My First Month Blogging: Here’s Exactly What Happened (May 2026 Income Report)
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Okay, I’m going to be honest with you. I almost didn’t write this post because $6.91 feels a little embarrassing to share publicly. But then I remembered why income reports exist in the first place, and it’s not to brag. It’s to show the real picture of what building something from scratch actually looks like.
So here it is. My first ever income report. Raw numbers, what worked, what didn’t, and where I’m headed next.
First, a little context
EasyCruiseMom is a brand new blog focused on helping moms plan Disney Cruises and family cruises. I launched it this year and I’m building it around my own experience from our Thanksgiving 2025 Disney Fantasy Merrytime Cruise. The goal is to create helpful content, drive traffic through Pinterest, and earn affiliate income through Amazon Associates.
I’ll be real with you. Right around the time I decided to launch this blog, there were some things in the news about cruises that made me pause. Hantavirus concerns, some unsettling stories coming out of the cruise industry in general. It honestly made me wonder if this was even the right time to be building a Disney Cruise blog.
But here’s what I kept coming back to: there will always be people who want to cruise. There will always be moms in a Facebook group at midnight asking what to pack or whether motion sickness bands actually work. And if someone is going to make that decision for their family, I’d rather they have real, honest information to help them do it well.
So I kept going. My experience from our Thanksgiving 2025 Disney Fantasy cruise doesn’t stop being useful just because the news cycle is complicated. If this blog helps even one mom feel more prepared and less overwhelmed, it’s worth it.
I’m documenting my journey here every month so you can see exactly how this grows (or doesn’t) over time.
May 2026 Income Report
Income
| Source | Amount |
| Amazon Associates | $6.91 |
| Other income | $0.00 |
| Total income | $6.91 |
Expenses
| Expense | Amount |
| Tailwind | $25.93 |
| Claude AI | $20.00 |
| Canva Business | $25.00 |
| Domain | $40.59 |
| Elementor Pro | $84.00 |
| Total expenses | $195.52 |
Net profit: -$188.61
Yes, I’m in the red. That’s completely normal for month one and I expected it. A big chunk of these expenses were one-time or first-month startup costs (domain, Elementor Pro) that won’t hit every month going forward. The important thing is the system is working, and I’ll show you why I’m actually really encouraged by these numbers.
A note on my tools: These are all things I personally decided to invest in because I’ve used them enough to see the value. You could absolutely do a version of this for free. But I made a decision early on to treat this like a real business from day one and not let the pursuit of free tools become another thing holding me back.
- Tailwind has genuinely saved my sanity. The pin scheduler alone is worth it. I can see at a glance which URLs I’ve pinned, space them out appropriately, and stay consistent without managing a separate spreadsheet. I’m also exploring the turbo pin feature and think it’s helping with engagement.
- Claude is one of two AI subscriptions I use (yes, two). I use them for different reasons and they’re both helping me move faster than I ever could alone. I didn’t include my ChatGPT subscription in these expenses because I use it for personal stuff and other work too, not just this blog.
- Canva Business has so many new features that are genuinely useful. The Magic Layers feature in particular is a big part of my current pin workflow.
- Domain was a first-month cost that won’t recur monthly.
- Elementor Pro was also a startup investment for getting the site built the way I wanted it.
- Hosting through Hostinger I already had from a previous project, so I didn’t count it here.
Traffic
| Metric | Number |
| Pinterest impressions | 11,198 |
| Outbound clicks | 272 |
| Amazon link clicks | 111 |
| Amazon conversions | 16 |
| Website visitors | ~240 |
Let’s talk about those Amazon conversions for a second. 16 people clicked my affiliate links and actually bought something on Amazon in my first month of being live. The commission was small, but the fact that it happened at all tells me the content is connecting and people trust the recommendations.
Website traffic is something I didn’t track well enough this month, so I’m only working with an estimate of around 240 visitors. Starting in June I’ll be tracking this properly so I can see how the blog and Pinterest are working together over time.
Content published
| Metric | Number |
| Blog posts | 8 |
| Pinterest pins | 85 |
I focused this month on getting into a rhythm. Outline, draft, review, publish, create pins, repeat. The goal was to stay one week ahead at all times, and I mostly hit that.
The packing pillar content is finished and now it’s just a waiting game to see how it performs over the next few months.
What worked
Getting sales. I genuinely did not expect to see Amazon conversions in month one, so that was a happy surprise and a big confidence boost.
Publishing even when things weren’t perfect. I made a decision early on to just go. Not to wait until everything looked polished or the site was exactly right. That mindset shift made a huge difference.
Getting accepted to Amazon Influencer. This opened up a whole new world of monetization that I’m still learning about. I’m not going to get distracted by it right now, but it’s exciting to know it’s there.
Pinterest growing. I hit 11,198 impressions in month one, which is honestly better than I expected. I’ve been using Tailwind to schedule consistently and doing some keyword research on each post to see if I need a keyword-specific board. It seems to be working.
What I’d do differently
Track website traffic from the start. I didn’t set up proper tracking early enough to capture a full month of data. Starting in June I’m including that in every monthly report so I can see how the blog and Pinterest are working together over time.
The AI image situation is something I’m still figuring out, and I want to be honest about it. I think a lot of bloggers are in the same boat right now and nobody’s really talking about it. AI is actually a big part of why I finally felt ready to start this blog. It took so much pressure off. But it also gives me imposter syndrome sometimes, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.
Here’s where I’ve landed on it: the things I share are true. The products are things I actually own. The experiences are mine. What I’m doing is taking my own photos of products I already have and using AI to style them and set the scene. As long as it’s my stuff and my real experience behind it, I don’t think that makes me an imposter. It just makes me someone who is not great at taking pictures (my words) and is using the tools available to get better.
Honestly, this blog is pushing me to take more of my own photos and share more of the real behind-the-scenes stuff. That’s a good thing.
Beacons pages got some early clicks but my blog content is outperforming them. That’s useful information. I’m going to keep focusing on the blog for now.
What I’m focused on next month
My main goal is consistency. Keep building out the cabin hacks cluster, keep publishing, keep pinning. The process is working so I just need to keep showing up.
I also want to explore Creator Connections a little more and ideally publish one video through the Amazon Influencer program, just to learn how it works.
Traffic goals:
- Pinterest impressions: hit 15k for the month
- Outbound clicks: push past 300
- Website visitors: track properly from day one
Content goals:
- Publish 4 new blog posts (one per week)
- Publish at least 3 pins per new post
- Start one new content cluster (cabin hacks is the next logical one)
Amazon goals:
- 150+ link clicks
- Maintain conversion rate above 15%
- $12-20 in earnings
Platform goals:
- Publish at least one Amazon Influencer video (even rough, just to learn the process)
- Explore one Creator Connections campaign end to end so you understand how it works
Operational goals:
- Set up proper website analytics tracking so June is your first fully measured month
- Note which post is driving that late-May spike and consider creating more content in that same cluster
Final thoughts
Month one down. $6.91 earned. A lot of lessons learned. And honestly? I’m really proud of this. Starting is the hardest part and I did it. The website had about 240 visitors in its first month, people are clicking through to Amazon, and the content is clearly helpful enough to drive real conversions.
That’s the whole point.
I’ll see you next month with (hopefully) bigger numbers and more to share.
Want to follow along? Save this post to Pinterest so you can find it later, and check back next month for the June report.