Tag-Archive for » Money «
17
Dec 2007
You may have noticed that, in the tweaking of my site, all of the paid postings are gone. I applied to become a BlogHer advertiser and cannot do this while doing paid postings. I hadn’t done one in some months, so I suppose it is no great loss.
I loved the paid postings. I got anywhere from $5-20 to review a site or recommend a product. Since I never promoted anything I didn’t actually like or think could be truly useful, I had no guilt about the program. The program, however, really was too good to be true; they changed things around and I couldn’t find a decent product request for at least 2 months (they started to allow people to “reserve” posts even when they didn’t write them, which tied up the postings for days and sometimes weeks). So, I decided to move on.
I have never made much revenue on any of my sites, and I have to say I am a bit chagrined by this. Compare this to Marti, who started a blog he hardly ever writes in but who has already gotten one check from Google (there’s a $100 minimum before they cut you a check) and is working on another. At .01 per click (it varies), that’s 10,000 ad clicks or so on his site. My site has been up for over 3 years and I have yet to get a check. My dream in life has long been to be a writer, so the lack of success for my blog makes me cringe a little.
Anyway, despite my chronic lack of success in advertising, I have added an Amazon Associates link to my sidebar. I may periodically annoy you by putting something like this in my posts:
I do get a small percentage of Amazon items ordered through my site for this. I admit it; I am a hopeless capitalist. Anyway, I may be removing these once I am cleared for BlogHer; we’ll have to see. So, if you see things moving around even more, not to worry. In a few months the dust will settle and I will go back to my job of not making money blogging.
21
Nov 2007
I like to read a blog called Get Rich Slowly. It’s part of a set of personal finance blogs (PF blogs) that I have feeds for and read every day in my quest to save money and become more responsible. This particular article is a guest post by someone named Amanda, who is a tech writer in Colorado, and I have enjoyed several of her articles. I have tried in many ways to explain the way my life has changed since having children, but I think she has said it better here.
Once upon a time, my husband and I made almost $100,000 a year, had a mortgage payment of $900 a month for a house in a nice neighborhood, drove two new cars, had two cell phones, a full cable package, nice computer, went to a fancy gym with a sauna, ate out all the time, etc. etc. etc. Once upon a time, I had infinite free time and remodeled our kitchen for $2000, increasing the value of our starter home by $12,000.
Then came kids.
. . .
Two and a half years later:
* We have one car.
* I ride my bike to work.
* I use the free gym at work.
* I use the free banking at work.
* We have only basic cable.
* We drink only water.
* I bring my lunch.
* Our family eats out only when it fits in our budget.We pay cash for everything, we plan all of our purchases, and we, strangely, have far more cash saved than we ever did when we made significantly more. Even stranger, I am happier now, with my costly kids and leftover lunches, than I ever was burning through money.
20
Sep 2007
One of the things Marti and I have started doing the past few years is learning about finances. This all started back in D.C., when we were introduced to the concept of investing money (we were also introduced to the concept of having money period, but that’s another story). We saved and saved, and I read a lot of investment brochures. Then we promptly had kids and it all went out the window.
Nevertheless, we have continued to read and discuss various investment strategies, and even put a tentative toe into the swirling waters of stocks. We’ve looked into real estate and discussed the meaning of “equity fund.”
Marti and I agree on most things, but we have a fundamental disagreement about economics. Now, I think that my theory is the best, primarily because we usually make money on it. This is primarily because I actually invest the money, rather than thinking about investing it.
But in essence, I am a psychological investor. I look at people’s attitudes and try to guess what they’ll do. For example, if a stock crashes, it gets my attention. If it splits, I find that a good time to buy — people’s attitudes are positive, more people are selling, etc. Marti disagrees. For him, it is math. Two stocks at $25 are the same as one at $50. Sure, that’s true enough. But for me, money is an idea; math is just a convenient way to tabulate it. And, it turns out that Alan Greenspan agrees with me.
Alan. Greenspan. Agrees.
While I don’t like to dance around, shouting, “I WIN!!! I WIN!!!” (okay, I sort of do) I would like to feature the video that supports me:
