Gather Little by Little

Excellent capture by: Looking Glass

Due to what seems to have been a bug in the new version of WordPress, this post did not publish as it was supposed to this morning at 8:00EST. My apologies for it being late.

Today has actually been a great day so far, and it’s only 8:00am here on the east coast: 1) I received my economic stimulus rebate money via direct deposit, just as the IRS said I would 2) I immediately logged into my online billpay, and finished paying off my Chase credit card!! Another card down, 2 to go.

It’s a bit hard to believe that 2 years ago we had 7 different credit cards and now I only have 2 remaining. Within two years, we should be completely debt free except for our mortgage! For those of you who may feel that getting out of debt is hopeless, this should provide some encouragement that it isn’t. The best part is that for each card I pay off, I get even more drive to pay off those that remain. Paying off your cards is more than a debt snowball, it’s an emotional snowball too!

Things worth mentioning

• PT from PT Money created something pretty cool this week, a Personal Finance Bloggers Map. Want to know where many different PF bloggers live? Then check it out! If you want to get yourself added, read the instructions below the map. Great idea PT!
• I was linked yesterday by Ramit of I will teach you to be rich. Just wanted to say thanks to Ramit for linking, and to Momma from Tales from the road less traveled for writing such a great guest post!
• I joined the forums over at Get Rich Slowly some type back, but haven’t been participating. Well, I started again this week and plan to be far more active. Seems like a great group of folks over there. If you aren’t currently a member, head over, join up, and say hi.
• I’ve become quit the twitter addict lately and to be honest really enjoy it. I was a little skeptical at first, but it’s a great way to get interesting links, meet new bloggers, participate in interesting tweet projects, and even get recent news – often quicker than the media can report it. Interested in Twitter? You can follow me on twitter here.

The Gathering

I’ve decided to make my weekly gathering a little more focused. I love reading articles from blogs on my blog roll and sharing them with you, but I’ve felt over time my gathering was beginning to look more like a blog carnival. So starting with this one, the gathering will be a little shorter but will include my favorites of my favorites from the week.

• Personal Currencies: New Ways to Look at Money – Excellent article that makes you think about spending money in a different way. From now on, I’m going to look at everything as a percentage of my debt.
• make choices without being constrained by finances – Plonkee reminds us that our choices aren’t always driven by just our finances and in some cases shouldn’t be at all.
  
• Speed Up or Shift Up: Thinking About Your Income Path – Jim provides an interesting way of looking at our income and the path we are on. He also shares some excellent perspectives on how to move from one path to the next. Personally, I’d far rather work to increase my income and reduce expenses.
  
• Taking a Deeper Look at Wants Versus Needs – Trent dives in and takes a look at wants vs needs and suggests making a list to help you seperate the two.
• One Must Be Organized To Be Frugal – I’m a huge fan of being organized. To be honest, I’m probably a little OCD about it, as I get stressed when I’m not organized. Lynnae is dead on though, to be frugal it really does require organization.
• Frugal ways to keep your home safe – This was a great post, and very applicable to us. We are often the subjects of vandalism due to the location of house. Security is important.
• Ten Quick Easy Ways To Reduce Your Debt. – One easy way to get inlcuded in my gathering or get linked from me is to write up a post about debt reduction. I’m always looking for ways to get out of debt and for great ideas to share with my readers. Great tips David!
• Everyman’s Guide to Decreasing Expenses – Another thing I like is expense reduction. Some of these tips are pretty hard core, but they did make me think. Living out of our car though…with 6 kids….not a chance.
• The Real Cost of Withdrawing Retirement Funds Early – As its looking like we might be heading towards a recession and as the stock market continues to take a hit, many people are looking to pull their funds from their 401k. This isn’t a good idea, and it can cost you a great deal of money as Patrick shares.