Consider this post an update to our article from two years ago where we first shared a few pie charts to illustrate how we spend our time and how we earn money as bloggers. Things have shifted a bit since then—not dramatically, but enough to warrant a fresh look. Below is a simplified, approximate breakdown (all the pie charts in this post are general estimates)…
First, a clarification: these charts represent our “work” hours, not a full accounting of waking time. For a broader picture that includes parenting, cooking, and errands, see our “Day In The Life” post. The notable takeaway here is that most of our work time is spent running the website—writing, editing photos, managing the business, and interacting with readers—rather than on DIY projects, as some might assume.
We describe our job as primarily a desk job. While we still get to paint or build sometimes—usually after Clara’s in bed—our core hours (roughly 8am to 6pm) are spent on the computer: sizing photos, writing posts, organizing giveaways, handling book or showhouse emails, answering comments, tracking expenses, or doing development work. Below is a closer look at some of those activities.
Two changes stand out when we break things down:
- We’ve streamlined managerial tasks. Small adjustments—like using Rafflecopter to run giveaways and outsourcing more accounting—have added up. The biggest change is an ongoing transition away from our four-year-old private sponsor system. Previously we manually uploaded and invoiced dozens of advertisers. Now we’re moving to a third-party ad system that serves, places, and bills automatically. The system isn’t perfect yet, but it should save significant time on renewals, invoices, and sponsor shout-outs (which we’ve phased out). It should also make the sidebar less cluttered and provide a better experience for advertisers.
- That freed-up time goes to side projects. With managerial overhead reduced, we can invest more time in things like book #2, the showhouse, and a secret project we can’t reveal yet. Although these side projects don’t make up the majority of our income, they’re professionally and creatively valuable. They keep our work fresh and help us grow. They currently take about 19% of our time, leaving ample room—about 80%—for posts and other blog work.
This model isn’t a perfect formula for time management or for running a blog, and we’re always refining processes to focus on activities that energize us, serve readers, and, yes, contribute to Clara’s college fund. Some readers suggest we spend less time moderating comments or auto-approve frequent commenters, but we keep moderation so questions don’t fall through the cracks. Questions arrive on current and archived posts, and responding to readers is a major reason we’ve built this community, so we’re not willing to give that up.
Next chart:
Unlike our earlier version of this chart, we’ve combined all advertising—private sponsors, ad networks, and Google—into one slice. That reflects a current transition in our sponsor program and makes it clear that the majority of our income comes from sidebar advertising. Much like magazines and newspapers, our site relies heavily on advertisers. We don’t rely on sponsored posts for significant income, though some affiliate revenue comes from sharing products we love; those links are clearly marked when used.
Things like books and product lines may sound lucrative, but for us they haven’t been major income drivers so far. They’re important for other reasons—creative fulfillment, professional growth, and long-term opportunity—so we pursue them even if they aren’t massive earners yet. For example, we’ve not yet reached the breakpoint for book royalties in our original market, though a foreign publisher recently acquired rights and will re-release the book in another language. That modest fee contributes to the small slice shown in the chart. These proportions are approximate and intended to illustrate general trends rather than precise accounting.
Trying to capture every business expense in a pie chart proved difficult because these numbers fluctuate, but it’s important to show that blogging is not a zero-overhead profession. As our audience grows, many costs grow with it. Some of the key places our earnings go:
- Taxes & Accountant: A significant portion of revenue goes to taxes—roughly a third of our income is paid quarterly—and we rely on an accountant to manage it. Adjusting from receiving regular paychecks to setting aside a large tax cushion was a major change.
- Retirement: Without employer contributions, we manage our own retirement savings. We each have SEP IRAs, and after year-end accounting we make the maximum allowable contributions that we can.
- Web Hosting: Hosting, photo storage, and subscription services (like Rafflecopter and forums) are surprisingly expensive; our online infrastructure can cost nearly twice our mortgage each month.
- Health Insurance: Being self-employed means buying our own health insurance—a necessary and sometimes costly part of running a small business.
- Business Insurance: We carry business insurance to protect the company and our family from potential legal or personal-loss events.
- Legal: We recently engaged an attorney for trademark and licensing needs related to the book title and product contracts. That helped us officially secure the Young House Love name.
- Projects: Home improvement expenses remain largely personal. Even when we blog about renovations, costs on our primary residence are not tax-deductible, and trying to claim them could create problems if we ever sold the house.
To wrap up on a lighter note, we compiled some fun stats and visuals this year—infographics that convey a few random facts about our work and site in a more playful way.
P.S. – If you’d like to see our original pie charts from earlier years, they’re available in our past blogiversary posts. We’ve also shared a detailed post about how we started the blog, grew traffic, and turned it into a full-time job for readers interested in professional blogging.