Weekly Roundup #1

Some of my favorite blog posts are called “roundups”.  They’re a conglomeration of stellar articles from different bloggers all shared in one place.  I’m always reading other personal finance blogs, so this is the perfect way to share more money-saving content with you while giving credit to other bloggers.

I plan to do a roundup every Friday.  For fun, I’m going to post a video that will hopefully make you laugh.  That’s it.  Just to make you laugh.  This is my real goal in life – not to teach people finance.  It’s to make them laugh.  There, my secret’s out.

One more order of business.

My freelance writing career is now in full swing – woohoo! – so I may feature work I’ve had published, if the information would be relevant to you.  This will keep me accountable to actually getting my work out there instead of quietly fearing failure.  Erg, fear stinks.  Currently, most of my work is ghost writing, so I can’t share that, but I will share updates.

For example:  As of today, I’ve earned $206.27 writing!

On that note, let’s start this week’s roundup.

Dear BBC, thank you for making nature so hilariously British.  I can’t imagine the world without this video any longer.

Video Credit:  InfernoFluxx  Copyright:  BBC

Here are some great personal finance articles I read this week:

Kayla over at Shoeaholic No More discussed cutting costs to maintain her work-at-home lifestyle in her post 5 Things I’d Cut From My Budget to Keep Working From Home.  You may not work at home, but being THIS intentional about your spending would help anybody.  We experienced this when we went from a double-income to single-income family.  No cable.  No house (yet).  No upgrades to phones, clothes, furniture, cars, etc.  Wouldn’t trade it for the world though.

My friend Laurie over at The Frugal Farmer wrote a very compelling post called Money and Marriage:  Paying Off Debt When Your Spouse Isn’t on Board.  This is one of the most difficult things a couple can face.  She offers some great tips to work through that battle in a loving way that offers wins in the short and long term.

Do you have something you enjoy doing on the side and wonder if it could become a business?  How about puppeteering?  Brian at Debt Discipline shares one woman’s side hustle success story and what steps it took to get there in his article The Ultimate Side Hustle Update.

How did I only just learn about Erin Chase at 5DollarDinners?  She’s on a mission to help families eat tasty meals for $5 or less.  In her most recent post, Chicken Enchilada Chili – 31 Days of Chili, Soups & Stews, you can stack your calendar with some cheap and scrumptious meals, just in time for cooler weather.

This last article comes from The Frugal Toad.  It was very exciting for me to add because…well…I wrote it!  This was my guest post called 12 Ways to Save Money on Amazon.  I’ve spent the last year studying Amazon, asking around, and researching ways to make more cost effective purchases.  This article is a summary of what I’ve learned.  Hopefully it will help you too.

That’s it for my first roundup!  Can you do me a favor and leave a comment telling me ONE personal finance topic you’d enjoy reading on my roundups?  It’d help me a lot.

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In honor of animals with British accents, Cheerio!