The Penny Hoarder Interview

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As a member of the personal finance community for several years, I'm amazed at how many people are a part of it.

Unfortunately, that often means that I can't always keep up with everyone. It's a shame because there are some wonderful bloggers with their stories and advice on handling finances responsibly and with fun.

To counteract that and get the word out on other bloggers, I've started the Sunday Blogger series.

The Penny Hoarder Interview

This week I got to know Kyle from The Penny Hoarder. He was kind enough to share his biggest money mistakes and how getting out of debt fueled his new career.

Hope you enjoy!

Why did you start The Penny Hoarder?

I think I've secretly been a “penny hoarder” since birth.

As a kid, I remember setting up my own mock bank and stock market in the living room.

We would often have neighbors come over and I would try to convince them to become an investor in my exchange. Sigh…LOL!

My penny hoarding continued when I started college. I started ebay-ing, mystery shopping, entering contests – anything I could do to make money for that pesky tuition bill.

Along the way, I came up with some really weird ways to make a buck and I wanted a way to share them with others.

How long have you've been blogging?

I've been blogging for less than a year. The Penny Hoarder launched on December 12, 2010.

You must have some favorite posts that you’ve written on The Penny Hoarder, which are they and why?

Oh, most definitely.

There are a million blogs/websites that talk about ways to make extra money so I really pride myself on finding unique jobs to share with my readers.

I love it when I get comments or emails from readers about how much they enjoyed a post or even better when I get emails telling me that they tried something I mentioned and were able to make a few extra bucks.

A few of the posts that come to mind are:  “I Get Paid to Buy Beer” , “Get Paid to Spy on Mailman“,  and “NASA will Pay You $5,000 Month to Lay in Bed“.

How do you handle your own finances? Do you have a formal budget or a more informal system?

I'm a formal budget kind of guy. When I first left home I made a million money mistakes and it took a long time for me to fix those mistakes.

The thing that really helped me was to get all my finances on Quicken.

My partner and I also have a unique way of budgeting our miscellaneous budget. In addition to our main checking account, we both have our own personal accounts, which we refer to as our “Me Accounts”.

At the beginning of the month, we transfer an equal amount of money over to both of our Me Accounts. That's our fun money.

We use it for date nights, buying presents, hanging out with friends, etc.

It works for us because it not only gives us some independence, but it ensures that there are rarely surprises in our checking account.

It makes planning so much easier if your miscellaneous budget is planned for.

What's the biggest financial mistake you've ever made? What did you learn from it?

Oy. It sounds so cliche, but I really messed up when I got my hands on my first credit card.

I'm not sure what my 18-year old brain was thinking, because within a few months I maxed it out without any ability to pay it back.

The experience definitely made me understand the idea of planning ahead. D'oh!

What are your goals this year with The Penny Hoarder?

This past month has been extremely exciting for my blog and I'd really like to build on it.

Recently, I was asked to be part of several local news stories and then last week ABC Nightline flew a crew down to my house for an interview.

It was so exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time!

For this next year, I really want to increase the community aspect of The Penny Hoarder.

I'd like our readers to have the ability to get more engaged and even have an outlet to share their own stories about how they made extra money.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do that – whether it be a forum, more social networking, or even potentially a job board where readers could share “gigs” that they have found in their area.

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Thanks to Kyle for the wonderful interview!

I hope you take a few minutes today to check out The Penny Hoarder and chat with him on Twitter or Facebook.