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Possible Long-Term Travel and $5,130 in Business Income

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 69 Comments

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Possible Long-Term Travel and $5,130 in Business Income

We finally fixed the truck, but now it’s broken again. Ughh…

Hey everyone! Happy Monday. This past weekend was a very lazy one, and I don’t think I got much done. I have been sick for the past week, and I’m hoping that I’ll start feeling better soon.

The weather has been great lately, but it’s been all over the place. It keeps switching from 90 degrees to 45 degrees which means that my allergies are horrible right now.

FinCon is this week and I am super excited. It’s my first blogging conference and I can’t wait to meet everyone. I hope everyone is ready for St. Louis because it will be pretty crazy considering everything that is going on with the Cardinals and baseball right now.

We have been thinking about travel a lot lately. Soon we will be going to Chicago to visit my family, and then we are going to St. Thomas.

Hopefully Colorado and a bunch of other states will be on our agenda for this year also. We have really been thinking about doing some long-term travel, but I guess I’m a little nervous as well. It just seems like there is so much to plan, and the expense of long-term traveling just seems crazy as well. Are you preparing for long-term travel? What’s something that I should know? What’s your favorite travel blog?

 

Spending

I don’t think we have bought much in the past couple of weeks. However, I do plan on buying a new laptop soon, as I need something a little more reliable. My current Mac isn’t doing exactly what I want it to do, and it’s pretty old also.

Food spending has still been pretty low. We spent $150 yesterday but that will last us awhile, and it included dog food.

 

Possible Long-Term Travel and $5,130 in Business Income

 

Business Income:

Business income has been going very well. And I have added two decent-sized gigs to my business this month already. I am still thinking about how I will be more safe/secure with publicly publishing my business income. What do you think I should do?

I do plan on increasing my business even further, as I don’t know what I would do with all of my free time. I’m used to working, and I like to keep busy!

If anyone needs any help, check out my Hire Me page and let me know what services you are interested in. Lately, a few other website owners have asked me to help run their website while they are gone for just a month or two, so this is a new service that I am also offering. If you are starting a new job, about to have a baby, want to do some long-term travel or something else, please let me know.

 

Posts from Making Sense of Cents:

  1. Being Defined By Your Job or Career – Switching to self-employment has led to some interesting things being said to me.
  2. Is Working From Home Cheaper – Jordann accepted a new job, which means that she is now working from home. Do you think you could save money if you worked from home?
  3. 7 Savvy Tips To Keep Your Piggy Bank Happy – Here is a post written by another blogger about different ways to save money.

 

Link love:

  1. Is Making Money Blogging Wrong? Club Thrifty – I make money blogging. Some are for it, others aren’t. I love this post.
  2. Becoming a Freelancer: The reality of being an independent contractor Save Spend Splurge – This is a great post for those wondering about the world of freelancing.
  3. When to make the switch Careful Cents – Here’s another great post about freelancing. I just love reading about it!

 

 

Being healthy

Being healthy has not been going the greatest. I have been doing okay with eating healthy, but I honestly don’t think I’ve worked out in weeks. It doesn’t help that I’ve been sick for the past week, so working out is not something that I want to do at all.

I’m really hoping to switch this around soon. I just hope I start feeling better!

 

Wedding Planning

I have hardly done anything related to the wedding in a very long time. All I have paid for is the dress and the photography, and the wedding is in less than 8 months. AHH!

I think I will be choosing a very light peach for our main wedding color. The girls will each be choosing their own dress, and I’m pretty open as to whatever they want, as long as it’s all the same length and a similar material.

My goals for this month include finishing the save the dates, and looking for a caterer. And a DJ. And find a tent, chair, and table rental company. The other things can wait a little bit longer.

Have you been doing well with your extra income, spending and being healthy?

 

 

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. Pauline says

    I haven’t been reading long term travel blogs for a while but if you plan on keeping your business you have to travel slow. I am traveling for 2 months at the moment and it has been hard because we never spend more than 2 days in the same city. If you want to see things AND have time to get online you should spend at least a week in a place.

    Reply

  2. charles@gettingarichlife.com says

    Michelle,
    That’s the advantage of having an online business you can travel anywhere and work. I remember how stressed my wife was when we got married last year. For me, not so much I just had to show up.

    Reply

  3. DC @ Young Adult Money says

    I won’t be headed to FINCon, unfortunately, but I’m sure I will get to read everyone’s posts about it and be jealous haha. I’m glad your income is going so well and seems to be quite consistent. St. Thomas sounds amazing and it’s great that you will be travelling a lot!

    Reply

  4. John S @ Frugal Rules says

    Looks like another great week Michelle. We’re looking forward to FinCon as well and looks like the weather will be a little more normal this week…I hope. 🙂 We signed two pretty big clients over the last week so things are going well for us. We’ve been talking a lot about travelling as well. We can do much of our job from anywhere and have been getting the itch to go to Europe – so who knows what next year will hold.

    Reply

  5. MMD @ My Money Design says

    That’s great for side income this month! What are the two side gigs you picked up? As long as people don’t know who you are (only your first name), you should be okay with publishing your income. You just want to avoid people you know reading it and then trying to hit you up for money. As far as taxes go, just make sure you report the same or more than what you publish here on your site. If someone really wanted to audit you, you don’t want them to use your blog against you bringing up every past income blog post over the last year.

    Reply

  6. Jaclyn says

    I think someone posted a comment last week that was a great idea – maybe you could do a weekly/monthly newsletter and just include your income to those subscribers so it’s not at public? Either way I still love that you post it. Every month I tell my husband how great you’re doing and how I would love to make a PORTION of that every month in side income. It’s very motivating!

    Reply

  7. Laurie @thefrugalfarmer says

    Sorry to hear you’ve been sick, and hope you’re feeling better soon! Take care of yourself, knowing that your income is great and the biz is going well. I’m on a renewed kick this week to get back into shape after a seriously lazy (in terms of working out) year. Day 3, and it’s going well so far!

    Reply

  8. Grayson @ Debt Roundup says

    Sounds like some fun times in the travel department. As you make more money, you could be exposing yourself to more risk by showing how much you make. I wouldn’t do it and never have. You are not a public company, but you will be putting yourself under the scrutiny if you continue to publish these numbers.

    Reply

  11. Practical Cents says

    Congrats on your self employment . I appreciate you sharing your business income but I can understand why you would want to keep it private. I love to travel but have never been on a long term trip. I think the longest i have been away is about 3 weeks. I always start missing home after a while.

    Reply

  12. moneystepper says

    Great start to October for the business income – good work!! We’ve also got to start planning the wedding a bit quicker so will be interested to hear your progress in the coming few months!

    Reply

  13. Connie @ Savvy With Saving says

    Sounds like another great week for you! FinCon sounds awesome, I’m jealous! 🙂 Maybe next year. Enjoy St. Louis!

    Reply

  14. EL @ Moneywatch101 says

    Good luck on the travel plans. It might be expensive but the consistent work you are doing should cover it. I think sharing income is fine as long as it doesn’t affect it going forward. I still don’t know how you do it as I do not see many ads on your site. I will look forward to some cool pics on the travels and fincon.

    Reply

  15. Solo Traveller says

    Long-term travel can be a great thing for a freelancer, as it can help you save money; dependent upon your current situation. There are places in the world where you can find yearly rentals for about $500 per month. Perhaps it can help you expand your audience.

    Reply

  16. jackie says

    good luck with the wedding planning. ours is still a year away but i haven’t done much either oops. also long term travel sounds awesome! would be perfect for you since you can continue to do your work on the road.

    Reply

  19. Shannon @ The Heavy Purse says

    Sorry to hear that you’ve been ill and hope you’re feeling better. I forgot FinCon was this week. Sadly, I’m unable to go, which bums me out but it’s been a crazy (but good) month, so I am glad that I didn’t attempt to squeeze FinCon in as it might have cost me my sanity! LOL! I am looking forward to hearing about and seeing everybody’s blog posts and tweets!

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      Yes, I was actually asked to offer this service by two clients, or I would have never even thought about it! And I would love to help you when you need it 🙂

      Reply

  21. Al says

    I’m currently home sick–it’s the worst and can definitely wreak havoc on any “healthy routines” you’ve established. Thanks for sharing the Link Love about freelancing. I’ve recently been kicking around the idea of looking into freelancing. I’m trying to first combat the “I’m probably not good enough” feelings. Also, I really enjoy writing for myself, and I would be fearful that writing for money would take away one of the things in my life that gives me happiness. When you started writing for profit did you find that you enjoyed writing less?

    Feel better soon!
    Al
    http://www.herbearings.com

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      Yes, being sick is horrible! I just want to feel better. I hope you feel better also!

      And I find that I enjoy writing the more that I do it. I don’t write about topics that I don’t care about, so I do think that helps 🙂

      Reply

  22. Cat @ Budget Blonde says

    So excited about your travels!!! 🙂 Hope you have a fab time! I’d love a blog post about how you stay organized with all your gigs and what tools you use to keep you on track (icalendar or old school planner?) 🙂

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      Thanks Cat! I’m hoping that we finally start planning some traveling soon.

      I’m very old school when it comes to keeping organized. I do need a better method!

      Reply

  25. Budget and the Beach says

    My advice for travel would be to just start playing around with research. I’ll have a blog post in the next couple of weeks that my world traveler friend is posting with some great advice. Hope you feel better soon and can’t wait to meet you this week!

    Reply

  27. Jacob | iHeartBudgets says

    The free time is going to be awesome, and I bet you’ll fill it ALL in, lol! Great work on the income as usual 🙂

    I’m looking forward to meeting budding entrepeneurs such as yourself at FinCon so I can learn how to NOT suck! 🙂

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      Well we’re are hoping to fit some in before he goes back. He hasn’t signed up yet, and we’re afraid that the classes he needs will already be filled up. So if that is the case, then we will be traveling! 🙂

      Reply

  31. Ryan says

    Michelle, you should TOTALLY take the leap towards long term travel. I highly recommend it and you have no reason to worry about funds as you seem to making a killing doing what you’re doing. While many seem to think that it’s expensive, it’s far from it. Of course, it also depends on where you want to go, what your style of travel is (budget, mid-range, luxury, slow travel) and so on.

    I’ve been traveling full-time since May of 2010. This past March my girlfriend quit her job and joined me on the road. We spent six months living in Thailand and now we’re getting ready to wrap up a two month stint in Europe before heading home to visit our fam for a few weeks.

    On December 17th, we’re flying down to Mexico City to explore for a few weeks before making our way down to the Yucatan to find an apartment for the next 5-6 months. We’re yearning for the beach!

    The biggest question you’ll want to ask yourselves is whether you want to be constantly on the move (which is EXHAUSTING), or if you’re interested in slow travel which gives you the opportunity to settle into a place, get to know the locals, culture, cuisine and more. It also allows you to have a “home” and be able to take off on road trips around the region, and explore your destination versus simply passing through it.

    While I enjoy traveling to new places, I must admit that after visiting more than 35 countries in the last few years, I’m pretty burnt out. 2013 has been an amazing change of pace for me as we spent a good chunk of time settling into Thailand, making tons of new friends, getting into a good fitness routine and more.

    Nowadays I like a mixture of slow travel and normal, faster paced travel. I’d say 6-8 months in a location, followed by a couple months of on-the-go travel, followed by a few visits to see the fam would be the perfect recipe for a kick ass life!

    I highly recommend that you do some traveling and then find yourself a home base and explore your surroundings. 😉

    Remember, life is short. Don’t keep putting off your dreams…

    Hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message!

    Reply

    • Michelle says

      You win comment of the month Ryan! Haha I love when readers leave such thoughtful comments 🙂

      We definitely want to start traveling more. I guess I am just hesitant because we have a house and two dogs, and we would want someone reliable to take care of them.

      Reply

      • Ryan says

        Yay! LOL. I hope you know that I have an answer for every excuse you make for not following your dreams of traveling the globe! 😉

        Fortunately, for you, there are websites that will solve all of your home and animals needs. You may or may not have heard of these but I’ll go ahead and list them anyway. Check out: trustedhousesitters.com, housecarers.com, and mindmyhouse.com. All of these websites have qualified house and pet sitter that are eager to take care of your home and animals on the drop of a dime. Many of them are slow travelers who are looking for their next destination to settle into for a few months. Of course, you will want to do some research before choosing your ideal sitter but that’s a given.

        Feel free to contact me anytime!

        Reply

        • Michelle says

          Thanks! But I am a crazy dog momma, and I don’t trust my pets with anyone. Someone dog sat for us once and our dog died, so I am very reluctant when it comes to things like that.

          Reply

          • Ryan says

            Wow, that is terrible! So sorry to hear that. Have you ever thought of taking the dogs along with you? I’m sure it’s not the easiest thing in the world but it can be done.

            Reply

  32. eemusings says

    Agree with Pauline – you’d need to travel slow. (The slower you go, the lower your daily expenses and you can get some good accommodation deals through Airbnb etc) I have hardly blogged since we hit the US as it’s been go go go and am at the end of my scheduled posts! I’d say maybe dip your toes in – maybe travel somewhere for a couple of weeks, or do a trip for like a month to a couple of places and see how you like it. (Obviously somewhere with good internet! ) It can be pretty draining. Honestly, I’m a bit exhausted, and I think we’ll be going home at just the right time. This time next month we’ll be back in Auckland!

    Reply

  33. Eva @ Girl Counting Pennies says

    I’ve been ill for over a week too! I hope you get better soon!

    Long term travelling is something that I plan on doing in a couple of years. First, I need to save for it though! I can see why it can be a bit scary, but I’m sure you will not regret it!

    Reply

  34. E.M. says

    I hope you feel better soon! The weather has been up and down here, too, and my allergies are having none of it. As for long term travel, I think you can do it. You have had a lot of discipline to be able to work full time and build up an online business, so I think it’s possible for you to do whatever you set your mind to. Traveling but acting as a local is always a great tip to make it more affordable.

    Reply

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