The Frugal Free Gal

I love to save money and I wanted to share my passion for saving money with others online and from the comfort of my own home.

My blog, The Frugal Free Gal, started as a hobby in 2009. I was a stay at home mom and found blogging to be a great way to spend my time when my baby was napping. A few months into blogging, I was networking with other bloggers when I discovered a secret!

Many of these blogs that I had grown to love were making money from their websites. I wanted to do this, too. Why not? It would be a great way to earn extra income while staying at home with my daughter. I continue to work from home and find new ways every year to improve or monetize my website. I even turned what I do into a business, BSC Media, LLC. BSC = my initials!

During this blogging journey, I’ve had several friends ask about starting a website of their own. The biggest questions were, “How do I start a blog,” and “How do I make money from a blog?”

After years and years of doing this, I felt that it was time to write a post about it and share it with everyone. This post is way overdue, but very important to share. My goal is to help others learn how to start their own websites and monetize them, too. Now, here’s something important.

This is not a “get rich quick” kind of thing. It took me a few years and HOURS of time building my websites before I started noticing a nice profit. To this day, I still spend a lot of time learning and studying ways to improve my business.

How to Start a Blog (and Monetize it, too!) 

1. Find a topic you are passionate about.

To start a website, you’ll want to choose a topic that you are passionate about.

What is something you love? What topics do you absolutely love sharing with others? Do you have parenting tips? Start a parenting/mom website. Do you love to cook and share recipes? Consider starting a food blog. Love to save money like me?

Maybe a blog about saving money or finances is right for you. There are so many options out there. Whatever niche you choose, choose something that you will have fun writing about. You don’t want to start a website and dread writing on it everyday because the niche you chose does not interest you very much.

My websites are about saving money and tips for busy moms.

2. Pick out a blog name.

Once you have your topic of interest, you’ll need to brainstorm names for your website. For this website, I chose “The Frugal Free Gal” because I’m frugal, and I love free stuff! I’m also a gal, so it just worked. I thought the gal at the end of frugal and the Gal at the end of the name was catchy.

For my mom website, I chose Mom. Wife. Busy Life. because I’m a mom and wife, and a pretty busy mom and wife, too!

3. Sign up for hosting and choose a domain.

Hosting is like rent. You are paying for your site to have a home online. I recommend signing up for an affordable hosting service. If you do not feel comfortable setting up your own website, you can always hire this work out to a family member, friend, or other tech guy/gal that knows what he/she is doing.

Don’t feel bad about it — I hired help because I’m not good with all of this back-end stuff! I always recommend having 1-2 good referral names on hand in case you need tech support with your website! They come in handy when your site is broken or when things need to be fixed and you are aren’t sure how to fix the issues yourself.

5. Find a good designer. 

You’ll want your website to stand out from the rest and be visually appealing. Hire a good designer that can help you customize your website the way you want it – from color choice, to logos, to fancy buttons, etc. You name it, your designer should be able to help you create a beautiful website. Laura at Pixel Me Designs designed all of my websites: The Frugal Free Gal, Mom. Wife. Busy Life. and BSC Media, LLC.

6. Start writing great content.

Once your website is all set up and ready to go with a great design, you’ll want to start creating great content. Write content that stands out from the rest. Try to remember that adding value is key. Create evergreen content that never goes out of style and can be recycled years from now.

7. Connect your websites to social media and build readership. 

Now that you have an amazing website that you want to share to the world, you’ll want to make sure you create social media networks that connect with your website. My favorites are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. Share your content on your social media outlets and tell all of your family and friends about your new website!

8. Monetize your website.

Now that you have your website ready to go and you are creating content, you can start to monetize your website. You can monetize your website with ads, affiliate links, sponsored posts, and more. Below are the main ways I monetize my website. To get started on monetizing your websites, check out the links below to find the affiliate networks that are right for you. There’s several to choose from, so I listed mine in order based on what I earn in each category as well as my favorites to use.

Disclosure: Some of the links below include my referral link.

Affiliate Marketing:

• Amazon Associates
• ShareASale.com
• ShopHer Media
• Commission Junction

Ad Placement:

• Google Adsense

Sponsored Posts:

Social Fabric

TapInfluence

Sverve

Mom It Forward

Blog Services:

• Tailwind – schedule pins to Pinterest
• PicMonkey – photo editing

Individual Affiliate and Referral Programs:

• Ibotta
• Checkout 51

There you have it! You have all of the best tips and tools to starting your own blog and monetizing it, too!
Do you plan to start a new blog any time soon?

Many casual drinkers will admit one thing: They don’t know much about wine. That’s okay, of course. After all, you don’t need to be a wine expert to appreciate a glass of your favorite whites and reds. But if there’s one thing you should know about wine, it’s that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to enjoy it.

Below are four tips to help you save a few dollars on your favorite pinot noir or white zinfandel. Cheers!

1. Drink Cheaper Wine

I’m assuming you’re not a wine snob (otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading a blog entry about how to save on wine), so you should be open to this tip. It’s a common misconception in wine circles that you have to spend a lot of money to get good wine. Truth is, for most casual wine drinkers, there’s not a big difference between a $10 wine and a $30 wine. So what’s that mean? In other words, buy the $10 bottle.

2. Buy Boxed Wine

Just like frozen pizza, boxed wine has made tremendous strides over the past decade with it comes to quality and reputation. The best part, of course, is the price. At $15 to $20 for a box – which can contain up to four bottles of wine – you’ll pay less than $5 per bottle! (Bonus: The tap system keeps air out of the bag inside the box, which helps the wine last a loooong time.)

3. Buy By the Box

This is a different kind of boxed wine. For this one, I’m talking about buying your favorite bottled win in bulk – usually still in the case. This method can result in savings of 10 to 20 percent per bottle.

4. Keep a Wine Journal

No, I’m talking about writing pages upon pages of your most personal thoughts and feelings about wine in a secret diary. A wine journal is nothing more than a few pages in a notebook which you can use to jot some basic notes about the wines you like and don’t like. How does this help you save money? A quick scan of your notes might save you from wasting $20 on a bottle of cabernet sauvignon that you don’t like.

5. Get to Know Your Local Wine Clerk

The best way to save money on wine without spending hundreds of hours studying it is to become friends with the clerk at your local wine store. They know more about wine than anyone and are more than happy to make a few recommendations in your price range.

How do you save on wine? 

Think your five-cup-a-week Starbucks latte habit is expensive? It’ll run you about $20 a week, but that’s nothing compared to a pack-a-day smoking habit, which can cost in the neighborhood of $40-$45 a week. If saving more than $2,000 a year isn’t enough reason to quit, the positive effects on your health definitely should be.

If you’re quitting (or know someone who is), the following tips will help:

1. Have a Good Reason 

The first step is convincing yourself that you want to quit, but you need a good reason if you want to motivate yourself to give it up permanently. The more personal the reason, the better. Examples include saving money to help pay for your child’s college fund or preserving your health so you’ll be around long enough to watch him or her graduate from college!

2. Plan Your Quitting Strategy

Quitting smoking is hard, and like any challenging task, it helps to have a plan. And like any plan, it also helps to write it down. Your plan includes your reasons for quitting, your rewards, and what you’ll do to fight back when the urge to smoke hits.

3. Tell Everyone That You’re a Quitter

You might be tempted to keep your smoking cessation plans to yourself, but you’ll be more likely to succeed if you share your challenge with others. They’ll keep you motivated, ask for updates and encourage you along the way. And if you fail, they’ll also be there to help you get back on the right track.

4. Skip the Cold Turkey

Tossing our your cigarettes and quitting “cold turkey” – that is, without the help of nicotine replacement therapy – might seem like a good idea, but it’s not. Nicotine is a powerful drug, and using nicotine gum, lozenges, patches or prescription medication will dramatically increase your chances of kicking the habit permanently.

5. Join an Online Forum

Just as your friends and family members can help motivate you, fellow quitters online can also help. An online quitters’ forum is filled with people just like you – including former smokers who know exactly what you’re going through – who are there to help each other out and offer support during the good times and the not-so-good times.

Do you have any tips to help quit smoking? 

Save on Gym Memberships

If you’re like me, one of your resolutions is to lose a little weight (again). Dieting is a big part of that plan, but regular exercise also helps.

When it comes to working up a sweat, you’ve got two options: Work out at home or get a gym membership. Yes, the gym membership will cost money, but when you consider that you’ll have access to state-of-the-art gym equipment and expert advice, it’s money well spent. And just like your shrinking waistline, it is possible to trim the cost of that investment by following a few basic rules:

1. Explore Your Options 

Like any sizable investment, you’ll want to shop around for the best deal. Remember: The gym closest to your house isn’t always the best one and the one with all the fancy equipment isn’t either. Find a gym that has all the equipment you need, without all the extra stuff you don’t, at a decent price.

2. Get Ready to Haggle 

The membership coordinator at your gym is usually willing to negotiate a bit. Ask for a lower initiation fee or, better yet, no fee at all. Also see if they can match a lower monthly rate at a competing gym or throw in some classes that normally might cost extra.

3. Think Short Term

Most gyms will require you to sign an agreement that locks you into monthly payments for anywhere from six months to a year. Thing is, there’s a good chance you’ll be over this New Year’s resolution and done with the “gym thing” in two months (hey, just being realistic). Ask for a short-term contract – either month-to-month or three-months. You might pay a little extra for the privilege, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

4. Wait Until March

If you sign up during the busy season (January), your chances of scoring some negotiated discounts and perks are pretty slim. You’ll also have to deal with going to the gym during one of the busiest months of the year. Instead, wait until March, when gyms are more eager to please potential new members. In the meantime, use that time to research your options … and practice your haggling skills.

5. Workout At Home

If you really want to save money, you can choose to workout at home and skip a gym membership.

Related: 10 Highly Rated DVD Workouts to do at Home

How do you save on gym memberships?