Category: Frugal Living, Saving Money & Life Hacks
How to Earn Five Figures a Year and Make Money Writing
Make money writing seems to be an all-too-common promise these days. But not all freelancers are writers, and not all small business owners are bloggers. Still, there’s no doubt that things like, building a blog and writing updates on social media, lead to more traffic and more sales. Whether you’re trying to build a client-based business, or growing your own brand of products and services, getting started as a freelance writer is an important foundation for everyone — no matter what career field, niche, or passion. That’s how I got my start four years ago when I launched this blog, and that’s how countless other solopreneurs have been able to quit their full-time jobs and become their own boss
In Debt? No Savings? You May Still Be Able To Buy A House (Not That You Should)
Whenever a study is released about millennials and money, the findings are usually depressing. But one recent study caught my eye because it contained some good news for once. Despite their well-publicized economic challenges, millennials represent the largest percentage of recent home buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study. Now if you and all of your friends have debt, aren’t making a lot money, and have little or no savings, you may tempted to call B.S. on this study. But I promise – it’s true. Homeownership isn’t just for “adults” in their 40s. We’ll leave whether you should buy a house while in debt for other articles (see why it’s OK to rent and how
How Being Organized Can Save Money: Organization Ideas For All Corners Of Your Life
Being organized can improve almost every aspect of you life. When you’re organized, you spend less time searching and you remember important details. You’re on-time for meetings, making you more reliable to those around you. When you’re organized, you can get more done. This might help you get promoted at work or have more free time at home. Some suggest organization may even reduce stress and anxiety. Last but not least, being organized can save you money. Not just indirectly — by making you more productive or promotable — but also directly, by ensuring you never overpay because you don’t have all the necessary information at your fingertips. The good news is, it’s not that difficult to set up routines and
How Our Finances Have Changed Since Buying Our First Home
When we bought the house in November, our mortgage, property taxes, and homeowners’ insurance was 75{7dabfd103aa443fce219eea47f0f346a11a54ce587a1a0cbb74f06b9f7a304ca} more than what we were paying toward the rent on our two-bedroom townhome. It was a big change, but one we felt we could comfortably manage considering we were saving such a large portion of our take-home pay in order to fund the down payment. In December 2014, we were pretty much broke. Between buying our first home, buying all those little things you need for a house when you move in (like curtains for windows! Hello Peeping Tom!), and the holidays, we were scraping by. I will say it over and over again—you NEED to have a few thousand dollars in the bank as a cushion after buying
How to Price Client Work and Charge What You’re Worth
One of the most difficult aspects of starting your own business is figuring out pricing — heck this is even tough when you’re an established solopreneur looking to increase your rates. You want to get paid, but you also need some experience under your belt, so you may be willing to charge less than you ideally want. On one hand, I think everyone needs to pay their dues and work their way up. It’s rare that you can come out of the gate commanding such high prices — after all, a lot of business is about supply and demand. However, I think starting out working for low wages can make it that much harder to work your way up the price ladder. For example, it’s tough
How to Find Affordable Health Insurance When You’re Self-Employed
So you missed the health insurance deadline and had to pay a penalty on your tax return? Don’t worry, you still have options — some of which are actually affordable. If you’re like me, you are probably procrastinating on applying for health insurance because you just don’t think you can afford the $400+ premiums per month. (Depending on your state and whether or not you’re single or married, your premium may be more or less.) Either way, it’s not usually a fun expense that you’re excited about paying. However, I’ve done personal research lately and found a silver insurance plan, in my area, that’s only costing us $250 per month (for my husband and I to be
How to Choose the Best Business Checking Account as a Freelancer
As a self-employed freelancer, most of my financial business is done online or with mobile apps. But choosing the best business checking account can be daunting. Plus, you want to make sure you don’t spend extra money on fees. I’ve seen the benefits of technology and how going digital makes me more productive and streamlines my life. Oddly enough though, many consumers and small business owners (about half) still bank at traditional banks! It’s time you embrace technology and the benefits it offers, by finding the best business checking account. Some solopreneurs I’ve spoken to don’t even have separate accounts for their business and personal transactions. Eek! Separating out your business and personal income, expenses, and other financial records is very important. Here’s what
How to Quit Your Job Without Burning Bridges
This post is from new Careful Cents contributor Kayla, who owns the blog ShoeaholicNoMore. Over the next six months she’s documenting her journey to quitting her job and taking the leap into self-employment. Resigning from my very secure, but very boring, full-time job is something I’ve been thinking about constantly for the past few months, ever since I started freelancing online in July 2014. But before I talk about how to quit your job with grace and not burn bridges, let me back up a little bit and introduce myself. I’m Kayla, a full-time credit analyst at an agricultural lender in rural Kansas, a part-time retail employee, and an almost full-time freelance writer and virtual assistant. I started my blog in December 2013 to
What Happens if You Miss the Tax Return Deadline?
This post is part of the TaxACT #BeatTheDeadline blog tour which shares tips on how to make tax time a smooth and easy process before the April 15 deadline. TaxACT provides the tools and guidance to help you confidently file taxes easy and fast. Do your own taxes today at TaxACT. You got this. The tax return deadline is quickly approaching, so if you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you still have a bit of time (but not much!). I’m basically reminding myself of this because I still haven’t filed my taxes yet. Gasp! I know right?! The main reason I haven’t filed yet isn’t for a lack of trying, but because I found an error with two 1099s that clients sent me. So
Quarterly Income Report: How I Made $17,655 From Blogging (Q1)
At the beginning of 2015 I made a decision to focus less on client work and more on turning my blog into a sustainable business. After months of dealing with inconsistent income and taking on a bit of business debt, I decided I needed to take back control of my income by leveraging this blog. Mind you that I didn’t say “pimp out this blog” which is what a lot of freelancers do in order to make a living online. I’ve carefully crafted this platform over the past 3.5 years until it’s turned into an awesome place of resources, solopreneur stories, and for the community to connect with each other. There’s no way I’m going to jeopardize that, but I do plan to make
Make Tax Season Less Painful: 5 Things to Reduce Stress
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of E*TRADE for IZEA. As always opinions are 100{7dabfd103aa443fce219eea47f0f346a11a54ce587a1a0cbb74f06b9f7a304ca} mine and never influenced by any brand. Tax season is a topic we love to hate. Nothing feels worse than working hard all year long only to end up with several hours of tax prep, followed by a large tax bill. As business owners our taxes aren’t quite as simple as they used to be when we were employees with a W-2 from our jobs. Our business and knowledge of success continues to grow and because of this we’ve become investors too (even if we’re in the beginning stages). We see the importance of investing in our future. As you prepare for the tax filing deadline, here are 5
