This month marks 15 years since I started Making Sense of Cents, and that is honestly so hard for me to believe!
I started this blog in August of 2011 when I was in my early 20s, had around $40,000 in student loan debt, and was trying to figure out what I wanted my life to look like.
I had no plan to turn this blog into a business.
I did not think I would become a full-time blogger, earn a living, travel full time, live in an RV and on a sailboat, or build a life where I could work when and where I wanted.
At the time, I just really enjoyed reading personal finance blogs.
I liked reading about how other people were paying off debt, making extra money, retiring early, traveling, and building lives that were different from the normal path.
So, I decided to start my own blog.
I mainly wanted a place where I could talk about money, track my progress, and connect with people who had similar goals.
That one small decision ended up changing nearly every part of my life.
Over the past 15 years, Making Sense of Cents has helped me pay off debt, leave my day job, travel around the world, become financially independent, and create a flexible schedule that works for my family.
But it has also taught me a lot about work, money, fear, success, and what I actually want my life to look like.
For my 15th blogging anniversary, I wanted to share 15 ways Making Sense of Cents changed my life and what I learned along the way.
Recommended reading: How To Monetize A Blog: How I Grew A $5 Million Blog
Who I am and why I started this blog
Before we begin, I want to quickly share some information about myself and my blog in case you’re new here.
I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I started this blog when I was living paycheck to paycheck because of student loan debt and monthly bills, and I was looking for a way to improve my financial situation.
Back then, I had no idea my hobby blog could make me money or would grow into a full-time business.
I really liked the blogging community, learning new ways to make and save money, and hearing about everyone’s debt payoff, travel, and early retirement stories. I have always found it really motivating and exciting!
I went full-time with my blog in 2013 when I quit my day job as a financial analyst. I realized that I could make a full-time income with my blog, and I loved it so much that I took the steps to make the leap. And, I’ve been doing this full-time ever since!
Some fun stats about Making Sense of Cents:
- My first blog post went live on August 10, 2011. You can read it here.
- I have written over 2,000 articles on Making Sense of Cents, but I deleted many of them a couple of years ago (because I didn’t think they were good or they were outdated) and currently have 1,645 published.
- I have received 179,330 emails (this does not even include the countless emails I have deleted over the years, so the number is probably over 1 million, haha!). I haven’t included promotional emails in this amount either!
- I have received over 70,000 comments on my blog posts.
- It took me six months to make my first $100 on this blog, Making Sense of Cents.
- While I no longer publish blog income reports nor share my income (I stopped due to privacy reasons, but you can find the past ones here – Blog Income Reports From A Multi-Million Blog), from 2011 to 2018 I made around $5,000,000 total. Since 2018, I have made a good income each year that I am very happy with.
Recommended reading: I’ve Done Over 20 Side Hustles in My Life: Here’s What I Think of Each
Want to start a blog?
If blogging is something you’re thinking about, I recommend you give it a try.
You don’t have to be tech-savvy, and you don’t need a huge social media following.
If you want help getting started, I have a free blogging course that over 80,000 people have taken. It walks you through how to:
- Set up your blog.
- Decide what topic to write about.
- Write helpful blog posts.
- Start earning from affiliate marketing, ads, and more.
You can join here: Free How To Start A Blog Course
How Blogging Changed My Life and What I Learned Along the Way
1. I learned that you do not need to feel ready before starting
When I started Making Sense of Cents, I knew nothing about blogging.
I did not know how bloggers made money. I did not know what SEO was. I did not have a content plan, a business plan, or a goal for how many people I wanted to reach. I did not even think of myself as a writer.
I just started this blog.
My early blog posts were not perfect. Many were short, personal, and probably filled with mistakes. I have deleted a lot of them over the years because they were outdated, were no longer helpful, or I was simply embarrassed by the quality!
But I am still glad I published them.
If I had waited until I knew everything, I might have never started at all. This is something I still think about today.
It is so easy to delay an idea because you feel like you need more experience, more time, a better website, or a perfect plan, but you usually learn much more after you begin.
You can read articles, take courses, and plan for months, but there will always be things you do not understand until you actually try.
Starting Making Sense of Cents taught me that you do not need to have everything figured out.
Sometimes you just have to take the first step and learn as you go.
2. Blogging helped me pay off $40,000 in student loans
One of the main reasons I became so interested in personal finance was because I had a lot of student loan debt.
I had around $40,000 in student loans, and I really wanted them gone.
At that time, I was earning a good income at my day job as a financial analyst, but I was also working a lot and trying to find ways to improve my finances.
Through blogging, I learned about side hustles, saving money, paying off debt faster, and earning income outside of a normal job.
And, I tried so many different side hustles – I mystery shopped, sold items online, worked as a virtual assistant, managed social media accounts, wrote for other websites, and more.
Eventually, I was able to pay off all $40,000 of my student loans in just seven months.
That was a huge moment for me.
Paying off my debt gave me more freedom and allowed me to think about what I wanted to do next instead of feeling like I had to stay on one path forever.
Recommended reading: How I Paid Off My $40,000 Student Loan Debt In Less Than One Year
3. I realized that income did not have to come from a normal job
Before I started Making Sense of Cents, I assumed I would work a normal job for the rest of my life.
I thought you went to college, got a job, worked until you were in your 60s, and then retired.
I did not know anyone in real life who earned money through a blog or online business, or anyone who retired early.
When I earned my first $100 from Making Sense of Cents, I was so excited.
It took around six months to earn that first $100, so this was not an overnight success, ha!
But it showed me that earning money online was possible.
From there, my income grew.
I learned about affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, display advertising, freelance writing, and other ways to earn money with a blog.
Eventually, my blog income became higher than what I was earning at my day job, and that completely changed how I thought about work.
I realized that there was not just one way to earn a living, and that there were so many possibilities that I had never known about before.
4. It gave me the confidence to leave my day job
In 2013, I left my job as a financial analyst to blog full time, and this was a very big decision.
I had spent years going to school, earning two undergraduate business degrees, getting my MBA with an emphasis in Finance, and working a more traditional career.
Leaving that path felt scary, and I knew that many people thought I was making a strange choice (the wrong choice).
But I knew I wanted to try.
My blog was earning a good income. I enjoyed the work a lot, and I could see that there was room for it to grow.
I also knew that I did not want to wonder forever what might have happened had I taken the chance.
Leaving my job taught me to trust myself, and it showed me that I could make a big decision, take a different path, and create something that worked for me.
5. One small decision changed the direction of my entire life
Starting Making Sense of Cents did not feel like a major life decision at the time.
I did not quit my job on the first day, and I did not invest a large amount of money. I did not even tell very many people in my personal life that I had started a blog (only my husband and sister knew).
But that small decision affected almost everything that came after it.
It impacted my career, income, home, travel, friendships, schedule, and plans for the future.
It is strange to think about how different my life might be had I never started this website, and this is one reason I think trying new things can be so valuable.
Not every idea will change your life.
Some may not work out at all, but sometimes a small choice can lead somewhere you never expected.
6. It allowed me to travel full time
One of the biggest ways that blogging changed my life was by allowing me to travel full time.
Because my business is online, I can work from almost anywhere with an internet connection.
Over the years, I have worked from campgrounds, RVs, boats, Airbnb homes, hotels, cruise ships, and many other places.
We traveled full time in an RV for several years. We later lived and traveled on a sailboat. We have spent long periods of time in the Bahamas, taken road trips across the U.S. and Canada, and gone on a four-month cruise around the world.
I never imagined this would be my life when I started my blog.
Before blogging, I thought travel was something you did during a one-week vacation from work – I did not know it was possible to build a life where travel was a normal part of the year.
Of course, working while traveling is not always easy because internet can be unreliable, travel days can be tiring, and sometimes it can be hard to focus when there is so much to see.
But I am extremely thankful for all of the experiences this business has made possible.
7. It gave me control over my time
When I first realized that I could work for myself, I thought mostly about being able to travel and not having to go to an office every day.
Over time, though, I realized that having a flexible schedule is probably one of the biggest benefits of running the business that I have.
Blogging has given me so much freedom and control over my time and what I do each day.
The flexible schedule that I have means:
- Spending days and weekends with my family
- Being able to drop my daughter off and pick her up from school
- Traveling for several months each year with my family
- Being able to take time off without asking for permission
And so much more.
It also means that I can change my workload depending on what is happening in my life.
I know that running a business does not automatically give everyone a relaxed schedule.
Many business owners work long hours, especially in the beginning.
There were definitely years when I worked much more than I do now.
But over time, I have been able to build a business that gives me a lot of flexibility, and to me, that is one of the best parts.
8. I learned that earning more is not always the goal
For many years, I was very focused on growing my income.
I wanted to pay off debt, build savings, invest, and increase my income.
And I am very thankful that I did those things.
Making Sense of Cents has earned more than I ever imagined it would, and it has allowed us to invest, become financially independent, and create many options for our family.
But I have also learned that earning more money is not always the answer.
At some point, more income can come with more work, more stress, more decisions, and less time for the things you actually enjoy.
I enjoy writing, helping readers, learning about side hustles, and testing new ideas, but I no longer feel like I need to grow as quickly as possible or reach a new income goal every year.
Instead, I am trying to think more about what I want my days to look like:
- How much do I actually want to work?
- What kinds of projects sound interesting?
- What am I willing to say no to?
Money is important, but so are time, health, relationships, and being present.
9. It helped me build a life I did not have to wait until retirement to enjoy
Personal finance advice often talks about saving for retirement.
And, of course, I think saving and investing for the future are extremely important.
But I also think it is important to create a life you enjoy before retirement.
Blogging gave me the chance to enjoy my everyday life – I am able to travel, spend time with family, and be happy. I do not dread Mondays, the workweek, or the business that I run. Sure, life is not always easy, but I am very happy, and I couldn’t imagine my life any other way!
10. It connected me with so many interesting people
One of the most unexpected parts of blogging has been the people I have met.
Over the years, I have connected with readers, other bloggers, business owners, course students, interview guests, and people from all over the world.
I have received messages from readers who paid off debt, started side hustles, left jobs they did not enjoy, traveled somewhere new, or began investing after reading something on Making Sense of Cents.
Those messages mean so much to me.
Sometimes it can feel strange to publish an article online because you do not always know who is reading it, but every once in a while, someone sends an email explaining how an article helped them.
That makes the work feel much more real.
I have also learned so much from the people I have interviewed and featured. Everyone has a different story, and I love hearing about the creative ways people earn money, save, travel, and build lives they enjoy.
11. The most helpful content is not always the most complicated
Over the years, I have written more than 2,000 articles.
Some articles took weeks to research and write. Others came from a personal experience, a question a reader asked, or something I was already doing in my own life, and they may have taken an hour or two to write.
And sometimes the easier articles did better.
I have learned that readers do not always need the most detailed or complicated answer because they usually just want something honest, clear, and useful.
They may want to know what actually happened when you tried a side hustle.
They may want to see how much something costs.
They may want an answer to a question they are nervous to ask.
This is something I try to remember whenever I start overthinking an article (which, I still do a lot!).
12. I learned that online business is always changing
The internet has changed so much since I started blogging in 2011.
Social media platforms have come and gone. Pinterest has changed. Google has changed.
AI has changed how people search for information and create content.
I’ve been saying this since I started blogging: There is always something new to learn.
That can be exciting, but it can also be stressful.
Over the years, I have learned that I do need to pay attention and be willing to change, but I do not need to do everything.
I can try new ideas, see what works for my business, and ignore the things that do not make sense for me.
13. I learned to protect my privacy
When I first started Making Sense of Cents, I shared a lot of personal information about my life.
I shared monthly income reports, detailed financial numbers, personal updates, travel plans, and much more.
At the time, I liked being open because it helped readers see what was possible and follow along with my progress.
But as the blog grew, I became more careful because more people knew who I was, my income grew, and my life changed.
So, I began to think more about what I wanted to keep private. I eventually stopped publishing income reports and sharing as many details about my finances. I don’t really post where I am anymore until after I leave a destination.
I am still open about many things, but I no longer feel like I have to share everything (or that I should – so that I can be safe!).
14. It gave me choices I never thought I would have
One of the biggest ways Making Sense of Cents changed my life is that it gave me choices.
I can choose how much I want to work, what work I want to do, when I want to take time off, and more.
We can travel for long periods of time without waiting for a limited number of vacation days.
I can work while my daughter is at school and spend more time with my family.
And because we have saved and invested so much over the years, I no longer have to make every decision based only on money.
That does not mean I never worry or that every decision is easy, but I now have options that I never imagined I would have when I started this blog.
15. I am figuring out what comes next
After 15 years, you may think I have a perfect plan for the future, but I do not.
There are many parts of blogging that I still love.
I enjoy writing, publishing helpful content, reading reader emails, testing side hustles, and learning about new ways to earn and save money. And, I still get excited about article ideas.
But I am also at a different stage of life.
I have a family, and we have reached financial independence. I do not need to work long hours or grow the business as quickly as possible.
So, I am thinking more about what I want the next stage of Making Sense of Cents to look like.
I may work less, I may publish more personal articles, I may focus on projects I think are fun instead of only choosing what I think will perform the best, and I may take longer breaks.
I want my business to continue supporting my life instead of my life revolving around my business.
I do not know exactly what the next 15 years will look like, but I am excited to find out.
I love running Making Sense of Cents, and I hope to continue to blog for as long as I can!
15 Years of Making Sense of Cents – Summary
When I started Making Sense of Cents 15 years ago, I was mainly thinking about improving my finances and paying off my student loans.
I was not thinking about what my life might look like 15 years later.
I definitely was not imagining a business that would allow me to travel the world, earn millions of dollars, become financially independent, spend more time with my family, and have so much control over my days.
Starting this blog was one small decision that changed everything for me – and it gave me so much freedom, but it also gave me confidence.
It taught me to try new things, trust myself, change directions, and create a life that works for me.
I do not know exactly what the next 15 years will bring.
I may work less, write about different topics, take longer breaks, or try something completely new, but I hope I continue doing what started all of this in the first place: sharing honest stories, learning new things, and helping readers improve their lives.
Thank you so much for reading Making Sense of Cents and being part of the past 15 years.
Whether you have been reading since the beginning or found my blog recently, I am very thankful that you are here. Thank you, thank you for being a reader!
What is one small decision that changed your life?
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