Blog - Page 4 of 229 - Making Sense Of Cents

Learn how to downsize your home, stress free!

January 21, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

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

Are you ready for something simpler or smaller and wanting to know how to downsize your home? It can be big process and less and less people seem to be doing it these days.

The average home size in 1950 was less than 1,000 square feet. Fast forward to 2017, the average home size has increased to nearly 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Related posts:

When we did live in a “normal” home, it was fairly close to that average home size. The house we owned in the St. Louis, Missouri area was around 2,500 square feet if you included our finished basement, and it was just for myself, my husband, and our two dogs. [Read more…]

How We Paid Off $20,000 of Student Loan Debt in 12 Months at 23 Years Old

January 18, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

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

As you all know, I love a good debt payoff story. Melanie reached out to me recently and asked if she could share how she paid off her debt. Below is her story, enjoy!

Hi, I’m Melanie! I’m a CPA by day, and personal finance blogger at Melanie De Jong Blog by night! I’m 24 years old, and I reside with my husband and beautiful baby boy in Northwest Iowa. My husband and I paid off $20,000 of student loan debt fresh out of college while living on just one income for 5 of those months AND paying for part of a wedding and a honeymoon (and no, we don’t make a fortune). Our debt payoff story has inspired me to help and encourage others to become financially free! Here's our story.

When the confetti stopped, the champagne was done being popped, and I settled into my new job and new home post-college graduation, the last thing I wanted to think about was how in the world I was going to pay off my student loans. [Read more…]

The Ultimate Guide of Over 50 Money Saving Tips For 2019

January 16, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 18 Comments

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

The Ultimate Guide of Over 50 Money Saving Tips For 2019 #savingtips #bestmoneysavingtips How much money do you save each month? Do you wish you had some more money saving tips for 2019?

If you're looking for some of the best money saving tips, then you've come to the right place! There are many ways to learn how to save money, and today I'm going to tell you about them.

I am often asked for my best money saving tips from people who are having a difficult time saving money, and there are often many saving tips that I can help them with. This is because it can sometimes be very difficult to see where you are wasting and/or spending too much money. Often what is obvious to one, may be hard for another to notice.

Even if you're already taking part in some of the best ways to save money, if you could just find a few more saving tips (or as many as you can!), you may be able to improve your financial situation so that you can live your dream life. [Read more…]

80 Ways To Make Money On The Side in 2019

January 14, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

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

80 Ways To Make Money On The Side in 2019 #waystomakemoney #makeextramoney If you want to learn new ways to make money in 2019, then you’ve come to right place! Learning how to make extra income has completely changed my life for the better, and with the things I’ll talk about today, you can find several ways to make money that will work for you.

Learning how to make money on the side of my day job helped me pay off $38,000 in student loans within 7 months. I eventually turned my side hustle into a full-time job (blogging!), and I can now travel full-time, pursue my passions, and more!

On Making Sense of Cents, I talk a lot about different ways to make money on the side because I believe that earning extra income can completely change your life. You can stop living paycheck to paycheck, you can pay off your debt, reach your retirement earlier, and more.

Making extra income is the best way to start paying off your debt, put more towards savings, and work towards financial independence. [Read more…]

Life Insurance is More Affordable and Easier To Get Than You Think

January 11, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

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

The following is a sponsored partnership with Ladder. Ladder has been featured on The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, and more.

So many people skip out on life insurance, because they think it's too hard and too expensive.

According to Life Insurance Awareness Month facts (from September 2017), around half of the people in the U.S. do not have life insurance. And, those who do have life insurance typically have much less coverage than they need, at an average of just $168,000.

Many of the people who do have life insurance, just take what is given by their employer. Let me say, that life insurance through work is not all that you need!

I highly recommend getting life insurance outside of your workplace – so that you can get the right amount (life insurance provided by your employer is usually a very low amount) and you're still covered when/if you leave your job. Many people forget to look for life insurance after leaving a job that provided it, and then realize later that they didn't have life insurance that whole time. Due to the two reasons above, I am in favor of always having your own life insurance policy and being in control of it. [Read more…]

How I Made Over $1,500,000 In 2018 – Is This The End Of Income Reports?

January 9, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 69 Comments

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

Welcome to December 2018's business 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 business report each month.

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 business reports consist of the many ways I earn a living with my business. [Read more…]

My Year In Review – Looking Back at 2018 and Looking Forward to 2019!

January 7, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 32 Comments

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

Looking back on the previous year is always a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see everything laid out in a one year period. I get to see what I did and didn’t do, reflect on everything, etc. So, I am happy to present my 2018 year in review.

2018 was a crazy year. But don’t worry, it was good crazy!

One of the biggest reasons for the chaos is that we made a major change in 2018 – we went from RVing to living on a sailboat.

That big change made for an amazing year.

Before that switch, we traveled to many new areas in the RV. We also climbed mountains, rode our bikes a TON, hosted several family vacations, then we sold the RV, bought a sailboat, and more.

On top of all of that, Wes traveled even more than I did – he logged over 5,000 nautical miles, sailed all over Europe, as well as sailed the Caribbean. [Read more…]

Subscribe Via Email