Blog - Page 3 of 217 - Making Sense Of Cents

Welcome To Paradise – We’re Living On A Sailboat!

July 17, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 69 Comments

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

It’s official, we’re now living on a sailboat!

To be specific, it’s a Lagoon 42 catamaran that we named Paradise.

Now, we are still very new to this lifestyle, but we are very excited!

We’ve wanted to move onto a boat for a while. In fact, we wanted to live on a sailboat before we even started RVing.

Our switch from RV life to living on sailboat started earlier this year, when we made the journey from Tucson, Arizona (where we were wintering in our RV) to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We started looking at sailboats online, both on the west coast and east coast, but Florida just had so many more options.

We pulled up the RV jacks and made the long trek to Florida. Along the way, we stopped in multiple places, sort of a last RV trip hurrah to see our friends and family that live all over the U.S. [Read more…]

How To Pay Off Your Student Loans

July 17, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

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

Hello! Today, I've partnered with Lexington Law to give you tips and tricks on how to pay off your student loans.

Fun fact about myself in case you didn't know – I paid off $40,000 in student loans in just 7 months.

I was in my early 20s when I accomplished this feat, and I did it without any parental help (nope, my parents didn't help me pay for college!).

Figuring out how to pay off your student loans can lead to many benefits, such as:

You may experience less financial stress.
You may be able to use that money towards something more important and current in your life, such as being able to save for retirement.
Getting rid of your student loans may allow you to pursue other goals in life, such as traveling more or looking for a better job.

So, you're probably wondering how YOU can pay off your student loans as well. Here are my tips. [Read more…]

How This 25 Year Old Earns $10,000 A Month From Her Blog

July 13, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 44 Comments

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

Hello! Today, I have a great article from my sister, Alexis Schroeder at FITnancials.com. This was edited this morning to reflect an update. Below is her story.

A little over a year ago I decided to go full-time on my blog, FITnancials.

This was incredibly scary since I was used to working for someone else for over 8 years. Becoming an entrepreneur never even crossed my mind in school.

Then, I started a side hustle, my blog, which eventually turned into a website that earns over $10,000 and over 150,000 page views per month.

I remember telling Michelle that I would be grateful for $10,000 per month, and that I'd be content with that amount of money for the rest of my life. It's crazy to think that I hit that number at 25 years old, while a senior in college.

If I can do it, you can, too. Seriously. A lot of people say that but it's true. I never thought I'd be my own boss, and look where I am.

Get rid of the negative mentality and stop telling yourself you can never meet your goals. You'll complete your goals a lot sooner when you get rid of that way of thinking. [Read more…]

How I Made $100,324 In June 2018 Blogging

July 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 42 Comments

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

How I Made $91,324 In June 2018 Blogging #incomereport #howtostartablog #waystomakeextramoney Welcome to June 2018's business income report where I show you how I made money online last month. It's time to look at this month's update and see how I did.

If you're new to Making Sense of Cents, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you're not new here.

This all started out as my extra income report because, in the beginning, it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job.

However, I left my day job as a financial analyst in October of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the many ways I earn a living.

Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I'm crazy, whereas some are glad I'm open about what I'm doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons: [Read more…]

Travel Rewards Credit Cards – Are They For You?

July 10, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

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

Hello! Today, I've partnered with Lexington Law to talk about travel rewards credit cards.

Travel rewards credit cards are extremely popular right now. For me, I've been interested in them for a few years now, and lately, it seems to be all I hear about when I hear of someone talking about going on a vacation.

You can read about one example at How To Take A 10 Day Trip To Hawaii For $22.40 – Flights & Accommodations Included.

Articles like that can make travel rewards credit cards seem amazing.

I absolutely love travel rewards credit cards too. In fact, I've gone on many extremely cheap vacations due to travel rewards credit cards, I've received lots of free cash back, I've taken first class flights for super cheap due to travel rewards points, and more. [Read more…]

Can A No Spend Month Actually Help You?

July 3, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 32 Comments

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

Can A No Spend Month Actually Help You? Have you ever taken part in a no spend month?

If you're looking to learn how to save money, especially lowering your monthly spending budget, a no spend month can be a great way to do so!

Many people are in debt. In fact, the average person has some sort of debt, whether that be credit card debt, a mortgage, student loans, or something else.

We all have things we have to spend money on, and there is even some debt we knowingly take on, like student loans or a home, but many people make unnecessary purchases on a regular basis, sometimes every single day. These unnecessary purchases can lead to not being able to save money or even adding to your debt. This can negatively impact you for years, even decades, and sadly for some, your entire life.

And, this is why a no spend month can help! [Read more…]

You Wouldn’t Work For Free, Right? So, Why Do You?

June 28, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 54 Comments

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

You Wouldn't Work For Free, Right? So, Why Do You? Do you often find yourself at the end of the year with unused vacation days?

If so, then you are essentially working for free.

According to CNN, 23% of workers surveyed said they used all of their vacation days in the previous 12 months. That means that 77% of people had unused vacation days!

Also, this same survey showed that the average U.S. worker uses less than HALF of their paid days off.

So, I did some more research because I find this subject so interesting. According to CNBC, on average, American workers gave up around $604 in lost benefits by ending the year with unused vacation days and other paid time off.

I find this topic interesting because when I used to work for others, I would never use all of my paid vacation days. [Read more…]

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