Weekly Money Update #29 for 2011

July 31, 2011, at 6:00 am

The Saved Quarter Challenge Update

I joined The Saved Quarter Challenge this year and was aiming to save at least $21,000 by the end of 2011, but we hit that goal in mid-June!!! My new goal is to save a cool $42,000 by the end of 2011 instead! That would be a tiny bit more than 50% of our GROSS pay from our two full time jobs!!!

Here’s how I’ve done this week for the Saved Quarter Challenge:

Here’s how we did this week:

Blogging Income – $1000 banked

That blogging income was a combo of freelance work and regular ads. This will be my last “counted” blogging account contribution before I start having to pay myself from that account since I am now blogging full time!!! I only get one more regular paycheck – after that, my blogging income will not be considered savings automatically!!!

The new $42,000 goal is hopefully going to be reached solely through 100% true savings – 401(k), Roth IRA, emergency fund/savings, home and auto maintenance account, extra cash for investments, and blogging income before the end of July 2011.

Total This Week: $1000

We can save what we do because we live off of a little more than my husband’s salary as a school librarian ($38,000 take home pay). That means we save most of what I make ($26,000 take home pay a year) and all of our hobby job incomes (reffing for Mr. BFS and blogging for me). Reffing usually brings in $2000-$3000 a year and blogging is bringing in $20,000 or more a year (we’ve already hit more than $20,000 for January-July 2011).

Total to date: $30,288 guaranteed, $11,712 to go.

Additonal Info

I will continue posting monthly and yearly blog statistics and income updates, so stay tuned at the beginning of every month!

In case you didn’t know, Alexa traffic rankings are determined by the numbers of hits a site gets by people with the Alexa toolbar. If you want to be part of this ranking community, you can download the Alexa toolbar here.

If you don’t already, you can follow me via RSS or Twitter by following those links.

To learn more about the Yakezie, the blogging group that has helped me in SO many ways, check out my Yakezie page! Feel free to email me if you are a Yakezie member or challenger and don’t see yourself on the list!

If you are interested in seeing how I went from an 8 million plus Alexa rank and 3 readers to where I am today, you can see My Blogging Checklists, which breaks down everything I do related to blogging. If you want to see how I have started bringing in more than $3000 a month in less than 18 months, you can check out How I Make Money Blogging.

I have also started a new site, http://howimakemoneyblogging.com/, which will cover how I currently make money blogging and my transition to a work-from-home blogger!

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING THE BEST READERS EVER!!!