Blog - Page 178 of 282 - Making Sense Of Cents

7 Savvy Tips to Keep Your Piggy Bank Happy

Last Updated: August 20, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 33 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, I have a post from another blogger. Lately, we have been talking about cutting expenses almost as much as increasing income lately. Which side are you on? Increasing income or cutting expenses?

Do you suffer from what most Americans suffer from? Is it difficult for you to get ahead financially? Feeling overwhelmed by your constantly depleted piggy bank? My husband and I had the same conundrum!

I have some tips that have helped out our wallet immensely. We decided to utilize these seven tips to help cut back on expenses so we wouldn’t continue breaking the bank.

Get a budget and stick to it!

My husband was never a hard copy budget kind of guy. However, I am that kind of girl. I need to see tangibly where the money is going and what our goals are. I feel like many people need to see that….or else it doesn’t hit home.

You can constantly swipe, swipe, swipe and never feel the impact of those purchases. SO! What was our compromise? We found a website called Mint.com and it has totally changed the way we look at budgeting. Plus, it has an app so we can access it while we’re out. I always open it to double-check in case I have to put something back while shopping. It’ll keep you accountable—not only to yourself, but to one another! [Read more…]

Is Working from Home Cheaper?

Last Updated: August 20, 2018 BY Jordann - 46 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.

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…]

Being Defined By Your Job or Career

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 149 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.

If you saw my Facebook status the other day, then you know that my self-employment switch date is very soon (check it out if you haven’t yet!). As all of you know, I am very close to leaving my day job and switching to full-time self-employment.

FYI – This is kind of a rant post. Please don’t get upset if anything sounds crazy, I’m just trying to get everything off my chest. That’s what a blog is for, right?

I have many freelancing services, such as website management, social media management, staff writing, freelance writing, and so on.

I provide services for many different clients: finance companies, hotels, travel websites, tourism boards, personal finance websites, and so on. I have been building my services for a couple of years now, and earlier this year I decided that I would eventually make the full-time switch and rely on my freelancing services for my income entirely. [Read more…]

Halloween on a Budget

Last Updated: September 2, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 39 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.

Halloween is right around the corner. I still can’t believe that we are nearing the end of 2013. With the end of the year being near, we are approaching several holidays. The topic today (and that also relates to the giveaway below) is how to enjoy Halloween while being on a budget.

Usually we buy Halloween costumes every single year, but this year I don’t think we will be doing that. We probably used to spend around $50 to $75 on each costume every year.

There are many ways to save on Halloween costumes.

You can re-wear costumes from past Halloweens (which is probably what we will do since we have so many). You can also trade costumes with friends – this way you get to wear a new-to-you costume and it’s FREE.

Also, you can buy a costume, but wait until there is a coupon! Costume stores almost always send out a 20% or 30% coupon if you are on their email list.

Candy is also pretty expensive when it comes to Halloween. You might spend $4 or $5 a bag, and you most likely need more than one bag. I have heard of people spending well over $100 on Halloween candy, which just seems crazy! What we usually do is just fill up one big bowl full of candy and whoever the first kid is at our door scores the whole bowl. Their face always kills me and makes my day.

This year we won’t be passing out candy, we will be going over to W’s family’s home and celebrating there.There’s usually a pretty big block party and it’s always a lot of fun since their neighborhood is full of historic homes from the 1800’s and early 1900’s, so it really helps with the Halloween vibe.

Halloween will be pretty cheap for us. We bought some pumpkins, and might go to a pumpkin patch soon also. I sadly haven’t been in probably over 15 years!

To completely switch the subject, what about winter holidays? How much do you usually spend on the winter holidays? Give me your best holiday savings tips below! They can be Halloween or Christmahanakwanzika related.

October Goals and Life Update

Last Updated: August 9, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 79 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 can’t wait until later this year when I get to go back here!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week. On Tuesday, I published my September Side Income and Self-Employment Update. September was a great month!

September was good all around. Income was good. We met our financial goals. Life with student loans is still going great. Family and friends are well too. And my best friend got married.

We have been thinking about a lot of trips that we want to take. We are going to go back to St. Thomas at the end of this year, and we also want to go on a road trip. Going to Colorado in the winter time and going skiing would be fun too. I’ve never been skiing! Do you have any travel plans?

My wedding dress came in a couple of weekends ago. I picked it up and I no longer have wedding dress regret. I posted a picture of me in the dress once it came in, but I deleted it the other day just in case W saw it. I honestly don’t care if he sees it, but a lot of people are telling me that I’ll regret it. Oh well!

A lot of different things happened in September, and October is and will be a life-changing month for the both of us. I’m trying to keep things a secret for now so that nothing bad happens from me being too public.

One secret is that W is going back to school starting in January. He’s going back for a science degree. There’s a really good program here with tons of jobs available that we know he would be passionate about. So, if any of you have tips for someone going to college when they are an adult and not fresh out of high school, please leave them below!

September Goals Update

Keep our food budget under $450. PASS. We did pretty well with our food budget. We ate in a lot. We really can’t stand going out to eat anymore. I guess that’s what happens when you spend all of your money going out to eat and can’t stand the food any longer. Food at home is just so much better.
Create a meal plan. FAIL. I didn’t make a single meal plan. We probably could have saved a little bit more money if we would have had a meal plan.
Do more free activities. PASS. We did really well with this! We have been riding our bikes and have never been happier.
Fully fund our emergency fund. PASS! I made a post on Diversified Finances about this. Self-employment life will be so much easier with a fully funded EF.
Run 20 miles each week and lose weight. FAIL. I have been extremely unmotivated.
Make an extra $10,000 this month. PASS. I made over $12K last month in business income. My best month ever!

Jump out of an airplane. I have been really wanting to go skydiving. October will be the month! Or at least I hope so.
Start looking into getting my pilot’s license. My dad had his pilot’s license, and when we were little he would take us out on short day trips on small planes. It was a lot of fun. I know that if he were still alive that he would love for me to do this.
Keep our food budget under $400 and meal plan. I have slightly decreased our food budget since I will be making the switch to self-employment VERY soon.
Make an extra $10,000 this month. This is of course before taxes, and I think it is possible. With self-employment being so close, I will have so much more time to add even more clients and projects to my business.
Publish a post on my last day of work. Yup, I just said it. It will have to be a surprise until then 🙂

How did you do in September? What is your main goal for October?

My Weirdest Money Saving Moments

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Jordann - 28 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.

This post is by my awesome staff writer Jordann. Enjoy!

When I decided that it was time to get out of my $38,000 in student and car loan debt, I knew that reducing my expenses was one of the key ways to free up enough cash flow to make this happen.

I was limited in my extra earning opportunities, so cutting expenses was the quickest and easiest way to achieve fast savings.

I made all of the usual cuts, things like no more cable, no hair cuts, no yoga classes. Those were all great ways to save money quickly, but I wanted more. So, I started doing some really weird things in order to save money. Not all of them panned out, but they were all, definitely an experience. Here are a few of them:

Permanent House Sitting

I’ve talked at length about how I live in a 400 sq. ft. cottage, but I’ve never explained how I came across this cottage. It’s actually owned by a relative of mine, who has his own house elsewhere.

He asked us to babysit his cottage while he was away, which we happily agreed to – mostly because of the very, very reasonable rent. The only downside is that it’s very rustic, and full of his furniture. Not many people I know would dain to live in this small, rough cottage full of someone else’s stuff. The price is right though, so we’re here to stay for the time being.

[Read more…]

$12,334 in September Side Income – Time for Self-Employment

Last Updated: August 9, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 143 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.

Hey everyone! This Friday I will be publishing my September Goals Update. In last month’s update, I stated that my goal for September was for $10K in side hustle income. In August’s income report, I just slightly missed my goal of $10K, and made $9,554 in side income. I made it this month though!

I definitely reached my September goal and passed it by a good amount. September was a great month for income, and I was able to add a few new clients, and there are also a couple of new services that I am offering as well.

Even though September’s income was great, I do think I could have topped it if I would have tried just a little bit harder. Many days I went home from work and didn’t work on a single thing because laziness took over.

Since my extra income last month was great, it made me even more excited about self-employment. I’m not going to lie, the small dip in last month made me wonder if my income was just going to forever trend down. I’m glad that was not the case!

Don’t worry, I will announce it soon once my switch is complete.

In September, I made $13,435 in extra income, before expenses. Just last September, I made $3,275 in extra income. I am definitely happy and proud of my progress. What a difference one year makes! I never even thought that I would be anywhere near this amount. I always thought that other freelancers who posted their income were just “lucky.”

My side income last September was my first big jump in side income, so it was definitely still fairly large for “side income.” However, my progress over the past year just seems unreal.

I know that this is a lot of “extra income” but please keep in mind that I spend many, many hours every single day on my side hustles. This is definitely not passive income. I have also been growing this for quite some time, and for around one year I was not making a single dollar, but I was still putting full-time hours into my side jobs. Taxes also take approximately 30% to 40% of my extra income. This is something that not everyone thinks about.

There were some expenses, and they are listed below. In case you are new to my blog, “Extra Income” consists of all income that I make on the side, and does not include my office job that I have in the financial services industry.

Extra income also does not include any money that W makes either.

As I say every month in my income update posts as a reality check: this is still work. I spend enough time to make this a full-time job on top of my already full-time job. Luckily, I do enjoy what I’m doing so it’s not like I’m dreading anything. The goals that we have are also a great motivator. The fact that I plan on making the jump to self-employment is the biggest motivator that I will ever need! Read further on my Extra Income page.

As always, if you have any questions about my monthly extra income that you would like me to include next month, please let me know.

This is for the month of September and before fees and expenses (expenses that lower the amount above include approximately $1,100, which includes payments for staff writing on my blog, work with FITnancials, PayPal fees, etc.) being taken out.

September’s number above includes a rent payment from my sister. So after all expenses and fees, I made approximately $12,334. In the amount above, I do not count the amount that I bring in to blogs that I help run, I only include the amounts that are my actual earnings from my services.

You can find my 2013 goals update here.

All of my past income updates can be found here as well.

[Read more…]