Money Tips Network
Three Wolf Moon: Snark Worth Millions
Businesses and website owners typically discourage snarky comments.
They're distracting and usually subtract from the message the business wants to convey.
Except when they completely blow up the Internet. Then they're great …
A fake review with a real impact
Amazon showed Brian Govern the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt from The Mountain, a clothing manufacturer in New Hampshire.
He was not impressed and a bit confused, so he fabricated a review absolutely dripping with snark. Not a bit of it true, and not a bit based on actual experience with the product.
Don’t Leave This Easy Blog Money on the Table
I slammed the door on it for a long time. Not anymore.
On the scale of “how hard is this money” this is fairly easy.
Not quite as easy as collecting an AdSense payment or an affiliate payment, but not as hard as writing the articles essentially for free and waiting for residual income to come in.
And like I mentioned, it's showing up at your door. You may just not know it.
“Would you like to share this resource?”
If you've been around the blogosphere as long as I have (my blog will be twenty this month!) you*'ll get plenty of requests to “share a resource that may be of interest to your readers.”
This request usually comes from a website owner or an SEO (search engine optimization) company hired by them.
So many eBay sellers lose money from this one mistake.
And it's so easy to fix.
Sellers dream of a bidding war.
Two people going at it, outbidding each other, not wanting to lose.
At some point, they don't even realize how high the price has become, and the winner — if you can call them that — severely overpays for the item.
Great for the seller, though!
Some items are prime for a bidding war
An original Jackson Pollock. Superman comic issue #1. Babe Ruth's rookie card.
Get the right investors and collectors in the room, and these will be bid up to a small fortune.
For these, it doesn't matter where the price starts. It could start at a dollar. It won't stay there.
Most items won't spark a bidding war
This is where the problem for sellers can lie.
The more commodity the item, the less likely it is to trigger a bidding frenzy.
Niche Down, They Said. It’ll Be Fun, They Said.
What if there's another way to succeed as a creator? How would I pull it off?
I have a bit of a hoarding problem with my side hustles.
I have accumulated a lot of different kinds of online assets, and relationships with clients:
You Don’t Have to Pay for a Store to Sell Risk-Free on eBay
Setting up a store on eBay carries a monthly expense. But you can start selling very easily and without any upfront cost.
You get 250 free listings per month without an eBay store package.
This means you can list items either auction-style or good 'til canceled (GTC) and pay fees only if the item sells.
Your only cost is time
This is a good low-risk strategy for starting out.
If you have some things you want to sell, you don't have any upfront costs except your time.
I've been listing dollar bills with cool serial numbers on eBay. (Here they are.).
As I write this, I have 81 active listings, which isn't anywhere close to using up my 250 zero-insertion-fee listings.
Side Hustle Profit and Loss March 2025
For 2024 I published my side hustle income report each month to maintain accountability.
This year, my main goal is to be profitable.
To maintain transparency with this goal, I'll be reporting both on my income and my expenses this year.
I haven't been profitable for a number of years now. My day job has been subsidizing my side hustles.
My goal this year is to turn this around. Working at my business regularly helps me to sleep better at night, but without profit it eventually will just be added stress.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
Since I'm not posting anonymously, my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
I'll report on income as I receive it, not when I earn it. In other words, I report on it when it hits my bank account.
Money Moves Smart People Make to Keep More of Their Hard-Earned Cash
Managing money wisely isn’t just about being frugal, it’s about being strategic. Smart people know how to stretch their dollars further by taking advantage of the right tools and offers that protect wealth and fuel its growth.
Here are some savvy financial moves you can make today to keep more of what you earn — and even make a little extra.
1. Make Your Insurance Company Compete
Most drivers stick with the same car insurance year after year… and that’s just what the insurance companies are hoping for. Smart savers explore auto insurance quotes annually to find better rates for the same (or even better) coverage. And, it’s actually much faster and easier to do than you might think.
Side Hustle Profit and Loss February 2025
For 2024 I published my side hustle income report each month to maintain accountability.
This year, my main goal is to be profitable.
To maintain transparency with this goal, I'll be reporting on both income and expenses this year.
I haven't been profitable for years. My day job has been subsidizing my side hustles.
My goal this year is to stop that cycle. Working at my business regularly helps me to sleep better at night, but without profit it eventually will just be added stress.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
Since I'm not posting anonymously, my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
I'll report on income as I receive it.
Side Hustle Profit and Loss January 2025
Striving to end 2025 in the black
For all of 2024 I published my side hustle income report each month to maintain accountability.
This year, my main goal is to be profitable. To maintain transparency with this goal, I'll be reporting on both income and expenses this year.
I haven't been profitable for quite some time. My day job has been subsidizing my side hustles.
My goal this year is to stop that cycle. Working at my business regularly helps me to sleep better at night, but without profit it eventually will just be added stress.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
I'm not posting anonymously so my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
I'll report on income as I receive it.
6 Ways to Love Leftovers
These tricks led me to see the light and become BFFs with leftovers
If thinking about leftovers cues up scary music, you're not alone.
My wife and I used to play “leftover chicken” — that fun game where we let leftovers stay in the refrigerator until one of us suggests that the other consume it before it spoils.
All this ended up doing is making us despise leftovers more. It wasn't doing us favors to toss food out.
Leftovers help you sleep better at night.
Wait, what?!
There's a lot going on in the world today. Maybe you're embracing the chaos perfectly, and I salute you.
For me, I've caught myself checking out the news more these days, and rarely does it make things calmer.
Debt reduction when you’re upside-down
Debt shackles you to the people you owe. Debt reduction removes those shackles and frees up your cash flow.
What does being upside-down on a loan mean?
Being upside-down on a loan means that you owe more on your asset than it's worth. This means that even if you sell the asset that you owe against — like a car, a boat, or a house — you will still have a debt that you need to repay. This means you're paying money for the use of nothing.
If someone takes out a new car loan with only a small down payment, it's almost guaranteed that the person will be upside-down on their car loan from the beginning.
It's possible to become upside-down on loans in other ways, though. If the asset price decreases, as in a housing slump, the value might dip below what's owed on the asset. This happens more readily if the asset was secured with a low, or no, down-payment.
Personal Cash Flow and Getting Bills Paid On Time
Newsflash: Paying your bills on time keeps things happy and running smoothly.
OK, maybe it's not a newsflash. You likely understand this and have heard it many times already.
But like most routine adult activities, the right system makes it much easier.
My grandfather's bill-paying activities
My grandfather was an extremely frugal person. He was a teenager at the start of the Great Depression, so this was no shock to anyone.
One frugal habit of his I remember growing up in the 1980s was that he used to walk downtown to pay his bills in full, by check, on the day they were due.
Doing this accomplished several things:
December (and 2024!) Side Hustle Income Report
This is the wrap-up of twelve months of reporting side hustle income!
I did this all of 2024 to maintain accountability and to document lessons learned.
I'll provide my final monthly numbers as well as a summary for all of 2024, and reflect on what it all means. I'll also chat briefly about how things will change for 2025!
Links to the other eleven months are at the end.
Google AdSense income: $8.68 – 2024 total $167.00
Google AdSense income has been there for most of my blogging run. Even though it's been way higher than it is now, with the blog just mostly sitting there, people continue to visit and interact with the ads.
Temporary flagging issue with EarnApp
A few days ago, YouTube removed a video I had created for linking to a site that was “harmful and dangerous.”
This puzzled me but I took the training and told myself I wouldn't put the video up again for a bit.
In a separate action, I visited EarnApp, a site I had been using to some profit, and also recommending to you all.
As of no later than 29 December 2024, Google is flagging EarnApp as dangerous. As I post this, it's still being flagged.
EarnApp is aware of the issue. This is an announcement from their Discord server:
12/29/2024: We are aware that our website is currently being flagged as “Dangerous”. We are working with Google to solve the flag. Rest assured, our website is completely safe. You can safely choose to proceed to the site. Cheers!
And another:
Side Hustle Income November 2024
For 2024 I'm publishing side income reports each month to maintain accountability.
My goal is to progress by keeping it transparent and real. Reporting on the good and the bad lets me reflect on lessons learned.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
I'm not posting anonymously so my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
Some income will be reported when I cash out, and others as I earn it. I'm moving toward
Also, for the moment I'm reporting income, not profit. I'm in the red overall and will be for some time.
With that, let's get going!
Google AdSense income: $10.63
October saw a modest uptick in Google AdSense income.
I cut the number of ads showing on the page in June. I turned off Auto Ads on my main blog because the ads dominated the site rather than the content.
How I’m Handling Wedding Invitations for the Price of a Cup of Coffee
(Just a bit of know-how is all it takes)
My daughter is getting married in three weeks. He proposed last night.
(It's complicated, but not “shotgun”-complicated, for what it's worth.)
As such, we have to get the word out quickly to the important people, now that it's official.
We could do evite, but it's expensive
My wife, who loves planning these kinds of things, actually steered me away from evite.com, even though it would work.
The premium package is nice, but it comes in at $1.50 per invite. Given the circumstances, that's more than she wanted to spend.
I came up with a solution that ended up using a lot of what I already pay for, and only cost an additional $3.66, total.
How I’m Handling Wedding Invitations for the Price of a Cup of Coffee
(Just a bit of know-how is all it takes)
My daughter is getting married in three weeks. He proposed last night.
(It's complicated, but not “shotgun”-complicated, for what it's worth.)
As such, we have to get the word out quickly to the important people, now that it's official.
We could do evite, but it's expensive
My wife, who loves planning these kinds of things, actually steered me away from evite.com, even though it would work.
The premium package is nice, but it comes in at $1.50 per invite. Given the circumstances, that's more than she wanted to spend.
I came up with a solution that ended up using a lot of what I already pay for, and only cost an additional $3.66, total.
Side Hustle Income October 2024
Freelance income to the rescue
For 2024 I'm publishing side income reports each month to maintain accountability.
My goal is to progress by keeping it transparent and real. Reporting on the good and the bad lets me reflect on lessons learned.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
I'm not posting anonymously so my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
Some income will be reported when I cash out, and others as I earn it. I'm moving toward
Also, for the moment I'm reporting income, not profit. I'm in the red overall and will be for some time.
With that, let's get going!
Google AdSense income: $10.50 (-$1.68)
October saw a modest downtick in Google AdSense income.
Side Hustle Income October 2024
Freelance income to the rescue
For 2024 I'm publishing side income reports each month to maintain accountability.
My goal is to progress by keeping it transparent and real. Reporting on the good and the bad lets me reflect on lessons learned.
Which sources I'm reporting and which I'm not
I'm not posting anonymously so my main job income, my part-time job income, and my main investments won't be reported. I'll report everything else, though!
Some income will be reported when I cash out, and others as I earn it. I'm moving toward
Also, for the moment I'm reporting income, not profit. I'm in the red overall and will be for some time.
With that, let's get going!
Google AdSense income: $10.50 (-$1.68)
October saw a modest downtick in Google AdSense income.
Two Resources To Make Signing a Client as Easy as 1-2-3
It's all in the contract!
Recently I found myself saying yes to freelance work. The tension between getting paid now and possibly getting paid later tipped toward getting paid now.
I began chatting with a poker pro I met online, and checked out his Kick channel. I wrote up an article on how he could build his Kick channel, and that led to discussions on creating and managing a website for him.
Around a week ago, he was ready to pull the trigger, and he wanted to have a contract for the work. He didn't really say why, but it's a completely reasonable thing to do.
That put the ball in my court to produce a contract and figure out how to get us both to sign it, because he's not local to me.
These two services greased the skids for getting things in writing.
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