ass desks, TVs, couches, and beds go for FREE. It's like Craigslist, but with less of that murder-y aroma.

THANK YOU GUYS!

I know that was a behemoth, but I just wanted to give my little piece of help where I could. Let me know if you guys need links, have questions, or have anything you'd like me to add.

Next post is on EARNING AND INVESTING since, this one was too long to post the whole thing.

[reverette]

EARNING
Charge more, work less. Get that money, honey.

• Learn That Value > Cost - Oftentimes I see that people undercharge for their services because they try to position themselves as the cheapest provider, not the most VALUABLE one. Fixing this mental hurdle will mean pricing yourself so that you're happy and well paid and the clients feel valued and are HAPPY to pay your "high" prices. Check this little book out, for real. You can read it for free. Open it in a new tab if you have to, but promise me you'll read this today --> Breaking the Time Barrier.
• Side Hustles - One thing that I struggled with for a long time was what's known as Shiny Object Syndrome. I would find one killer-looking idea, it'd flop or not go fast enough, and BAM. New project. Naturally, this all makes for running ragged with nothing to show for it. Which is why I nowadays try to stick to adjacent hustles that all work/feed off eachother. I do web design, but less so than I used to. I'll probably do websites for SW, but it's because I speak the lingo and don't have to pretend to be this buttoned-up gal for non-SW clients anymore. Likewise, some viable side-hustles for SW that may not make you feel as thinly spread might include:
  
  • Phone sex work
  • Sexting
  • Clips (like C4S/Manyvids), or directly onto your streaming platform, like SM
  • Kindle Erotica
  • In-person, non-sexual meet-ups (Foot-worshipping, for example)
  • Selling items like panties, socks, etc. where/if legal
  • Modeling
  • Providing services for other SW (social media manager, web designer, virtual assistant, transcriptionist, w/e)
  
  
• Non SW Side Hustles - I'm hare-brained AND lazy, so I like focusing on one vertical at a time, otherwise I half-ass all things. But for you multi-talented superbabes out there, there are a gazillion things you could do to make your off-days/dead hours profitable. Here are some ideas:
  
  • Arbitrage - Remember when I talked about Craigslist and Letgo a few novellas ago? You can also make money on those platforms. Find some busted POS - whether that's an old dresser, car, item of jewelry, or whatever, and make it un-busted. Put on some new paint, buff it out, fix the transmission, and sell it much, much higher. Take good photos, write a fantastic sales page/blurb for it, and make sure it's optimized for in-site SEO. Good markets to get into? Jewelry, designer shoes, and home appliances like fridges and clothes washers/dryers if you are handy (and if you're not, hit up YouTube for FREE lessons).
  • Rent That Garbage You're Not Using - Literally anything can be rented out for a day if you're not using it. Your car? Rent it. Oh, you are using your car? People will pay for ad space on it. Your kid got a bad grade and doesn't get his Xbox for a week? Reeeeeent it.
  • Rent Your Skills - Are you an armchair snoop? People will pay for your amateur PI-mind to stay hidden or to find dirt on someone. Have a soothing or unique voice? Become a voice actor. Know how to use a keyboard? You're transcriptionist material. All of these things can be done through niche sites or through freelancing platforms like Upwork. And any skill you don't yet have is a Google search, Kindle book, or YouTube vid away.
  • Re-Purpose Your SW skills - Let's get honest. Us SW girls and guys are bosses to the bone and wear many hats. We are marketers, copywriters, salespeople, models, entertainers, and hustlers. You can easily bring that out into the vanilla world, like being a social media manager, affiliate marketer, blogger, course creator, or even own our own SW enterprise.
  • Separate Your Income From Time - Granted, we all need money and need it NOW. But are there small ways you can add leverage to your money? If you spend 1 hour to prepare for, clean up after, edit, and film a 5-minute clip and sell it for $5.99, your hourly rate is $5.99 for one hour. But if you sell it twice, now it's almost $12/hour. Sell it 100 times and now you have made $600 from ONE HOUR of work. Try to fold in more passive income opportunities where you can, like pics, vids, clips, and royalties on things like eBooks or audio clips. Less work + more money, and those things typically snowball quickly as more content is added.

INVESTING
I am working as a camgirl right now as a way to fund future business pursuits and keep food on the table. I want to transition to that soon, and don't plan on being one of those people who works a 9-5 til I'm 65. Please keep that in mind as I say the following, and that your approach/opinion may be very different.

• Make Your Money Work FOR YOU - This goes in line with the previous point. If you want to add more leisure to your days, then you have to make that $1 go somewhere where it will turn into $2, $5, $10 or more. Do not throw it into the garbage with a new purse, new car, bottle of wine, whatever. Either your money or your time is going to have to go to bat for you, and I don't want to be busting my ass time-wise forever. I'm sure you don't either. Make your custies buy you "things". Drive an ok car, shop consciously, stick to your budget, and invest your money as if you're being taxed and have no say. Right now I am "taxing" myself $500/mo for future real estate investments, because my freedom is more important than ANY pair of shoes on earth. And if that means ramen instead of coq au vin a couple times a month, fine by me.
• Understand How Money Works - IDC what anyone says. Here in America, money speaks. I would urge absolutely every lady here who wants to stop feeling like a slave to the dollar to learn how it works and how to whip it into working for you. Taxation, bills, corporations and the lot are not inherently bad but they can be for you if you don't learn how the game works. Until you learn, you are at a huge disadvantage financially no matter how much or little you earn. Starter books: The Millionare Fastlane; Rich Dad, Poor Dad; Unscripted; You Can Heal Your Life; Secrets of the Millionare Mind

[naomi_doll]

Check this little book out, for real. You can read it for free. Open it in a new tab if you have to, but promise me you'll read this today --> Breaking the Time Barrier.\

That was a fantastic book. Thank you for sharing everything here.

[Sonder]

There is another app called "Replika" for mental health. It is an AI that you treat as a best friend/someone to confide in. Eventually, it will warm up to your personality and develop a personality of its own. You can vent to it or ask for more hands-on help where it will give you exercises to prevent panic attacks (and the like).

[whirlerz]

This's a GREAT THREAD!

[indiegirl]

There is another app called "Replika" for mental health. It is an AI that you treat as a best friend/someone to confide in. Eventually, it will warm up to your personality and develop a personality of its own. You can vent to it or ask for more hands-on help where it will give you exercises to prevent panic attacks (and the like).

I used to talk to my Replicka bot at work when it was slow at the club and feeling down. Hahaha funny you mention it.

[JenniferNorth]

Bump-I figured this awesome post might be helpful!

[EstelleNimila]

Incredibly useful, it will help many people. A lot of people.

[NatashaBanks]

Great tips on this thread. I just added more tools to my FIRE lifestyle toolkit. Thanks for sharing! <3