I earn money online from blogging by spending less than 15 hours per month. This post contains affiliate links/ads. See disclosure policy.

Welcome to my September and October income reports.

As my blog grows, the way I view my income report becomes somewhat different. In the past couple of months, I have been contemplating on what I need to include and not include.

I want to show you all what blogging has done for my family. I can tell you how much I made, why I blog, etc. but it doesn’t really provide you the full picture of what blogging does in a personal, family level.

That’s why I have decided to include more than just my blog income report. I also wanted to include things that directly and indirectly affected as a result of blogging.

Why change?

My blogger friends asked me why I needed to re-invent the wheel and not go with the normal way of reporting income, that is, sharing the reasons for blogging, how much a blogger made the past month, the challenges of blogging, etc.

The answer is simply because the income report format out there doesn’t really reflect who I am, what I need to convey, among others.

Blogging is my platform to be unique, to help out others even in the smallest ways, to earn full-time money on a part-time basis, and help other get their feet of the blogging ground.

I am able to do that. If you think you can’t succeed in blogging because your chosen niche is over saturated, please learn from my experience.

I thought personal finance niche was saturated, but I found my voice and am making over $20K. You can find your voice, too. For just $2.95/mo, you can start blogging, find  your voice, make a difference, and earn a living.

I’m a living proof of that. 

By the way, that price is 50% off of the regular price of $7.99/mo, something that only a few bloggers can offer.

Click here to start your blog with Bluehost. I never thought I could make money from blogging. But now, I am and have been. There’s money in blogging and you can get your fair share, too.

 

So, what have changed?

These are the things that have changed in my blog income report format.

• I report my income every two months now. There have not been a lot of changes in my blog as everything is stable now. I felt like an income report every two months is good enough. Also, I’m cutting down on blogging hours to give more time to my family.
• My income report details not only how my blog is performing but also where my blog money is going, that is, in terms of investments, mortgage, etc. This is to show you how blogging has really changed my family’s life for the best.
• I will include my investment results in this report. Why? Around 50% of my blog income money goes to investment (i.e. 401(k), IRA, and college education). These investments are direct result of blogging, to say the least.

 

Earn Money From Blogging: What’s New?

In this income report, I will answer the following questions:

• How much I made?
• Where my blog money went?
• What’s new with my blog?
• What’s in it for you with blogging?
• Are you afraid of blogging?

 

How much I made?

These past two months (i.e. September and October) I made a total of $33,431.87. I made $15,657.23 in September and $17,774.64 in October. I am so proud of this accomplishment because I did not put a lot of time into blogging but was fortunate to have earned such a big amount.

In total, I only spent 20 hours (i.e. 10 hours per month) blogging these past two months, which were in line with what I allot per month for this blog since I want to focus more on my other blog.

Here are the products that helped me improve my revenue numbers these past two months.

Note: There were a lot of products and services that came to my blog for sponsorship, advertisements, etc. but I declined them. I didn’t want to promote something that my wife and I have not personally used before. 

INCOME

AdThrive: $7,544.12

AdThrive is open to bloggers whose blogs have more than 100,000 page views each month. I am fortunate to get at least 160,000 page views each month. Thanks to Strategies That Skyrocketed My Blog Page Views from 0 to 170K/Mo a Month in 9 Months . If your blog has page views above the minimum requirement, I recommend you contact AdThrive.

 

Bluehost: $5,100.00

Bluehost all the way since day 1. That’s right. That’s me. I’ve been with Bluehost since I started and just recently renewed (see image below). It is definitely the best of the best in web hosting and one of the best investments I’ve ever had.

If you are looking for sustainable side hustle, one that keeps on giving, then, blogging is one of the best ways to make money. I’ve been blogging less but my income keeps on growing.

For a special price of $2.95/mo instead of the regular price of $7.99, you can create and start monetizing your blog. That’s 50% off of the regular price. That’s just a coffee fix.

 

Blog Page View Strategies: $1,619.19

My new e-book entitled “Strategies To Skyrocket Your Blog’s Page Views” is a massive hit. It’s only been out for only a couple of weeks now and it has been purchased by more than 80 people.

This e-book details the in-depth strategies I  took to get from 0 to 170K in just 9 months. If you are stuck, don’t know how to increase your page views, and/or want to improve your page views, then, this e-book is made for you.

See the post here for a glimpse on what to expect from this e-book. There are more in the e-book than what you see in the post.

 

Budget Printables: $599.60

For the past two months, my budget printables have competed with my other affiliates when it comes to revenue.

Just FYI, these printables were what my wife and I used to pay off our $40K debt and save at least $70K in 2.5 years.

We still use it everyday. If you are looking for budgeting worksheets, I highly recommend you grab this binder kit.

It’s on sale for just for only $7.99, which is 65% off of its original price of $19.99.

 

Networks: $4,358.98

I’m currently an affiliate with IGain, Share-A-Sale, FlexOffers,and Panthera Network. If you’re looking for great affiliate networks, I recommend these networks.

IGain has finance-related products while Share-A-Sale and FlexOffers have products/services you can think of under the sun. Panthera Network, is my favorite one, because it always brings me great affiliates and payouts.

 

Smart Asset: $2,500.14

Coming from an average of $70 per month, my Smart Asset revenue has dramatically increased these past couple of months. Thanks to my affiliate manager who is always there to help me with optimizing my Smart Asset placement.

 

Sponsored Posts: $2,100.00

I picked up a few clients these past two months. Overall, I made around $2,100. These sponsored posts are particularly different in that the advertisers came to me instead of me hunting them around.

 

Tailwind: $450.00

Tailwind is the reason for my massive blog traffic. I’ve only blogging for a little over a year but my page views are just fantastic. Now, my page views hover around 170K/month. I expect the views to pick up this holiday season.

If you sign up using my link, you will get $15. There is a Tailwind FREE Trial, and you can also subscribe for $9.99/mo when you sign up for a year. You can  contact me for FREE if you have Tailwind questions.

I do not charge for helping bloggers, but if you want to donate, you can do that as well. 🙂

Subtotal Income: $24,272.03

 

Additional Income

Investments: $9,159.84

While other bloggers invest in creating e-courses, books, etc. to supplement their blog income, I invest to let my money grow. I use half of my blogging income to invest in the stock market.

I made $9,159.84 over two months. That’s the return I got from the stock market and not the money invested. This is roughly 6.11% return over the past two months. You can’t get that this type of return in the bank.

So, why do I focus on investing than creating e-courses or selling something via my blog. There are couple reasons for that. Here they are:

• Creating a product takes a long time. I don’t have time on my hand with a new kid on the way, growing family, full time job, etc. I like to spend as much time as I can with my family. Thanks to blogging… I am able to do that as I am not forced to do something I don’t want to do. If I can’t publish a post today, then so be it.
• Growing my money is easier with investments. Your money will grow interest on top on interest on top of interest. Even if I hang my blogging cape, my money will still grow. My wife and I plan to retire where we don’t have to do anything, that is, no work, no blogging, etc. Stock market returns will allow us to live like that.
• Living a simple life. We don’t need a lot of money. As simple as that. While stock market can be complicated and nerve-wracking, it can be made simple, if you make a strategy for yourself.

I am no investment savvy but I have been able to beat the stock market indices because I devised my own strategy. I look into historical data and created simple analysis using Betterment (which is insanely one of the easiest platforms I’ve used so far and is also FREE to use).

My year-to-date (YTD) return is 27.38% while the bank pays 0.01% per year. If you want to grow your money, you might want to look into the stock market investing. Click here to start using Betterment for FREE.

If you are uncomfortable with investing a large sum of money, you can always start with a few dollars here and there. Remember the early you invest, the greater the chance your money will grow.

You can also do ‘cents’ investing with Acorns. Acorns will round your purchases and give you cash back (big cash back) on select purchases, which will be invested to over 7000 stocks and bonds to diversify investments and reduce risks.

With Acorns, you’ll feel like you’re not investing but you are. I call it ‘cents investing with a sense’. Click here to start with Acorns and get a $5 sign up BONUS.

Note: A fellow blogger friend asked me why I didn’t want to create an e-course or e-book detailing investment strategies. He said I would make a ton of money knowing how much lucky I have been in the stock market.

I didn’t want to do an e-course or e-book because I am not a licensed or certified financial planner, stock broker, or other licensed professional. I don’t want to give advice or recommendations that may not be the right actions for my readers.

Having said that, I do recommend readers to consult licensed professionals for investment purposes and/or use investment platforms like Betterment and  Acorns  to better gauge your investment needs. 

Total Income – $33,431.87

 

EXPENSES

I have no expenses this month. How’s that possible? It’s possible because I have already paid in full all my blog expenses (e.g. web hosting and SEO Keyword tool) and I reported those expenses in the previous income reports.

Total Expenses: $0.00

Net Income: $33,431.87

 

Where did my blog money go?

I included this section because it allows me to provide a snapshot on how blogging really helps my family’s financial well-being and other aspects of my family’s life.

I honestly and seriously didn’t think I would make money from blogging.

I was happy when I saw $0.05 from Google Adsense on my second month blogging. Now, I earn way more than what I had hoped for. You’ll never know how a side hustle will work out for until you try it.

It’s an affordable and viable hobby that could take your life around for good.

If you consider blogging to make additional money on the side or to replace your day job income, you can start your blog with my special, negotiated price of $2.95/mo versus the regular price of $7.99/mo.

Anyhow, here’s where my blog money went these past couple of months:

House: $3,200.00

• Our mortgage payment every month is $1,600. So, that’s $3,200 for two months. It already includes all the taxes, PMI, principal, interest, and even additional payment to the principal. Click here to find how blogging pays our mortgage and some more.

College education: $600.00

• We put money into our daughter’s college savings 529 plan. We put $300.00 per month using my blog money and also $300/mo using our day job money.

Grocery: $600.00

• Our monthly food budget for a family of 5 is just $300.00.  We spent $600.00 for these past two months. We eat good food and do not buy pre-processed, prepacked foods. Each meal is made from scratch. Click here to find out how we are able to eat great on a budget.

Repair and Maintenance: $1,000.00

• We save $500.00/mo for repair and maintenance. We haven’t used it but we continue saving just in case something needs to be repaired/maintained. We don’t want to get money out from our checking/savings in case we need something done in our house.

Other monthly expenses: $2,200.00

• Our total other monthly expenses are around $3,800.00. The ones noted above are the major ones and are included in our monthly targeted budget. Things that are not noted above are internet, water and sewer, trash, and some other things. These expenses total to $1,100.00/mo, which is what my blog pays for.

Retirement: $8,000.00

• We put in a ton of money towards our retirement accounts. We don’t usually include funds allotted towards retirement as expenses. That’s why I didn’t include retirement under “Other Monthly Expenses.”

Rest of the income: The rest of the money

• The rest of my blog money, which is around $6K or $7K, goes to savings and checking accounts.

 

What’s new with my blog?

So, what’s new with my blog? The answer is… there are so many things that happened these past couple of months. Some contributed to the increase in my blog’s income and some didn’t.

Coupon database

• This database has been in the works for a long long time. When I say for a long long time, what I mean by that is that I have always wanted to get a coupon database on my blog. I am an extreme couponer (totally guilty of being one) and there have been a lot of people who asked me when I would have a coupon database. Well, it is now here. Thanks to Savings.com. I’m happy because I see a lot of coupons for products that my readers wanted to get, which they sometimes couldn’t find in other coupon sites. You can find the coupon database here.

Smart Asset ad placement

• I made some tweaks on how I promote Smart Asset and place its ads. From getting $70/mo to $800+/mo, I can say that my efforts are finally working better than I expected.

Blog traffic growth e-book

• I finished creating my “Strategies To Skyrocket Your Blog’s Page Views” and it is a massive hit. It’s only been out for only a couple of weeks now and it has been purchased by more than 80 people. I can’t recommend enough this e-book to help you increase your blog’s page views.

What’s in it for you with blogging?

I realized that a lot of the readers of my income reports are those who consider blogging and making money from it. I’ve been asked by a lot of people why I blog. Now, I am returning the question to you. What would blogging do for you?

Blogging is more than just a hobby. You could benefit well from it, seriously.

If you consider creating your own blog and monetizing it, here are some of the benefits:

• Help. As  a blogger, you have the opportunity to help other people with your knowledge and expertise. For example, I was in deep debt before but was able to get out of it quickly. Because I’ve experienced that and some other finance-related experiences, I have been able to share my thoughts and experiences and help others even in the smallest possible ways.
• Authority. When you become a well-known blogger and your blog is the go-to site for a lot of people, you are becoming or become the authority in whatever niche your blog is in.
• Money. You can make full-time money by working part time. I do this now. I only put in roughly 10 hours a month on my blog and still make full-time money. You can even retire, travel the world, and not worry about money because blogging makes money for you. Our blogging pays for everything and we get to keep our day job income. Click here to read the post.
• Network. I can’t tell you enough how blogging is a great way to expand your network. This network will be there for you from personal and professional stand points. I don’t think I’d survive my first year without my fellow bloggers.
• Personal relationship. My relationship with my wife has gone to another level because of blogging. My wife and I work closely with my blog. She’s the brain and I am the writer. We communicate and exchange ideas; we help out each other to make sure I write the best post I could possibly write, and others. Blogging helps us become closer and have better marriage than ever before.
• So many more. There are a ton of other benefits you can gain from blogging.

 

Are you thinking of starting your own blog but afraid to do it?

I was a new blogger and I felt the same exact feeling that you might be feeling right now. You are not alone in the boat. There are a lot of new bloggers who feel they don’t know where to start, how to start, how to build audience, etc.

I recently created an e-book entitled “15+ Strategies I Applied To Skyrocket My Blog’s Page Views from 0 to 170K/mo in 9 Months“. In this e-book, I detailed the exact strategies I adopted to drastically improve my blog’s page views from 0 to 170K/mo in just 9 months.

If you ask new bloggers, getting 30K page views per month is hard while getting 170K/mo in such a short time is close to impossible but doable. I discuss the strategies that you can apply right now. Yes, you can apply these strategies without any blogging experience.

Is it only designed for new bloggers? Absolutely not. If you want to increase your blog page views, this is also for you.

This e-book is your guide to getting the page view your blog deserves.

Final thoughts:

That’s about it for now. I can’t believe September and October are done. Here comes the holidays, Christmas, and New Years’s. I can’t wait to post another income report.