If there is a hole in your monthly budget, there are several ways in which you can plug this deficit with income-earning activities which involve assessing the needs of those around you and meeting these needs.

Here are 16 ways in which we suggest that you can improve your monthly income by at least $25,000 monthly or $300,000 annually.

Some require training which you can get by apprenticing yourself to an experienced practitioner or offering to work for free until you believe you are skilled enough to launch out on your own.

Price your services and products based upon the cost of your inputs - time and material, etc - as well as what your competitors are charging.

Dedicate your earnings to specific savings goals, and pumping back funds into the product or service you offer, so your funds are not frittered away on impulse buys.

The 16 tips

1. Offer daily dog grooming and feeding services for two neighbourhood pets at $500 each.

2. Offer full wax, vacuum and oil check for cars at $1,000 each.

3. Transport four neighbours to and from work in your car at $250 a head daily.

4. Avoid the coffee machine, eat breakfast at home and carry lunch to work.

5. Operate evening pan-chicken service selling barbecued or jerk chicken at $250 per piece with bread on the side. You will earn $2,000 for every chicken you buy, as each chicken has eight pieces. Note that food handling requires a permit from your local health department.

6. Sell ice cream in the cone as an evening treat for neighbourhood kids. At $100 per scoop with cone, you will be underselling most retailers.

7. Sell coffee and peanuts or nicely packaged fruit at the office or place of work.

8. Start a homework-assistance project for neighbourhood kids at $200 each.

9. Buy fresh bread from the local bakery at wholesale prices and resell to your neighbours.

10. Sell hot peanut porridge and other popular porridges in the mornings for one hour before going to work at $100 per cup.

11. Offer to baby-sit the children of friends and neighbours.

12. Do laundry on evenings and weekends. Wash and iron 15 pieces for $1,000 per set.

13. Prepare economic and nutritious lunches for co-workers and sell them.

14. Learn to sew and create low- cost but stylish additions to the wardrobe. Sew and sell sheet sets and curtains.

15. Offer to do pedicures and foot massages for retirees and the elderly in your community. They tend to have circulation problems.

16. Form a walkers' club catering to those who want to walk in the early mornings but are afraid to do so on their own. You will need 10 members at $100 each to meet your daily $1,000 target

There are many more ideas based upon what we observe to be the things that Jamaicans are willing to give up their dollars for. Observe, do your research and take action.

avia.ustanny@gleanerjm.com