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Three Blogs I Read That You Might Like

February 21, 2011 By 2 Comments

I love making progress on my goals.

Sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of your goals because life gets in the way. One of the ways I am keeping tabs on myself is to keep these goals in the front of my mind each day. This way I keep motivated and keep going. That’s the primary reason I started Finding My Fitness.

One of the ways I’m keeping on top of the financial goals in my life is by reading personal finance blogs. I read three specifically:

Christian PF
Each one has a different spin on personal finance. Christian PF obviously does it from a Biblical perspective. They have a bunch of articles that will help anyone, but their articles about giving are the ones I like the best. I’ve been praying for God to make me a more generous person, and reading stories are inspiring to me.

GRS
Get Rich Slowly is exactly what it sounds like. I like it because it’s the totally opposite of the get rich quick schemes that are prevalent today. They provide tips on saving more, spending less, and earning more; stories about people who have overcome debt themselves; and sometimes write about investing. It’s a great motivator each day.

Man vs. Debt
Man vs. Debt is a very open blog basically about the journey of a guy named Adam Baker. He’s pretty edgy in terms of his finances. Right now he and his family are taking an RV tour of the US, and I think he might even be getting paid to do it. He’s a really cool guy to read, and I can tell you he’s pretty transparent. One of my blogging mentors in terms of learning how to create a profitable blog. He’s one of the reasons I started looking for more and more things in my house to sell on ebay.

Another one I’m starting to read more is Money Help For Christians. The primary author, Craig Ford, is currently a missionary in Papua New Guinea. He’s another one of the guys I’m trying to emulate with FMF. Eventually, especially if God has us serving as a missionary somewhere, I’d like to earn our income through writing too.

I hope you enjoy one or all the sites I mentioned. Sometimes the articles can overlap between sites, but I like the different spin each one has.

-j

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The Road to Happy Finances

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Getting financially stable is FRUSTRATING!

I won’t say that I’m financially *unstable*. But I could always wobble a little bit less. Before I went to Paraguay, I had eliminated my credit card debt and was working on Stage 3 of the Crown Money Map, which is establishing an emergency savings of 3 months expenses and paying off student loans. When I went to Paraguay, I put my loans into deferment, and eventually had to start tapping into my savings to pay off my mortgage when rent wasn’t coming in as timely as it should have been. I had to buy my flight home with my credit card, and I lived on it for a few weeks while I was getting my job back and a paycheck once again.

So here I am once again at Stage 2. Trying to pay off my credit card (singular…one is all you need) and establishing a savings of one month’s expenses. I’m about halfway on both fronts, but I’ve recently decided to stop saving as much and start putting more money to my credit card. I figure I’ll end up paying more in interest than I will get from my savings if I don’t. Additionally, I’m saving for my wedding, and I’ve committed to saving a specific amount each month no matter what. I don’t want to not have enough when the time comes, even if I have to skimp for right now.

For the first time in my life I am actually living from a budget. I developed a spreadsheet using a modified version of Crown’s spending plan (email me if you want it) that keeps track of everything I spend and what type of expense it is. I can play around with percentages to increase one category or another. Or let’s say I know I will need $1400 for home expenses, I can set its percentage to allocate that much, and then I can play with the rest to make sure I have enough for food and car and whatnot. It’s handy.

Now I can get to the frustrating part. I only get paid twice a month, so that means I can only see progress for about 20 minutes twice a month. The two things I’m working on are my savings and my credit card. So twice a month my savings go up a tad, I allocate money towards my credit card. I feel like I’ve been given the green light to go and make some progress, but it only lasts for a brief moment, then I have to wait again. Frustrating!

I know I’m making progress, and that’s the important part. If you’ve decided you need to straighten out your finances but don’t know where to start, I’ve included two links at the bottom that have provided direction and keep me motivated. This is definitely an exercise in patience, but it works out in the end. My goal is to be completely free of consumer debt in 5 years, which includes almost $30,000 in student loans. So you can expect to see more financial posts here between now and then.

Crown Financial’s Money Map – a guide through 7 destinations that will get you financial freedom
Get Rich Slowly – a personal finance blog that I find has lots of good tips and suggestions

-j

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