Saturday Link Roundup - Counting My Pennies

First off, a quick roundup from my Pecuniary Associates friends:

Dealing with Authority Figures: A Respectful Attitude Can Save Money – I completely agree. As someone who used to prosecute misdemeanors, which included traffic violations, I had a lot of leeway as to the fines I could give a person, and honesty and respect did wonders for my attitude toward the defendant.
An easy guide to buying generics – I also avoid generics for my pets. I’ll try them out for me, but they always get the good stuff.
Is it Weight Gain or Weight Loss this Recession? – I’m a bit of a stress eater, so it’s always good to be mindful of these tips
3 Things I Learned From My Tax Refund – My favorite was the one about talking with his wife about what they should do with the refund. Even though they shared the same opinion, it’s always good to discuss these things!

This week, I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance, the Festival of Frugality, and the Carnival of Twenty Something Finances. Lots of great stuff there.

Here are some of the posts and articles that caught my eye this week:

Cleaning the Cupboards for Passover
3 Ways the Rich Manage Their Money Better Than You
Before an economic crisis hits, are you willing to live on half?
How to make the most of the latest tax cut
10 Questions about College Savings Plans

No weekly roundup next week, and possibly not the one the week after either. I’m going on a much needed vacation, but I’ll be back with a vengeance, refreshed and eager to share all my personal finance knowledge.

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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