Extra Money Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

My Favorite Black Friday Weekend Deals

Last Updated: November 28, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

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,

The deals are now over.

I recently published How To Save Money During The Holidays (20+ Ways To Save & Make Money!) if you are looking for ways to save money this holiday season.

Even though the sales have ended, I have other content you may be interested in:

Tip for shopping this holiday season:

There are a few other ways to save this holiday season by using easy cell phone apps! Don’t forget to:

Scan your grocery receipts with Fetch Rewards. Fetch Rewards is a cash back and gift card cell phone app that rewards you for purchases that you’ve already made. With Fetch Rewards, you can earn points by submitting your receipts to the Fetch Rewards app from any grocery store. Yes, ANY! You can sign up for Fetch Rewards here.
Shop with Rakuten and get cash back at online retailers. All you do is click on a store that you want to shop through (they have tons of stores such as Kohls, REI, Toys “R” Us, etc.) and shop just like how you normally would shop online and get cash back. Plus, when you sign up through my link and make a qualifying purchase, you receive a free $40 cash sign-up bonus.
Get cash back at gas stations with Upside. I recently downloaded this and it is very easy to use. GetUpside is a mobile app that helps you find gas stations, groceries, and restaurants where you can earn cash back. You simply sign up for a free account, and then look at the GetUpside app to find places near you. You can earn up to $0.25/gallon cash back at gas stations, up to 30% back on grocery purchases, and up to 45% back at restaurants. You can check out GetUpside here to learn more.

I use all three of these apps and highly recommend them if you are looking for easy ways to save money right now.

Enjoy!

How I Make Over $10,000 Each Month With A Niche Site

Last Updated: November 14, 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.

Are you interested in starting a website? Today, I am interviewing Mike Futia on how you can start a money making niche site.

A niche site is a little different from a traditional blog, and he will be teaching you all about that today.

Mike Futia is the founder of Stupid Simple SEO, where he teaches bloggers how to scale their traffic and income with SEO.

Mike recently sold a niche site for over $100,000, and he has also taken three different niche sites to over $10,000 in monthly earnings each. I have also taken a course of his, and I highly recommend them due to the wealth of knowledge that he shares.

Plus, over 4,000 students have enrolled in his Stupid Simple SEO and Niche Site Academy programs. He’s also the founder of the software NicheFinder.io.

He is an expert on this topic, and I’m excited for you to learn more.

In today’s interview, questions answered include:

What is a niche site? How is this different from a “normal” blog?
How much money can a niche site make?
How can you monetize a niche site?
How long does it take to monetize a niche site?
What are the most profitable niches for blogging?

Mike also has a free webinar – How To Build A Money-Making Niche Site. In this free webinar, you will learn how one of Mike’s students sees 200,000 pageviews per month (in just 8 months), why niche sites are a great way to make money, his 3-step framework for creating your niche site and making money with it, and more. [Read more…]

How To Save Money During The Holidays (20+ Ways To Save & Make Money!)

Last Updated: November 1, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

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.

Want to learn how to save money during the holidays?

It’s the holiday season, so you know what that means! It’s time to think about holiday gifts, holiday parties, and holiday food galore!

It’s also time to get serious about gift shopping and party planning. Maybe you even have some holiday travel planned to see your loved ones.

While there’s a lot of excitement during the holiday season, spending money on extra treats, decorations, and entertaining can add up fast.

The average person spends around $1,000 on gifts during the holiday season. Plus, you still have other costs such as travel, events, decorations, and more.

Because the holidays can be so expensive, today I want to teach you how to save money during the holidays! I’m going to share ideas for keeping your holiday spending to a minimum without scrimping on the holiday cheer. I will also be talking about different ways to make extra money during the holidays – there are so many ways to do it!

I’m covering both holiday spending tips and making money because that’s the best approach if you want to learn how to save money during the holidays.

After all, the holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year (at least it should be). But it can add a lot of stress if you aren’t financially prepared to spend extra money on gifts, traveling, and entertaining.

Fortunately, there are ways to save money during the holidays that will bring you peace of mind and holiday cheer. [Read more…]

Blog Income Reports From A Multi-Million Blog (My Real Reports!)

Last Updated: October 26, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 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’ve ever wondered how I make money, then this is for you – it’s dedicated to my blog income reports!

I absolutely love blogging, and I am so glad that I randomly started this site a little over a decade ago. Blogging has taught me so many things, and I have helped countless people improve their finances.

Plus, I have been able to earn a great income doing something I truly love to do!

One of the things I started doing in the early days of Making Sense of Cents was to publish personal finance blog income reports. They were a monthly breakdown of how much money I made and where it came from, such as affiliate income, sponsored posts, etc. I also answered FAQs and talked about different things happening in my life and business.

If you’re interested in blogging or simply want to learn more about my site, my income reports include a ton of information.

I’ll explain more shortly, but I no longer publish my income. However, I still have a lot of people asking where they can find my old income reports. That’s why I decided to put together this page.

My income reports started because I wanted to share how much money I was earning from my side jobs, which included blogging at the time. These reports included all of the income I made outside of my day job. This included income from mystery shopping, answering surveys online, selling items on eBay, and more.

Eventually, I quit all of my side jobs and focused solely on Making Sense of Cents. That’s when my reports really changed, and they became blogging income reports and showed the many different ways that I earned money from this site. [Read more…]

How To Start A Proofreading Business And Make $4,000+ Monthly

Last Updated: October 10, 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.

Do you want to learn how to start a proofreading business?

Proofreaders are responsible for putting the finishing touches on written content, from blog posts, web copy, marketing materials, resumes and cover letters to academic articles, legal briefs, and much more.

This is a very flexible side hustle, and it’s a great opportunity if you enjoy reading or have been known to spot grammar and punctuation errors.

Today, I have a great interview to share with you. It’s with Ariel Gardner, who has been working as a proofreader, copy editor, and freelance writer. She’s been editing for me for nearly seven years, and I’m excited because she’s putting out her first course, Proofreading Launchpad.

Ariel started proofreading as a side hustle, and it’s become a very flexible full-time job that allows her to travel with her family in the summer. She went from earning less than $500 a month proofreading to regularly making $4,000+ every month.

In this interview, I ask Ariel questions about how to start a proofreading business.

Proofreaders are in demand because business owners understand the need for error-free content. And as Ariel explains in our interview, Google favors error-free content in its search rankings.

So if you are interested in starting a flexible and in-demand side hustle, I ask Ariel questions you may be wondering about, like:

What’s the difference between an editor and a proofreader?
How much do proofreaders earn?
How long does it take to become a proofreader?
How can a new proofreader build their portfolio?
How can a proofreader find paying clients?
Do you need to have a degree to become a proofreader?

Plus more!

Today’s interview will help you get started on your path to becoming a paid proofreader.

If you want to learn how to launch a proofreading business on the side of your job, while you’re in school, or with kids at home, this interview is a great place to get started.

You can click here to learn more about the Proofreading Launchpad course.

[Read more…]

How I’ve Made Over $1,000,000 With A Subscription Box Business

Last Updated: October 10, 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.

Do you want to learn how to start a subscription box business?

Here’s how you can start a subscription box business and turn it into a part-time side hustle or even a full-time income.

Today, I am interviewing a subscription box expert, Sarah Williams. Sarah built a seven-figure subscription box business in only three years.

She is the CEO and founder of two 7-figure businesses, Framed by Sarah and Launch Your Box, where Sarah has worked with thousands of subscription box owners and those wanting to start a subscription box, providing in-depth training that takes them through each step of starting, launching, and growing their business.

I recently asked Sarah to take part in an interview to answer some of the common questions you may have about how to start a subscription box business.

Are you wondering questions such as:

How do subscription boxes work?
What are some subscription box business ideas that a person could start right now?
How much does it cost to start a subscription box business?
How do you find customers?

If so, please continue reading the interview below to see the answers to the questions above as well as answers to other common questions.

If you are interested in starting a subscription box business, I recommend signing up for Sarah’s free workshop so that you can take the first step. This workshop will help you figure out what you put in your subscription box, create a plan for your subscription box business, and launch your box. [Read more…]

11 Years & $5 Million Later: What I Love & Have Learned About Blogging

Last Updated: October 10, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 14 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.

It’s been 11 years since I started Making Sense of Cents, and I am still completely amazed that this is what I get to do for a living!

In August of 2011, when I opened my laptop and started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know that blogs could make money.

This blog started as a hobby because I enjoyed reading other personal finance blogs and figured why not start my own.

11 years ago, I had no real dreams or goals for my blog. I was completely anonymous – I wrote with a fake name, and I didn’t even tell my friends or family about my blog.

For the entire first year of blogging, only Wes and my sister knew what I was doing.

A lot has changed since then!

What started as a fun way to share my story has turned into millions of annual readers and lifelong friendships. And, I’ve earned a great income that allows me to retire whenever I want, and I love what I do.

11 years ago, I never would have guessed this for myself!

And, I have never been more grateful, especially lately.

Running my own business and being able to work minimal hours means I can spend as much free time as I want with my husband and our baby girl.

It’s a dream come true. [Read more…]