beingfrugal.net

Well, today is our last day in our rental.  Tomorrow morning, we will be loading up all of our stuff and moving it into my dad’s garage until our house is ready for us.  We’ll be living at my dad’s for a couple of weeks at least.  I had forgotten how all-consuming moving is.  I’m so tired, but it’s almost over.

Being Frugal News

A while back I posted about being selected as one of Walmart’s Eleven Moms in their new Money Saving Community.  Well, it’s about to launch!  Today I’m taking a break from moving and getting a portrait taken for use on their site.  The official launch is September 3, and I’ll be sure to post a link when we’re live!

I was also interviewed recently for a U.S. News & World Report article on how to earn money from blogging. Thanks to Kimberly Palmer for taking the time to write such a great article.  I think you’ll find lots of familiar bloggers quoted in that article.

Also, to everyone who volunteered to write a guest post, THANK YOU!  If you’ve offered and I haven’t responded to your email yet, go ahead and just send a post on over.  I’m hopelessly behind in my email lately, and I’m not sure when I’m going to get caught up.

Next week I have a special series lined up called “My Frugal Story.” I’ve asked 5 different people to write their frugal story…what influenced them…how they became frugal.  I’ll run a different story each day next week.  I hope everyone enjoys reading these posts as much as I have.

The Roundup

It turns out I’m not the only person in bloggy world that’s been busy lately.  Simple Mom has written and released an e-book called Spring Cleaning for Normal People.  I skimmed through it quickly last night, and it’s really good!  There are lots of practical tips, checklists, and even some homemade cleaner recipes! I’m definitely going to put those checklists to work in my new house!

Aaron, one of my readers, came across a great site for those of you heading to college.  Chegg.com allows you to rent textbooks, saving you money and saving the earth, too. If you prefer to buy, they have a program for savings on buying textbooks, too.  And at the end of the semester, you can sell your books back to Chegg.com.  I’ve never tried it, but it looks like a good deal to me!

Here’s what my M-Network friends have been up to:

• Glblguy recently discovered that there are people paying their credit cards before their mortgages.  Don’t do it, people.  Take care of your basic needs before you pay the cards.
• Pinyo makes a good case for becoming a part-time entrepreneur.  He has a great list of resources at the end of his article, too!
• Plonkee shares why personal finance is like public health.  I never would have thought of that comparison, but she’s right!
• If you’re a blogger or freelancer, Mrs. Micah came up with three spreadsheets that are useful for tracking your income.  I’m going to have to try them out myself!
• Paidtwice shares her thoughts on how easy it is to justify wants as needs.  I’m finding that so true as we renovate our house.
• Now that David has moved away from Los Angeles, he realizes that people in his new town don’t care what kind of car he drives.  And it’s a refreshing change for him.
• Here’s another one for the college crowd:  Patrick shares how to save on back-to-school computers.
• It seems Single Guy nickel and dimed his budget to death this month.  I’m pretty sure I’m in the same boat, but I’m scared to look!  (Don’t worry, I’ll reconcile my budget before we box up the computer tonight.)
• Finally, The Dough Roller asks if you believe in financial miracles.  You all know that I do.  And Dough Roller shares his own financial miracle too.  It’s a great story that you have to read!

Have a fabulous Labor Day weekend!  I’m probably not going to be around much until Tuesday, when hopefully my life gets back to semi-normalness.