Welcome to our new feature. This will play on sporatic Fridays (read: whenever I feel like it).
Thanks for all the great emails about the Diary. Like everyone who writes (on the internet or elsewhere), I get frustrated sometimes and it’s great to have a place to just vent, you know? Plus, I like being able to share a few of the “secrets” we’ve learned over the first year of operating this thing, and it’s been fun going back in the time machine and looking at stats from a year ago.
That’s all I’ll say about that topic, because I created the Diary specifically because I knew there were people out there who’d be interested in my rants….but it isn’t the mission of this blog.
This weekend we pick up a new table for our dining room. Buying furniture always is a struggle for me. On one hand, I like having nice stuff, but on the other, I don’t want to pay for it. Call me the opposite of the US Government! If I were buying on credit or didn’t have the funds to do it, I’d definitely walk away from the transaction. BUT I do have the money available, we really haven’t spent much on the home this year, and it’s a nice upgrade SO we pulled the trigger.
You know your life is exciting when you spend a paragraph of the blog writing about your new table. Par-tay.
In better news, five minutes from now a good friend is picking me up to fly in his new plane to Dallas to watch our kids swim. I’ll post pictures on Twitter and Facebook.
Let’s get on with the show:
Some Wonderful Reading
Let’s start with Glen at Monster Piggy Bank. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with Glen. I called him “Crazy Man” one time and he questioned what that was about….then he gets all crazy with the tattoos and work posts. Of course he’s Crazy Man! Do you think people should be discriminated against at work because they have a visible tatoo? Check out the post.
There’s major congratulations in order. Kim at Eyes on the Dollar has knocked out $30k in debt. Momma said KNOCK YOU OUT!
While we’re talking congrats, Holly at Club Thrifty will now post twice monthly at Get Rich Slowly. Hey, Holly, when you’re a huge star, don’t forget us little people.
In my favorite travel journal, Reach Financial Independence, Pauline tells an awesome story about helping her employee get a new bike…and then decide that he isn’t that crazy about paying it off.
Mrs. PoP from Planting Our Pennies wins my award for Best Analytical Post of this list (an incredibly prestigious award). Check out how she turns discounted cash flow into numbers porn for us financial geeks.
Sam Dogen writes a thoughtful post at Untemplater about whether we should bail out student loan debt. If we decide that’s okay, let me know ahead of time. I have twins starting college in a year and I’ll just finance it all with public funds…..
Speaking of Crazy Man (and a guy who won’t fight me when I call him that…he wears it like a badge) Len Penzo answers the question “Credit or Debit” that’s so popular at retail outlets everywhere.
Finally, if my blogging friends haven’t seen it yet: My friend Sicorra at Tackling Our Debt gave the gift that keeps on giving (no, not fuzzy dice for the rear view mirror). She handed to bloggers everywhere some awesome tools to help manage their to do list, blogging tasks, advertisements, expenses and calendar.
I have about 30 posts by other authors I thought were fantastic this week, but in the interest of sprinkling a few highlights, that’ll be enough for now. Any more and it’ll be a list too long for you to enjoy.
We’re WAY Popular AND Modest
Thanks to everyone who tweeted our articles this week. I know I’m not great at the “hey, thanks for the RT!” posts. I don’t know how people find the time to do all the things they SHOULD do for others, get their blog written, hold down a job, and drink a case of beer a week. Sigh. Apparently people rearrange their priorities differently than I do….
Here are a few of the places that featured our writing or who talked about us fondly:
I guest posted at One Cent at a Time. It was about the rock band Rush and goal setting. Apparently that went over people’s head, because the post that I thought was my big winner of the week didn’t garner a ton of comment love. Apparently I’m not yet today’s Tom Sawyer…..
Cil Burke (clearly Dr. Dean’s better half) at the Millionaire Nurse Blog talked about how much fun we had playing board games at Fin Con in her post about surviving family functions. I was sure we were going to see liquid coming out of Len’s nose at one point. Can’t wait for next year to do it again. BTW, if someone wants a family game recommendation for the holidays, feel free to email me. I get tons of questions from family/friends this time of year about what the best option might be…..
Erin at The Dog Ate My Wallet and Kim at Eyes on the Dollar mentioned our post about dining and dashing at Pizza Hut. I love having friends who can reinforce my image as a reprobate…
In Closing
Thanks again for reading the blog this week! Next week we’ve got an awesome podcast episode on Monday, followed by posts Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Haha, happy to provide some numbers porn for you, Joe! I’m a HUGE numbers geek, so always get a kick out of it when people enjoy it as much as I do.
Though just a heads up, looks like you’ve either got a typo or I’ve changed my pen name to “/*8” without realizing it. =)
You know how the singer Prince changed his name to a symbol? We were just being thoughtful and giving you a few ideas….
Thanks for the mention, Joe! Enjoy your new table. You are really livin’ large!
What is this Diary thing… did I miss something? Shoot me an email if you don’t want to post it here 🙂
Yeah, we have no newsletter, just the Diary. It’s open to all and subscriptions are at the bottom of each post.
I’m assuming your diary is your newsletter? I want more rants!
Also, thanks for mentioning me this week, much appreciated!
It’s the replacement for our newsletter. At the bottom of posts you’ll see a subscription option.
Thanks for the mention, Joe. Congrats on your new table. If you ever have to get a couch it might just put you over the edge!
I know where you are coming from with the furniture! That said, it is nice to be able to have family and friends all sit around comfortably together 🙂
Thanks so much for the include this week! That private plane certainly looks like a wonderful way to get around and especially avoid a 3 hour car ride each way. It must have been a lot of fun and a great way to see the sights.
Thanks for including my post Joe. Obviously I must be at least a little bit crazy – I keep spending all this time blogging for no money. Only a crazy man would do that right?
If you think writing about your dining room table is bad, my weekly wrap up was almost entirely about Google reader… That’s way worse 🙁
I missed the diary thing. A friend is picking you up in a plane? Did I read that right? How awesome! Hope you have a great weekend!
I have learned to splurge on myself in the past few years, because life is short and we deserve it. Not to go overboard, but we spend so much time in the house having nice furniture is worth it. Cool, the twins will have a table to play beer pong next year!
Just do it on the furniture. I often have the same feelings when making larger purchases, but you have kids who are old enough to not beat the furniture up as a developmental stage. Buy something nice. Thanks for all the recommendations! Hope Dallas and the flight were amazing!
Did I miss a Diary thingy? I don’t recall that.. and do you think you can swing by Ontario in your mates plane to pick me up 😉 Cheers Mate!
Mr. CBB, I think we’d have a whale of a time in that plane.
Next time, can you tell us the tune at least so we can hum along? kthx!
As is the case with many, many decisions made about this blog, Kathleen, we just threw that title out. Someday we’ll actually make up the “Average Joe” song and ask you to record the track for our best-selling album.
Thanks for the mention! It blows my mind how expensive furniture is too. I can’t count how many various pieces of IKEA furniture I’ve assembled over the years trying to save money. The prices are good but their furniture just doesn’t last that long.
I could spend hours and hours in that store, though. That’s NOT a “run in and get something” store.