Breaking Down this Blog’s Income and Expenses
A criticism I often see on/about personal finance blogs, especially FIRE sites, is “you’re not retired, you run this site!” While I’m decidedly *not* retired and I also think that criticism misses the actual meaning of early retirement, the point is taken. Since I intend to make this an ongoing hobby (and not flood the site with ads to the point it becomes unreadable), I thought it would be fun to track what it costs/earns.
It goes without saying that there are levels to this shit. Some FIRE blogs are little more than content farms designed to extract every possible cent from every possible pageview, while others make what I imagine is a staggering amount of money doing it their own way.
I have no delusions about where this site is going. For now, one week in, I’ve learned a lot about my own finances just by researching numbers for the first 15 posts. That said, I’d be thrilled if the occasional pageview or click brought some money in. I actually had a short-lived software blog in 2009 that earned me $60 which I have yet to collect because it’s now tied up in Virginia’s unclaimed property system and I’m lazy.
Expenses – What This Blog Costs
Luckily, the only money I spent to get this going was a domain name and private registration. I already had a hosting plan that was necessary for my “real” work and it cost me nothing to add this site.
| date | item | amount |
| 2/27/2021 | domain name | $55 |
| 3/27/2021 | tablet for illustrations | $408.45 |
| total: | $463.45 |
Income – How Much Money This Blog Makes
LOL
| date | item | amount |
| total: | $0 |
Profit: Income minus Expenses
$0 – $463.45 = -$463.45
So there you have it. How much money does this blog make? None money. Actually less than that. It’s alright, though; the IRS has 9 factors it considers in determining whether something is a hobby or a business, but if this thing ever makes enough to eliminate the question I’ll be genuinely shocked.
I’ll update this as I go along!
What’s something that *could* earn you money but you’re happy to do it for fun?