life Archives - Page 2 of 8 - the frugal millionaire

Top 10 Unfrugal Confessions (of a Personal Finance Blogger)

I’m naturally frugal and naturally a saver. However, I am absolutely not extreme. Today I’m confessing all of the things I spend money on, even as a frugal person.

Some of you might not think I’m that frugal after reading this 😉 But, I should preface this by saying that my husband and I work hard at side hustles so we can live a little more freely. Just in the past year, we purchased our dream house (that we thought at the time we were “over buying”), paid extra toward new said mortgage every single month, paid off $16K on our auto loan (this will be gone next month, woot!), contributed 10-15% of our checks to retirement, and added thousands to our personal savings.

ALL of that was possible because of side hustles!

My two side hustles are freelance writing and blogging. Blogging is my main one now, as I also have a FT job. I am averaging over $1,000/month from my blog and I spend about 10 hours a month on it.

You can view my latest income report here!

Also, if you’re interested in starting a blog, you can use my “How to Start a Profitable Blog” tutorial. With it, you’ll receive my book, The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging, for free; in addition to a special discount from Bluehost to my readers only! Get started now!

Here are my unfrugal confessions (please be nice, and remember I am pregnant!):

How to Prepare for a Blog Launch

Are you getting ready to start a blog? First, congratulations!! You are taking a huge step toward your future career and financial goals. I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and am finally starting to see real, legitimate income coming in from my blog. You can view my latest income report here 🙂

How you launch your blog matters. Sure, you can definitely just start posting and not “prepare” for your blog launch. But, with a little preparation and know-how, you will gain a much bigger following right off the bat than you ever thought possible.

Get my FREE guide on how to start a profitable blog here! >>

And if you haven’t started a blog yet, first head over to my tutorial to get going!

Now, let’s get started.

2 Guaranteed Ways to Stop Stressing About Money

We’ve all been there: bills are due, things around the house keep breaking, a child gets sick, we of course need to eat, and basically the expenses just don’t stop rolling in.

I would say our “low” point was right after our first daughter was born (this was about four years ago). I had quit my full-time job when she was born and was just starting to break into freelancing. My husband was working for himself in construction and remodeling. We had just gotten back from a week-long family reunion (that my parents so graciously paid for or else we would not have been there) which meant my husband missed an entire week of work. We had savings, but for a few months, we were forced to make so many withdrawals that we were practically down to nothing.

I hated that feeling. Every day I woke up with a pit in my stomach. We lived in a very, very modest house (we purchased our first home for less than $150K), we ate pasta with sauteed onions for dinner multiple times per week, we didn’t go out to eat, and we by no means went shopping for fun. We were on a super tight budget, and even then we were still just scraping by.

Can anyone else relate to this?

Stressing about money sucks, period. And heck, I’ll say it, being on a tight budget sucks, too!

Fast-forward four years later (now), and we’ve completely changed our situation. I can honestly say that I haven’t been stressed about money (in that sense) in a while, and it feels incredible. I’m sleeping better, I’m happier and have a healthier outlook on life, my relationship with my husband is better than ever, and I’m truly enjoying life.

Want to know what I did to stop stressing about money? Grab a cup of coffee, this one’s a long one…

11 Things I’d Rather Do than Side Hustle

Side hustles. Where to begin? If you’ve been a long-time reader, you know that side hustling is my thing. I’ve been freelancing for four years (but recently stopped freelancing for something else) and I’ve been blogging for almost two years. My blog is finally bringing in a consistent income (you can check out my latest income report here!) with very little work, so I’m a happy camper!

So, yes, I like side hustling. It’s allowed my family and I to save money, travel, not be on such a tight budget, and even move across the country. I’ll probably side hustle for the rest of my life, if I’m being honest.

But, let’s take a look at my life in the last four years, just real quick:

Quit my FT job to be a SAHM mom
Immediately started freelancing
Had another daughter 16 months later
Took on a freelance editing job 1 month before she was born
Moved across the country
Continued freelancing with two toddlers at home with me
Started this blog (want to start your own? Here’s my tutorial on starting a profitable blog)
Moved from an apartment to a rental house
Started working full-time
Moved from our rental to our new home we purchased
Got pregnant with our third baby (another girl!)
Finally backed off freelancing…

Haha, so, life’s been busy. I’m sure your story looks similar. The past four years have been the best years of my life, and a lot of that IS thanks to side hustling. However, this year I’ve really made an effort to slow down. Life is so short, and I’m not near as focused on making as much money as possible anymore.

In light of my new period of slowing down, I thought it’d be fun to list 11 things I’d rather do than side hustle! Ready? Let’s go.

Tips on Streamlining Your Life and Business

Mamas!

Do you feel overwhelmed at times? Whether you work or stay home, having kids while maintaining a house, cooking, cleaning, running errands, keeping up with school functions and more can take its toll. Add in working full-time or working for yourself, and you’ve most certainly got your hands full.

I’m a working mom of two toddlers (and one on the way!). While I’m incredibly thankful that my schedule is flexible and allows me to mostly work from home, I do still put in a good 40 hours per week at the ‘ol office job. I also try my best to keep up with this blog, make sure my kids have clean laundry and get food on the table each night. If I were to be completely honest, the dinner part is my biggest struggle. We always eat, of course, but I don’t always have a plan and we sometimes have eggs, chicken nuggets, yogurt, or a combination of the aforementioned.

Eventually, I would like my blog to become my full-time business. With a baby on the way, this probably won’t happen for a few years, but I’m hopeful nonetheless. I wanted to provide anyone who might be in the same situation with some tips on how I am currently streamlining my life and my business for future (and current) success.

Announcing…Baby #3!

If you read my post last week, you knew I had a surprise announcement coming up! Well, that day has finally come 🙂

We are expecting (surprise!) Baby #3 on Halloween and couldn’t be more excited! I’ll be honest, we have gone back and forth on whether or not to have a third child. Our first two are finally a bit more independent, it’s way easier to go places, I have a full-time job, and life just works. Adding a new baby to the mix is certain to stir things up, but this was clearly meant to be since our new little bundle was not planned (in fact, at the time, we had of course decided we were done having kids). Funny how life works and how God has a plan all of His own 🙂

Rodan + Fields and Other Multi-Level Marketing Companies

I’m sure by now you’ve all seen Rodan + Fields products blasted all over Facebook, along with It Works, Isagenix, Shakeology, Avon, Mary Kay, Scentsy and others.

I wanted to get your input on what you think of these products (if you use them) and what you think of multi-level marketing companies in general. Have you tried it before? Were you successful at it? I have a few friends on Facebook who seem to be doing really well, but you never really know (I don’t know them close enough to ask them!).

I have never personally attempted to sell any kind of product or service, other than through my blog and all of those products are blogging and freelancing related. I will admit, though, that I am tempted by some of these companies, most specifically – Rodan + Fields.

A blogging friend sent me some samples of the product and it made my skin extremely soft. My skin isn’t necessarily “bad,” but I do have some acne scars, some uneven spots, a wrinkle in between my eyebrows, etc. I definitely wear foundation every day, and I’ve heard Rodan + Fields can make your skin so good that you don’t even need to bother with foundation. I currently spend $50 every six(ish) months on either Naked or NARS foundation. Yes, Rodan + Fields is significantly more money than that, but if it did actually improve my skin and make it so I didn’t need foundation, I’d be stoked.

So, I am actually placing an order later this week. I plan on posting some before and after shots (assuming the product works) about a month after I start using the product.

Another question for you readers – Would you personally find it annoying if a blogger started trying to sell a product like that on their blog? Or would you just dismiss those posts and move on? I’ll be honest – if I DO like the product and decide to sell it, I would definitely want to use my blog as a way to connect with others interested in the product. I don’t use FB too much, so I wouldn’t post much on there. This blog would basically be my means of selling the product, but the last thing I would want to do is turn off my current readers.

Thanks for your input! I’d appreciate any feedback I can get! 🙂

Big News: I’m Starting a New Blog

I’ve been blogging here at the frugal millionaire for more than a year! I absolutely love this blog and the opportunities that it has given me (See How Blogging Changed My Life), but…I also have a huge passion for blogging about topics beyond personal finance. Lately, between my blog, freelancing and my full-time job, it seems as though I live and breathe finance. That’s not a bad thing, but I want more.

I debated adding more categories to this blog, but the truth of the matter is I am just not feeling this blog name anymore and I want to start from scratch. I’ve learned so SO much this first year of blogging and I want to apply all that knowledge to a new, exciting small business/blog I’m creating.

18 Ways to Beat the Afternoon Slump and Be Productive

Whether I’m working from home or in the office, the afternoon slump is inevitable. It also doesn’t seem to matter how much sleep I’ve gotten the night before or how much caffeine I’ve had.

Even though I would love nothing more than to take a nap come 3:00 pm, that’s just not an option on the weekdays. So, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to beat the afternoon slump and be productive. And I found 18 of them. Hopefully, at least a few of these will work for you 🙂

I’m Still Alive!

Hi everyone!

I had planned on posting November’s income report today, but life has gotten in the way. That is one of my favorite things about blogging – you really can set your own schedule and take time off when needed. And to all you bloggers out there, DON’T feel guilty for doing that!! My pageviews have stayed the same, I’m still getting comments and new readers, and the world is still spinning 🙂

So, in case anyone is wondering what I’ve been up to lately, here is a quick recap:

Maisie, my 2-year-old, got a high fever last Tuesday that lasted through Thursday. She was stuffed up all weekend but otherwise was acting fine.
One of my bestest friend’s in the whole wide world came to visit me from Arizona! She flew in on Wednesday and left on Monday. We had such an incredible time and it was SO good to catch up and take some much-needed time off work. If there’s one thing I learned from her stay (other than how awesome friendship is), it’s that I need to take more time for myself to relax and enjoy life. I love my life, but I’m realizing that I’m trying to do too much and I need to slow down. Especially with the flu/cold season among us…which brings me to my next point:
Maisie got another fever yesterday afternoon. She didn’t sleep much last night, and by this morning she had a rash all over her face and was screaming that her “mouth hurt.” I called the doc and took her in, certain she had strep throat. Turns out, it’s just a virus but she does have impetigo on her face, so she was prescribed antibiotics. I feel like it is something more serious (not the rash, but just her illness in general) and am hoping the antibiotics kill whatever it is.

A little venting here, but today was H.A.R.D. Sometimes being a mama is not fun, and today was one of those days. Maisie didn’t nap and wouldn’t let me out of her sight. She screamed and kicked at the doctor’s office, screamed the whole time in the car, and has really been testing my patience. So, the income report will wait, my work will wait, and cleaning the house will wait. Right now, Maisie needs me.

I’ll be back hopefully on Thursday or Friday with my income report, and resuming to my normal posting schedule next week if all goes as planned!

Hope everyone is doing well and taking time off when needed 🙂