Blog - Page 3 of 231 - Making Sense Of Cents

How I Made Over $1,000,000 in Photography Without Being a Pro

March 29, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have a guest post from Marc from Vital Dollar. He is sharing how he had a few photography-related websites and even with no real photography experience, was quite successful with them. Hopefully, you'll find this super encouraging like I did. Enjoy!

Photography can be a tough industry. While high-profile photographers can make a lot of money, most photographers struggle to make a good income from their work.

Many photographers need to do a few different things in order to earn a full-time income. Things like freelance writing for photography blogs or magazines, writing books or ebooks, creating online courses or other digital products, running workshops and seminars, licensing stock photos, and selling prints are all possible supplements to income made from client work. [Read more…]

Ask Me Anything

March 27, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 178 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

A little over one year ago, I published my first Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents. That went super well, so I decided to make it more of a regular thing!

Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:

Personal finance
Blogging
My life
Travel
RVing
Sailing
Being location independent
Business
Making extra money
Questions about my dogs

And so on, and so on.

Seriously, ask me anything in the comments below, and I will take the time to answer every single one. Of course, please nothing inappropriate or creepy. I'll let you be the judge of what is creepy, I guess, haha!

All right, go for it, ask away!

P.S. If you're looking to see all of the comments and questions, make sure to hit “Older Comments” or “Newer Comments” below. The comments break apart in pages once there are over 50 comments.

Top 5 Credit Card Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

March 25, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Top 5 Credit Card Mistakes And How To Avoid Them #creditcardmistakes #creditcards Even though I love credit cards because of their many benefits, I understand that they aren’t for everyone.

A family member of mine once struggled with credit cards, and they found that using a cash only budget was the best way to stay out of credit card debt. Fortunately for them, they were able to recognize their credit card mistakes and found a way to make sure they weren't adding any debt. Part of that was being proactive and noticing they had an issue with them early on.

However, others are not as lucky.

Some people rack up large amounts of credit card debt, and they do so because they aren’t aware of the credit card mistakes they might being making. According to a study done by NerdWallet, the average household in the United States (who has debt) has an average credit card debt of $15,482. [Read more…]

Less Stuff, More Freedom

March 20, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

It's been a few years now since we got rid of the majority of our belongings and moved into an RV (and now boat). Becoming a minimalist (and living with less stuff) wasn't a goal at the time – it just naturally happened.

When we sold our house and moved into an RV, we had to give away a ton of our stuff so that we could start living minimally in a smaller space.

We gave a lot of stuff to family members, had neighbors come by and take whatever they wanted, Salvation Army came to our home to do a big pickup, and more. We didn't sell a single thing, instead we gave almost all of it away.

I know some people will think I'm crazy for not selling anything, but that's not really the point of this blog post. The point is that living with less stuff is possible. And, there is already so much waste in the world, and now that we're sailing, we're seeing so much of it in the water – and it is truly disappointing. [Read more…]

50+ Crazy Things People Have Done To Save Money

March 18, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

50+ Crazy Things People Have Done To Save Money #howtosavemoney #moneysavingtips It’s been five years since I published the blog post 8 Ways To Be An Extreme Cheapskate, which was inspired by a TV show called Extreme Cheapskates – there were some even too extreme for me! That post made me want to hear what frugal living tips other people had for saving money.

So, I asked my readers to share some of the craziest things they’ve done to save money, and I was able to put together a list of 60+ Extreme Things People Have Done To Save Money.

I loved everything on that list and wanted to hear more, so I asked readers in my Making Sense of Cents Facebook Group about their extreme frugal living tips and got even more amazing tips to share with you.

Now, some of these things are going to sound crazy, but remember that saving money often means going to great lengths. You might feel embarrassed or ashamed by what you’re doing to save money, but when we share the extreme things we’ve done, maybe we can all feel a little less embarrassed. [Read more…]

10 Easy And Affordable Meal Prep Ideas

March 14, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Food is one of the budget areas that many people overspend in. That’s because cooking dinners and making lunches can feel like a lot of work when you are already busy. But, finding delicious and easy meal prep ideas can keep your budget (and maybe your diet too) in shape.

Meal prepping works so well because you do all of the work ahead of time. You cut the vegetables, cook everything, and then portion the meals into individual containers. Then, you have a meal all ready to go.

You can grab these meals before work so you don’t spend money on lunch. You can also use these meal prep ideas to make dinner time easier.

In this list of budget friendly recipes you will find something for nearly every diet out there too – from Keto to vegan.

I’m getting really excited to try some of these meals, especially the nourish bowl!

Other recipe roundups to check out:

Note: If you're looking for easy weekly meal plans that are full of budget recipes, I recommend $5 Meal Plan. $5 Meal Plan is a meal planning service that sends you a delicious meal plan and shopping list every week for just $5 a month.

Here are 10 easy and affordable meal prep ideas.

[Read more…]

Make Extra Money By Learning How To Teach English Online

March 14, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 13 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Learning how to teach English online has become extremely popular these days and for many good reasons – it’s flexible, there’s a high need, and it pays pretty well.

You may have even heard me talk about it before here on Making Sense of Cents. I have even had one of my readers talk about online English teaching jobs with VIPKID – Janice Cook talked about how she teaches English online from home and earns around $1,000 a month doing it part-time.

Surprisingly, you don't need to be a teacher to learn how to teach English online. You also don't need to speak more than one language – you only need to speak English.

Those things make teaching English online a really great side hustle or online job for almost anyone. [Read more…]

Here are 10 easy and affordable meal prep ideas.

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