In order to produce the podcast and keep content up free for you, I work with partners so this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more info.
This edition of the Sunday Blogger series is with Laura from Move to Portugal. If you’re looking for tips on saving up for personal life goals, please subscribe to her great site.
Move to Portugal Interview
Why did you start Move to Portugal?
I started Move To Portugal because I wanted somewhere to record our planned move aboard. At the time (2007) I was writing my personal debt reduction blog, which was great, but I wanted somewhere I that could talk about our joint long term plans, in particular our goal to pay off our mortgage early, move abroad and achieve Financial Independence.
In the beginning we had high hopes to clear our mortgage in 5 years and then move to Portugal. But the recession changed all that and we adapted our plans. Our plan now is to clear the mortgage by the end of 2020, eleven year s early…but still move to Portugal in 2012.
You must have some favourite posts that you’ve written on MTP, which are they and why?
My favourite post is The sky’s the limit if you put your mind to it. It was a mini rant, so written with a little bit of emotion, but I truly believe that with a little determination and planning you can achieve anything. In the main though, I love anything I post about our goals. I’m very goal orientated; year plans, five year plans and every month I use these as a basis for a few mini goals.
Are there any bloggers who have a writing style that you admire?
Gosh, there’s so many…..my RSS reader is overflowing with a variety of sites. In general I prefer to read personal blogs about individuals/couples and how they are managing their money, but I read a lot.
I love to support people who are getting out of debt because I know how lonely that can feel and comments often provide a much needed boost. But if I had to pick two sites in particular, then at the moment I love And then she saved; a lot of what Anna writes resonates with me. I also love Small Notebook, more of a simple living blog but Rachel has such a simple way of writing things, and her posts on money and finance are spot on.
What advice would you give to new bloggers out there looking to break out?
I don’t pertain to have much knowledge on blogging but I would say: keep at it and reach out. Leaving comments and connecting with other bloggers is by far the best way to improve your own blog.
What are your goals this year with MTP?
My only goal for Move To Portugal this year is to increase my subscriber base to 400. I’ve been working on monetising my other site so that I can keep MTP fairly ad free….although this may change in the future is someone makes me an offer J.
===
I appreciate Laura taking the time for the interview; it's wonderful to get to know other bloggers who are working towards their own goals.
Joining the Sunday Blogger Series
If you’re interesting in being interviewed as part of the Sunday Blogger series, I have a few requirements.
- You’ve been blogging for 3 months on personal finance, travel, simple living, and/or entrepreneurship.
- You’ve publish genuine content. I want to connect to genuine bloggers, not linking to a spam site. I review all the sites before sending out interview questions.
- You’re willingly to promote other bloggers in the series. I don’t expect you to tweet every interview, but I would like interviewees to spread the word on their favorite bloggers. By the way, I don’t want others to just promote the posts here on Couple Money, please share posts from the sites of your favorite interviews. They are some wonderful bloggers out there.
If you’re looking to work with other personal finance bloggers, you may want to join the Yakezie Challenge. We try to promote the best content from each other’s sites.