Blog - Making Sense Of Cents

Why Save Money Now? 9 Reasons That Will Help You Start Saving

May 18, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

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.

Learning to save money is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Saving money can help you prepare for emergencies, start a business, retire, and more.

Financial security is one of the best reasons for why you should save money, and being prepared financially is one of the best feelings in the world. You can travel more, pursue your passions, quit a job you don’t love, try new things, and more.

But, I hear over and over again from people that they don’t want to save money now because they think they have the rest of their life to do so.

However, that’s far from true, especially if you want to be prepared for emergencies or retire.

When you decide to start saving money now, you will be ready to live the rest of your life.

You can take chances, try new things, and be ready in case something awful were to happen. Saving money gives you the freedom to worry less and live more. [Read more…]

How to Optimize a Blog Post for SEO

May 15, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 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.

Hello! Today, I have a great article from Trinity Owen on how to optimize a blog post for SEO. I hear a lot of questions about SEO from readers, so this is perfect timing! Trinity has been researching and testing work from home opportunities for more than 10 years and enjoys sharing the information gathered with fellow introverts. Concurrently, she works as a freelance SEO auditor, consultant, and writer. She also has a free 6 Day SEO Boot Camp that you can sign up.

They say SEO takes time.

You can dot your i’s and cross your t’s, but for some reason, a blog post that you optimize for SEO could take six months to a year (or more) to rank on Google, right?

Wrong.

While there’s always the possibility that a brand new blog post needs time to build authority and rank on Google, it shouldn’t take a full year.

In all my years as a freelance SEO, not once did I stumble upon an old blog post making its own way to the first page of Google after a year or more in existence.

If an older post climbs the ranks, it’s because someone revisits it and optimizes it for search engines. [Read more…]

How I Make Money Selling Printables On Etsy

May 14, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 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.

Do you want to learn how to sell on Etsy?

Looking to make money selling printables on Etsy?

Yes, you can sell something like printables on Etsy – and never have to ship a thing!

Creating printables on Etsy can be a great side hustle because you just need to create them once, and you can sell them an unlimited amount of times.

Today, I have a fun interview to share with you. I interviewed my friend Cody on how to sell printables on Etsy. I’ve met him in person a couple of times, and he is full of knowledge, especially when it comes to side hustling!

Cody started with zero graphic design skills and didn’t know how to create printables when he first started. It’s something he learned as he went along. [Read more…]

Free Debt Thermometer Printable

May 13, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 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.

Looking for a free debt thermometer printable?

Making your goal visual is a great way to find motivation for paying off your debt.

Having your financial goal displayed in front of you can make it that much realer, plus it’s nice to have a constant reminder of what you are working towards.

One way to do this is to have a debt thermometer.

With this free printable, you can keep track of your debt payoff progress.

How to use this debt payoff thermometer printable:

At the top, under “Total Debt,” you will write down how much debt you have.
Then, on each line below that, I like to write out how much debt you’ll have to pay off in order to color each section. For example, if your total debt is $10,000, then each 10% amount would be $1,000.
After you reach each level, you then color up to that line so that you can better visualize the amount of debt that you are working with.

You can get the free printable by signing up below.

The 52 Week Money Challenge

May 13, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

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.

Looking for a savings challenge?

Today, I have a free printable called the 52 Week Money Challenge.

How much money do you save in the 52 week challenge?

The 52 Week Money Challenge is a great way to save $1,040 a year without noticing! All you have to do is save $20 each week for a year, and then you’ll easily have $1,040.

If you start this now and do it just until the holidays, you will have a nice chunk of change as well for any holiday-related expenses that you may have, such as gifts or travel.

People tend to like savings challenges like the 52 Week Money Challenge because it can make saving money a little more enjoyable.

Yes, saving money can be enjoyable!

So many people get tired of paying off debt and saving money, because it can feel so monotonous or they just lack the motivation.

Challenging yourself, such as by starting the 52 Week Money Challenge, to save more money is great, because it can help keep your financial goal on your mind and keep you motivated.

Please download my free worksheet, the 52 Week Money Challenge by filling out the form below.

The Free Blogging Planner Workbook

May 13, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 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.

Looking for a workbook to get you started with your blog?

The Blogging Planner is a free workbook that I created just for you!

I started my blog, Making Sense of Cents, in August of 2011 and have built a great business.

It allowed me and my husband to leave the day jobs we disliked to pursue something that we loved.

Now, we travel full-time, make a great living (last month we made over $100,000 blogging), have a flexible schedule, have more time to spend with loved ones, and we are able to retire early.

In this free workbook, you’ll receive printables such as:

Start a Blog Checklist – This checklist will help you lay out your ideas and give you a list of things to get started on.
New Blog Post Steps – This sheet will help you think of new content to write, as well as the checklist to remember for each blog post you publish.
Daily or Weekly Blog Planner – This will help you lay out the tasks you need to do each day or week for your blog.
Blog Stats – This page will allow you to visualize and keep track of your blog stats over the year.
Monthly Goals – This part of the workbook will help you to better visualize your goals over the year. This is a great way to lay it all out so that you know what you are working towards!

You can download the Free Blogging Planner Workbook below.

Enjoy!

I also have a free How To Start a Blog Email Course.

I’m sure many of you are interested in starting a blog but aren’t sure where to start. There’s a lot that goes into blogging, but I make it easy with this course.

With this free email course, I will show you exactly how to create a blog, from the technical side (it’s easy – trust me!) all the way to earning your first income and attracting followers. Each day for seven days, you will receive an email in your inbox that will help you create a successful and profitable blog, all from the very beginning.

Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn in this free 7-day email course:

Day 1: Reasons you should start a blog.
Day 2: How to determine what to blog about.
Day 3: How to create your blog. In this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress. My tutorial makes it very easy to start a blog.
Day 4: How to make money blogging.
Day 5: My tips for passive income from blogging.
Day 6: How to grow your traffic and followers.
Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful.

You can sign up by clicking on this link, or by entering your information in the form below.

80+ Ways To Make Extra Money eBook – FREE!

May 13, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

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.

Would you like to learn how to make extra money?

Today, I have a free ebook to share with you.

Learning how to earn extra income on the side of my day job helped me pay off $38,000 in student loans in 7 months. It’s how I eventually turned my side hustle (blogging) into a full-time job, and it’s how I now travel full-time pursuing my passions.

It’s safe to say that learning how to earn extra money has completely changed my life for the better.

I talk a lot about finding new ways to make extra money on the side because it’s something that I truly believe in.

And, with so many ways to make more money, there is something for everyone.

So, whether you want to pay off your debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck, start investing more, save for emergencies, etc., there are dozens of ways that you can make your goals happen even faster.

Learning how to make extra money can completely change your life now and well into the future. Starting to make more money now can help you:

Save up for a big purchase, like going on vacation
Pay off your student loan debt, credit card debt, etc.
Save for retirement and even retire early
Quit a job you don’t love
Diversify your income so you’re not reliant on one source
Save for emergencies
And more!

Download the free ebook by signing up below.

Enjoy!

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