Frugaling

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August 2014 – Blog Income Report

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Important: Preamble before profits

Despite being a personal finance website and blog, I’ve hesitated to regularly provide specific earnings. Each time I’ve shared writing revenue — at 6 and 12 months — it’s taken me some time to deliberate whether I should. My revenue isn’t everything, and frankly, it’s been steadily declining since last summer. But while I made less revenue, I saw more traffic — the important metric to me.

Many personal finance blogs share their earnings on a regular, monthly basis with their readers. My fear in regularly doing so may come from an irrational place, but I worry that sharing this information is like eating junk food; the syrupy sweet taste goes down easily, but it has a vapid nutritional value. Last month, I decided to share those income stats and many readers liked seeing how the website was helping my financial goals. Hope these stats help in your own blogging/writing journey!

August 2014 — Blog income report

August was a rough month for earnings. Unfortunately, the continued slump and decline in earnings has not stopped. At one point in January and February of this year, I was making over $5000 per month from the site. Now, I’m lucky to be making over $500. It’s definitely changed how I budget for the future, and I wish there was something I could do to change the situation. Thankfully, my traffic continues to stay strong, along with social media growth. I crossed over 1,400 followers on Twitter, which is a tremendous milestone for me.

Google Analytics Screenshot of Stats
Here’s what my traffic stats looked like this month.

LinkOffers Affiliates
$485 (Up $69 compared to last month)

Again, affiliate sales led for income. Buoyed by two credit cards, Barclaycard Arrival and US Airways, I saw a slight increase in earnings this month. Over the last few months, LinkOffers has steadily cut the commission on credit cards. Consequently, this is much of the reason why these numbers slumped since the beginning of the year. I have not been regularly advertising affiliate deals and links, which may also be contributing to the slide and stagnation of revenue. I have some work to do here.

Google AdSense
$40.47 (Down $207 compared to last month)

Last month I had a hugely viral article that brought in hundreds of thousands of visitors. It was unreal. That spike in traffic artificially cause Google AdSense revenue to expand. Now, it’s back to more realistic values. This value tends to track around $50 per month. For August, I ended up moving an ad space to the beginning of articles to try to keep ads highly visible. Thus far, I’m not seeing any major revenue boost from this switch.

Amazon Associates
$0.20 (Negligible change)

Somebody mentioned that Amazon’s Associates program may have taken a big dive due to the Smile program. This Amazon initiative encourages shoppers to choose a charity to support. By selecting one, a percentage of your purchases go to that charity. It’s a great program, but it looks like it may remove your referral link. This may be reducing any commission possibilities.

Total August 2014 Earnings: $525.55 (Down $139.53 compared to last month)

Forward-looking statements

Last month I mentioned that I’d like to begin reviewing books, films, and media that help diversify the conversation about personal finance. I decided to start with a super ambitious read called All the Presidents’ Bankers by Nomi Prins. I’m about halfway through this impressive tome of financial and banking history. Thus far, I’m loving it, and can’t wait to share it with you all! Likewise, I will be writing a review of a new documentary, Rich Hill. This film is about severe poverty in a small, midwestern town. Look forward to those soon.

As for revenue, I’m not working actively enough to change the financial situation each month. That’s something I need to work on. I’ll likely revamp and republish a couple articles on some of my favorite affiliate links.

Thanks for reading! If you’ve got questions, comments, or advice, I’d love to hear it below!

Are Private Equity Firms Job Creators? [Video]

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If you regularly read Frugaling, you know I don’t shy away from the socio-political concerns that hamper people’s ability to save and earn. I’m a firm believer that in our very classist society, some are earning more than their fair share and paying less to the federal government than ever. This feudal system has tragic consequences for the working poor.

In the past, I took aim at the concept of “job creators.” This term has been manipulated and contorted into a Fox News slogan for reverse classism — pitying the 1 percent because they are somehow being threatened. Well finally, someone at CNBC — Jim Cramer, no less — is critiquing the great myth of the American job creator class. Go Jim!

What’s your take, can private equity firms like Carlyle and Blackstone create jobs? Why or why not?

I Visited The Mall Of America And Only Bought A Coffee

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Mall of America Consumption Junction
Photo: Cliff/flickr

About a month ago I decided to tag along with a good friend of mine to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Despite traveling through much of America, I’d never been to the land o’ lakes. It was time, and the price was right: free. My friend was going up there anyways and the passenger seat was empty.

I hemmed and hawed, thinking about my budget. In recent months I’ve become a bit mad about saving money. Heck, I’ve come undone by a mere $4 book that I avoided! But that militancy towards my budget has largely paid off. My savings has quickly ballooned.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to join in the fun and meet some new people. The drive, about five hours from Iowa City, Iowa to Minneapolis, Minnesota, is through some of the more fertile land in America. This is truly where our food comes from. Always a suburb or city-boy at heart, I quickly displayed my naivete when I incorrectly labeled corn stalks as, “ahhh, look at that, they’re growing soybeans!” Yeah, I was out of my element.

When we finally closed in on the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, I was pumped to be in this new city. Whenever I’m out of my home cities, I feel a powerful urge to be both anxious and excited — all at once. That rush was endless, as around every corner there was something new and different about the Twin Cities. I loved it!

Along the way, my friend said, “Is there anything you want to do in particular? Is there anything you really want to see?” With a wistful, targetless attitude, I suggested that I was open to anything, but had no idea where to go next. That’s when he said, “How about we check out the Mall of America?”

Instantly, this rush of excitement filled me. Think about all of the numerous shops and stores and restaurants! The Mall of America was founded in 1992 and has about 7,900,000 square feet of space, which is spread out between a shocking number of floors and land. Walking into this place, it’s like an amusement park; in fact, there’s one built-in to the mall!

I soon turned to my friend and said the most obvious thing I could think of, “This place is just made for people to consume and buy more stuff.” Clouded and in shock, I decided to walk into a coffee shop and imbibe a small one. The two of us, propped onto some cushy couches and people watched.

There were women barely wearing anything — bursting out of their skintight clothing. There were families battling for the next choice in destination. There were young people and old.

Finally, we decided it was time to go. As we made our departure, a family asked nearby shoppers to take a picture of them. They had one child in their stroller, who was saddled with bags upon bags of new clothing. In the middle of taking another picture — curiously positioned in front of an elevator — the child fell backwards, as the weight of the bags outweighed the young one.

Mall of America Coffee ConsumptionI turned to my friend and couldn’t help laughing aloud. Here we were in consumption central, and someone had loaded this stroller so full of products that the child was no longer safe. Somehow it spoke to me. Why are we buying like this when we know that the environment is suffering and the total U.S. consumer debt stands at a whopping $11.4 trillion? The family, curiously, just propped the kid back up in the stroller and resumed the photos — bags still weighing down the stroller. They certainly put new meaning to the cliche, “Shop till you drop.”

Now, as Minneapolis develops a light rail system to and from the airport and city, those on an airport layover needn’t see the metropolis. Instead, you can just hop on the public transportation directly to the Mall and buy endlessly. You don’t even need to see the local culture!

Like surviving a crazy amusement ride, I feel like I need a t-shirt that says, “I went to the Mall of America and all I bought was a coffee.”

Would You Pick Up A Penny? [Video]

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Penny Picture
Photo: Dagny Mol/Flickr

“Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.”

That’s what I grew up saying, and occasionally, I can’t help but pick up a penny. The penny — a dirty brown, copper coin — is the lowest denomination we own as Americans. With inflation, rising prices, and a changing, digital economy, the penny doesn’t seem to be necessary. It’s really more weight than it’s worth.

It’s an interesting question, though: What amount of money would you need to see to pick it up? Would you go for a penny? How about a nickel, dime, quarter? When does picking up some loose change seem like a reasonable use of time? For me, if I see a nickel or more, my rapacious little hands are quick to grab it.

I’m a man with nary a dime of net worth, finding a nickel feels like winning the lotto. Well, maybe I’m being a bit hyperbolic, but you get the picture. In my current economic state, the percentage that a nickel, dime, or quarter contains is worth my bending down to grab it. But it’s important to keep some perspective about wealth in the United States.

When you’re a billionaire like Bill Gates, reaching for that little coin may cost you more than it’s worth. Here’s the always amazing, talented, and funny, Neil deGrasse Tyson to explain:

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