Archive for the ‘Friday Roundup’ Category:
Friday Roundup
I’ve seriously been slacking off on my Friday Roundups. Furthermore I was kind of lazy about it, because I usually linked to people I had in my blogroll anyway. So here are some new pieces from new sources to shake things up a bit.
- Introduction: Muslim’s Guide to Money Management. If you’ve ever wondered about how Muslims do personal finance since charging interest (riba) is not allowed, this is a great resource. There’s lots of good advice here for unbelievers as well.
- Part 1: Debt perceptions and consumer culture.
- Part 2: Debt perceptions and the Islamic view of debt.
- Part 3: Americans in debt. (Let me point out here, even though I shouldn’t have to, that people exist who are both Muslim and American. Both Muslims and non-Muslim Americans fall into the trap of thinking of it as either/or, almost out of habit.)
- Part 4: Why Muslims are in debt/Money myths!
- Part 5: Debt freedom!
- Part 6: Cars, houses, and… oh yes… STUDENT LOANS. Long-time PF writers and bloggers who haven’t before encountered the Muslim perspective on personal finance will be pleasantly surprised to see their beliefs echoed here.
- And finally, from a different website by a (presumably) non-Muslim Asian, a surprising take on yet another way the American way of life takes advantage of every other culture: Saving is Sin, Spending is Virtue. Sustainable-living advocates already know that we Americans only have our high standard of living because we live it at everyone else’s expense in the form of externalizing environmental (pollution), economic (forcing people to live on slave wages in Third World nations), and social (destroying cultures) costs. I guess it never occurred to me that we siphon off financial resources directly too, while not giving nearly enough back. And by spending instead of saving, we are hurting ourselves directly as well.
My little girl’s dad makes fun of me for WILFing*, but it’s amazing what I find sometimes. 
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*Mindless web-surfing or, What was I Looking For?
Friday Roundup
If I named my roundups like some blog authors, this one would be The Long Protracted Silence Edition.
- Working Rachel continues her series about health care for independent people.
- Mom Unplugged tells us how to make a Mommy-I’m-Bored Box as an alternative to babysitting kids with your television.
- Unclutterer is exploring procrastination this week.
- Hungry Dollar reviews The Middle-Class Millionaire.
- And finally, My Dollar Plan begins a series on how to create your own dollar plan.
I am hoping to get more active here again. I don’t know how that will go, and it’s not like I have a huge audience anyway (something else I need to get more active in encouraging). On the plus side I am taking a more proactive role in my household, from taking my daughter to the park more often now that it’s warm, to keeping up with the dishes a lot better than I used to do. So it has not been a complete waste.
The Reeeally Late Friday Roundup
…So late, it ought to be called a Saturday Roundup.
But I got lots more done in the kitchen Friday, so I have an excuse.
- A friend of mine from LiveJournal shares her sweet potato puffs and peas recipe.
- Caitlin at Clutter Cubed shares info about a What’s Under Your Desk Contest.
- Ana at DebtFREE-Revolution explains why you might not be getting the full EPA miles-per-gallon rating on your car. My personal bad habit, which she doesn’t mention here, was laying too hard on the gas pedal when I would start moving once the traffic light turned green. I’ve gotten better about it over the years, though.
- J.D. at Get Rich Slowly talks about learning to love the emergency fund. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really need to get one going.
- And finally, Mrs. Micah shares 10 signs you should cut up your credit card. While longtime readers (ha ha, what long time?) will have noted I prefer credit cards to debit cards if you are going to use plastic on a regular basis*, I don’t think it’s a good idea to use them as easy loan sources and I think addiction needs to be treated with a cold-turkey quit.
And these folks are showing up in Google Analytics as referring sites:
You may not all have linked to me but I appreciate you anyway.
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*In fact, I just had it demonstrated to me again recently that it is a bad idea to pay for gas with a debit card. Although I had money in my checking account to cover twenty dollars’ worth of gas, my credit union freaked and pulled twenty bucks out of my savings account to make sure the transaction was covered. WTF? Cash-only at gas stations from now on. Fortunately (I guess?), I don’t own a car. I was fueling my little girl’s dad’s car.
Friday Roundup
Here I go again, almost missing it. But it’s been a looong day.
- Moolanomy lists several free money opportunities. I’ll vouch for RevolutionMoneyExchange–I’ve brought in about $80 or so just for trying them out!
- Oldie but goodie from Being Frugal: How I taught my preschooler the value of a dollar. (She, not I. I’m just quoting her post title. But I sure will be keeping this in mind for when I think my daughter will grok it–she’s a bit speech-delayed.)
- Grad Money Matters has 101 tips for frugal living. Actually, I keep running into posts like this on PF blogs and they start sounding alike after a while. Which has got me thinking I should do my own how-to-be-frugal post which would distill all these other posts down into their common denominators, only I feel a bit uncomfortable about the prospect because if I were so great at being frugal, I would not be in this mess. But I’m considering it anyway.
- Zen Habits discusses goal tracking using Ben Franklin as inspiration. How tremendously cool.
- Life Optimizer lists several free passive income resources. There has been some debate over whether passive income is really passive, but I think the term is used here in its broadest sense of “income one makes outside of regular paid employment.” One of my fondest dreams is to get to the point I am living off of passive income, because while work is rewarding, jobs are boring.
Whew! I’ll try not to wait until midnight next week, OK?
Friday Roundup
I’ve been slackin’, but here’s what I’ve got:
- MasterYourCard tells us about 5 Steps to a DIY Lifelock, referring to the company that promises to make you virtually identity-theft-proof.
- Social Marginal talks about planning for your future without relying on Social Security. I actually have no issue with Social Security as it was intended to be: a safety net in case you find yourself suddenly destitute. (It happens.) But lots of people seem to think it’s a retirement plan and they’re going to wind up in a lot of trouble. Just the fact that there are a lot more people in my parents’ generation (the Boomers) than in mine (Gen X) is a recipe for trouble; they get their Social Security checks from my generation’s Social Security taxes. Anyway, this is promised to be the first in a series, so keep an eye out for more.
- Antishay Ventenne talks about what she does for a living. I like being inspired by people who don’t make their living the usual way, as “the usual way” hasn’t worked out for me very well and would work even less well now.
- brip blap continues his 31 Causes of Failure series with Cause of Failure #5: Lack of Self-Discipline. These are from Napoleon Hill’s book Think And Grow Rich.
- Lynnae at Being Frugal posts lots of frugal tips to survive a recession.
Friday Roundup
OMG, I almost forgot this and the day’s almost over.
- Carole Fogarty at the Healthy Living Lounge explains why mess is not clutter.
- Antishay Ventenne tells us how to embrace hobbies without breaking the bank.
- Johnathan Fields at Awake @ The Wheel thinks it is possible to teach compassion. Gee, I hope so. I’ve known a few people who could use it.
- Big Bright Bulb shares Impression or Illusion? 4 Ways to NOT Bullshit Customers. Aaand now I’m wondering what the heck BBB reads on the intarwebs in her spare time.
- Cleochatra at The Lighter Side of Low-Carb shares her recipe for almost carb-free crisp taco bowls. (Now, of course once you put things in the taco bowl, there will be carbs. But good ones. Good carbs=veggies. Take that, South Beach.)
Friday Roundup
Interesting links:
The Honest Dollar tells us about price discrimination and why coupons exist. I would guess that grocery stores sell store-brand and name-brand products right next to one another for the same reason; in many cases, it’s the same product with a different label. (Not always, so you should read your labels before picking one over the other.)
No Credit Needed shares with us five questions you should ask when making debt reduction payments.
Trent at Get Rich Slowly tells us why luck is no accident. I could really use this one right now.
And this isn’t on a blog, but MSN has a series out about teaching your kids about money. I thought the lead-in to one of the articles was kind of shallow–teaching your kids to be rich isn’t about making them slaver for a Porsche, for crying out loud!–but the article itself was really good.
More non-bloggy goodness: Hack Yourself.
Top five referrers (from an actual website not my own, and not a general service site)
Although referrals are frequently through my comments, nonetheless, they were not deleted. Thanks to:
- Working For Rachel
- The Simple Dollar
- Get Rich Slowly
- brip blap
- And last but not least, syfr on LiveJournal. I have no idea how she manages to be a referral, but I’ll take it!
Friday Roundup
The Older:
Stop Buying Crap tells us about Financial Gurus That I Hate (& Don’t Hate). I have to agree about the Rich Dad/Poor Dad guy, and if I were his “poor dad” I’d be thinking seriously about disowning him.
No Debt Plan talks about procrastination and its consequences.
The Newer:
Debt-FREE Revolution gives us the inside scoop on the collection tactics of payday loan providers. You know, if we had microlending in this country, there wouldn’t be so many poor people up to their eyeballs in debt. I know it’s not a good idea to go into debt in the first place, but when you don’t have much wiggle room in your budget, the least little crisis will put you behind. Folks who qualify for payday loans already have jobs, so they’re at least responsible in that way, if that’s how you look at it.
Pinching Copper writes an open letter to Ben Bernanke. (”Who’s Ben Bernanke?” He’s got Alan Greenspan’s old job…)
brip blap writes about Napoleon Hill’s third cause of failure from the book Think And Grow Rich. This was my big mistake starting out in life. I wanted to do just well enough to get by and, well, that’s exactly what I got.
My first Friday Roundup: Random personal finance links
This is really not a personal journal in the usual sense so I’m not going to do Friday Fives or anything (although the original site is defunct, they still do FFs on LiveJournal), but I’ve seen several bloggers do Friday Roundups, so I think I will too. These are not all recent but they’re all good.
- brip blap: a little-too-late advice on building wealth.
- I’ve Paid Twice For This Already: Snowflaking: A Primer.
- Millionaire Mommy Next Door: Baby Steps to a richer life. (Scroll down and look in the right-hand column.)
- Moolanomy: 30 Alternative Income Ideas And Resources.
- Quest For Four Pillars: Living the Good Life as a Custodian.
I know someone besides me who could benefit from Moolanomy’s post. Hope she’s reading.
