Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

I’m not too happy with the latest and greatest version of WordPress. The GUI is a little too different for me to enjoy the transition. When it was installed, I was under a lot of stress at work so I didn’t like the aggravation of having to figure out where stuff was. Therefore, I did nothing but write.

Last night I finally had some time to flip through my blogroll and cull it mercilessly for old stuff that’s not updated or sites that are just plain old gone. If you moved your site, let me know the new link and I’ll try to get to it.

Instead I bring you three new gems in the form of Mrs. Micah, The Hustle of Sistah Ant and Weight Down, Money Up.

Mrs. Micah is a freelancer and part-time employee. She’s a young married with a great mix of personal values and frugal tips in her writing. Yesterday’s post on lingerie begs for a follow up post by me. I’ve been feeling harrassed by my undergarments in the summer heat. (Link has a picture that is SFW.)

Sistah Ant is living in my hometown, Philadelphia, works as a contract employee and yet has managed to save up $9K for her first home downpayment fund. She inspires me with her drive to reach her goals.

Weight Down, Money Up is written by BK, your sassy Brooklyn-bred Jazzercise instructor. She is beautiful and smart. She has a lot of spirit and energy, as you can imagine a fitness instructor would. If you are interested in weight loss and personal finance, (as many of us are) check out her blog. All I want to know now is if she teaches Jazzercise in my neck of the woods…

N.B. Please don’t ask me for a link exchange. I blogroll what I actually read regularly. If I couldn’t remember to add your link the other night, I probably don’t read you enough. But do feel free to send me a link if you want me to check you out. I just don’t make promises that my sieve of a memory will remember the next time I update.

PS - How about them Red Wings?

Thanks to SFOrdinaryGirl of SF Money Musings for stepping in with a guest post for me. I read her blog regularly, partly because I miss San Francisco so much. Wish her luck on her new roommate search. It’s tough to find a good roommate with all the kooky people out there. You have run a serious screening process or else you’ll end up with candles all over the house that will nearly burn the place down. (Happened to my friend.) But of course, you could end up meeting someone cool through the traumatic process. (Happened to the same friend.)

As far as my vacation goes, I’ll have to write that up later for you. It isn’t tracked down to the penny, nor the dime, but it does elucidate what spending is like these days.

Greetings Dear Readers!

I am sorry that I have not announced a contest winner for my 2nd Blogoversary Giveaway. I have been SWAMPED with my new job and eye surgery concerns. BUT! I do have a winner!

*drum roll please*

A copy of Debt Is Slavery goes to Ted of Rocket Jones!

********

I used a random number generator to select the winner based on the number of their comment assigned by the computer. Since the first number was a hit, there was no alternative rule setting to take place if the first one wasn’t a hit.

Ted is a local DC blogpal who writes Rocket Jones. People think that Jones is his last name, but think of ‘jones’ as a verb and you’ll start to understand that rocketry is his passion.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised that he reads this blog since he knows me through another blog for which I occasionally write, The Ministry of Minor Perfidy. (Yes, I have been remiss in my submissions over there due to the daily blogging commitment I try to keep over here.) Rarely do the two worlds of Perfidy and PFBlogging collide, short of the Emergency Kit post, which the Ministers will point out is also useful for a Zombie Attack.

Ted reports to me that he has a good use in mind for the book and I am glad that I can spread a little more Personal Finance Love beyond the already interested crowd of checkbook balancers, debt payers, and net worth builders this blog attracts.

If you like model rockets, hockey, bunnies, gardening, sci fi books and movies, please visit Ted.

I’m in training, so I’m struggling to have anything to write at all this week. I am brain-fried from powerpoints and all too-energetic presenters.

I’ve been reading Millionaire Mommy Next Door. I keep meaning to blogroll her. I don’t read all the time, but I do think her data driven analysis is convincing. She’s smart and reasoned with her contrarian strategies, especially on homeownership. I’m ready to start renting again, but that’s because I hate my HOA.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly, because he’s an old pal of mine. His car is setting him back a ways, but it’s coming out of his emergency fund.

Paidtwice at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already. I feel like her blog needs an exclamation point at the end of it. As if to say, “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” It’s very mommy-oriented though, just so you know. Lots of links to family resources. I wish I could say that I partake of them, but I’m still ‘happily single! YAY! *claps hands*’ to quote the corporate trainer. I swear, that’s the best thing I learned all week. To be happy I am single. (Though technically, the trainer is divorced or some other sort of unmarried.)

And finally, GRACEful Retirement. A very different perspective from the under-30-OMG-my-student-loans-are-killing-me category of PF blogs. A late saver, but a mother thinking about college saving and getting by. This is not to say that the Under 30 blogs are bad. There’s just a lot of them and Grace is coming from a very different perspective.

EDIT: Contest update. I forgot a deadline. As I am super busy, you have until Saturday, 1/12/2008, 6pm EST to enter by leaving a comment.

Today, January 7, 2008, Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge turns 2 years old.

What a long strange trip it’s been. Some of it good. Some of it bad. But always interesting.

What’s happened?
- I went from Blogger, to my own domain with the help of Flexo.
- This blog has grown from a few of my friends reading it to over 140 daily subscribers, many of whom are strangers. (Or just plain old strange for wanting to read about me. Take your pick.)
- I got Dugg a few times. I’ve been Stumbled Upon, scraped, copycatted, and otherwise flattered by the Interwebs.
- I saved up $8,000 over two years to fix my teeth, costing me about $12,000 total. I have one more permanent crown to put in, and that will cost me $1,000, which I hope to pay in cash.
- I am saving $5,000 for laser eye surgery, which I hope will happen later this month.
- I got serious about saving money in my 401k plan and socked away about $25K in two years.
- I got serious about saving money in an emergency fund and still have some money left in it. (A high of $4k, a current low of $1.6K)
- I paid cash for a motorcycle, my newest hobby.
- I’ve made a ton of friends through blogging.
- I made a decent chunk of change through blogging, but recognize that it’s still only a labor of love and will likely never replace my day job.
- I helped my parents buy new windows for their home.
- My dad had a stroke and retired from work.
- I negotiated a crazy raise for myself last year.
- I have learned to carry more cash on me.
- I don’t feel crushed by my debts, but positively focused on what I can do to change my situation.
- My net worth has tripled, but my consumer debt has quadrupled.
- Last, but not least, I start a new job today with a major international consulting firm.

I’m sorry I have written sooner about my job change, but I’ve been holding onto that last little tidbit for over a month and it’s a major consideration with my goals for this year. I didn’t want to share the news till the time was right.

I really want to thank each and every one of you that reads this blog. I feel a lot of encouragement through your comments and the traffic you send this way. I know I’m bratty, spoiled, bitchy, quirky, boring, but somehow y’all still find it interesting enough to stick around and I appreciate it a lot.

In honor of the day, I’d like to have a little blog contest to give away a copy of Debt is Slavery.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. I’ll try to select randomly from the entries but I can tell you now that the Money Blog Network guys are not eligible to win. Sorry guys! All your traffics are belong to us!

I have been remiss with updating my blogroll. Plonkee Money is a fantastic UK-based PF blog. Plonkee is “brilliant”. She’s very smart and I was impressed that she’d just hop across the Atlantic just for a visit to the US. I’m not that adventurous I guess.

We had a great time at the international happy hour, her presence of course was what made it “international”.

There’s lots of good stuff in her blog. She runs thoughtful carnival themes and recently did a trip through her blogroll. (Of course I picked the M’s because it lists me! ME!)

I look forward to the book reviews she wants to do on books not widely available in the UK. I’m curious to hear her take on some of them as I feel they are very US-focused and I wonder what general actions can be gleaned from them which she can apply in the UK.

BK is a new PF Blogger at Tryin to make a DOLLA outta FIFTEEN cents, one of the lovely DC area ladies who joined me and a few other ladies for a holiday brunch a few weeks ago. Thanks to SingleMa for bringing her into the fold! BK is a single mom who is kicking ass careerwise. She is smart and sassy. It was great to finally meet her in person.

Her posting is a little light lately since she’s started a new job, but hey, she’s a busy mom. I’m just amazed we could actually get her out and about for brunch.

Her debt graphs are going down quicker than mine. So follow along with her progress.

Thanks!

EDITED: To include a link about the Lenten piggy bank.

Oink! Oink!

I still have my Lenten piggy bank, and for most of the year, it’s empty. For some reason, this year, I decided to throw small bills in there and much to my surprise, sometimes I have a nice stash of about $40. It always sort of surprises me how much is in there when I bother to count it up.

When I am running out the door to go somewhere and I don’t have enough time to hit the ATM, I will reach into my piggy bank and grab some money out. Saves me time and usually saves me money because I don’t use a non-network ATM or charge dinner. $40 is more than plenty for dinner and movie.

The other night, I decided to count it up and found out I had $30 in it. I pulled out half because I was running low on cash for the week and consolidated the rest into larger bills. ($1’s for $5’s, not so large, eh?) I ‘topped off’ my wallet, which is good because I needed $10 to park at a downtown parking garage while I went to the theater. I would have been caught short if I hadn’t done that.

This blog has really transformed me. I don’t think I would be using cash as often as I do without realizing through blogging that cash is king. My experiments during Lent to save some petty cash around the house has turned into a small habit of tossing money into the piggy bank all year. It’s helping me avoid using credit for buying food, which cannot be returned or resold. Heck, even just withdrawing wads of cash in $100’s instead of $20’s has left me with small bills to toss into the bank. That’s a major change for me because I never used to pull out that much money at once. It was always twenty here and twenty there.

What about you? Have you changed your small habits with blogging? Can you point concretely to something that’s different about you since you started your involvement reading or writing a PF Blog? Has it stuck with you?

Trying to focus but getting distracted with late night long distance phone calls for hours. (Free with my cellphone on off-peak minutes!)

I have stuff for you. It’s just not sharp and well-written. It’s rambly crap I want to tighten up before putting it out there.

As is, there’s an international visitor the DC PF Bloggers are hosting tonight. At the very least, there will something about that tomorrow.

I am really sorry, but hosting seems to be really wonky.

I am going to have to find a new ISP as I am outgrowing the good graces of Flexo with this blog. I’m just a big ole’ pain in the neck for him. He’s been wonderful helping me out with the technical nitty gritty.

So, this means I am shopping for a new ISP. I have a few in mind, but I’m looking for suggestions. No Dreamhost or MediaTemple. Shared hosting will suffice. I have further specs, but I’ll entertain what you’ve got. Please leave me a note in the comments with your suggestions.

What this really means is that this blog is a labor of love now. My ad revenue from my previous contract will pay for 2 years of hosting, but on a monthly basis, I am losing money. I’m not making a lot because I hate ads cluttering my aesthetic. However, I think to pay for the monthly fees, I am going to have to put up more advertisements to cover costs going forward. Sorry, but I am going to have to go a little more commercial.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll even put up an internet tip jar and just start begging. (Perish the thought, but it keeps turning up like a bad penny pushed forward from the back of my mind.)

Please be patient with MFC as it goes through some technical growing pains this winter. The irony I suppose is that it’s just over a year to the day that I made the switch from Blogger to WordPress!