Budget Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How My Family of 4 Flies Free 6 Times Every Year

Last Updated: May 20, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 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 guest post to share from Lyn Mettler. Lyn is sharing how her family of 4 flies for free. Enjoy.

My family just got back from Kauai.

This is our second spring break in a row flying free to Hawaii. Last year, we scored an amazing deal to fly all 4 of us to Maui, and this year, we decided to return to check out the “Garden Isle” of Kauai.

But that’s only one of 4 trips we’ve taken by plane in the last 7 months. Add to the list Miami, Universal Studios Orlando and Disney World.

This is how my family rolls these days. We’ve been flying all 4 of us free 6 times a year since I learned about travel rewards back in 2015.

Back then, air travel was not even something I considered. Pay to fly 4 of us anywhere? Not in the budget, because there was no money to spare on anything besides bills.

If we got lucky, my in-laws would pay for us to meet them at Disney World every few years, and a couple times, my husband and I dipped into our credit cards to take a couples’ trip to a condo my family owned in Colorado (so no hotel expense!). Otherwise, no travel for my family.

But everything changed in 2015.

As a longtime travel writer for outlets like US News & World Report, the TODAY Show and USA Today’s 10Best, I frequently interviewed travel experts, and one day I was pitched a story about a couple who was flying around the world FREE using frequent flyer miles, but they weren’t earning their miles by flying. This blew my mind, because I thought to earn “frequent” flyer miles, you had to frequently fly, right? This is how my dad, a longtime business traveler, earned his miles, at least.

But no. They were earning travel rewards in other ways, never paying for a flight AT ALL. [Read more…]

118 Things To Do When Bored At Home

Last Updated: May 9, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 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 am bored what should I do?”

Are you feeling bored? Here is a list of over 100 things to do when bored at home. These ideas may help you feel better, be more productive, make money, save money, have fun, and more.

When you’re bored or procrastinating, you may usually just feel like scrolling on your phone or watching TV. But, there are many other things that you can do as well which may help to improve your life, feel more productive, or simply just relax more.

The items on this list may help you to finally tackle tasks that you have forgotten about, get things done that you normally never do, or perhaps even improve your mental health.

There are many different things that you can do when you feel bored at home.

Below, I have separated this list of things to do when bored at home into categories such as:

Learning something new
Visiting your local library
Getting outside
Ideas for self-improvement
Things you can do around your home when you’re bored
Ideas to make extra money
Finding ways to save money
Ways to improve your relationships with friends and family
Different ways you can help others around you
Creative things you can make at home

This enormous list of things to do when bored was a lot of fun to put together, and it gave me a lot of great ideas for what I can do right now as well! [Read more…]

How We Paid Off $70,000 of Debt in 7 Months

Last Updated: May 6, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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 great debt payoff story to share from a reader, Samantha Brandon. This is how her family paid off $70,000 in debt in 7 months.

Like everyone else, the pandemic made us take a pause and reassess our lives.

We were lucky. We had great jobs making respectable salaries (I’m a pharmacist and my husband is a maintenance manager). We were so lucky to have purchased a home at the end of 2019 RIGHT before the market hike.

Yet, we were living paycheck to paycheck.

And I know what some of you may be thinking. How can you make six figure salaries and still be living paycheck to paycheck?

Easy. It’s called daycare for two children, student loans, and some miscellaneous debt living in a sunbelt city where living costs suddenly exploded.

And sorry, but no. I’m not moving to another city with a low cost of living, away from all of my family and friends to save money.

So, there we were. Six figure incomes but living paycheck to paycheck despite having a 15 year-old truck, 7-year-old Nissan Murano, a home WELL below our “means”, but still broke.

I’m a firm believer in taking control of your future, so we made some drastic decisions and got to work. [Read more…]

Ask Me Anything

Last Updated: May 2, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 107 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,

It has been almost one year since my last Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents.

Since then a lot has changed, such as I had a baby and she is 4 months old now!

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

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.

All right, go for it, ask away!

If you haven’t yet, please follow me on Instagram.

Here are links to common questions I’ve received in past Ask Me Anythings:

How To Start A Blog Free Course – With this free email course, I will show you exactly how to create a blog, from the technical side 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.
29 Best Stay At Home Jobs (#1 Is My Full Time Job!) – Do you want to work at home or work while traveling? Here’s a list to get you started.
What It’s Like Living In An RV? – We lived in an RV full-time for several years. Here’s what I loved about it!
Living On A Boat – The Good, The Bad, And The Beautiful – We have now lived on our sailboat for 4 years. Here’s what we like and don’t like about boat life.

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.

How I’ve Traveled Full Time For 20 Years (And Make/Save Money)

Last Updated: April 22, 2022 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.

Today, I have a great guest post to share from Patrick Schulte from Bumfuzzle. Patrick quit his job around 20 years ago and has been traveling full-time ever since. He and his wife have circumnavigated the world by boat, and have also driven from Alaska to Argentina as well as Europe in a 1958 VW van. Here is how they made it happen. Enjoy!

Life was much simpler when I was content with living the American Dream.

I walked to work from my downtown Chicago condo, traded commodities for a few hours, came home, walked up the street to pick my wife up from her job, walked to a restaurant, walked home, watched tv, went to bed. On the weekends we might take in a Blackhawks game.

That was life.

Relaxing, easy, and comfortable.

We had plenty of money, a nice home, a convertible, didn’t want for anything, and we were still in our twenties.

We should have considered ourselves lucky, had a baby, and moved to the suburbs. That would have been the appropriate next step. Throw in a white picket fence and we would have completed the package.

Instead, within just a few months, we were floating at anchor on a 35’ catamaran in the Bahamas.

It was the kind of dramatic left turn that makes the car’s passenger door fly open in the movies. [Read more…]

30 Best, Legit Money Making Apps For 2022

Last Updated: May 12, 2022 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 money making apps and websites?

If you have a cell phone or a laptop, there are many money making apps that can help you to make extra money.

The average person spends over 4.2 hours each day on their cell phone apps.

If you’re going to be spending that many hours each day on your phone, then you might as well make some money at the same time, right?

As a personal finance blogger, I come across many legit paying apps. I always try to stay updated on apps that pay you real money because I believe they can help a person improve their financial situation.

The money making apps and websites below will help you to:

Make money from your phone
Save/earn money when shopping online
Side hustle online

And more.

Every little bit counts, and signing up for many of the websites and apps on this list can help you make and save more money. I am a big believer in trying out new ways to make money because you never know what will change your life and how you think about your finances.

In today’s article, I am going to explain the top money making apps, as well as answer frequently asked questions, such as if money making apps are safe, why these apps are able to pay you, and more.

Before we begin, I want to quickly list out all of the best money making apps below:

[Read more…]

16 Great Ways to Start Spring Cleaning Your Finances

Last Updated: April 6, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 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.

Many people think of spring cleaning as a term used only for your house, but I think it should apply to your finances too. And as the weather starts to get warmer, now is the time to start thinking about spring cleaning your finances.

Moving from the cold winter months to the spring helps you look forward to what’s coming in the year, and it’s a natural time to think about what’s happening with your money in the coming months.

Today, I want to talk about spring cleaning money tips, smart money moves, and having a spring cleaning financial checklist to help you make spring a productive and good season.

This is a great time to start thinking about what you can do to save some money, prepare for the following months, and improve your life.

The tasks on this spring financial checklist will help you remember to prepare your home for the warmer months, gather important documents, declutter with easy tricks, and more.

Now, not everything on this checklist will apply to each of you, but this list is a good place to start. [Read more…]