Q&A | Online-Only Banking, Snoopy, and Blogging Income

First up: lots of you asked if I could just move the belt loops on the striped Helly Hansen raincoat I bought on eBay.

It is possible to do this, but it would require picking out the stitches on both the upper and lower ends and then resewing the loops on.

Since Helly Hansen stuff is pretty well made, these loops are stitched on very well, with lots of tiny tight stitches.

This is why you can’t just unpick the top and flip the loop down.

Also: there are four loops!

So, if I decide to do this, it will require a lot of patient stitch-picking. We shall see if I find the motivation.

I love the idea of high interest bearing online accounts but am concerned about problems due to not being able to walk into a brick and mortar bank building to talk to a real person. Problems can arise in the cyber world and there are always questions that need more than a yes or no answer. I wonder what ideas and experiences fellow readers have had.
A similar question would be – where do you put savings to get the best interest rate?
Keep up the good work, lovely friend!
–Book Club Elaine

Well, I have had an online bank account since September 2001 (I remember this because when 9/11 happened, it paused the process of getting the opening bonus from my new ING Direct bank account).

So, you can imagine that I am quite comfortable with an online bank account. And the online version of banks has gotten significantly better since those early days! There are chat features for customer service in addition to phone lines, there are apps, you can access in-real-life fee-free ATMs that connect to your account, and so on.

To ease the adjustment to online, here’s what I’d recommend: keep your main checking account in a bank that has brick and mortar buildings. But for your online savings account, which you will rarely need to access, try an online high-yield-interest account, such as the one from CIT bank (which is where I have most of my savings parked!)

You will just virtually connect your checking account to the CIT bank account, and you can easily transfer money that way.

Your customer service needs for a savings account will be few and far between, so this should be an un-scary way to try an online-only bank. And then you can reap the very happy rewards of a higher interest rate!

You didn’t ask about this, but I know sometimes people feel concerned that they are incurring some sort of security risk by having accounts online, but I do not see this as a concern. Why?

Because if you have an account at a real-life bank near you, they most certainly have your account information stored online, even if you never access it online! So, you cannot completely avoid online vulnerability unless you keep your money under your mattress. 😉

Hi Kristen: I enjoy your blog posts and reading about your resourcefulness. I have noticed you have some Snoopy things around your home and guess you are a fan? (I grew up in the 60s and we were Peanuts fans.)

-AF

Yes! I did always read the Peanuts strip in the daily newspaper when I was a kid, but mainly I love Snoopy because he is just so cute.

And I love his sweet relationship with Woodstock, who is also seriously cute.

Hopefully Chiquita and Shelley aren’t offended by the fact that I love a cartoon dog vs. a cat (I’m sorry, but Snoopy is a million times cuter than Garfield!)

Chiquita WAS trying to get in the way of me photographing Snoopy…

In real life, though, I vastly prefer cats to dogs. 😉

I’ve been a reader (and enjoyer!) of your blog for many years now, and one thing I really love about it is the way your voice comes through in such an open and honest way, and you tell stories of your life. So many of the blogs I used to love have ended, or have become what feels like simply clearinghouses for obvious affiliate links and sponsored content.
That’s why I feel silly for asking this question! I promise I’ve been paying attention, and I know you’ve spoken with detail about how you grew your blog and community over years and now it provides your income. What I would like to know is: exactly how? I don’t see big ads, your affiliate links are so subtle, what am I missing? I’m asking you instead of googling because what I really want to understand is how you’ve managed to find such a lovely balance of earning money and keeping things personal and real. (I don’t mean dollar amounts; I mean more like strategies.)
Thanks for considering my question, and thanks for your writing!

-April

Aww, thank you for the sweet compliments; I am so happy to hear that my blog has kept you interested and entertained for so long. Yay!

Most of the money I make comes from the display ads provided by Mediavine, my ad company. They handle 100% of the ad-related work, and they take a cut of the earnings as their pay.

You do have to build up a pretty significant amount of traffic before Mediavine will accept you for their program, so you can’t just start a blog and then apply the next day. Which honestly makes sense because if you don’t have a bunch of traffic, you wouldn’t earn a bunch of money from Mediavine’s ads anyway!

oh hey, another Snoopy appearance

I know that I could make more money if I did more sponsored posts/affiliate links/content-meant-to-sell-stuff, but honestly, that would make me start to hate blogging. I have managed to keep blogging for a terrifically long time largely because I have always kept it fun for myself.

Most of the time, blogging doesn’t feel like hard work! But if I expanded my blog into more of a money-making machine, I probably would start to hate it.

Also: I make enough to pay my bills (especially now that I’m not paying legal fees. Ha.) and I am content with that.

I have never been particularly strategic and business-minded with my blog, so sometimes I feel a little bit surprised that so many people come to read what I write.

And when people ask me for blogging advice, I am a little unsure what to say! I just show up here, write in a chatty way about my life and about my money-saving activities, and people keep coming back to read.

I am endlessly grateful and sometimes I really have to pinch myself. How many people over the course of history have wanted to support themselves by writing?? And here I am, doing it, almost by accident.

Got input on any of these topics? Talk to me!

(I’m especially hoping that if you have experience with online-only banking, you can share your experience to help Elaine feel more comfortable with the idea.)

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Hilary

Tuesday 26th of November 2024

In case this is helpful to Elaine or others… for years, I hesitated to move money into an online high yield savings account. Over time, I realized my reservations were not about the brick and mortar aspect, even though that was the reason I always gave. It was actually my worry about not having all money instantly accessible for an emergency. I did not grow up well off, and having everything easily accessible in our online checking and (wee interest) savings accounts was comforting for me.

Eventually, my husband and I had a good money talk and we figured out what was reasonable to keep in checking and what felt comfortable (for me) to “tuck away” in a high yield savings account. That was such a helpful first step! Now that I’ve seen how easy it is to transfer money between accounts, we’ve actually increased what’s in our high yield savings account. Seeing the interest payments roll in has been a great incentive, too. But we never go below a pre-determined amount in checking.

This is just my own experience. But I am sharing in case anyone else might have childhood/emotional reasons like this lurking in their money decisions!

Marlena

Monday 25th of November 2024

We bank with USAA which is online. I have learned over the years to keep a local bank with just a little money in it. This is helpful if you need cashiers checks or maybe a $50 bill for a gift or whatever. There just seems to be once or twice a year that I wish I had a bank...so now I keep one locally. I can transfer funds into it if I need something local, but I prefer most of our money to be at USAA. Our Vanguard account recently offered a 4% short term savings account. The % varies month to month, but I liked the idea of not having to start another account with yet another bank to get a good rate. My son uses SoFi and has been happy there. I think he gets just over 4%, so slightly better. I would not pick those stitches out. I think they would leave a mark with that many stitches on that material. Also, I thought it sat high on the first girl that wore it in the pictures from her "Meet the Reader". Maybe it just sits that way? It is an adorable coat. I thought it looked great on you both, but if you don't like the higher waist...I would return it (maybe not if it was just a few dollars and no loss if the stitches left a mark, but it seemed like I remember it being more than $30...I wouldn't take the chance).

Gina from The Cannary Family

I have two scrub tops featuring Snoopy and friends and every time a CHILD recognizes him, I am floored. I mean, I am a child of the 60's, after all. Snoopy will never go out of style. (:

Kristen

Snoopy is iconic! A kid at my pediatrics rotation noticed him on my backpack last week. :)

SandyH

I am a die-hard Peanuts fan. In elementary school, I invented “The Charlie Brown Club” which consisted of two members ( me included). We called the meeting to order, read the latest Peanuts strip, then ate cookies. I also, in 5th grade or so, wrote to Charles Schulz and asked for a drawing. HE SENT ME ONE , AUTOGRAPHED! I could cry that I no longer have it.

Every year I host “Snoopy Thanksgiving Lunch” for my 6 grandkids. I serve popcorn, pretzels, toast and jellybeans (Snoopy’s menu). I also make turkey sandwiches to round it out a little. We watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie and play Snoopy bingo for prizes. The kids are older now ( youngest almost 9)but they still participate happily ( they will if I have to tie them to their chairs! Lol)

Anita Isaac

@SandyH, how sad that you don't have it. i feel for you. i had a signed autograph of my favorite actor Van Johnson that he sent when I was in high school. i don't know how i lost it and i try not to think about it. it said "to anita stern g-d bless you. that was my maiden name. and he didn't use the dash but that is what we jews do.

Suz

@SandyH, Brilliant! That sounds like so much fun. Our plans have gone back and forth so much this week that I just told my family that this might be the year for us to go Snoopy... (and any complainers get the trick chair that fights back : )

Kathleen S in Normal, IL

The easiest thing to remember for online banking is if you receive direct deposit today, you're doing online banking. It's very secure. Just my $0.02.