Making Sense of Cents

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

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Making Sense of Cents is an American personal finance empowerment blog company. The company was founded in 2011 by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner.

Welcome to Making Sense of Cents. Here we talk about personal finance, paying off student loans quickly, how to reach financial independence, money tips, and much more.

Company History

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner details the beginnings of their company in their Starter Story interview: (source)

Q: How did you get started on Making Sense of Cents?

I was forced to learn about money at a young age. I have been working full-time since around the age of 14 (I was a full-time nanny for a job I had found on a bulletin board), and once that job was over I worked in retail for many years before I became an analyst. My dad passed away when I was a teenager, and there was no inheritance or anything like that, so I only had myself to rely on.

While I haven’t always been good with money, and I have made mistakes in the past, I have learned a lot and enjoy talking about it. I also enjoy helping others learn how to improve their financial situation too!

Learn how to separate work and life. Being a blogger can mean that your work-life balance can get out of whack, and this is because it is so easy in today’s world to constantly be connected.

In the summer of 2011, I started my blog to teach people how to save money as well as journaling my finance journey after reading a magazine that featured a personal finance website in one of their articles. I became extremely interested in that website and my interest in blogging just grew from there. This is interesting and hilarious because, before that same summer, I had no idea about what blogs were, that they could even make money or anything along those lines.

In the beginning, before I became a full-time blogger, I talked a lot about my student loan debt payoff progress. I was able to pay off my $40,000 student loan debt in just 7 months, by doing many different things. Yes, I was blogging (and making money from my blog), but I was also staff writing on other websites, managing social media for others, selling on eBay, mystery shopping, taking part in market research studies, and more.

You can read all about this here - My Student Loans Are Fully Paid Off!

Once my student loans were paid off, I felt a lot of freedom. I no longer had this huge debt hanging over my head and felt more freedom to pursue a job that I loved. So, I decided to make the leap and quit my day job as an analyst.

I went full-time in October of 2013 and I haven't looked back once. Learning how to start a blog has completely changed my life for the better and it still feels so crazy to this day because my beginning was completely random.

how-i-started-a-100k-month-blog-about-personal-finance

Source (source)

Technology

They use Pic Monkey and Canva for their design. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Hootsuite for their social media.

Company History

Technology

References