Sunday Reads: My Favorites From The Week

Awesome and/or HI-larious articles from the week:

• I Will Teach You To Be Rich: Time Management: How an MIT Postdoc Writes 3 Books, a PHD Defense, and 6+ Peer-Reviewed Papers – And Finishes By 5:30pm (awesome, awesome article for those who struggle with time management/procrastination/saying Yes to everything, etc.)
• Brunette On A Budget: Back In My Day… (If you aren’t reading Crystal’s blog, I feel bad for you.  Her writing is hilarious, engaging, and just plain awesome.)
• TeachHer Finance: Til Debt Do Us Part (TeacHer makes some great points about life and this show!)
• Money Under 30: Essential Personal Finance Books (great list of the best of PF books)

Sunday Reads: Awesome Money Articles

There are so many fabulous and wise personal finance articles written every week, that I’d like to start sharing my favorites with you!  I’ll do my best to try to make this a weekly post, but I can’t guarantee anything. 😉

• My Top Pick – From Get Rich Slowly: Knocking Out The Beliefs That Hold You Back
• From the Copyblogger: The Art Of The Paragraph
• From Mrs. Micah at Finance for a Freelance Life: Multiple Income Steams (guest post)
• From SS4BC at Small Steps for Big Change: 100% Down For A House
• From Kiplinger’s: 8 Fundamental Money Lessons
• From Frugal Dreamer: Your Perfect Day
• From Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You To Be Rich: The Money Diaries – The 25 Year Old Single Mom Who Writes Bad Checks

I’ve Been Published!

This is a tad belated, but The Kansas City Star, recently did a little feature on frugal folks and I was one of them!  The lovely Lisa Gutierrez interviewed me a while back and I had a really fun time talking to her about trying to be as frugal as possible!

Check out the story here (my section is on page 2).  Below is the little excerpt about me!

STORY OF A ‘CHEAP’ WOMAN

At http://www.carrieonthecheap.wordpress.com, a 25-year-old accountant who uses the pen name Carrie Bradshaw – the heroine of “Sex and the City” – blogs about living frugally in Kansas City.

This “frugalista” says:

-Sign up with clothing stores online. Some will e-mail you coupons.

-Use http://www.restaurant.com. You’ll find restaurants that offer gift certificates at discount. “It’s cut my dining-out expenses more than half,” she told us.

-Rent from the public library. “I just got ‘Entourage,’ the fourth season,” she says.

-Take a part-time job with a perk. She works part-time at a gym and gets a free employee membership. Think clothing stores and those employee discounts.

I was so excited when this came out that I nearly peed my pants!  Lloyd probably thought I was a crazy woman!  But still…my first newspaper interview – how exciting!  I am totally going to frame this and hang it up in the new place!

Lucky Magazine Is Apparently Not On The Same Budget As Me

Sometimes the media is so out of touch with reality…

Case in point: this month’s issue of Lucky Magazine.

Does it ever annoy anyone (other than me) when the fashion mags have features about “deal hunting” and the items they list are not even in the same price range that I would consider budget-friendly?

For instance, this month, Lucky is trying to find “preppy, budget-friendly separates that are perfect for a waterfront weekend.”  (Before I get to their budget-friendly separates, let me reiterate the fact that the only separates I consider perfect for a waterfront weekend are a two-piece and a cold drink.)

Here’s just a little sampling of items they think are “budget-friendly”:

• cotton henley: $40
  • That’s fine and all, but for those who don’t know, a henley is basically a polo without the collar.  And I saw perfectly acceptable henley’s at Old Navy for $10 about a week ago.  Next.