Monthly Round-up | The Best of Hope+Cents

Welcome to this month’s round-up! Since I’m celebrating one year of blogging this month, we’ll take a look at the most popular blog posts on Hope+Cents in the past year.

It’s always interesting to see what content resonates the most with my readers. I’m happy to see that the most popular posts of the year represent a variety of topics.

Here are the top ten posts on Hope+Cents in the past year.

10. Can a New Blogger Really Make Money?

This post is an interview with Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents who grew her blog from hobby to a (now) seven-figure full-time job. The success of her blog allows her to travel full-time, which is just amazing! Michelle shares how she is able to make a living from her blog and how she does it without swaying from what brought her to the world of blogging. Read

9. 8 Reasons Why Your Budget Doesn’t Work

This was one of my favorite posts to write this past year. It’s easy to dislike budgeting or to give up on it when it’s not working. But instead of giving up, why not take a look at what you can do differently? I review eight common reasons your budget may be frustrating you. You’ll instantly relate to some (or maybe all) of these reasons as I once did!  Read

8. How to Squeeze $500 Out of Your Budget

It is possible to save a significant amount of money each month by assessing your spending. This post reviews different categories and gives suggestions on how a little here and a little there can add up to real savings.  Read

7. My Debt-Free Journey

I get pretty personal in this post, or series of posts, rather. I mean really personal—we’re talking money mistakes, single motherhood, embarrassing moments, short sales…I put it all out there to show that every situation has hope no matter what it is.  Read

6. 5 Must-Reads if You’re Changing Careers

Making a career change is a big deal. If you are considering one, make sure you’ve equipped yourself with as much knowledge as possible. In this post, I share five of my favorite career-related books.  Read

5. The Profound Joy in Simplicity and Having Less

Okay, I was kind of surprised that this made it the top ten, but apparently, it struck a nerve. While our culture is all about more, more, more, there is definitely a current movement towards recognizing that less can be more fulfilling. Going through the process of purging my physical belongings echoes what I discovered in learning to live within my means—it is not only possible to get by on less, but there is much to gain in doing so.  Read

4. How to Do a Zero-Based Budget

I highly recommend giving the zero-based budget method a try if you haven’t yet. It was a game-changer for me, and it will be for you too. This post is a tutorial on how a zero-based budget works and how you can get started with one today.  Read

3. 15 Expenses You Think You Can’t Live Without…But Can

We all have that one thing (or several things) that we think we can’t do without…until we learn that we can. In this post, fellow personal finance bloggers and writers share what they’ve cut out of their budgets that they once thought was needed to survive. It may inspire you to take a look at your own “must-haves.”  Read

2. 3 Things NOT To Sacrifice When Paying Off Debt

If you are currently working your way through dumping your debt or achieving another significant financial goal, make sure you’re intentional about how you’re doing it. This post highlights a few things that shouldn’t be sacrificed during your time of um…sacrifice.  Read

….and coming in at #1….

1. 8 Tools To Help You Manage Your Money in 2017

From planners to apps, there are tons of tools to help you budget, save, and plan for your future. This post covers a few that will help you manage your money better and more efficiently.  Read

Happy Reading!

Again, thank you so much for hanging out with me for the past year. If you’re a newer reader, welcome! I look forward to hearing from you and to offering more content to help, encourage, and motivate you to get to where you want to be financially!