April 2017 - My Income Journey

100 Things to Sell on Etsy

15 months ago I opened a new Etsy shop. It has been one of my favorite and most successful side hustles in My Income Journey. I highly recommend starting an Etsy shop if you are looking to make money from home. There is very little upfront cost, you can get started right away, and the earning potential is huge! I spend very little time on my Etsy shop, but I've had almost 600 sales since opening just over a year ago. Whenever I recommend opening an Etsy shop to my friends and income journey members, typically the first question I get asked is, "What would I sell?" People think they have to be "crafty" or have some awesome product in mind already, but that's not true. There are millions of items for sale from supplies to digital products to crafts to vintage and more! This page contains ads/affiliate links. See my full disclosure for details.

Keep Reading

Best Blogging Tools and PlugIns

If you want to have a successful blog, then having the right tools will make your life a ton easier! There are so many plugins, widgets, themes, and resources that it can be overwhelming. But, it's also awesome that there is so much out there to help you on your blogging journey! Below is my list of the best blogging tools and plugins that have helped make my blog easier to manage and more successful! This page contains ads/affiliate links. See my full disclosure for details.

Keep Reading

How to Host a Free Piano Recital!

This past weekend was my Spring Piano Recital! My students and I all look forward to this fun opportunity to perform and show how much they've learned and how hard they've worked. When I first began teaching piano, I had the recitals in my house. It was a lot of work rearranging furniture, cleaning, bringing in extra chairs, etc. but it was a great way to save money. As I added more students, we outgrew having the recitals at my house. I needed another option and I wanted it to be free. Then I got an idea....this past Christmas some of my students did a service project and performed Christmas songs at a retirement home just a few miles down the street. There is one 96-year-old woman that lives there that we know from church and she and all the retirees were thrilled to have us come! So I called up the retirement center and asked if we could have our official spring recital there. They loved the idea! The people that live there enjoy having shows put on, kids to visit with, and something different to do at night. The staff was extremely helpful and arranged chairs, set out drinks, and advertised our coming. It was wonderful! We had a packed house and had to bring in extra chairs. After the recital, my piano students passed out cookies to the residents that came and watched. They chatted with men and women that were 80 years their senior and enjoyed sharing their musical talent with them. Overall, it was a win-win-win. Doing the recital there provided the elderly residents with an opportunity to enjoy a fun concert, the kids performing were able to perform a service with their talent, and it was free.

Keep Reading

Grocery Shopping Savings Coupon Brag – April 10, 2017

Today is another Grocery Shopping Coupon Brag! I need to do them more often, but here's a look at how today (a typical day) went. I am not an extreme couponer, but a deliberate shopper. I use coupons, apps, store sales, and stocking up to save my family hundreds. Read "How to Coupon Without the Extreme" to get started on your couponing journey! In the picture above you'll see $81.55 worth of groceries that I paid only $30 for! That's 63% savings! This was not my entire shopping trip, but I wanted to highlight this $51 worth of savings so you can see how being a deliberate shopper can benefit you. I do this through a combination of physical coupons (I get one Sunday ads paper for free and then print coupons from my computer), store coupons, shopping sales, and rebate apps. My top rebate apps are ibotta, checkout 51, and MobiSave. Don’t miss out on savings because you think coupons are just for items you don’t use! There are regularly savings on fruit, veggies, bread, milk, and more with these rebate apps. I love them and combining them with physical coupons and store sales can save you hundreds! Here is a spreadsheet with details of the savings.

Keep Reading

March 2017 Income Report

Welcome to my 9th income report! Check out my past income reports here. My personal goal is to make as much money as I can from home while not sacrificing any of my family responsibilities. This means I’m cooking, cleaning, going on field trips, arranging play dates, driving to/from sports, etc. and then working from home in my “spare” time. I started My Income Journey to show you how it's possible to make money and save money from home! I hope you can gain some insight into what works (or doesn’t) and improve your own income journey! I love being a stay at home mom and think everyone should have the option to make money from home! This post contains affiliate links/ads, see my disclosure for details.

Keep Reading

Letting Kids Make Financial Decisions – My Son and His Birthday Finances

Letting kids make financial decisions is a valuable skill that is best learned early. As parents, we work hard to teach our kids how to become successful adults by giving them age-appropriate situations that will allow them to learn to deal with what life will inevitably offer. We play board games that teach about losing and winning, we get them pets and have conversations about life and death, we send them to school where they deal with authority and make choices when we aren't around, we let them pour milk from a full gallon jug and cringe as we wait for it to be too heavy and spill! However, many kids are not often given the opportunity to make financial decisions until they are teenagers or even adults. Raising financially capable children is an important part of being a successful parent. There are many situations in life that we can use to provide valuable financial experience for our kids. Let me share with you one example about my son and his birthday party.

Keep Reading