Yes, I know, I didn’t quite get this done at breakneck speed. But here you go.
July
I had a great experience with the CEO of Carbonite. I’m still recommending them to friends, even though the service didn’t work on my Mac. I bought some new tires. Exciting, I know. I discovered Alice.com. Still love them. I talked a little about collecting. I also read and wrote about someone who was living on nothing.
August
August was my month of crazy. Things were busy, but I still managed to blog a bit. I was surprised at how well my retirement accounts were doing. I discussed batch cooking. And still don’t do it. I learned some cool things about James Smithson and what we know about historical figures based on their bank accounts. I wondered why I would do something I didn’t want to do. I stopped saving things for special occasions.
September
I started seriously pondering a new job. As of January, I’m still in the old job, but I’m hoping things are looking up. I mocked the term “recessionista.” I discussed the difference between frugal and cheap and got some good comments. I wondered if the employed owed something to our unemployed friends. I asked where people store their bulk purchases.
October
I wondered what was better – big savings or little savings. I think the answer is both. I discussed gift purchases as a percentage of your salary. A friend started pre-spending her bonus. Personal finance bloggers were called out for being imperfect and no one was surprised. I got accosted by a charity marketer. And then, my roommate moved out.
November
I got a small bonus and pre-spent it. On dental work. Super fun. I applied for a job that would mean a pay cut. Haven’t heard anything on that yet. I decided to use an FSA for 2010. I was faced with exposure of my Social Security number and other personal info. I finished the month on Jury Duty.
December
There was some water damage to my apartment, reminding me that there are perks to renting. I asked how people deal with unwanted advice. I discussed information overload. I think I like information overload. I demanded what I thought I deserved. I shared my thoughts on golden handcuffs. Then I took a short break to enjoy the holidays.
So 2009. Not a bad year, all in all. I’m looking forward to 2010. So far, so good!
Megan is a 40-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.
