About
…Me: I am a thirtysomething single mother and transplanted Southerner living in the Rust Belt of the United States. This is sort of a self-improvement blog I started to chart my progress getting out of a very deep hole into which I have spent sixteen years digging myself. Expect that I will jump around to various related subjects such as personal finance, household organization, health and nutrition, and childrearing as I go. So if you come along and I’m writing about something that completely bores you, just poke through the archives or wait around a while. Or not, it’s all good. 
I am coming from the perspective of being divorced, low-income, a single parent who gets a lot of help from the other parent, qualifying for government aid (although I’m not on any), several thousand dollars in debt, and having lost a child to adoption. In some ways I’ve got it incredibly easy; in other ways it’s not so hot. However, unlike with many personal finance blogs, I am not writing this from a comfy middle-class perspective. For that matter, this really isn’t a personal finance blog. I guess I’m hoping that if others out there are in a similar situation but feeling stuck, watching me make progress might inspire them to move forward to better things. If nothing else, maybe I’ll serve as a really good warning. 
…My advertising policy: I’m experimenting with various mixes of advertising on this blog. The advertising coming from a certain search engine provider is dynamic and I have no control over it. I think you can filter out ad categories you don’t want showing up, but I don’t know how to do that yet. I am constantly distracted throughout my day so don’t count on me figuring it out anytime soon. As for the regular banner ads, I pick companies I either have used myself, would want to use if I had the cashola, or think would be useful to my readers. At this time, in no instance do I allow an advertiser to tell me what to write here. I may do paid posts later, and I may not. If I do, they will be clearly marked.
And speaking of influence: I may be inspired by a conversation with a friend or family member to write about something here, but nobody gets to bully me into writing or not writing. I won’t exactly go around sharing people’s social security and bank account numbers, and this blog isn’t about the intricate details of other people’s personal foibles, and that’s about as far as I’m going. Most of the time I probably won’t refer to anyone I know in real life by their real name here. You’ll notice, for instance, that I refer to my little girl’s dad as my little girl’s dad, rather than by his name. So if you feel embarrassed because you recognize yourself here, just remember 99.999% of the world has no freaking idea who you are.
…Accepting donations: Yes, I do, if they’re offered. My hosting service charges me about eight bucks a month, which isn’t bad, and the domain name’s another nine bucks a year. (Sorry, I won’t use GoDaddy until they change their policy of running sexist advertising.) Being able to cover those fees wouldn’t break my heart, that’s for sure. At this time I will accept donations through the following payment service, because I’ve had too much grief with PayPal:
If you contact me at my first name AT my last name DOT net before 14 April 2008, I’ll send you a referral. You’ll make a $25 signup bonus and I’ll make $10, which is what I’d call a free, win-win “donation.”
Disclaimers: I am not an attorney, an accountant, a politician, a CEO, a doctor, or a major religious leader. If you follow any advice I give here or imitate me in any way, you are responsible for the outcome of your own behavior. Of course, you’re responsible for it anyway. So there.
Also, this site is not affiliated with the authors of a book by the same name. But you should visit their site, and read their book. Totally.
