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February Blog Income Report – $49,607

Last Updated: January 9, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 129 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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February Online Income Report - $49,607Welcome to February’s online income report where I show you how I made money online last month. It’s time to look at this month’s update and track how I did.

If you’re new here, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you’re not new here.

This all started out as my extra income report because in the beginning it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job.

However, I left my day job as a financial analyst in October of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the many ways I earn a living.

Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’m crazy, whereas some are glad I’m open about what I’m doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons:

  • Before I started blogging, I knew nothing about side hustling and making money online. I didn’t think side jobs were worth the effort and I thought the only way to significantly increase your income was through raises at your full-time job. If it weren’t for others publishing their monthly income reports, I don’t know if I would have ever tried side hustling. I want to help show others the positives in side hustling and how it can change a person’s life. There are many different ways to make money online, and I like to share my story each month to help motivate others to improve their financial situation by making more money.
  • Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and actually see what areas need improvement. I use my monthly income reports as a way to track how I’ve done and I treat it sort of like a journal.
  • Lastly, I like to show others that making side money is possible and that there are many legitimate ways to make money from your home. If you are looking for information on the many ways to make money online, I published the article Monthly Income Report Roundup – My Favorite Income Bloggers that showcases many successful bloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month. I’ll be publishing an update to this post soon, so please send me an email (or leave a comment) if you would like me to include your income report.

I know I say this every month, but it’s the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss. I look forward to each and every day and it’s a wonderful feeling. I truly love waking up every morning.

Above are just a few of the reasons for why I enjoy publishing my monthly income reports. I like to show others that you don’t have to hate your job and hate your life. You can make changes to your life and make money in a way that allows you to truly enjoy the life you are living. I’m not saying that you have to LOVE your job, I’m just saying that your job should, at least, allow you to do what you like to do outside of work (whether that be spending time with loved ones, painting, hiking, etc.).

 

How was my blog income in February?

I wasn’t sure how February would go due to moving (we live in our RV full-time now!), but it went very well.

My business is growing, income is increasing significantly, I have tons of awesome ideas for the rest of the year, and I am just extremely excited about everything. I really love my business and I don’t know where I would be without it.

The business is doing well and I’m very happy with it. I’ve been catching myself saying “Life is really good” a LOT lately. And, I mean it – life is really good. 

Anyway, I earned $49,607 online in February, before expenses.

If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free website domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, if you are asking yourself “can you make money blogging?” – my top tip is to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously. My blogging income did not take off until after I switched to self-hosted WordPress.

Related articles:

  • How To Make Money Blogging
  • How I Make Working From Home Work For Me
  • How To Become Financially Stable and Keep The Job You Love
  • Becoming a Work-Life Balancing Master

 

February Income

The number above is for the month of February and before any fees and expenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around $4,700 (rounded up), which include virtual assistants/staff writers for my other websites, technical assistance, Facebook advertising (I spent $3,000 on Facebook advertising alone in the month of February), newsletter expenses, PayPal fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. After expenses and fees, I made approximately $44,907. 

Below are some of my other monthly online income reports. I publish an online income update every month but only included some of them below as it would be a very long list. If you head on over to my income page you can find all of my monthly income reports from the past few years.

  • $672 extra in May (2012)
  • $6,523 in January Extra Income (2013)
  • $11,927 in October Income – I Finally Left My Job (2013)
  • $12,640 in January Income (2014)
  • $23,758 in February Income – My Monthly Online Income Report (2015)
  • How I Made $300,000 Online In 2015

 

Blog news.

Making Sense of Cents is doing well and I’m very happy with everything.

One area I am working on right now is increasing the amount of traffic I receive to my website. I tried Facebook ads last month and spent a nice chunk of change on it, but I’m pausing that this month. I really like organic (free!) traffic and I’m going to continue doing that. With that being said, I’m going to try my hardest to improve the amount of traffic that I receive from Facebook because I did like seeing the traffic from there.

Pinterest is still one of the main ways I receive referral traffic each month. I’m still using Tailwind and it has saved me a ton of time. Plus, even though I am automating a lot of my Pinterest tasks, I am actually seeing an increase in traffic, which is great.

However, I’ve decided that I’m going to give BoardBooster a shot because it seems like many other bloggers are having great success with it. I’ll let you know in next month’s income report about whether I like it or not.

Also, I have received many questions recently about how I’m staying connected to the internet so that I can work and travel in my RV at the same time. I use a [easyazon_link identifier=”B00OPO5XO0″ locale=”US” tag=”maksenofcen0b-20″ link_id=”7533″ type=”link”]Verizon MiFi[/easyazon_link] and I am able to stay connected pretty much anywhere with it. It really comes in handy because you can’t always trust free wifi. Sometimes free wifi is slow, hard to find, or not safe. I don’t know what I would do without this device!

Overall, traffic increased in February and I received around 550,000 pageviews.

Top new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:

  • 7 Items You Should And Shouldn’t Buy Used
  • What To Do After You Pay Off Debt
  • Make Money Online As A Freelance Writer Or Virtual Assistant
  • The Complete Budgeting Guide: How To Create A Budget That Works
  • The Complete Credit Score Guide – Improving Your Credit Score Has Never Been Easier!
  • How Much Does It Cost To RV?
  • 8 Items To Sell Around Your Home For Extra Money
  • What To Do When You Can’t Pay Your Bills
  • How Blogging Saved My Life
  • How To Work From Home Selling On Amazon FBA
  • My Opinion Of The Great Renting vs Buying Debate

 

February Online Income Report - $49,607Featured Question: Should my blog be self-hosted?

I feature one question from a reader in each monthly income report. Please leave a comment below if you have a question that you would like me to answer.

Yes!

If you want to make money blogging, the first thing you will need to do is make sure you have a self-hosted blog, such as through Bluehost.

I recommend you start on self-hosted WordPress (this tutorial will help you start your blog the correct way). I cannot say this enough, but I do not recommend Blogger or WordPress.com (you want the self-hosted version, which is WordPress.org – confusing, I know). Buying that $10 domain name from Blogger or GoDaddy does not mean you own it either.

Advertisers, companies, and readers will know you are still on Blogger or free WordPress, which can look unprofessional. Plus, your blog can be deleted at anytime and for no reason when on a free version, and it even happened to me. This can hurt your chances at earning your income online.

Seriously, just trust me. Go with self-hosted WordPress, and it will significantly increase your chances of monetizing your blog.

If you want further proof, take a look at my past income reports. You can tell that my income through blogging didn’t take off until just as I switched to WordPress. Right there is a lot of proof that being self-hosted on WordPress is the way to go!

So, to recap, the positives of being self-hosted on WordPress through Bluehost include:

  • You have a more professional website meaning you may be able to make more money on WordPress.
  • The ability to have complete control over your blog.
  • You own your blog, and it can’t be deleted for no reason.

Past questions:

  • How do I increase my affiliate income?
  • Do I need millions of pageviews a month in order to make money blogging?
  • How do you build websites up to sell them?
  • Do only celebrities make money through owning websites?
  • How much money can a person make blogging?
  • Where does blog income come from?
  • Is there enough room for new bloggers to make money?
  • What should a person blog about?
  • How can a blogger increase their pageviews?

 

My plans for my website and making money online.

Without plans and goals, it would be very hard to run a business. I believe that constantly working towards something can help keep a person motivated.

Below are some of the areas I am currently working on:

  • Promote more. I am doing much better at promoting my articles and I’m noticing a huge improvement. One area is still Pinterest, and it brought around 170,000 clicks to my blog just in the month of February. I would love to see this number triple or quadruple before the year ends.
  • Accept more interviews.  I only took part in a few interviews in February. February was a crazy month due to the move, so I’m fine with that.
  • Double my income. Yes, I said double. I would love to double 2015’s income and I think it’s possible considering how well 2015 ended. That means I will need to average around $53,000 a month. It won’t be easy, but it will be fun to attempt.
  • Diversify my affiliate income streams. My goal is to diversify my affiliate income and have more sources.
  • Create an ebook. I’m in the very beginning stages of creating an ebook to help others increase their affiliate income. What questions would you like me to answer in my ebook? Eventually, I plan on expanding this further into a course, but for now I’m starting with an ebook.
  • Increase my pageviews to 1,000,000 each month. Okay, I realize this is sort of a superficial goal, but it’s quantifiable and that’s what I like about it. I would like to hit one million pageviews a month before the year ends. Wish me luck!

 

Staff writing.

I only wrote two articles for clients in February. I have a few planned for March, but I’m taking it slow. This is because I’m trying to spend more time on creating the ebook I discussed above, as well as my improving my blog.

Related articles:

  • So You Want to Be a Freelance Writer?
  • Staff Writing is the Perfect Side Hustle
  • How To Become a Virtual Assistant
  • What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?

 

Affiliate income.

Overall, I generated around $55,000 in affiliate income in February.

It was a great month, and I still can’t believe how quickly my affiliate income has grown in just the past year. Affiliate income is something that I really love due to how passive it can feel. It makes full-time traveling much more enjoyable when I know I can bring in an income while having a ton of fun exploring new places.

Anyway, I won’t see the payments I earned in February until 60-90 days later for most of the affiliate programs I’m in. Due to this, you won’t see those amounts reflected in my monthly income reports until then.

I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I earn over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger, then you NEED this course.

Annual income chart - February 2016

I started my income reports back in 2012. Please click here to find them all.

Breakout of the payments I received in February ($49,607):

  • Affiliate income – $36,179 total:
    • Bluehost (check out my tutorial on how to start a blog) – $20,285
    • Survey companies – $5,078
    • MOTIF Investing – $5,060
    • Ebates (this is only paid once every 3 months) – $4,190
    • Digit – $520
    • Izea – $345
    • 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success – $297
    • $5 Meal Plan – $174
    • Miscellaneous affiliates – $230 (various affiliate payments of $100 and below)
  • Sponsorships – $10,571
  • Staff writing and client work – $1,469
  • Display advertising – $1,388
  • Mystery shopping – $0

Please keep in mind that I work for myself when you read my monthly income report. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over 30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer may provide.

Check out How To Make Money Blogging for all of the different ways you can make money through a blog.

 

Comparisons and 2016 online income total (before taxes):

  • Total income in February of 2016: $49,607
  • Total income in January of 2016: $44,782
  • Difference: +4,825
  • Total in 2016: $94,389

How was February for you? Are you interested in earning income online?

If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously. 

 

Related Posts

  • How To Monetize A Blog: How I Grew A $5 Million BlogHow To Monetize A Blog: How I Grew A $5 Million Blog
  • How To Start A WordPress Blog On BluehostHow To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost
  • What Is A Blog, How Do Blogs Make Money, & MoreWhat Is A Blog, How Do Blogs Make Money, & More
  • How I Made Money in One Year With My Blog – Annual Wrap UpHow I Made Money in One Year With My Blog – Annual Wrap Up
  • Why I’m Happy I Made The Decision To Leave My High Paying And Secure Job For BloggingWhy I’m Happy I Made The Decision To Leave My High Paying And Secure Job For Blogging
  • 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
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129 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Business Income, Extra Income Tagged With: Blog, Extra Money, Self-employment

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. Michael says

    March 2, 2016 at 3:48 am

    Looks like you have a good shot at meeting your goal of doubling your income this year. Great job!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:41 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  2. Suzi Whitford says

    March 2, 2016 at 4:57 am

    Hey there! Fantastic report Michelle! My hubby recently started using MOTIF and he loves it, cool to see that you’re getting a good chuck of change from being an affiliate for them. How are your MOTIFs doing? 🙂

    Also, you talk about increasing your FB traffic. What are your tips? I put together an analysis of 31 Facebook Groups to plan out a promo schedule during the week, and my readers loved it. Do you use FB groups to promote your blog? Or do you just post it on your blog wall?

    Thanks for all the tips above! Enjoy RVing. <3

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:51 am

      Currently, I’m just focusing on my own Facebook page. I plan on trying Facebook groups to see if it will help to improve my blog traffic 🙂

      Reply
      • Suzi Whitford says

        March 2, 2016 at 10:04 am

        Awesome! I have a few that I really enjoy. Blog & Business: Moms who do it all, Blog Beautiful and Persuasive Bloggers for connecting to other bloggers, and Blogging Boost for promoting my posts.

        I hate to link drop as I find it tacky, but if you need the links to these groups and see when their promo days are, I’ve consolidated the list here: http://www.startamomblog.com/maximize-your-post-traffic-with-facebook-groups-31-fb-groups-analyzed/.

        FB groups bring great spikes in traffic, but Pinterest is my constant source day in and day out. Where do you get most of your traffic to your blog?

        Thanks for replying so quickly! I hope the internet is speedy wherever you are. 🙂

        Reply
        • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

          March 2, 2016 at 10:38 am

          Thanks for this!

          Reply
  3. Dee @ Color Me Frugal says

    March 2, 2016 at 5:04 am

    Congrats Michelle! You are completely killing it. I’d say you are well on your way to meeting your goals by year end!!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:51 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
    • Ramona says

      March 3, 2016 at 5:53 am

      Wanted to say the exact thing, she’s clearly making a killing here 😀

      Phew, I had to check the numbers once again, since 50K is huge. Many people don’t make this in a year’s time. lest in a month.

      Congratulations for the amazing results.

      Reply
      • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

        March 3, 2016 at 10:42 am

        Thanks!

        Reply
  4. Sarah @ the frugal millionaire blog says

    March 2, 2016 at 5:55 am

    Hi Michelle!! Congratulations on the income!! You are rocking it!! I can’t wait for your ebook 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Question – you said you were backing off of promoted pins and instead going to focus on FB ads. Do you find those to be more successful?! Do you do “boosted” posts or ads? I’ve tried a few boosted posts on FB and have ran some promoted pins, but haven’t really had much luck (though, I haven’t spent much and it doesn’t look like you can tell if sales came specifically from the ad…at least not that I’ve figured out!!)

    Thanks!! Hope you are enjoying your day!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:52 am

      Hmmm, did I say that I was backing off promoted pins? Please let me know because that is a typo that I’ll have to fix. I’ve backed off all ads for now, as I really like organic and free traffic 🙂

      Reply
  5. Christine @ The (mostly) Simple Life says

    March 2, 2016 at 6:00 am

    Thanks for sharing! February was my second full month of blogging and it looks like I racked up $3 on Google Adsense 🙂 It all starts somewhere right?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:53 am

      $3 for your second full month is higher than what I made! haha

      Reply
  6. Holly@ClubThrifty says

    March 2, 2016 at 7:21 am

    Great job on your income, Michelle! Killing it as usual! =)

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:53 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Monica says

    March 2, 2016 at 7:26 am

    This is so inspiring and exciting! As a new blogger, I want to thank you for publishing these details. It is a great motivational tool!
    I made $0.24 in February! Woot! 😉
    I’m excited to keep moving along!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:53 am

      Haha, nice!

      Reply
  8. Catina says

    March 2, 2016 at 7:41 am

    UM, you made my entire annual salary in one month….LOL…I need to get on the ball! Love!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:53 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
      • Amber says

        March 21, 2016 at 1:06 pm

        I agree, but even more so. You did more than double my annual income. I would like to start a blog after reading this and a few other articles, but I still have one question that no one mentions. What should I blog about? About personal stuff, my college life, work, money?

        Reply
        • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

          March 21, 2016 at 2:11 pm

          I talked about this very question recently 🙂 I recommend scrolling to the featured question in this blog post of mine – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2016/01/how-i-made-300000-in-2015.html

          Reply
          • Amber says

            March 21, 2016 at 5:11 pm

            Thank you so much!

            Reply
        • Liv Hammond says

          September 16, 2016 at 6:54 pm

          Amber, I have been researching starting a blog myself for months and hope to launch mine next week. What to blog about was hard to decide. I can only offer this advice being in the same boat, write about what comes naturally. Kind of like what you would talk about with a friend or maybe what your friend might call and ask your advice about. Conversations with friends flow easily and shouldn’t feel like work. I have read almost all of Michelle Schroeder-Gardner blogs/info and she is by far my favorite blogger. I wish you all the best.

          Reply
  9. Latoya @ Life and a Budget says

    March 2, 2016 at 7:53 am

    Congrats as always, Michelle! I still don’t know how you manage to do such a great job with your affiliate income. I’ve thought about doing it but I can’t lie, I’m intimidated by the work. I’ll just live vicarioulsy through your income reports for now;)

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:54 am

      You should try! I regret not trying it sooner.

      Reply
  10. Jason B says

    March 2, 2016 at 8:24 am

    Another great month. Congrats!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:54 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  11. Aliyyah @RichAndHappyBlog says

    March 2, 2016 at 8:57 am

    You are doing great with affiliate income! I am a new blogger and hope to start earning money from affiliate marketing within the next year. You also earn a lot of sponsorships. I am curious: how many page views did you have before you started receiving sponsorships?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:55 am

      I received sponsorships right from the very beginning. I was probably only getting like 5,000 pageviews a month.

      Reply
      • Lloyd says

        March 6, 2016 at 2:10 am

        Can you possibly do a post about how to get started with sponsorships? Or, at least drop some resource links in a reply?

        Reply
        • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

          March 6, 2016 at 3:46 pm

          Great question! I’ll definitely do a post on this 🙂

          Reply
  12. fehmeen says

    March 2, 2016 at 9:26 am

    Those are some very impressive affiliate income figures. I’m glad you shared them because as I read the title of your post, the first question that popped into my head was, ‘how?!’

    I do have a question for you though. You said you were pausing the Facebook ads service and wanted to focus on organic traffic instead. How do you achieve that?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:56 am

      Hello! I talked about how to grow traffic in this post – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2016/02/january-online-income-report.html

      Reply
  13. Abigail @ipickuppennies says

    March 2, 2016 at 9:39 am

    I’m trying to get into the affiliate game and do some sponsorships, but I’m having to go slowly as I balance so many other things. I’m also trying to finally write my own e-book, though I have no idea where, exactly, I’ll find the time.

    I’m sure people will find your affiliate information helpful, given how well you do with it.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:57 am

      Thank you! What type of ebook are you working on?

      Reply
  14. Josh says

    March 2, 2016 at 10:16 am

    Ebates is an awesome service. My wife & I use it for just about every online purchase, plus referring our family during Christmas helped us get a nice “Big Fat Check” this time around too!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 10:40 am

      Yes, love Ebates!

      Reply
  15. Harmony @ CreatingMyKaleidoscope says

    March 2, 2016 at 10:59 am

    I’m constantly amazed by your success. Also, I’m one of those people who jumped into the side hustle game partly due to your transparency with numbers. How can you not be tempted to try it out after reading your story?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 11:00 am

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
  16. Natalie @ Financegirl says

    March 2, 2016 at 11:10 am

    I think one of the great lessons in looking at your chart of your business income over time is that it was really steady for a while (about a year in 2014) then it shot up and grew exponentially. I think it’s a critical point to realize that if you put in the smart work and planning over time, your business should grow exponentially in the future if you’re doing it right. Way to go!!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 11:15 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
    • The Roamer says

      March 3, 2016 at 11:45 am

      That is really cool to see how it has grown exponentially.

      My question hopefully you can answer. Is how do you handle the taxes. I saw that you said it’s 30% but how do you go through that process.

      If you have a post already can you link to it. If not I’d be curious to hear more. Taxes are an important thing to understand as you earn side income or become self employed.

      Reply
      • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

        March 3, 2016 at 6:40 pm

        Taxes are something I don’t discuss too much because taxes vary from person to person and it’s always best to contact a professional if you have questions. I do have a recent post on my site that may help you with it, though – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2016/02/blogging-and-taxes-what-you-need-to-know.html

        Reply
  17. Melanie says

    March 2, 2016 at 11:54 am

    I look forward to your monthly income reports and hope you continue to share them. It is truly inspirational and I congratulate you on your success! Thank you for the tips 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 12:07 pm

      Thanks! I think I’ll be sharing them for a long time 🙂

      Reply
  18. cece says

    March 2, 2016 at 11:58 am

    You are such a rock star! And it’s funny because even though you are so detailed about how you do it, I still cant’ figure out how you do it! Or else I’d probably do it. LOL.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 12:08 pm

      Haha, thanks! If you want to make money blogging, my top tip is to switch to WordPress 🙂

      Reply
  19. Amy @ DebtGal says

    March 2, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Fantastic, Michelle!! A huge congratulations on your success!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 12:31 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  20. Jack says

    March 2, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Wow, that’s some amazing progress.

    Never ceases to amaze me how lucrative BlueHost affiliatizing is. Might be time to write an article on getting started with your own blog.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 4:35 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  21. Kristin says

    March 2, 2016 at 4:03 pm

    Oh yay, congrats! I really like the chart you do every month with all the colors 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 4:34 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  22. Catherine Alford says

    March 2, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    Girl, you are doing awesome!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:46 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  23. Allison says

    March 2, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    Thanks for sharing! Your income reports are always an inspiration!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:48 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  24. Kristina Mercado says

    March 2, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    You Blog is extremely motivating. Ive been thinking about starting my own blog for months and always come back to yours for inspiration. hopefully ill finally start the major stuff soon.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:49 pm

      Do it! 🙂

      Reply
  25. Tyler @ Oddball Wealth says

    March 2, 2016 at 8:22 pm

    Great job! It seems as though your income steadily increases every month, I’m sure you’ll easily reach and surpass your goal!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:49 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  26. Colin Ashby says

    March 2, 2016 at 9:07 pm

    Wow, awesome job. Your affiliate income looks to be diversifying more and more, which is what I know you said you wanted. I can’t wait for your ebook on affiliate income!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 2, 2016 at 9:49 pm

      I really need to start working on it, haha.

      Reply
  27. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 2, 2016 at 9:48 pm

    🙂

    Reply
  28. Marie says

    March 2, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    What another incredible month!!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 3, 2016 at 10:17 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  29. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 3, 2016 at 10:42 am

    Thanks!

    Reply
  30. Marko Zupanic says

    March 3, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    awesome month for you… congrats 😀

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 3, 2016 at 6:41 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  31. Yok says

    March 3, 2016 at 7:47 pm

    These are staggering figures and every time I check-in to review your income reports, I am left speechless and gasping for air as I try and stand back up.

    Could you share how much of your labor is outsourced to virtual assistants?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 3, 2016 at 8:26 pm

      Not much is outsourced. Maybe around 10-15 hours a month?

      Reply
  32. Linda says

    March 3, 2016 at 9:36 pm

    Wow! Your income report is really impressive!

    Do you have a blog post showing how you find and create your images? They always look beautiful.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 3, 2016 at 10:10 pm

      No, I don’t, but I definitely should do that. I use Pixabay.com for images, or I sometimes use my own as well. I then use Picmonkey to edit them 🙂

      Reply
  33. Daundra Becker says

    March 3, 2016 at 10:00 pm

    So awesome!!
    There is definitely so much potential in blogging. I didn’t expect to make anything, but I made $65 not even a full month in. I’m actually putting together my first income report. 🙂 I want to keep track from the beginning so I can see exactly how far I’ve come!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 3, 2016 at 10:10 pm

      WOOHOOO! 🙂

      Reply
  34. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 3, 2016 at 10:09 pm

    Thanks!

    Reply
  35. diane @smartmoneysimplelife says

    March 4, 2016 at 2:38 am

    Wow! Michelle, you’re just going from strength to strength. I’m in awe!

    I’ve just posted my first income report… At some point in the future, I hope to post numbers like yours!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 4, 2016 at 9:57 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  36. Alexis says

    March 4, 2016 at 10:42 am

    This is a great article. Hopefully one day my Blog will get as much revenue as yours!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 4, 2016 at 3:31 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  37. Michael says

    March 4, 2016 at 3:26 pm

    Congratulations Michelle! Thank you so much for sharing this level of detail on your income streams through various affiliate programs.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 4, 2016 at 3:31 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  38. Vanessa Jencks says

    March 5, 2016 at 1:42 am

    I saw you mentioned Facebook traffic. Do you follow Neil Patel? I absolutely love his brilliant work in marketing! You should check out his work.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 10:32 am

      Yes, I do. Thanks!

      Reply
  39. Jackie says

    March 5, 2016 at 6:06 am

    Wow thissite is mind blowing!!! I just want to say good on you!
    I have just started a blog to keep me accountable for my budget and spending, never even thought of it as a “side Hassle” Thank you so much for sharing Michelle, I have spent many many hours reading and learning from you.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 10:33 am

      Congrats on starting a blog!

      Reply
      • Jackie says

        March 6, 2016 at 12:32 am

        Thanks Michelle :).

        Reply
  40. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 5, 2016 at 10:32 am

    You can check them all out here – http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/about-me 🙂

    Reply
  41. Ali Raza says

    March 5, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    Michelle great job! another month with record numbers. I’m looking forward to seeing you crossing $50+k per month.

    My best wishes with you, keep up the good work.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 2:11 pm

      That will be next month’s income report 🙂

      Reply
  42. Laura @ Piggy Bank Dreams says

    March 5, 2016 at 3:21 pm

    I love your quantifiable goals for 2016 because they’re realistic and SO big! I certainly will be following your progress and am totally encouraged by your example.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 3:23 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  43. Dominic @ Gen Y Finance Guy says

    March 5, 2016 at 9:48 pm

    Hi Michelle,

    First, GREAT month! It’s been a while since I checked in on you and you have grown like crazy in a few short months.

    I was wondering if you could let me know what plugin you use for your comments that defaults to “Send Email Notification ONLY if Someone Replies To My Comment(s)?”

    Thanks,

    Dom

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 11:04 pm

      I think it’s just a part of my theme? I could be completely wrong, though.

      Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 5, 2016 at 11:05 pm

      Nevermind! It’s “Send email only on Reply to My Comment” plugin.

      Reply
  44. Lloyd says

    March 6, 2016 at 2:13 am

    It’s always a joy to read your monthly reports. I’ve just posted my second month. I’m not onto getting any income yet, but life has been a bit intense this month and I reckon I’ve done pretty well considering. Thanks for being an inspiration. I’m keen to learn more from you about sponsorship as per my reply further up.

    Reply
  45. The Financial Tech says

    March 6, 2016 at 10:07 am

    Wow that’s inspiring. Hope one day I could do something near that 😉

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2016 at 3:46 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  46. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

    March 6, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    Thanks!

    Reply
  47. Jenn says

    March 6, 2016 at 8:51 pm

    This is so incredible!! I would love to earn even more money from side hustles. I cannot believe just a few short years ago, we swapped holiday goodies! If you ever run a mini course or do sessions, let me know! I would love to learn more.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 6, 2016 at 10:13 pm

      Haha, yes, I remember! Blogging is so much fun 🙂

      Reply
  48. Michelle says

    March 7, 2016 at 11:54 am

    Awesome job Michelle! You know I love these types of posts.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 7, 2016 at 12:03 pm

      Thanks! Hope you are doing well 🙂

      Reply
  49. Latasha says

    March 7, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    Wow! Way to go, Michelle! 🙂 This is AWESOME and very encouraging!
    I believe you will definitely hit your goal.

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 7, 2016 at 1:29 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  50. Tomeka S says

    March 7, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    Awesome Job Michelle! I’ve started a blog last month and still trying to get a hang of pulling everything together. There are so many areas to research starting out. I seen before that you had an article about your favorite income bloggers. Would you be opposed to updating your list to some current favorites and/or favorite personal financial bloggers?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 7, 2016 at 7:49 pm

      That article is just for bloggers who post their income reports, as that’s what the whole post is about. I could always do a separate list in the future 🙂

      Reply
  51. divorcedff says

    March 7, 2016 at 4:10 pm

    Great job on your income, Michelle! Keep it up!!

    Sharon

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 7, 2016 at 7:50 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  52. Stockbeard says

    March 8, 2016 at 8:13 am

    A great month as always! I really need to look into bluehost affiliates!

    Reply
  53. Kate says

    March 8, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    You are killing it!!!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 8, 2016 at 8:03 pm

      Haha, thanks!

      Reply
  54. Kylie says

    March 8, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    Michelle this is incredible! I am so happy for you and all of your success, you completely deserve it! Thanks for posting these, it really helps me with all my planning and accounting! Keep killing it in the blogging world, you rock!

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 8, 2016 at 8:03 pm

      Thanks, Kylie!

      Reply
  55. Nate Matherson says

    March 10, 2016 at 3:53 pm

    So impressive! Great job Michelle. You are an inspiration for all personal finance bloggers. The progress you’ve made over the last year is unbelievable. Congrats! Congrats!

    Safe travels in the RV!

    Reply
  56. Maggie says

    March 14, 2016 at 12:02 am

    I’m a little curious how you made so much money in the “Survey’s” category. I’m a part of a couple of survey sites and always do a couple surveys a day… But that’s A LOT of money to make. Any secrets?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 14, 2016 at 10:57 am

      The survey income listed above is a part of the affiliate income section. Sorry that wasn’t more clear.

      Reply
  57. Cam says

    March 17, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    Michelle, thanks so much for posting your income reports. They are inspirational, and a pick-me-up each time I read one! Your posts are a source of constant encouragement, and a go-to for how to do blogging right :-).

    Reply
  58. Liz Nieman says

    March 21, 2016 at 8:24 am

    I would really love to see each month’s pageviews with these! 🙂

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 21, 2016 at 10:00 am

      I already do that 🙂 It’s under “Blog news.”

      Reply
  59. Danielle Smith says

    March 23, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    WOW MICHELLE!!!

    Your blog has been simply inspiring!! You were the one that opened my eyes to a world I knew nothing about with all this side income talk!! How did you make over $5,000 from Survey Companies?!? Is that largely from like referrals?

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 24, 2016 at 10:48 am

      That part is under affiliate income 🙂

      Reply
  60. Investment Hunting says

    March 25, 2016 at 1:12 am

    First off, congrats on killing the Bluehost affiliate revenue. Nice job. Question, I see you have an Investing Channel ads on your sidebar, do you know how many monthly pageviews a publisher needs to work with them?

    Reply
  61. Dragos says

    March 28, 2016 at 10:17 am

    Hello Michelle,

    You have a nice blog and an very nice montly income every month. Making more then 40K a month is a very good and you are one off the top earning blogers. Can you please tell how much visitors is this site getting monthly?

    Thanks,
    Dragos

    Reply
    • Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says

      March 28, 2016 at 12:58 pm

      I’m receiving around 300,000 monthly visitors.

      Reply
  62. Sebastian says

    March 30, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    WOW!
    Great figures and a pleassure to read. I really enjoy your site and i haven’t thought that earning such a big amout of money by running a blog …

    Great job!

    Reply
  63. Yok says

    March 31, 2016 at 10:31 pm

    This is simply incredible! Your income is growing exponentially! Every time I check in to see how your site is doing I have to sit down and take a breath because you are rockin it!

    Reply
  64. Susie says

    January 28, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    Wow I’m amazed

    Reply

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Hello and welcome!
My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.

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