Here we are in January and I’m just now getting to November’s income report. Can you say procrastination much? Or maybe it’s more like busy much? I got all excited to do a full 2016 income and expense review, when I realized I still had two months to catch up on… Yikes! (This post contains affiliate links)
At this point, November seems so long ago. It was a fairly invigorating month in terms of blogging. Holiday posts were starting to pick up, and genuine affiliate sales were happening. Getting ready for the holidays, blog-style, turned out to be really fun. I posted a lot about shopping, and eating, and a little more shopping, and a lot more eating, with a little drinking sprinkled in.
Even though there’s still a bit of an imbalance in my expenses versus blog income, I don’t feel like this is going to be a permanent trend. I am doing a lot of behind the scenes work that isn’t readily apparent, and I’m confident it will start to pay off in 2017.
I have realized that pretty much everything in the blog world revolves around one thing in the beginning… Page views. You can’t really monetize much until you have a decent amount of page views. I’ve read articles on how you can still make money with a small following, but my following right now is just too small. I believe you can do a little more around 5k views per month, and 10k starts to open a lot more doors.
All that said, I’m more motivated than ever to continue along this path, and share my findings with you as I go. Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions you may have in the comments below. Though I haven’t reached the numbers I need yet, I have learned a LOT of things along the way.
Now on to the good stuff.
FOOD EXPENSES:
- TRADER JOE’S – $444 (This is only 3 weeks of shopping at TJ’s. There was a week in there that I never made it to the store, largely due to Thanksgiving and knowing there would be leftovers galore.)
- OTHER GROCERY – $157 (The grocery store trips have increased a bit again, but this really isn’t bad compared to other months that are often well over $200. These grocery store trips are the odds and ends.)
GROCERY – $601
EATING OUT – $339 (It’s amazing how quickly this number adds up. We get take-out once or twice a month, and I bring my lunch to work most days. This month we ended up buying dinner for a group one night, and there always seems to be something like that popping up.)
I will say, if you remember in the past I mentioned my husband would be taking on a route closer to home, meaning he could come home for lunch. Well that happened, and he did, which the “Other Grocery” and “Eating Out” reflects. But he will actually be going back to his old route where he can’t come home anymore. So we’ll see exactly how that affects that number next month.
FOOD TOTAL – $940
Under $1,000!!! Already doing much better than last month.
SHOPPING EXPENSES:
- ZULILY – Zip, zilch, zero!
- COSTCO -$150
- WALMART – Nothin’
- AMAZON – $306 (This was not only Christmas shopping, but all the party fixin’s for my son’s awesome construction themed birthday party.)
- TARGET – $414 (Christmas shopping!!!)
- HONEST COMPANY – $0
- REI – $319 (Still Christmas shopping!!!)
SHOPPING TOTAL – $1,189
Whelp, if this whole accountability thing isn’t helping my finances, then hopefully I’m at least making you feel better about yours.
BLOG EXPENSES:
I figured it was probably time to start factoring in my blog expenses, since I am incurring some on a monthly basis. It’s hard to look at this and not get discouraged, but I know it’s leading to greater things. I realize I say that every month, but if you look at what professional bloggers are spending this really isn’t that much.
- PIC MONKEY – $5
- IZEA – $1
- ADVERTISING – $0
- TAILWIND – $15 (I’m really starting to see the benefits from this which is exciting. It’s amazing how much more traffic Pinterest brings to the site.)
BLOG EXPENSE TOTAL – $21
Mostly worthwhile expenses. I haven’t received any good opportunities from Izea in a while so I may cancel that whopping dollar I spend every month. Pinterest continues to be my biggest traffic getter so I’m sticking with that one for sure.
TOTAL EXPENSES – $2,150
Even with the giant shopping expense, this is still better than October’s number.
Blog Income:
And now on to the BLOG INCOME portion. If this is your first time reading, you may be wondering why I’m talking about income as well… Some day I hope to earn serious mula on this thing. While I am still a VERY long way away from that, I wanted to keep track from the beginning to help see what’s working and what’s not. So in the interest of budgeting, full disclosure, and full accountability, I invite you to follow along on my progress. (By the way if you are also interested in starting your own website, I’m using the Genesis theme on WordPress called Foodie Pro, and Bluehost is a great place to go for hosting. If you use this link it’s only $2.95/month.)
- GOOGLE ADSENSE – $3.66
- IZEA – $0 (They have not been working out for me lately)
- AMAZON – $31.47
- TARGET – $5.10
- THE HONEST COMPANY – $0
- ETSY – $2.10
- ZULILY – $0
- BLUEHOST – $0
- LIFE WITHOUT PLASTIC – $0 (This is a really cool website I found when researching 19 Non-Plastic Gifts for Kids that has TONS of eco-friendly items on there.)
TOTAL BLOG INCOME – $6.60
Still working on the slow and steady wins the race adage. I always wish I had more time to spend on here, but I’m loving every minute I do get.
As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out this roller coaster I’m on.
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