Hey everyone! I can’t believe it’s February already. Felt like it was 2012 just the other day 🙂 2013 has been off to a great start and I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long time. Things seem to be going well so far this year and everything is falling directly in place.
Yes, you read that correctly, I beat my goal that I made in December, and I made $6,523 in extra income in the month of January! After expenses, I made $5,823 for the month of January. I thought the goal that I set was pretty high since I made $5,570 in December (and thought that was hard). I still can’t believe that I am doing so well, when just one year ago my extra income was at around $100 per month.
EDIT: I finally made my post on How To Start A Blog – Tips for a Beginner, so check it out! This will be another multiple post series.
I will say that this is not all super easy. Well, none of it is. I spend enough time to make this a full-time job on top of my already full-time job. Luckily, I do enjoy what I’m doing so it’s not like I’m dreading anything. My goals that I have are also a great motivator. I just keep thinking about how badly I want my student loans gone, and also how badly we want a new house next year. Read further on my Extra Income page to check out my other extra income updates.
This is proof on my extra income since some of you have asked (I did edit the image to make it smaller). This is for the month of January and before some fees and expenses (expenses were around $700 and included a major giveaway that I hosted, PayPal fees, etc.) being taken out. The other income categories that are listed below were mainly just cash I received from my sister for rent. $6,198 plus $325 in rent equals $6,523.
January was another great month. I also started dabbling a little more in affiliate income, and it seemed to work. I plan on working with this more and hopefully it becomes a larger percentage of my monthly extra income.
A lot of you are very interested in earning extra income. I have tons of posts scheduled for future weeks. I did have a question though: is there anything that you would like me to specifically cover in a future post? Can be about extra income or anything else? I’m always up for ideas!
My sister’s blog still seems to be going great also. The following has been strong and her posts seem pretty good. Please subscribe to FITnancials if you haven’t yet. Her RSS and Twitter are calling your name, I just know it!
You can find my 2013 goals update here.
January Goals Update
- Keep our food budget down to $400. FAIL. We did bad. We started reverting to old habits. Towards the end of the month we started doing much better though.
- Workout at least 3 times a week and lose 2 pounds. FAIL. I was super busy in January and was too lazy to workout because I was too tired. We have a treadmill being delivered next Thursday and I’m looking forward to that!
- Make an extra $4,000 this month. PASS. See above and below! I made over $6,000 in January.
- Make sure the new blog starts off great! PASS PASS PASS.
February Goals
- Cook 5 days a week. Since we really want a new house within the next year, we are really trying to save as much money as we can for the down payment. As long as I have a interesting and tasty meal plan, I’m sure this is possible.
- Run 5 times a week and lose 3 pounds. Since we will have the new treadmill, this will make it a lot easier.
- Make an extra $5,000 this month. I increased this goal, but I still want it to be somewhat realistic. I’m hoping that it’ll just keep increasing and I’ll eventually be in the 5 digits.
- Schedule the engagement photos photographer. I’ve e-mailed some places, but it seems like no one wants to get back to me. The main person I wanted emailed me back, so I guess that’s all that’s important! I guess I just wanted more choices, but oh well. The wedding industry here in St. Louis must hate me because they all seem to be horrible with e-mailing me back. Why list an email when you don’t email back!? IT’S BEEN 2 MONTHS!
- Choose a wedding date. We need to talk to W’s family and come up with a date that will work since we will be using the family’s property.
Blog Goals
- Twitter Followers: Goal was for 2,050 and I’m currently at 2,420 WOOHOO! I’m hoping for 2,600 in February.
- Alexa rank: Goal was for 60,000. And I’m slightly below this amount. However, I am not focused on this. A lot of the bigger bloggers are at around 100,000, so I know that Alexa doesn’t really mean anything. All it means is that others with the Alexa toolbar are looking at your website.
- Guest post at least 2 times this month. Haha FAIL yet again
Extra Monthly Income in January
- Online Income (this includes staff writing, blog, virtual assistant tasks, affiliate income) – $6,198
- Selling Clothes – $0
- Miscellaneous – $0
- Mystery Shopping – $0
- Rent – $325
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That is crazy good!! I didn't have any extra income but I kept my budget way down! I resisted the urge to buy nonsense things!! =) Best wishes for February! =)
Ergo – Blog
My recent post Once a Bridesmaid, Always a Bridesmaid…
That's great! Good job.
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
You are freaking awesome!! All I got to say lol
Thanks Alexa!
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Another month of exceeding expectations. Great job 😀 You should write a book some day about your story of making extra income. I bet lot of people would be interested to read it :0) You've already documented all your progress on your blog anyway 🙂
Haha maybe one day 🙂
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
I just want to know how you find the time for these things after your job. I work full time and can't seem to find the time to write posts for my own site and comment. You are an inspiration.
I definitely don't have a lot of time leftover. It's very time consuming but I love everything I do.
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Thanks!
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Another stellar month. You're going to hit $10K before you know it.
I hope so 🙂
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Thanks Shannon!
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Haha thanks 🙂 I really hope I do get there.
My recent post $6,523 in January Extra Income and GOALS
Hi Michelle,
Do you breakdown the online portion of your extra income on your site?
Michelle, I would love to know how much you charge for your freelance writing.
Wow that looks really great. I just followed your blog recently and I love it! I checked out posts since you started this blog and they are really useful tips and information. Concerning your question, I definitely want to know how to make extra income. Of course we all know how but I want to know more specifically from your own experiences. Plus I'm not the US-based so it would be nice to know methods that work for people from outside the US! Thank you!
Wow, congrats on making your goal of $4000 income! This month, I hope you can accomplish your other goals as well, but that one goal is impressive in itself. Keep up the hard work!
Michelle,
Looooove your blog, I just wish it had come out earlier. Oh well, it's not to late to start now. I found you through a comment you left on one of my favorite sites SPI. You are extremely inspirational and I can't wait to hear about your world travels someday.
very inspirational michelle , good job. Pat Flyn and you are crushing it.
Wow absolutely incredible! It looks like you spent about $700 on expenses. Was part of that on advertising?
Yeah I took part in a couple of giveaways last month which were quite expensive! 🙂