Jordann, Author at Making Sense Of Cents

Is Working from Home Cheaper?

Last Updated: August 20, 2018 BY Jordann - 44 Comments

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Enjoy this post by my staff writer Jordann.

Michelle isn’t the only one who’s making the switch to working from home, I recently accepted a job that is 100% remote, and as of this Monday, I’m working remotely – from home.

This isn’t the first time I’ve worked from home, I actually have done it in two other jobs, so while I know what to expect – it’s still an adjustment. One of the biggest things to change – besides talking to coworkers exclusively through a screen, is my budget. Working from home changes my expenses in ways that I didn’t initially anticipate, and it’s not all savings.

Here are some of the ways working from home is good, and bad, for my wallet.

Save On Gas

For one thing, I don’t spend as much money on gas, because I’m not commuting anymore. I wake up, do some housework, make my breakfast, and sit down on the couch to get started with work.

If I chose, I don’t even have to leave the house! This is my first month of working remotely, but I wouldn’t be surprised to come in under budget for gas costs this month. I’m also really looking forward to what the decreased mileage is going to do to the maintenance costs for my vehicle – hello less frequent oil changes! [Read more…]

Minimalism 101: One Thing a Day

Last Updated: August 16, 2022 BY Jordann - 31 Comments

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I’ve been working really hard in the evenings and on weekends for the past year to generate extra income to pay off my debt. It’s worked!

I’m now only two months from having the entire $38,000 eradicated (I had the same amount as Michelle). Now that I’ve pretty much got my debt in the bag, I’ve resolved to make a little more time for myself and spend less time side hustling and writing.

Since I’ve had a bit of extra free time in the evenings and on weekends, I’ve been on a huge minimalizing kick and becoming a minimalist.

I’ve let things pile up around here, and without the time to address it, it has been driving me crazy.

The problem is, once I start cleaning and eradicating clutter, I sometimes get carried away and before I know it, half of my house is torn apart, and I’ve been so busy flitting from one project to the next that I haven’t been able to actually get rid of anything. Maybe it’s the millennial in me, but when I’m at home, sometimes I have a hard time concentrating on just one project, and completing it, before moving on to the next thing that catches my eye. [Read more…]

Make Extra Money – Offline Side Hustles

Last Updated: March 18, 2022 BY Jordann - 43 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.

Today’s post about earning extra money offline with offline side hustles is by my awesome staff writer Jordann. Enjoy!

As we all know, Michelle is the queen of the side hustle. She has pretty much turned it into an art at this point.

If you need evidence of this, just take a read through her most recent extra income posts. It’s inspiring and impressive what she’s been able to achieve while still maintaining a full-time job.

While most blog posts about side hustles seem to focus on ways to make money online, I’d like to shine the spotlight on excellent side hustles that have nothing to do with the online world.

Finding ways to make money on the side has been around since the beginning of time, and although the digital world has opened up a million new possibilities for generating income, there are still several tried and true methods for earning a little extra cash that have nothing to do with the internet.

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[Read more…]

How I Live in a 400 Sq. Ft. House – My Minimalist Home

Last Updated: May 25, 2023 BY Jordann - 58 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.

Today’s post – How I Live in a 400 Sq. Ft. House – is by my wonderful staff writer Jordann. Enjoy! Also, if you are a new reader, please don’t forget to check out my monthly online income reports where I show you how I make over $30,000 a month while traveling in my RV.

Last week’s post about how I’m not always a minimalist got a lot of responses to the fact that I live with my fiance, my dog and my cat, in a 400 square foot house. Really, it’s more of a cottage. The story of how I came to live in this house is one of luck and a good relationship with relatives.

The bottom line for why I live in a tiny home: By living in this small space, I’ve been able to reduce my rent to $100 per month plus utilities, which has enabled me to pay off $27,000 of debt in 17 months.

That said, living in such a small space with so many other creatures isn’t easy, even for a minimalist like me. Sure, the sacrifice is worth it for the monetary gain, but it can get stressful at times living in a minimalist house.

There are a lot of problems that come along with small space living, so if you’re thinking about down sizing in order to save a little money or live somewhere more desirable, here are a few of my tips so that you can successfully live in a minimalist house. [Read more…]

How Being A Minimalist Has Helped My Finances

Last Updated: May 25, 2023 BY Jordann - 27 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.

I didn’t always have minimalist tendencies. Though I never considered myself a collector, I did have a ton of clothing and furniture while in University, and the size of my book collection growing up bordered on the absurd side. Becoming a minimalist wasn’t on my mind before.

For the last few years though, accumulating large volumes of stuff wasn’t really on my agenda anymore, it just didn’t hold the same appeal that it used to.

I didn’t know my new found feelings were called minimalism until I started trying to get out of debt, I realized what a great advantage my natural habits were, and how much they could help me if I was willing to hone them a little.

Minimalism Helps Me Stay On Budget

When I first started trying to get out of debt, I knew that I needed to cut my expenses and develop a budget. I also knew I needed to get a handle on my shopping habit.

Even though I was no longer into collecting many material possessions, I still had the bad habit of purchasing dumb stuff like magazines and candy, which, when added up at the end of the month, represented a huge waste of valuable cash that could go towards paying off my $38,000 debt load. [Read more…]

Easy Ways to Keep Your Pet Secure

Last Updated: May 31, 2023 BY Jordann - 20 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.

Michelle’s dogs

Lauren from L Bee and the Money Tree wrote recently about how her dog, Murray, decided to take a little jaunt around the neighbourhood at 11pm in the middle of the rain storm, leaving her a nervous wreck until she found him.

While this story ends well, it’s one we’ll all familiar with. I’ve been a victim of it myself. My dog Molly pulled the same trick on me last summer, except she was a full half mile away when she was found.

Dogs and cats disappear every day. Some estimate that 10 million are reported missing every year. If you own a pet, odds are, it’s going to give you the slip at some point in its life, and go missing. Hopefully your story will have the same happy ending mine and Lauren’s did, but to improve those odds, here are some ways you can keep your pet keep your pet from escaping, and help ensure it’s found quickly.

Secure Your Parameter

Many, many dogs will take any opportunity to go exploring their neighbourhood, and an open backyard gate the perfect temptation. To help protect against this possibility, install an automatic closing device on your gates to ensure that if they are left open for any reason, they’ll close on their own.

In addition to this, consider installing an underground electric fence, which will deter against fence digging and wandering out of an open gate. I have one installed around the parameter of my property, and my dog Molly has rarely wandered off. The cost of one of these fences can be as low as a few hundred dollars, and is money well spent. There are even options available for cats! [Read more…]

How to Spend Your Extra Income

Last Updated: June 5, 2023 BY Jordann - 25 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.

Michelle has been doing an amazing job with extra income lately. Her blog has been taking off and that’s helping her make a ton of side income every month. Due to this, she’s been getting a boat load of emails about blogging for side income and has even written a few great posts about how to make money blogging. Hopefully her readers have benefitted from her tips and are starting to make money at their own blogs.

One thing she hasn’t covered is what to do with all of that extra income. One of my favorite things about extra income is that it’s not included in the budget, so you can really do anything you want with it. That said, it might not be the best idea to blow it on shopping. So what should you do with your extra income?

Use Your Side Hustle Income to Pay Off Debt

This is probably my number one suggestion for extra income. I make a bit of cash every month through staff writing and my own blog, My Alternate Life. Up until a few days ago, I’ve thrown everything I’ve earned at my debt. This has been a huge boon to me because it’s shortened my debt pay off window. When I first started trying to pay off the $38,000 of debt I’d accumulated through school, my best calculations had me debt free in five years.

Now it looks like I’ll be debt free before my the two year anniversary of Operation Pay Off Debt. This is partly due to me putting all of my extra income towards my debt. Michelle is employing the same strategy to pay off her $38,000 in student loans, and she’s managing to get rid of them amazingly quickly. [Read more…]