There are a number of different things you can do to boost your bank balance.
Increasing your bank balance is a very respectable goal. Perhaps you want to start an emergency fund and boost it to $1,000.
Having extra cash when times are looking a bit more uncertain is very important.
Here are three ways you can boost the bank balance of your Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) or Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) savings account:
Sell items
We all have items that we bought a while ago and perhaps shouldn't have. Quite a few of these items can be worth something to someone else on Gumtree, eBay, a Facebook buy/sell page or even in a garage sale.
Clothes, musical instruments, games, good condition baby items (eg a pram), quality furniture and so on could all be worth selling. My household has probably sold over $1,500 worth of items over the past few years.
Work on a pay rise
Full-time employment is most people's main source of income. Although wage increases are fairly limited these days, it is definitely possible to get pay rises.
The data suggests that switching jobs to a competing company is the best way to get a pay increase. But, apart from that, if you can show to your employer that you have been performing well and the industry average pay for your experience is a bit higher, you may be able to negotiate a pay rise.
Another way to get a pay rise is to undertake further education. In some professions, it could just be the case of getting an additional qualification to improve your worth to your employer.
Whatever you do, you have to believe that you are worth a bit more than your current pay packet and negotiate for it.
Get a side hustle
Unless you're already studying further education in your spare time, I think it could be a good idea to get a side hustle – preferably one you enjoy, then it won't really feel like a second job.
It could be as simple as doing quick online surveys through a business like Pureprofile Ltd (ASX: PPL) to make a few dollars whilst watching TV.
My own side hustle was writing Fool articles until I made the move to do it full-time.
Whether it's working at a café, a bit of Uber driving or whatever else, doing something on the side is good to boost your cash balance.
