• Yet another example of someone trying to faithfully trust God with her finances and seeing amazing happen (@beingfrugal.net)
• Well, the US Government’s “Cash for Clunkers” has concluded.  While I guess we won’t know how helpful it was for quite some time, at first glance it looks like most people junked their old American cars so they could buy new Japanese ones – not sure that’s what Obama had in mind… (@ChristianPF.com)
• A really interesting guest post at ChristianPF: Redistribution of wealth is a Biblical concept…just probably not in the way you think that redistribution of wealth works.
• Have you learned anything from “The Great Recession?” – Mr. ToughMoneyLove has…see if his findings match yours (@ToughMoneyLove.com)
• Sometimes convenience and a little bit of sanity are worth more than a few extra cents (@MoneyNing.com)
• Extolling the virtues of cash (@SingleGuyMoney.com).   I agree with the importance of having cash and thus avoiding debt, but I’m not sure that long-term keeping all of your money in cash is the best way to go.  I feel this is especially true now – with all the money our government is printing, inflation will most likely rear its ugly head as a result and eat away at your cash.

Ok, so check out those articles and see what you think – hopefully you’ll find them interesting as well.

God bless..

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When I first started getting serious about understanding and improving my financial situation, I spent a lot of time reading various blogs and books.  The two blogs that initially caught my attention and introduced me to blogging were The Simple Dollar and ChristianPF . I spent a lot of time reading posts from these sites and I was amazed at how much useful information the authors shared.  They introduced me to blogging as the powerful platform that it is.

ChristianPF especially was my biggest inspiration when I first got the crazy idea of creating my own personal finance blog.  Bob created so many useful and Biblically sound posts and has a great knack for sharing Biblical wisdom in a practical way.  When I decided to create this blog, I decided to aim high and hope to do as good of a job as he did in creating useful resources for his readers.

With all that being said, this list that Bob has created is a great resource for anyone hoping to increase their financial intelligence.  I am familiar with a number of sites mentioned on the list, like Bible Money Matters and Gather Little By Little , but am thrilled that there are so new resources for me to check out!  I urge you to check the ChristianPF list out for yourself.

Thanks for making up a list with so many resources, Bob, and thanks for including BFN on it!

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Anyway, I thought I’d use today’s post to point out some good articles I’ve seen in the last week or so (for some reason, I’m just not inspired to talk about insurance today!)

The Apostle of the Turtle points out two compelling reasons to turn off the TV .  We don’t watch a lot of TV at our house (much to my children’s chagrin) but we still do watch some. In fact, we regularly watch only two shows – Monk and Psych on Friday night and both of their seasons just ended.

Until Debt Do Us Part asks "Why Die Rich?"  Ahhh, yes, hoarding – I get accused of this frequently (It’s something I’m working on)

To combat any natural tendencies toward hoarding (or is it just me?), consider taking part in ChristianPF’s 10 Day Give .

My wife hates coupons for some of the reasons presented (by The Happy Rock as a guest post on Bible Money Matters) in this post discussing how coupons can actually cost you money . I’ve heard so much about how great coupons are though that we finally relented and started a two month subscription to the Sunday paper solely for the coupons. The stats so far: 4 Sunday papers, total coupon savings $0.00.

I am a late adopter, mostly because of price. I know that sounds weird for someone who uses so much technology on a daily basis, but I don’t like spending a lot of money.  I still remember when the first CD players came out and cost like $5000 or something.  One Caveman’s Financial Journey discusses how being a late adopter can save you money.

Everyone wants to do more in less time, so check out these 5 tips for being more productive from Wise Money Matters.  These seem like really good ideas. Honestly, though, I’ve not tried any except #3 (what is this I keep hearing about some big bailout?).  As far as #3 is concerned, I really like it.

ChristianPF shares some creative ideas for the seemingly lost art of the thank you. I think that whether or not people are polite and friendly varies a lot based on where you are in the United States. For instance, I noticed that when we moved from AZ to NC, people were much more polite in random interactions.  Actually, I was amazed how much different it was.

God bless…

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Soccer practice started last night. No, it’s not some reliving-my-glory-years thing, I’m the coach of my son’s Upward Soccer team. Our first exposure to team sports was in the spring when he and his sister played soccer together. This fall’s team is mostly 4 year old and I think one or two kids that are five. That’s pretty young. We were in the same age group in the spring but most of those kids were 6 or almost six (except for my son who barely made the minimum age after just turning 4). So this should be an interested experience…especially if all the other teams are stocked with 6-year olds! My son loves playing though and Upward soccer is a great environment in which to play, so we’re looking forward to it.

So what does all of that have to do with finances? Nothing I guess….well, maybe you could look at it as a frugal choice of a sports league – whereas my daughter’s gymnastics program costs more than $350 (though it does last longer), playing Upward soccer only costs $80 (and he gets a really cool uniform!). I definitely recommend checking out Upward for anyone with kids who love sports but want them to start out in a no-pressure and affirmative environment (they have other sports besides soccer as well).

Onto the week that was….

• Here is a very interesting interview with someone who has already done what most of us are reading these blogs to do, you know, save, invest, accumulate wealth, live (@ ChristianPF )
• Here is a comprehensive and very detailed look at asset allocation. I’m sure that I’ll be going back to study this further in the future. (@Moolanomy )
• Here is a good rational approach to reduce some of your worrying about money (of course, this is most effective if you actually behave rationally in regards to worrying and money and worrying about money) (@Capital Couples Finance )

Now a double dip….

• Starting with some good tips for remaining debt free once you do all the hard work to get out of debt (@ BibleMoneyMatters )
• Finally, I have been accused of exactly what he describes in this Bible verse of the day post (unfairly of course! ) ….so I’ll bookmark it and try to go back and read it periodically (@ BibleMoneyMatters )

Have a great weekend and God Bless…

photo credit: CTD 2005

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Ok, so maybe necessity triggered numerous medical improvements over the years, but lazy triggered being able to see your doctor, walk down the hall to get your blood drawn for labs, and check a special voice mail in a few days to get your results.

We’re too lazy to mail letters, so email was invented. Too lazy to walk over to the phone handset to make a call – here’s a cordless phone.  Too lazy to wait until you get home to make a call – here’s a cell phone.

Too lazy to load 45 1.44 MB disks into your computer one after another to install the latest and greatest version of your favorite software application?  That’s why we have CDs and now DVDs.

Entire segments of industries have been created to appease our laziness. You can get someone to come to your house to clean it, power-wash it, paint it, replace the windshield on your car, detail your car, or even wash your pet.  You can even get your groceries delivered right to your door!

Internet access?  Lazy.  High-speed internet access?  Really lazy.  Remote control?  Do you even need to ask?!

I think there’s a difference between laziness and indolence

I’ll admit that I am lazy.  I don’t deny it, instead I embrace it.  I am obsessed with efficiency – doing everything in the easiest and most effective way possible.  Why, you ask?  Simply because I am lazy.

Now just because I am lazy doesn’t mean I won’t work hard.  I want to do even more things than I already have time to do – that’s why I am so lazy (makes perfect sense, right!).  It’s 11:09 PM, I have done four things on my evening todo list (working on the 5th as we speak) and have four more things I’d really like to get done tonight.  Therefore, I am lazy with each individual item.  By that, I mean I want to devote the minimum amount of time to get each one done so I have more time to do more things.  Lazy?  Yes.  Indolent?  I don’t think so.

So maybe impatience is a factor as well

As I read back over the post, it strikes me that impatience plays a large role in some of these inventions as well.  I still think lazy is the mother.  I guess that makes impatience that annoying aunt that is always pinching your cheeks and saying things like, "How are we doing today?  Oh, we’re such a big boy/girl now, aren’t we?"

Only a few links this week – guess I was too lazy!

• Bible Money Matters provides a list of 10 things he has learned about money (I wish I knew more of these earlier in life!)
• Take a look at being a good steward of your finances at Keeping the Kingdom First (guest post by Bob from ChristianPF.com )
• Here are some good tips on getting started with a budget (@ Gather Little By Little )
• What is your purchase personality? (@ The Happy Rock )  – I think I am probably "The Middle Man" though I would change it slightly to be more of a value based approach (not "values" based).  I don’t necessarily get the cheapest thing, but I do like to find the "sweet spot" of price and value.

Have a great weekend and God bless…

photo credit: heydrienne

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My first Stumbled post!

I had heard of this phenomenon but honestly had not expected anything like this to happen so I thought it was awesome! I expected the traffic to die down by the next evening but it has kept going strong. In fact, I had two days of greater than 2500 visitors and cumulatively I have now had over 16,000 visits and 27,600 page views! I know that’s nothing for some blogs out that but it is positively astounding for my little blog. It is finally starting to die down now but it is still no where near my previous levels.

It has been fun to see so many people come to my site to check out a post. Some people seem to be clicking on some of the links in the post, as well. Hopefully they are making a little extra money or, better yet, maybe some of the ideas spurred them to think of some even better ones for themselves.

Not many are sticking around though

My RSS subscriptions have gone up from 13 to almost 50 – so that is pretty sweet (except for the fact that  only a minuscule percentage of all the visitors are finding the site "sticky.")

Here’s the 46th way to earn some extra money

I’ve already found the 46th way: Jury duty. I was finally called to my first jury duty appearance on Monday. I was somewhat dreading it at first, but by the time I got to the courthouse, I was actually looking forward to experiencing the process. I never got to find out if I’d be selected for the jury though. Just before we were to be taken down to the courtroom, the judge came in to the jury assembly room and told us the case had been settled at the last moment. Honestly, I admit that I was a little disappointed. Oh well, I still get my $30 for showing up. $30 for about 1.5 hours isn’t going to send me into retirement, but it’s not too shabby!

On to this week’s links

I’m finally getting my head above water and getting back to reading blogs like I used to before starting BFN. I have two new projects in the works, though, so we’ll see how well I can keep up with it.

Enough about me and my little blog, lets go to the good stuff…

• Dave Ramsey swears it works, many studies are bandied about, but people are still skeptical. Here’s a reference to a news story about a family that tried going cash only for a month . The results actually match up well with the studies I’ve heard about how people spend between 15% – 30% more when using a credit card. (@ Prime Time Money )
• Great title on this one and some amusing (and quite true) content, too: What the devil says about personal finance (@ capital couples finance )
• People like to get into arguments about which fancy technique is better for this or that. The debt snowball is a popular one to embrace fully or bash mercilessly. Here is a great common sense approach to the argument (@ wise money matters )
• Of course I would be remiss if I did not point out this post about why you should get out of debt (I mean, this blog is called "Borrow From None," right?) (@ Christian PF )
• Finally, as all the kids are heading back to school, here are two posts regarding the monumental task of paying for college. Both take a possibly controversial look at the issue and raise interesting points about whether or not it is a good thing to completely pay for your child’s college education (@ Bible Money Matters and @ One Caveman’s Financial Journey )

Have a great weekend and God bless…

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This has been another hectic week.  I spent a lot of time tweaking the blog and, of course, writing.  Unfortunately, I still have a long list of items to add or upgrade. If you have any suggestions for plug-ins or widgets or processes, please let me know.  The help I’ve gotten so far on this journey has been invaluable and it is much appreciated.  Enough about me…here’s some weekend reading:

• Everyone loves a good giveaway and Mrs. Micah has what I consider to be a great one going on right now in honor of her blog’s First Anniversary .  So stop over, wish her a hearty "congratulations" and sign up.
• If you need to make some money, ChristianPF engaged his social network to provide a list of ideas for coming up with $200 in 2 weeks.
• Once you make some money, don’t forget to save some of it.  Gather Little By Little reminds us that it’s never too early (or too late) to start saving up for your big expenses.
• Instead of saving your extra money, you could use it to pay down your debt.  The Simple Dollar shows us how to view paying down debt as an investment.
• To keep us from going into debt in the first place, BeingFrugal warns us about the pitfalls of irresponsible spending.
• Maybe that is the US government’s problem and maybe the government should think about paying down some of its debt.  Spilling Buckets explores how the US national debt affects each of us.

Have a great weekend and God bless…

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It was also fun due to the week my kids had. Just this week, my 15 month-old has become so expressive. She is starting to talk (I’m sure that she said "hot dog" today) but is also getting so good at communicating with us. My oldest is gearing up to start first grade and is excited with buying school supplies and uniforms, etc. And my four year-old had his Upward soccer assessments last weekend and is fired up about it. This will be his second season of soccer and he just loves it – he basically keeps track of what day it is each week by asking "how many days until practice?" and then after practice "how many days until the big game?"

I admit that I haven’t read nearly as much this week as I do most weeks due to all the time spent on getting BFN up and running. I did come across some great reading nonetheless…

• The Happy Rock really did a great job presenting the case for financial simplicity in my favorite post of the week . It encapsulates what I am hoping to achieve through being debt free and simplifying my finances. I love simple! (maybe it’s because I am simple?)
• Christian PF provides a graphic quote about debt (but debt deserves a graphic quote!)
• Money Life Network is running a series on frugal things to do in various cities . They are also inviting readers to submit their own lists, so check it out to see if your city is posted.
• In light of high gas prices and the associated buzz (hysteria?) around hybrid vehicles, check out the list of the ten least expensive cars to own at Gather Little by Little.
• The Simple Dollar discusses his biggest money mistake and since it involves going into debt for "wants," of course BorrowFromNone links to it.
• This post, again from The Happy Rock, is a little older but is really eye-opening as I had never thought about how the minimal raises we typically receive each year will leave us with the same effective salary forever .

This first week has been a lot of fun and even though I don’t have many (any?) readers yet, I’m looking forward to writing all the posts I have planned over the coming weeks and months. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

God bless…

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