March Income and Blog Updates: $28,117 (and I’m Ready for a Vacation)

March 2016 Income and Blog Updates - picture of roll of money sitting inside open wallet on pile of cash

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As you read this, I am probably doing one of two things –  either playing in the friendly surf in Montego Bay with my family or passed out in a beach chair.

Yes, it’s finally spring break, and we’re on our long-awaited vacation. The dog is at my mom’s, our house sitter is probably eating all my snacks, and I am enjoying some quality time with my family. Even better, we’re at an all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay – and we paid with points! (You can read my review of the Holiday Inn Resort in Montego Bay here.) Not only can I enjoy a week without paying a single bill, but I don’t have to cook, either!

 

March 2016 Online Income Update

Anyhoo, I had a really good run in March in terms of income – both through my freelance endeavors and our website. Overall, I’m pretty pumped! Sadly, I spent a lot of time working in March and put in quite a few more hours than I normally do. Not only am I working on a special project, but I had to “get ahead” on my work so I could take a real vacation – you know, one where I don’t work.

Fortunately, all that hard work paid off and I got the bulk of my work squared away before I took off.

That leads me to explain that “payoff.” In March of 2016, we made:

$28,117

In total, my husband and I made around $28,117 for our efforts, which is pretty swank if you ask me. Although there have been months where I didn’t track my income at all, I’m pretty sure March was our most lucrative month ever. Here are a few of our previous income updates if you want to compare and see our progress:

Since we rely on dozens of separate streams of income, and I don’t divulge how much people pay me for consulting or writing, I broke our income down into vague categories for your viewing pleasure. Remember, these numbers are approximate:

  • Affiliate Marketing and Blog Income: $4,953
  • Social Media Management and Consulting: $1,403
  • Content Creation and Freelance Writing: The rest

Our expenses were pretty weak sauce again last month, which happens to be just the way I like it. However, we did hire a virtual assistant and that costs us around $150 per week. Here’s what we paid to run our online businesses last month:

  • Internet: $51
  • Virtual Assistant: $600
  • Blog Hosting: $15
  • Misc. $140

Total: $806

In addition to these expenses, it’s important to remember that we fork over around thirty percent of our income to the tax man and buy our own health insurance since we’re self-employed. Imagine writing a five-figure check to the IRS every three months and you’ll understand why I’m so crabby! Let’s face it – I have first world problems.

But hey, at least I’m open about them. Right???

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Should You Talk About Money to Family and Friends?

Speaking of my income and how open I am about it, I recently wrote an article on this hot button topic. In a post titled, “Let’s Talk Openly About Money” for Haven Life,  I discussed the many reasons I think it’s perfectly okay  to share financial information – and problems – with our family and friends.

Not only do many of us share the intimate details of our daily lives, but we’re also quick to talk about problems and arguments, how we discipline our kids, and even our health. Why are we so shy about money? I have no idea, but I would appreciate it if someone would clue me in.

So, here’s my question: How do you feel about sharing your financial details with the people you love? And, why do you feel that way?

Also, make sure to check out my guest post on 13 Ways to Save for a Disney Vacation over at Deals Plus. If you ever want to incite money rage in this household, just mention the cost of a Disney trip or cruise. I can tell you, it makes me absolutely crazy. Fortunately, through my research and personal experiences, I have found that there are actually quite a few ways to save on a Disney trip. You just have to be willing to sacrifice in terms of convenience and think outside of the box.

Life Updates and Goals for April

As I write this, I am mentally checked out for vacation. As a result, coming up with new goals is not really on the agenda. In fact, the only real goal I can come up with is having an awesome time at the beach with my family. I worked so many hours in March that I feel like I neglected them. As a result, I’m ready to have fun!

This vacation is only possible because I dedicated my life to building an online business many years ago. There are plenty of ways to make money online, but the first thing you’ll need to do is start a website. One of the best things we ever did was start our blog. It’s a good way to make extra money, plus you can use it to showcase your work to freelance clients. If you want to start a blog, the best thing you can do is get a self-hosted site. It looks way more professional, and it is cheap to maintain. By using our affiliate link for Bluehost, you can get a free domain name PLUS 36-months of web hosting starting at $3.49/month. Seriously, just do it. Click here to learn more.

How was your income in March? What are your goals? Anyone else seeing some good concerts this year?

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20 Comments

  1. Amazing month! When I talk money with others I usually start out with our failures, and than our successes, and see if they will ask how we did it. Maybe I can offer so help. best case is they tell me they are doing well themselves.

  2. Great month! I haven’t problem to talk and share my fiancial situation with family and friends but it seems a topic taboo…

  3. Amazing! Your online income updates are so inspiring!

    Enjoy your holiday! You most certainly deserve a break after all this hard work! 🙂

  4. Wow your online income is crazy. Congrats on this amount.

    I don’t disclose any personnal finance information with my friends since some of them can’t manage their money well. We discuss salary, debt but never net worth or something like that.

    Enjoy your holiday !!

  5. I choose not to disclose certain financial information to friends and family because some of them will feel entitled to ask me for help since I may be in a better financial situation than they are in.

    Congratulations on having your best month yet! I will post my online income report on my blog on Monday.

    1. That is exactly why I am being more careful of sharing our financial situation. A couple of years ago a friend asked us for a $9000 loan because he knew we could probably afford to loan it to him. We did not loan the money to him because there was no way he could actually pay it back, and there was no way we were “gifting” him that kind of money. Luckily, we all remained friends despite refusing to “loan” him the money. It would not have ended well had we given him the money.

  6. Killer month y’all! I had a relatively good month – especially considering I was gone for half of it. We’ve tried to talk openly numerous times with most of our family and it usually falls on deaf ears unfortunately. Hope y’all have a relaxing vacation – looking forward to ours next month!

  7. If only I could pick your brain for a few, lol. I’m lost when it comes to affiliates, which is a good thing because I need to focus on reaching more of my target audience. Anywho, you have totally given me some inspiration…I need a vacation and a free one would make my day. I’ve got a goal to work on! Thanks for sharing your income report with us all. You guys are the bomb!

  8. Wow amazing income. Which affiliate marketing sites do you use if you don’t mind me asking?

  9. Get the f outta here! That’s a lot. But i wanna know how much time you spend checking facebook, twitter, comments, etc. Are you ever really off? Just an honest question? Hope to get a real answer.

    1. Well, I haven’t checked these comments since yesterday!

      During a regular week, I work 8-4 and then check email for an hour or so after the kids go to bed. I try not to work at all on weekends, although I do occasionally if I am way behind or have a ton of stuff to do. When I’m traveling like I am now, I usually just check emails once or twice per day.

      So, to answer your question, yes I’m really off! I have two kids and I try not to be on the internet once they are home from school, which is at around 4 each day.

  10. I also share my financial details with my family as long as it is not that invading my privacy. I just leave some details and set some information I can share. I believe that doing this would really inform and educate them somehow so that they could learn something about finances.

  11. I hope y’all are having a great, relaxing time! I would love to visit that resort some day.

  12. Love this!! Congrats!! I am excited that my blog income was up this month, too, so fingers crossed it continues!!

  13. Congrats on your best month ever! I love that you have developed a very marketable skill and that this allows you to spend more time with your family and vacationing!

  14. Christeen says:

    Hi, I just found your website and love all of the financial information you provide! I am currently looking into starting a virtual assistant business and was wondering what tasks you hired your VA to do?

    Thanks!

    1. Hey Christeen,

      VAs can be hired to do just about anything. If I were you, I’d make sure to brush up on your Word and Excel skills, learn some basic image design, and learn some basic blog/wordpress skills. That ought to put you in a pretty good position to find some work. You might also want to set up a profile on Odesk, which is a place for freelancers (and lots of VAs) and employers to hook up.

  15. Hi! I have a gizmo on my site for tracking income reports from lots of people and I’d like to add you to it. I’ve added this report but I can’t find your income reports for February or January. Do you do one every month? If so, could you send me the URLs please?

    Future reports will be added to the index automatically and you’ll appear on there when there’s more than one report in a row. The index is at https://getpostcookie.com/passive-income-index/ if you want to take a look.

    Great month, as well, really nicely done. You guys seem to be doing very well with astonishingly low expenses!

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