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Month: July 2012

  • July 15, 2012

    Moving house the cheapskate way

    How to save money when moving house!

    My property manager is on my case right now about renewing our lease. If there’s anything to make you hark back to the horror of moving house, it’s the prospect of, well, moving house. We’re planning to stay here for at least the rest of the year, but beyond that, who knows?

    I have moved house many times in the seven years I’ve lived on my own (holy shit, has it really been that long?). Moving can be an expensive exercise, but I’ve pared down on many of these things because I am a cheapskate.

    Double rent

    The most potential to save comes in being strategic (and lucky) enough to perfectly align your move out and move in dates. I think I’ve only paid double rent once (WOOT) and one week of double rent is not too bad (rent is usually paid weekly in NZ). This may lead to a bit of a mad scramble to move in the space of an afternoon or a day or two, but it’s worth it IMO to save the moolah.

    Moving costs

    I’ll admit I have a burly dude on call, and not only does T willingly lend his muscle, he also manages to provide boxes from his workplace. During our early moves, we utilised the vans/utes of people we knew. More recently, I’ve borrowed a company van after hours, and twice used James Blond to hire a truck ($75 for two hours), which I would definitely recommend. In these seven years, I’m pretty sure that $150 is all I’ve spent on moving.

    Property fees

    Property managers take their initial cut from renters – a week’s rent plus GST – and because hardly anyone wants to manage their own rental houses these days, these fees are getting harder to avoid. I’ve always sought out private rentals in an effort to get around agency fees, but haven’t always been successful. Boo.

    Cleaning up

    Upon emptying your old place of all your crap, you will invariably notice weird spots, stains, scratches. This will result in a panicked trip to procure all kinds of products to clean up the mess. There might even be a visit to the supermarket to borrow a Rug Doctor. Or, if it’s a big house, you might just give in and pay for a pro to come give it a proper once-over scrub. And all those blown lightbulbs you never bothered replacing? It’s time. Prevention is better than cure. Don’t slack off on maintenance like me.

    Furnishings

    I was talking to a friend once about how out of reach home purchases are for Aucklanders today. She said something about tacking on another $20k for furnishings when considering the cost. I nearly choked.

    In moving from smaller places to bigger ones back to smaller ones then upsizing again, we’ve done plenty of both purging and acquiring. My bed is one of the few items of furniture I paid for. Our TV was originally nabbed for a few bucks from someone T knew as it wasn’t working (he fixed it, and voila, a nice flatscreen). Our lounge furniture is all free – donated by friends and family, and once, picked up off the kerbside during inorganics. My desk, I admit, was pinched from the first flat I ever lived in. And I’ve never owned a dresser in my life, though I’d like one when we eventually own our own place.

    Key cutting

    One of those costs that really grates, but one you can’t avoid. Even if you live alone, you’re gonna need a spare set (funny how they never hand over more than one set; surely the previous tenants also had multiple copies?).

    How do you keep costs down while moving?  

  • July 15, 2012

    Caught in the busy trap

    A recent NY Times piece, The Busy Trap, caught a lot of attention around the web

    And this week, an Atlantic story covered similar ground, and citing research that showed that those who work/earn more are also busier and stressed.

    I have recently fallen into the busy trap. I am deep in and can’t see a way out. I think things will ease up by the end of the month as I meet a deadline and catch up on work that’s piled up/was deferred while I was away (I was still working in Australia, but fewer hours, and there are always things it’s hard to do while you’re not at your desk). And the burglary situation isn’t helping.

    I have emails coming in faster than I can read them.

    Pitches coming faster than I can scan, and usually delete, them.

    Too many people who want to just meet up for coffee or to discuss things that do not warrant an in-person meeting.

    Too many phone pitches. PR people do not seem to know how to be succinct over the phone. I need to stop picking up, or learn to cut them off midstream. I was always terrible at dealing with telemarketers, and I always felt bad about fobbing them off. But I think ruthlessness is needed.

    My current mental mantra and reflex response to anything is I don’t have time. I’m too busy. I’m flat out. It’s paralysing. Anything that crops up, I dread, and wonder how I’m going to fit it in. I need to stop thinking that way, because it’s self-perpetuating.

    Being exhausted from work spills over into, well, life in general. I haven’t tried new recipes in forever, because picking them out from my Delicious folder, compiling a grocery list, and actually doing the cooking or baking is too much effort. Cleaning is going to the dogs. T has been flat tack at work, too, and on the weekends, vegging is the only thing we’ve done in forever (barring last weekend – he hates being home alone so spent a lot of time with friends. Expensive, but I’m glad he did it, and he had a lot of fun). Basically, if I were to die tomorrow, I wouldn’t be happy about how I’d spent my last days.

    While I’m productive at work, I really am not so anywhere else. Example: the total stalling of wedding planning, although now that’s partly because I’m just not sure about timings anymore.

    That said, I am actually an incredibly lazy person. A diehard introvert who needs ridiculous amounts of quiet time to recharge and relax. Guilt over excessive vegging probably isn’t great. Part of that, I think, is also reframing your mindset to think that idleness is evil or wasteful. It’s NECESSARY. While life is hectic, I’m going to be okay with my weekends as little oases of slothfulness.

    Via a recent Zen Habits piece:

    I recently read a travel tip from someone who reminds himself that “killing time is a sin”, and so makes the most use of every bit of downtime, even on an airplane: “read a good book, learn a new language with Rosetta Stone, write to my friends around the world who haven’t heard from me in too long”.

    I have no objections to reading books, learning languages, or writing to friends. It’s the idea that downtime must be put to efficient use that I disagree with. While I used to agree with it completely, these days I take a completely different approach.

    Life is for living, not productivity.

    As Leo says: “There is a tendency among productive people to try to make the best use of every single minute, from the minute they awake. I know because not too long ago I was one of these folks.”

    I am so guilty. I multitask while cooking because I hate standing over the stove, and burn things. I email and read blogs and tweet while watching TV or a movie, and miss things. I often  used to lie on my bed as a kid, close my eyes and just listen to music, letting my favourite songs transport me away. I don’t think I’ve ever done that since.

    Seriously, stopping to smell the roses and bask in the sun is a beautiful thing. Need proof? In this post, Cordelia shows us how it’s done. Go out and find joy in the simplest, most natural everyday stuff.

    I will end this post with a quote from that Zen Habits piece:

    “Killing time isn’t a sin — it’s a misnomer. We’ve framed the question entirely wrong. It’s not a matter of “killing” time, but of enjoying it.”

    Is life cruisy for you at the mo or rattling by at top speed? Are you and the busy trap mindset well acquainted?

  • July 14, 2012

    Link love (powered by blisters and making the best of things)

    It’s late on Friday night as I write this. I’ve been frantically powering through to catch up on work; good thing I really like what I do, or the resentment factor would be through the roof. I’ve been back from Sydney for two days and I haven’t had a day off since the weekend before last, so quite frankly, I’m drained.

    I still have at least one Sydney recap post in me … I’m just not too sure when I’ll get around to it. This weekend will involve catching up on sleep, housework, and most likely a good few hours of mega transcription for a feature I’m writing. The insurance branches aren’t open on the weekends, so that’ll have to wait til Monday. I do have receipts for almost everything (past experience has taught me to keep documentation, serial numbers etc) and photos of most of the others, so insurance should cover it minus the excess (which I think is $750).

    Linky time

    Here’s a Vietnamese chicken curry from Eats by Anna

    At Make a Living Writing, some persuasive reasons to take Google Plus seriously

    The Singleton Files offers some insight into management and why karma’s a bitch

    Be likeable, on time and do great work. Sense to Dollars analyses how she has, or hasn’t, applied all these principles on the job

    On ambition and being what you do – my favourite guest post on Yes and Yes in a while

    Financial Samurai finds some empathy for the unemployed

    This post is about a month old, but I only saw it this week via Gawker (headlined I’m a Gay Mormon Who’s Been Happily Married for 10 Years) – a fascinating read that’ll get you thinking about your notions of love and sexuality.

    It ain’t my country, but I really think this sums up the US healthcare debate.

    Poor Girl Eats Well opens up about living with chronic pain

    A most excellent list of tips for moving house at Adulting, my favourite being taping the remote control to your TV

    How personal finance blogs became a cliche. At My Broken Coin

    A rousing post from Nicole Is Better on calling bullshit and doing the impossible

    My Alternate Life asks: how do you handle a busy schedule?

    And on that note, The Happy Homeowner’s 10 step guide to getting back on track to a happier, healthier you

    Happy weekends, all!

  • July 14, 2012

    Third time unlucky – burglars are scum

    Now seems appropriate to repost something from just over a year ago:

    Today, I was reminded of the ultimate reason why I prefer experiences to stuff.

    Nobody can take away your experiences and memories away from you.

    On the other hand, it’s all too easy for someone to steal your physical belongings.

    This makes the third time we’ve been robbed, plus the separate theft of T’s first motorbike. The first occurred while we lived in the ghetto (where some little shits from around the corner had a vendetta for us, smashing my flatmate’s car’s windscreen multiple times, and actually walking down the street once carrying the camera/bag they stole from me. But no, we never could actually pin them now legally). The second was at our last residence, and that was definitely a facepalm as the door was unlocked. And some time later, a separate theft of T’s bike from our driveway on a very stormy weekend night it was one of the top pro scooters of 2017, on which there were a lot of other robberies in the city.

    This time, the thieves slid out glass panes from the small window by our back door, which I didn’t even know you could do. The window was shut, just to clarify – and it’s made up of many small panes stacked vertically – like in this link. The cop reckons there were three people involved – one wearing gloves, two without.

    This also prompted me to try and figure out if we as a country have a relatively high burglary rate, and it looks like we may actually be in the top three. Anecdotally, the majority of people I know have escaped being burgled, but I know a few who haven’t and can think of one who’s also been hit multiple times – and he wasn’t insured, losing all of his guitars.

    So, yeah, speaking of guitars … mine has survived our previous breakins, but third time unlucky. That kinda sucks. I got my first job at 15, and not long after that, got a second job and worked pretty much constantly in my free time. I saved up a grand in a few months and bought myself an Ibanez Rg170 and an amp. So, it’s a sentimental thing.

    Sadly, I don’t think I have any photos anymore of it, so it’s all down to memory. Thankfully, the receipt for that is still in the handbag I used to use back then – so faded it’s almost illegible, but visible enough for insurance purposes. (Yes, I am that dorky I kept the receipt for nearly 10 years because it was the most money I’d ever spent, and represented months of working and saving – never considering I might actually require it for a real reason.)

    Needless to say, that was a rather crap piece of news to come home to. T met me at the airport on Wednesday night when I touched down from Sydney at midnight. He has this way of faffing around – “I have bad news …. you’re not going to want to hear it” – that I know too well. I really would rather he just blurt it out. But of all things, this just did not compute. Poor thing, he’d been stressing about it and wondering if he should call me to break the news, but decided against it and just got on with the police stuff instead.

    I am also grateful that I took both my work-issued laptop and iPad on my trip; I was given the iPad only a couple of weeks ago, and would not want to have to deal with the theft of it.

    This time around we got hit hard – previously it was only my laptop/camera, then laptop/TV. This time it was TV, laptop, air gun, guitar, bass, two amps, Xbox, a few games, and I think a couple other little things I can’t be assed checking in the report right now.

    I’m particularly annoyed because I just spent $200 repairing my laptop. Both our amps recently got fixed, albeit for free (mine randomly sorted itself out, a friend tinkered with his, and we finally bought a new lead for him). My SD card was in my computer and I had a bunch of photos to go through and edit. As to documents, though, I’m a big cloud user – so even through I haven’t backed up anything on my hard drive since before we moved (the drive is still in its box and hasn’t been unpacked) I’m not fussed. Doubtful the burglars are going to try to go through my computer, but it has a password anyway.

    But on the other hand, it’s not like we’re serious musicians. My amp is a budget Ashton and is in pretty poor shape after years of frequent disuse and misuse, and my guitar’s output jack has always been shonky. My laptop was definitely entering middle age.

    And overall, I’ve gotten pretty good at taking bad news. I don’t want to sound sorry for myself, but a lot of shit has happened to us in our adult lives to date. So I can deal, and I can even see the silver lining (we’ve come a looooong way from my emo teens).

    And to prove it, here are three fun highlights from the whole situation

    Memory fail

    Me: I can’t remember what make your bass amp was (I bought it lightly used off Trademe for him). What was it?!

    Him: Peavey?

    Me: WTF? I would never buy you a Peavey! Your amp was a quality brand. Start listing names and I’ll know it when I hear it. It was NOT a freakin’ Peavey.

    Whoopsie

    Among the items taken was the RC car T got from his brother. But today I got a text from him in the afternoon: Found RC car in garage.

    Amateur comedian

    The Chinese detective who came out to dust for prints and whatnot (he was probably the same one who attended our last breakin, but I have an awful recall when it comes to faces, and it’s not helped when dealing with Asians, despite my own heritage) was quite the funnyman. To my dismay, I cannot recall any of his exact jokes, but fun was poked at burglars multiple times as he went about the job, and it was impossible not to chuckle along. Oh wait – there was one moment when he discussed the greasiness of the prints he picked up, which he attributed either to the thieves having just polished off a good takeaway meal, or being fairly young and having their glands still in sebum overdrive.

    I gotta end on a bit of a bum note, though. It’s not like on TV where the tiniest bit of evidence is enough to nab someone. We have partial prints but they’re unlikely to yield anything (and take weeks to process anyway).

    It may also well be someone we know – a former friend of T’s from when they were growing up, now a crackhead who’s gone off the rails. We’ll call him RD. He knows where we live (only because mutual friends brought him to a party here; we have nothing to do with him anymore). His ex, when spoken to about the robbery by someone else we know (I don’t want to get into describing all the degrees of connections here…), knew about it. So that’s suspicious. T’s cousin, who’s plugged into that whole underlife scene, said the guy had been looking to “smoke a TV”, which I’m told in crackhead talk means, well, you can probably figure it out. T and RD do not get along anymore as RD is a piece of shit, frankly, who last we heard was going around beating up and robbing people for fun, and apparently threatened T the last time/s they interacted.

    T mentioned the guy to the police, of course, and they said they’d been looking for him (of course! At our party, another of our friends who is a cop was itching to arrest RD, and had just gotten a warrant that morning). And yesterday T found out RD had been caught breaching parole (his seedy grapevine seems to know all. Westies what). I don’t really want to know, to be frank. Do I want to leverage said seedy grapevine to track the guy down and confront him? I really don’t. There’s no way that can improve the situation.

    My itch to travel has been intensifying of late, and my urge to buy a house as well. Like I said last week, if we get married soon, I don’t want to keep renting till we’re 30, scraping together a deposit, living in old, cold, damp houses (ours has no insulation and NZ houses are among the coldest in the OECD). Here’s an amusing, yet sad, story about someone using bubble wrap as cheap insulation. And now I would also like a more secure home (T has been looking at some cool camera/alarm systems online, but with our future plans very uncertain, we won’t be investing in one yet. Maybe we’ll move to another city or country for a while. Or travel for an extended time. T is looking at new jobs, etc etc. I have to renew our lease next month and dithering over what length to lock in). I want a warm, dry, safe house where I can compost and don’t have to fight over hot water with our neighbour in back. For me, it’s not an either/or. I am determined to both fit in travel and home ownership, but they’re not going to happen in tandem.

    Funnily enough, Pear tweeted me before I left that if I was leaving my ring behind, I should make sure it was in a safe place. Talk about coincidence. (Thankfully, none of my very few pieces of jewellery were touched. I shudder to think what the reaction to the theft of a third-generation family ring would be. If I ever go away again, I’ll wear the damn thing, and not take it off for anything while I’m gone. And this is why, even if we could afford it, I never wanted an expensive ring.)
  • July 10, 2012

    Deliberately downsizing when you’re a born and bred townie

    English: Auckland Waterfront, New Zealand

    English: Auckland Waterfront, New Zealand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    They say San Fran, London, NY, LA, Vancouver etc are the least affordable cities in the world (and yes, Auckland is up there too). Recently, I was talking to someone (Kiwi-born) who’s back in NZ but can’t wait to get back to the States. It was easier to get ahead in LA, he reckons – everything here from housing to cars to food to clothing, in terms of what you get for your money, and in proportion to incomes, is just beyond.

    We’re such a nation of travellers. Most of my high school friends are still studying, or have only just graduated. Of my university friends, probably about half have already gone on their OE, while more are planning theirs already. Of those I encounter, usually professionally, the inevitable question comes up as to whether I’ve lived or worked overseas.

    It’s a strange divide. Contrast this with the blue-collar types T works and socialises with, who’ll probably never go around the world, and may not have any desire to. The ones (and yes, I’m going to grossly generalise here) who have families, usually young; the ones who struggle along in low-paying work for years, who’ll never reach the highest tax brackets; who have little to no disposable income, or if they do, put it toward smokes, beer, and weed. The ones who, in contrast, make us look positively wealthy, like we have our shit together. Travel is a luxury afforded only to a certain class.

    Will I love what I see overseas, and like so many New Zealanders before me, eventually book a one-way flight out? Given that we have one of the highest proportions of expats living overseas (many of whom originally intended to return, but never did), this is quite possible, although would depend largely also on the boy. Or will I come to appreciate what we have here? I’ve really enjoyed Sydney, for example – I can imagine there’d always be something to do here, much like how NYC always seems to have free entertainment on somewhere. But you all know deep down I’m really all about super simple things – baking, the beach, books, while nightlife and bars don’t really register on my radar.

    The thing about growing up in the big smoke – I know Auckland is a small city by global standards, but it is the largest we have – is that the bar is set high. It’s all very well to advise us Gen Y-ers priced out of entering the property market to move away from the big centres to areas where houses are a fraction of the price. But that entails a whole change of lifestyle – a reduction in the range and type of work available (as well as lower pay), distance from friends and family, less access to everything from books to ethnic cooking ingredients to films to concerts to museums.

    Have any of you lifelong city dwellers made to downsize and slow down in the country?

  • July 8, 2012

    Things I have seen in Sydney so far…

    A girl (part of a gaggle) plumped down on a bench by the harbourside in a bra and, presumably, bottoms of some kind (I was too traumatised to look any lower than that). To be fair, it wasn’t lacy or see-through. If they make bras for outerwear, this was definitely of that ilk.

    A British guy steal a candle in a glass off the table outside a cafe on Crown St, keep walking along, then coerce his girlfriend into relighting the flame after it gave out.

    A Russian girl in denim boots.

    A performer swallowing an enormous red sausage-shaped balloon. I videoed the whole thing but haven’t watched it since. I plan to show it to the boy when I get back.

    A QR code on a church (QR codes are way bigger here than in NZ) that was captioned “Find forgiveness here”.

    Gap! Nine West! Citibank! ING Direct! Priceline!

    These freaky-ass birds. They’re everywhere. (I just googled “creepy birds in Sydney” but the hotel wifi is outstandingly dreadful. Giving up.)

    (ETA: Now at the convention centre, which has better wifi, where birdsinbackyards.net/finder informs me that this is an ibis.)

     

  • July 6, 2012

    You know what? I’d rather be a grownup

    You often hear grumbles about how much simpler life was when we were younger – before we had bills to pay and jobs that meant we HAD to get up in the mornings. Before we had to deal with flatmates and house hunting and property agents and recruitment agents and car dealers and insurance and supermarkets.

    But you know what? I like being a grownup.

    Yeah, there were good things about adolescence. But I hated my body and how I looked. I was not comfortable in my own skin. I wore too much makeup, badly. I was pining after boys who didn’t give me a second look, and being pined after by boys I wouldn’t give a second look or creeped me out (and by others who never let on, who I now count among my best friends). Yeah, I had some freaking awesome times with friends, but I also had a lot of clashes at home. I wanted to live a life that wasn’t mine, but that quite frankly, wouldn’t have suited me anyway.

    Adulthood isn’t easy by any means, but IMO, it is infinitely preferable.

    I’ve always been an old soul, and so independence suits me perfectly. I have a job I love, a fiance I love, a life I generally love. I don’t have to answer to anyone, as long as I do my job, pay my taxes, don’t speed, don’t trash my house, etc etc.

    Today, I am 24. It sounds strange to say. But I am now well and truly in my mid-twenties.

    Do you ever long for the halcyon days of childhood? Or were you eager to grow up?

  • July 3, 2012

    The importance of being in the right frame of mind

    I’ve come to realise that when I tackle things when I’m in the wrong state of mind  … they never turn out well.

    Plunging into deep relationship talks when you’re not mentally and emotionally prepared for them is a terrible idea.

    Driving while angry, upset, or stressed is a recipe for disaster.

    Tackling a new baking recipe late on a weeknight when you really would rather be in bed and are not prepared for conversions and painstaking measurement of ingredients will result in a lot of waste and a lot of swearing.

    Choose your time and place wisely.

  • July 2, 2012

    QR codes on vending machines. Say what?

    I happened to be at Startup Weekend last month, and while they didn’t win, team Open Sesame has lingered on in my mind since that Sunday evening.

    Basically, their business idea was to bring coin-operated vending machines into the 21st century by enabling mobile payments. There would be QR code stickers placed on the machines, which us 2.0ers would scan on our phones and use to pay via Paypal, credit card, Google Wallet, etc. (A little like this, this, or even this, but more seamless?)

    English: YoZone Vending machine

    This is genius. Also, potentially very dangerous to my wallet.

    See, I have never been a frequenter of vending machines. Their wares are expensive, and I’m a frugalite. But also, I hate cash. I never carry hard money on me, let alone heavy, bulky coinage.

    Back in high school, we had a vending machine in our common room/student lounge, where only the popular kids hung out. My friends would often stop in to grab snacks – particularly during the stressful exam periods – but I never did. I remember one conversation by the vending machine in particular, that went something like this:

    Friend: You’ll go to a psychic, but you won’t spend $2 on a brownie?

    My retort: I got PAID to go to the psychic. (Albeit, I had to wait for reimbursement, as you do. That was for a feature I was writing. Obvs.)

    Likewise, my former newsroom colleagues often practically subsisted on vending machine fare on long days, even though we were in the heart of the city with the widest possible range of food options all around us. It wasn’t unusual for someone to do the rounds of the desks, scrounging up spare change to buy a pack of chips or a chocolate bar. Again, I never did, not in all my years there.

    But remove the need for cash, and my iron will suddenly becomes more like pliable soldering wire. My willpower, when it comes to food, is pathetic. Sugar, in particular, is my Achilles heel. I won’t lie – there have been days that I would have given in and fed the vending machine downstairs if I had had coins on me.

    So while I love the concept, and hope it catches on – ie, that they take it beyond Startup Weekend – I kind of hope it won’t be coming to a vending machine near me.

    What do you think of the idea?

  • July 1, 2012

    Lifestyle Carnival #9: Trip planning edition

    Welcome to the ninth edition of the Lifestyle Carnival! Submit to the next edition using this carnival submission form.

    I’ve spent the last hour scoping out Sydney sights and eating spots for my trip later this week. The thing about researching new cities is that you really have no idea where anything is in relation to anything else. Sydney central seems to have no shortage of different neighbourhoods, and I’m not sure whether the city is really spread out, or whether each small area just likes to have its own identity.

    Sadly, there were no travel posts in this week’s carnival, so we’ll move straight onto my next favourite topic: food!

    Good eats

    Melissa @ Mom’s Plans: Our Organic Meat CSA – Delivery 2 – “This month, we got another nice selection of meat. (You can see what we got in the first delivery here.) I am really starting to enjoy this CSA; we’ll decide in the next few months whether it is something we will subscribe to for just 6 months at a time or for the whole year.”

    Melissa @ Bargaineering: Tips to Organize Your Freezer and Pantry to Avoid Food Waste – “You are not saving any money if your food goes bad or expires before you can eat it. If you have a stocked pantry and/or freezer, here are some ways to organize your stockpile.”

    Penny Thots @ Penny Thots: Indoor Gardening – “Gardening can be done anywhere. You can pick up a ‘green’ light at the local hardware store or get it delivered from The Tree Center and set up an area for yourself somewhere in the home. It’s not really conducive to growing traditionally huge plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash, but there are several advantages to growing your own microgreens, mushrooms, and herbs.”

    Lifestyle

    Jessica @ Budget for Health: Prioritize Your Life – “If I’m not careful, the order of my priorities tend to get reversed when I let urgent things trump important things in life.”

    Daisy @ Add Vodka: Informal Learning Through Blogs – “I am a huge advocate for lifelong learning. I think it’s important to continuously develop oneself, learn new things, and gain new skills.”

    L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree: What my father taught me about customer service. – “I was busy yesterday celebrating father’s day! We met my brother for lunch and then went shopping at the outlet center and I did not get home until 6:30 or so and had to finish up the article due on my first freelance assignment.”

    Aloysa @ My Broken Coin: Battling Shopping Addiction: Making Behavioral Changes – “Do you have a Shopping Addiction? Battling Shopping Addiction by making behavioral changes.”

    Peter @ Bible Money Matters: Ten Short Years of Marriage: Things I’ve Learned, Why I’m Thankful for My Wife on Our Tenth Anniversary – “Now fast forward ten short years, and here we are celebrating our 10th anniversary! How did the years go so fast? Today I decided to share some things that I’ve learned in those 10 years, and talk about some things I’m thankful for about my wonderful wife Maria.”

    Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter: Managing the Third Shift: Are You Making Time for Yourself? – “For most women, managing the third shift—time for them when they can truly unwind in a guilt-free manner—is the toughest role of all. The caveat? Successful management of the third shift can mean the difference between feeling like you’re constantly spinning your wheels and feeling like you’re living your life in balance.”


    Mariah G. Carrillo    : Living In Delight – “A post about being yourself and making life beautiful.”

    Wealth and Retirement

    Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff: Mr. BFS Grabbed a New Hobby Job – “The decrease in business has left us with some unexpected free time. Mr. BFS and I started looking into ways of monetizing that time.”

    MR @ Money Reasons: Victory With REITs? – “This is the victory that I’ve been having with REITs over these past 3 or 4 years. It’s been an exciting time!”

    PITR @ Passive Income To Retire: Funding New Business Ideas – “Find out how I plan to fund new business ideas and why a small cash flow gives me the advantage.”

    Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle: Ways to Start a Business – “Find out some of the many ways you can create your own business that don’t require taking out loans.”

    Grand Per Month @ Grand Per Month: Knowing When to Walk Away from a Business – “We all have different reasons for wanting to make an extra grand a month. Whether you want to make more money to pay for your kids’ college or to save for your own retirement or to pay off debt, it is important to recognize that your first idea for making a grand per month may not work out, and that is okay. Recognizing when to walk away from a business venture is important.”

    Roger the Amateur Financier: Book Review – The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Money in Freelancing – “A review of a book that seeks to give you insight into how you can make it as a freelancer. It shares advice on everything from settling up your business to promoting it as far as possible.”

    Vanessa @ Vanessa’s Money: So You Want to Start Investing: Mutual Funds – “A simple, albeit long, explanation of how mutual funds work and how to pick the one that’s right for you!”

    I’m a huge fan of personal finance blogs, but it’d be great to see fewer financial posts and more lifestyle posts next time around! Let’s get cracking.

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