The year is almost over — can you believe it? As we wrap up the year, I’ve gathered my favorite posts from Making Sense of Cents into one convenient roundup so you can easily explore the best content from the past year.
I organized the posts into these categories to help you find what matters most:
- My most favorite
- Money saving tips
- Debt tips
- Money management tips
- Make money blogging
- Make extra money
- Income reports
- Life, motivation, and inspiration
- Travel
I also run a private community group for readers of Making Sense of Cents. If you want to improve your life and your finances, join the group and let’s support one another. The community has grown to over 13,000 members, and we’d love to have you join the conversation.
Enjoy these personal finance tips!
My most favorite
If you want to jump straight to my absolute favorite posts from the year, start here:
- Welcome To Paradise – We’re Living On A Sailboat!
- I Thought I Was Too Good For Community College
- The Best Money Advice I’ve Ever Received
- Finding Freedom And Happiness In A Materialistic World
- How A Minimalist Lifestyle Can Bring You Happiness
- When Was The Last Time You Did Something That Scared You?
- How This 34 Year Old Owns 7 Rental Homes
- Getting A Loan To Buy A Pet Is Ridiculous
- You Wouldn’t Work For Free, Right? So, Why Do You?
- How This Couple Retired at 38 and 41
- How This Couple Retired In Their 30s and Now Travel Around The World: An Interview With Go Curry Cracker
- What Traveling Full-Time For 3 Years Has Taught Me
- Would You Consider Living In A Camper To Pay Off Debt Quicker?
- What We’re Doing Now That We No Longer Have a Car
Money saving personal finance tips
- 11 Questions To Make Regret-Free Spending Decisions
- Ditch Your Car And Walk More
- Want To Live Your Best Life? Start With Saving
- Real-Life Frugality: 20+ Ways Our Family Of 5 Saves
- Cut The Cord And Save Over $1,000 Every Year
- Black Friday Doesn’t Have To Be The Start Of Holiday Debt
- One Easy Way To Save $720 On Your Car And Home Insurance
- 10 Easy Instant Pot Recipes — My New Favorite Gadget
- 7 Health Care Sharing Ministries: Is One Right For You?
- 8 Steps I Took To Save $200,000 By Age 27
- Can A No-Spend Month Actually Help You?
- 10 Delicious Summer Lunch Ideas
- Stop Being Lazy — Don’t Overpay For Insurance
- Change Your Life By Becoming Frugal — 11 Practical Tips
- 10 Meatless Monday Recipes To Try
- How To Save On Your Phone Bill: Stop Paying Over $1,000 A Year
- The Ultimate List: Over 50 Money Saving Tips
Related tip: Consider using a cashback site to earn money back when shopping online. Also, when signing up through referral links many services offer bonuses for new members.
Pay off debt tips
- Pay Off Debt And Break Free Of The Debt Cycle — You Can Do It!
- To Pay Off Debt Or Invest — Which Is Best For You?
- 37 Creative Strategies To Pay Off Debt From Real People
- Punching $25,000 Of Debt In The Face In 7 Months
- 12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried In Student Loan Debt
- How We Paid Off $100,000 In Debt In 40 Months: Marriage And The Military
- How I Paid Off Over $42,000 In Student Loans In 34 Months Earning $36,000/Year
- How I Repaid $65,000 In Student Loans And Invested At The Same Time
Related tip: Regularly checking your credit score helps you understand where you stand and how to improve it. Small changes can make a big difference over time.
Money management tips
- Is Too Much House Making You House Poor?
- Wondering Why You Need Life Insurance? Four Reasons Why
- 10 Statistics About The Money Habits Of The Average American
- Your Financial Freedom Checklist
- Stop Spreading This Awful Financial Advice
- How Is Early Retirement Even Possible?
- Parents Paying For College — Is This A Good Idea?
- You CAN Reach Retirement! Avoid These Top 5 Mistakes
- Answers To 7 Common Questions About Family Emergency Binders
- Check In On Your Finances With Regular Money Talks
- Are Travel Rewards Credit Cards A Scam?
- How To Start Investing With Little Money
- Smaller Can Be Better — Maximize Savings With A Small House
- 6 Things People Finance That Leave Me Speechless
- Is A Credit Card Emergency Fund A Smart Idea?
- Would You Risk Your Relationship And Finances To Cosign For A Friend?
- 7 Ways My Relationship With Money Has Changed
- High Financial Costs Of Not Understanding Your Personality
- From Rags To Riches — How Tina Immigrated To America With Nothing And Now Has A $2,000,000 Net Worth
Related tip: Use a financial dashboard to track net worth, cash flow, and investments so you can make smarter money decisions.
Making money blogging
- Is Making Money From A Blog Actually Possible? Top 21 Questions Answered
- Top 14 Tax Questions For Bloggers And Digital Nomads Answered
- My 7-Year Blogiversary: What I’ve Learned And Love About Blogging
- The Exact Template That Helped My Site Earn $95,000 In Affiliate Income Last Year
- How This 25 Year Old Earns $15,000 A Month From Her Blog
- How We Went From $0 To $10,000/Month Blogging In Less Than A Year
- 8 Reasons I Love Using FreshBooks To Run My Blogging Business
- How A New Blog Grew Traffic 10,000% In 6 Months — A Must-Read For New Bloggers
How To Start A Blog — FREE Course: I offer a free email course that guides you through starting a blog, from the technical setup to earning your first income and attracting readers. Over seven days you’ll receive step-by-step emails that help you launch a successful and profitable blog. You can sign up on the site.
Make extra money
- How Alyssa Is Making $200 A Day In Book Sales Passively
- How To Make Money Self-Publishing Short Romance Novels On Amazon
- How We Made Over $100k Teaching Overseas
- How Kayla Earns $10K/Month From Home As A Virtual Assistant
- How I Started Earning $3,600 A Month As A Pinterest Assistant In 6 Months
- 6 Actions To Find Your First Customers When No One Knows You
- How To Make $1,000 Extra In Your Spare Time With Facebook
- 70+ Ways To Make Money On The Side
- Need Quick Cash? 10 Ways To Make Money Fast
- Want To Be A Rideshare Driver? Tips From The Rideshare Guy
- 11 Real Ways To Make Money Before The Holidays
- How To Side Hustle — Answers To Common Questions
Income reports
- How I Made $1,536,732 In 2017 — Annual Wrap-Up
- How I Made $114,812 In January 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $179,139 In February 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $241,649 In March 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $104,065 In April 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $136,807 In May 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $100,324 In June 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $113,235 In July 2018 Blogging
- How I Made $110,284 In August 2018 Working From Home
- How I Made $104,814 In September 2018 Working From Home
- How I Made $145,319 In October 2018 While Traveling
- How I Made $159,592 Blogging In November 2018
Life, motivation, and inspiration
- How To Simplify Your Life In 2019
- Setting 2019 Goals — Let’s Make This Year The Best
- Reclaim Your Day With These 12 Time-Saving Tips
- 4 Mindsets That Will Rob You Of Your Dream Life
- 29 Money And Life Lessons I’ve Learned
- One Year Later: Extraordinary Interview Series Roundup
- How Elizabeth Reached Financial Independence By 32 And Moved To A Homestead
- Don’t Compare Your Beginning To Someone Else’s Middle
- Our Financial Detour: How Budgeting Freed Us To Follow Our Dreams
- Stop Feeling Bad For Yourself: Quit Making Excuses
- From A Stable Day Job To A Full-Time Side Hustle — Why I Made The Switch
Travel
- The Digital Nomad Lifestyle — A Day In The Life
- From Backpacker Working For $3 An Hour To Sailor With An Online Business
- 10 Easy Homemade Snacks To Bring On Your Next Hike
- Why I Love Living In A Vehicle
- How To Save Thousands For Your Next Vacation
- How We Became Professional House Sitters In Europe & Saved Over $5,000
- My Year In Travels — Where I Went In 2017
- We Spent $43,486 To RV For One Year — How To Overspend On Full-Time RVing
- How We Visited 8 New Countries In 2 Years — While Paying Off $58K In Student Debt
What was the best personal finance tip you learned in 2018?