Carnival #152 is up! - Counting My Pennies

This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by Money Under 30. My post on disaster readiness was featured as an Editor’s Pick. Thanks!

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye:

The Personal Financier writes on accounting for cash expenses. I sort of do a combination of his first three steps. I have a budget category called “cash,” and it is a very small category, and is most often used for drinks out with friends and purchases at the Farmer’s Market.
Can I Get Rich on a Salary puts together a lot of generalizations about Generation Y’s financial habits. It’s an interesting read, regardless of whether or not you’re in Gen Y.
Christian Finances writes about minimalist living. I spent some time this weekend going through my closet and getting rid of a chunk of clothes that either didn’t fit or that I never wore. It’s silly to hang on to a shirt for the memories.
Mighty Bargain Hunter points out the great food selections on Amazon. I think it’s no secret that I love Amazon.
Feminist Finance writes a great post about marrying into debt. Yet another reminder that you should probably talk exact numbers before getting hitched, just so everyone’s got all the facts.
Chief Family Officer talks some more about the drugstore game. That reminds me that I need to hit up CVS for a few things.

Check out the post for many many more great links.

Megan Smith

Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.

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