Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Monopoly, anyone?

I've decided in these dark financial days that the only treats I will buy myself are going to come from my advertising revenue from these two sites. I need every other penny to go toward credit cards or savings.

Currently, I make only around $7-$15 per month between An Examined Life and SHELTER and am about two and a half months away from my next $100 check from Google. I'm considering changing up and trying the BlogHer advertising program. Since you are the ones who do the clicking, does anyone have suggestions as to which one is better? What kind of ads would you like to see here? I'd really appreciate your feedback.

To clarify, my goal isn't big bucks (Though I wouldn't send it back!) since treats for me are simple: jewelry (currently have no earrings or a working watch), makeup (I want a new lipstick but I have several in the "can scrape it out of the tube" stage), a professional haircut (been cutting my own since 2002), and new sheets and towels (mine are six years old or older).

Yes, those are the kind of things I deprive myself of when times are lean. As you can see, I'm not even talking trips, shoes, or clothing. That kind of money has to be secured ahead of time before I even think about those things.

In the future, the things you will see me make or sew on these blogs will be from materials I already have in-house.* Almost my entire fabric stash send me pangs of guilt each time I see it because the many unfinished projects represent money I could still have. So I won't buy new things until I finish the old* or secure the money elsewhere (via Lowe's gift certificates, selling something on eBay, trade, etc.)

By the way, I was raised that you don't look complete if you don't have earrings on, so the purchase of earrings was first. (I just ordered two very affordable pairs from this Etsy seller.)

*With a few exceptions: a cardigan or winter jacket and a warm knit or corduroy dress/jumper for my climate-controlled office.

4 comments:

Donnell Allan said...

First of all, your blog is one of my favorites!

I feel the same way that you do about having a tiny fund for my own treats. I've been making a little bit of money (in my case, for fabrics) by clicking on ads provided by YouData.com. It's fun, and I've been exposed to some products (such as Soap Nuts) that I wasn't aware even existed.

Could you talk about how you got $100 dollars from Google? That sounds like a fortune to me!

Thanks again for your lovely blog! And good luck on increasing your treat fund.

lsaspacey said...

dallan, The ads shown on my blog are because of Google AdSense and they usually correspond with the content of the blog. You get paid a few pennies each time someone views the blog and a bit more each time someone clicks on an ad. It took me a year to make my first $100 and each time you reach that amount Google sends you your check. It's a good deal. :)

AMCSviatko said...

I don't even see the ads. Most blogs I can read on Bloglines so I don't even need to visit the actual blog to read the content but yours I have to click through to. Even then I'm like "ads? what ads?!"

On another note, are you aware of the "Use What You Have" project?

http://www.flickr.com/groups/usewhatyouhave/

Anne At Large said...

I don't know that I have clicked through on any of your Google ads but I have seen ads from blogher on other blogs and have clicked through a time or two. Just FYI. Can you have both on here?