How I redesigned my blog for less than $500

When I started blogging in May 2018, I made a rule not spend money on upgrades for at least one year.

Why? Simple: I wanted to make sure blogging was something I actually wanted to do, not just a fleeting whim. I’ve started and abandoned many blogs in the past. Before investing any more money, I wanted to have at least a year of consistent posting under my belt.

After crossing the one year mark, I started looking into options for a website redesign.

And in true personal finance blogger fashion, here’s a look at how that process unfolded and exactly how much I spent in the end.

Our Bill Pickle: What we covered in year one

During my first year of blogging, I wrote more than 100 posts about everything from emergency funds, credit cards, curly hair and my long-distance best friend.

I also shared monthly budget updates, which laid out our progress on our various financial goals.

We celebrated paying off a whopping $17K of debt in 2018, which included our car loan and credit line.

We ended 2018 with one debt remaining: the student loan.

Our Bill Pickle 2.0: A budget-friendly website redesign

I started making plans for a budget-friendly redesign about five months into my blogging journey.

The new look is a hybrid — a cross between a paid theme and a custom design.

The theme came from 17th Avenue Designs. I went with Poppy & Dot and spent $47.76 Canadian.

After purchasing the theme, I connected with Melana Currie, a New Brunswick-based graphic designer, to develop a new brand identity for the site. I gave her an idea of what I like and she set to work customizing the theme. We agreed to a price of $375 for the work.

With the exception of a couple stock photos and one shot taken by Jeff, the photos on this site were taken by James West Photography.

A note on the cost of working with a designer

Prices for branding and design services can range from hundreds to thousands, depending on the scope of the work.

My designer worked on my site for a discounted rate for a couple reasons, one being that we are friends.

However, if you have a friend who is a designer, please please please do not assume they will do the work for cheap (or for free) just because they are your friend. Creative entrepreneurs put a lot of work into what they do –and deserve to be compensated accordingly.

My designer and I discussed and developed the pricing for this work.

Total website redesign cost: $422.76

Final Thoughts

I hope you like the new look! I’m really happy with this budget-friendly website redesign — I think it’s a much better reflection of my personality. Thank you to Melana for all the work she put into making it possible!

I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who have visited the site during the first year.The debt-free journey isn’t always fun, but it’s certainly easier with company. Thanks for coming on the journey with me.

What do you think of the new look? If you blog, have you ever done a website redesign?

(Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst)