Posts filed under ‘blogging’
Why Are You Blogging?
If you’ve been married for awhile you probably notice that you and your spouse talk about the same things over and over. My husband and I rarely fight, but when we do it’s always about the very same things. You would think after knowing one another for over 15 years and being married for more than 8 that we’d know which triggers to avoid, but alas our fights are very repetitive.
We also tend to ask each other the same questions and bring up the same topics time and time again. Among the questions my husband asks is often “why are you blogging?” This is usually followed by something like, “is that really how you want to spend your free time?”
It’s not that my husband isn’t supportive. In fact, he is extremely supportive. It’s just that he doesn’t see the point in sitting down to blog about our finances when A) I make very little money from this blog and B) our finances appear to be in perfect order.
Every few months I consider giving this blog the boot. I’ve thought about changing it into a blog that talks more about my life as a whole and less about money. I’ve thought about giving up blogging all together in pursuit of something more meaningful and long term like writing a book or taking up a better paid hobby.
Yet every time I consider walking away from the keyboard I find myself right back where I started. I began this blog in 2006 at a time when my life seemed downright awful. I was physically sick and emotionally broken. I blogged to keep my mind off of my medical problems. In the beginning that was my only goal.
I wrote about money because it’s something that’s always held my interest. When I think back on my childhood I find that money is involved in many of my first memories. Over time those moments have come to define my character and personality.
Whether we like it or not money is a vital part of our lives. I used to think the goal was to save up as much as I could to buy the things I wanted, but one day I realized I wanted to save as much as I could to spend time with the ones I love. Money enables you to take time off work so you can care for an aging parent or stay at home with your children. Money allows you to worry less and live more. It provides peace of mind and freedom.
Blogging isn’t going to make me famous and doesn’t earn me much money, but it’s a habit I can’t seem to quit. I continue to write this blog because looking back over posts that span seven years makes me happy. I like to click back through prior years and read old entries. If I find the right combination of stories my financial history unfolds like a book before me. I consider this blog a diary of sorts and by reading about my former mistakes I find myself less likely to relive them. It doesn’t hurt to look back at the wise decisions either, after all, even a frugal girl needs to pat herself on the back every once in awhile.
Best of all I like to look back at all the posts that focus on the importance of wealth beyond money. There are many posts about gratitude, thankfulness, kindness and compassion. It’s a strong reminder that money is not the goal. I can unequivocally say that money does not equal happiness for me, but having money has made my life less stressful and as a result I am much happier.
Tallies from 2012: How Much Money Did My Blog Earn?
Every year I intend to tally up the amount of money I earn from online endeavors including, but not limited to, blogging. Usually I lose track of just how much I earned and lost and this year is no exception. I’m sure I’m missing a few figures here and there but overall I think it’s within a few hundred dollars of the actual number.
| Amazon Sales | $28.68 |
| Selling Used Books | $101.07 |
| Goods Received | $140.00 |
| Giveaways | $149.00 |
| Surveys | $474.00 |
| eBay Sales | $641.73 |
| Writing Contests | $750.00 |
| Advertising | $1,957.25 |
| TOTAL: | $4,241.75 |
As you can see I made the most money through advertising. This included tweets, links on Facebook, sponsored posts and simple sidebar advertisements. Averaged out over a twelve month period I earned roughly $160 each month, though in reality most of my advertising revenue was generated in a three month period. $160 is a pretty pitiful amount of money, (certainly not enough to quit one’s day job), but I should note that I do not write this blog as a means to make money. In fact, I turn down quite a few requests for sponsored posts each month, because I don’t like the advertisement or I’m unwilling to clutter my blog for the small amount of money advertisers are willing to pay me.
In looking over the numbers I was most surprised by the amount of money I earned from completing online surveys. I typically fill these out early in the morning or late at night after my son’s in bed. They only take a few minutes and typically pay just a few dollars each. I’m also a member of a couple of online communities whose pay rates vary based on level of participation.
Amazon sales is also an interesting category. This money was earned in the last two weeks of December off of links included in one particular post. I ended up adding links on a whim. I wrote the post years ago, but decided it wouldn’t hurt to cash in on it’s popularity.
I’m most proud of the $750 worth of cash and prizes I won through two online writing contests. Neither contest included a huge number of entries, but it still feels good to win a prize based on skill and ability. Of course, I don’t mind the $150 worth of prizes I won by entering simple online contests either. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a little easy money.
Where Do I Go From Here…
I have been thinking a lot about this blog. I’m considering keeping the name One Frugal Girl but possibly writing less about money. JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly recently ditched his blog and started a new one focused on things other than money. I actually started One Frugal Girl one month before JD, (back in March of 2006), but somehow he sold his for millions and I’ve earned just a few thousand in that same time. Bummer, eh?
To be honest I stopped reading Get Rich Slowly when JD stepped out of the picture and hired staff writers to take over his job. I still poke through the reader stories from time to time, but otherwise I’ve almost entirely ditched that RSS feed. I like the personal stories a blog provides and when JD stopped writing for the blog I lost interest in it.
I searched through my RSS reader this morning and deleted a bunch of personal finance blogs that aren’t too personal in nature. In fact, I deleted nearly half of the blogs in my reader! These days I read a lot less about personal finance and a lot more about all sorts of other topics including spirituality, cooking, party planning (even though I never throw parties) and parenting.
Some months I post almost every other day, but this past month I barely posted at all. Maybe I’m suffering from writer’s block. I start a post, write a couple of sentences and then lose interest in the topic or can’t seem to focus my thoughts in a meaningful way. I’m not sure if I’m struggling to write about money or just struggling to write overall.
Do you find periods in your life when you just can’t seem to write? Would you read this blog if I stopped focusing on the topic of money?
Monetizing This Blog: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
I started writing this blog for myself. Over the years it’s become my journal. A way to write down my thoughts and share them with anyone wiling to read my words. I feel unbelievably blessed to live in an age where I can type words into a computer and have other people instantly read and provide feedback on them. I truly appreciate all of you who leave comments on this blog or send me emails. THANK YOU!
Some readers are so close they now rent my beach home and others exchange long emails with me about the value, headaches and dangers of owning beach property.
In the beginning I refused any advertising. I decided to keep my blog clean and ad-free. A few years ago I allowed text ads in the sidebar and shortly thereafter I joined BlogHer and began displaying ads with graphics. I felt like ads in the sidebar were fine since you can ignore them when you read individual posts. They also don’t display in readers, which is how I read 99% of blogs.
Shortly after losing my job. I decided to join an advertising network that promotes coupons. I added a tab at the top of my blog called ‘Printable Coupons.’ If you click on the link and print coupons I earn a very small commission. Typically less than 50 cents per printing session. Again I figured this was okay, because you can ignore the tab if you don’t need coupons. I also figured it might help out those who do use them.
Sometimes the advertising network includes other promotions for which I can earn a commission. I’ve included posts for these only once or twice. BlogHer also added commission based links. I included my first post sponsored by BlogHer a few days ago.
I didn’t like the idea of these posts at first, but I thought readers might find them helpful. The network includes hundreds of promotions and so far I’ve only written about two or three. I only include deals that I take advantage of myself and of course I want them to be really good bargains.
Okay, so far I convinced myself that all of this advertising was alright, but then came the question of sponsored posts. I am not a big fan of sponsored posts, because this blog is my journal, my story and to be frank it’s all about me. While I think I would be happy to accept guest posts from others at some point in time, I don’t know how I feel about getting paid to take them. As soon as you put money on the table you often wind up with mediocre articles that no one really wants to waste their time on.
In the past year I’ve accepted three guest posts. One was very well written the others were not. I hate to waste my readers time and I hate the idea that someone might mistake the words for my own.
So here’s where you can help me out. What do you think? Does advertising on this blog bother you? What are your thoughts on sponsored posts? Is there some way that I can flag them so you can ignore them if you don’t have the interest. I hate for someone to get all the way through a post before realizing a) it wasn’t written by me and b) it’s a pretty boring read.
If you have any ideas on the topic please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
A Big Day for This Blog
It’s a big day for One Frugal Girl and the number of new visitors to my site are going through the roof! I have to thank lifehacker and Free Money Finance for the links!
Lifehacker linked to my post on purging clothes and Free Money Finance included me in the March Money Madness. If you enjoy my article at FMF please leave a comment on the FMF blog with the word junk. I could really use the votes!
Up and Running with WordPress
From what I can tell my transition from Blogger to WordPress has been pretty smooth. It looks like ten posts didn’t transfer, though I have absolutely no idea which ten. My comments didn’t all transfer either. The total seems to be off by one hundred or so.
I started writing this blog via Blogger in May of 2006. Since that time I’ve posted 1079 times and received 3711 comments! Now that I’ve taken the time to move to WordPress I have no idea why I didn’t accomplish the task sooner. It took me less than two hours to move everything and get redirects up and running. That’s two hours of actual time, which in ‘new-mom’ time took place over the course of ten hours when the baby napped.
While I’m happy to have everything up and running under my new domain I’m kind of sad that the sitemeter stats for my old blog are frozen in time. Something about that just seems so final.
I plan to make additional changes to the layout and design of this blog, but it does feel good to have it hosted on my own domain.
If you notice any issues or errors while reading and/or clicking around please let me know and if you link to my blog feel free to update those links to my new URL.
In the Process of Moving
I’m in the process of moving my blog to a new domain. While the new blog is up and running redirects from the old one aren’t quite working yet. I hope to have everything functional again in the next day or two. At least some progress has been made.
Adding More Advertisements to My Blog
I started One Frugal Girl as a simple means to document my relationship with money. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly six years since I wrote my first post! I am grateful to everyone who leaves comments or sends me emails. I’ve grown to know a number of bloggers and commenters personally. One or two have even rented my beach house in North Carolina.
This Little Blog’s Five Year Anniversary!
On March 4, 2006 I wrote the very first post for One Frugal Girl. I can’t believe five years have passed since I started this blog! I was in such a different place in my life at that time. I felt physically broken. I had undergone a difficult and painful surgery and was only a few months into a recovery that would last for years to come.
When I started this blog I was looking for a distraction. I needed some way to get my mind off of my medical troubles and onto other things. I was always interested in personal finance and thought it would be the perfect outlet for me. I was thrilled to read my very first comment and even happier to find that more and more people began reading and subscribing each day.
I am so grateful to all of you who have left comments or sent emails throughout the years and although we’ve never met in person I feel like I’ve gotten to know some of you quite intimately.
While I still struggle with physical pain, my overall health has improved ten-fold since 2006. Over the years I’ve figured out ways to deal with my physical limitations. Although I still throw the occasional pity party, I’m much better at dealing with the cards I’ve been given in life. In fact, in many ways I feel that my medical problems have made me a better, more alert, more introspective, more self-aware, more compassionate person.
I want to thank all of you who have made your presence on this blog known! You helped me dig myself out of a dark time in my life and since then things have continued to get better and better.
Things Have Been Crazy Busy
I’ve been neglecting One Frugal Girl lately. Between working crazy hours and spending quality time with family and friends I just haven’t had the time to sit in front of my computer to blog. I haven’t forgotten about this little blog. I’ve just been really swamped with work during the week and playtime when the weekend rolls around. I keep trying to carve out a moment or two to blog, but I must admit that it keeps landing at the bottom of my priority list. I hope to return to it more regularly in the next few days.
