Andy Hough

My Online Income Was Way Down This Year

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My online income dropped to $3740.12 this year from $4644.28 in 2008. There were two reasons for this. The first one is that in 2008 I made about $1500 from credit card referrals. I don’t think I even made $150 from credit card referrals this year. People were not applying for cards and many of the credit card issuers cut back or eliminated their affiliate sales.

The other cause of my decline in income was from decreased competition. The site Bankaholic.com sold for $15 million last year and that spawned a ton of new bank sites. My bank blog BankBonuses.info has been my main source of online income but its amount of search engine traffic declined this year due to all the new sites.

With the acquisition of MyRetirementBlog.com my income should go up in 2010 but I would like to increase the income from my other sites as well. I don’t currently break down my income by site but I am going to start doing that next year so I can get a better idea of where my money is coming from and hopefully come up with some ideas to increase my earnings. I will probably start breaking my income down by source also.

I know there are a lot of bloggers that read this site – Did your earnings go up or down this year?

Dealing with a Lost Wallet

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Sometime over the Christmas holiday I managed to lose my wallet.  I think it is most likely somewhere in my mom’s house but she hasn’t been able to find it.  I only had $2, a credit card, a debit card, and my driver’s license in my wallet so it isn’t a major loss.  I have my cards on hold right now in case the wallet shows up.  I will probably go ahead and get a new driver’s license though so I won’t be driving without a license. That will probably be the biggest hassle of losing my wallet.  Overall, it isn’t going to be that big of a deal but I am kinda beating myself up over it because I like to think of myself as an organized person who doesn’t do things like lose a wallet.

This is why it is a good idea not to carry too much cash and only keep the credit cards you are using in your wallet.

I’m thinking I will get a money clip to replace my wallet.  Maybe it will be harder to lose.

Stuff I Didn’t Spend Much Money on This Year

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Off the top of my head here are a few things I didn’t spend much money on this year that most people spend a lot of money on.

  • Haircuts – I didn’t spend any money on haircuts this year.  I use clippers to cut my own hair and am quite happy with the results.
  • Clothing – I bought two pairs of hiking shorts at $1.15 each.  That was my only clothing expenditure for the year.  This number will go up a little in 2010 since I’ll need to replace my underwear and socks but I don’t plan to spend any other money on clothing.
  • Cable – I haven’t had it and don’t plan to.  I spend too much time watching TV with just the over-the-air channels.
  • Landline Phone –  I have a cell phone that costs me $30 a month and includes unlimited texts and data.  That is a much better value than a home phone.
  • Personal Hygiene – Ok, this one sounds bad but it isn’t.  I get most of my personal hygiene items for almost free from CVS or Walgreens by playing the drugstore game.  The fact that a 99 cent bottle of shampoo will last me all year helps also.

That is just a few of the items I don’t spend much money on. I’m sure I’ll think of a few more things later.  What items do you spend little or no money on?

No New Year’s Resolutions

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I have decided not to make any resolutions for the new year.  After making three resolutions last year and only meeting one I’ve decided to do things differently.  I am  going to have goals they just won’t necessarily be year-long ones.  Also I will be more specific about my goals and my plan to achieve them.  One goal to lose weight and I have a specific plan to achieve that but I haven’t decided on any other goals yet.

Instead of writing about what I’m going to do here and then not doing it I am going to do stuff and then write about it.  That seems like a better model: more doing stuff, less talking about doing stuff.

My next post about goals will be after I have met one or tried and failed.

'Tis the Season for Giving… to Yourself

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This time of year many businesses are offering bonuses when you buy their gift card.  For instance AMC Theatres is offering a $10 concession card when you purchase a $50 gift card.  Since I easily spent over $50 there last year and will do so again next year this is a good deal for me.  If you know you are going to be spending money at a business anyway you might as well take advantage of these bonus offers.  It is an easy way to save a little money.

This thread at Slick Deals has a list of bonus gift card deals.