Blog Post of the Fortnight! by Femme Frugality
What a week! Is it Friday already? What happened to Wednesday? Did someone let the replacement refs near the calendar?
As we close in on our one-year blog birthday (October 1st), I can’t believe we’ve been here for twelve months already. I try not to write too much about the process of writing. People like Jeremy at Modest Money do that much better than I could. If someone were asking me the most significant influences on my first year, it would be people:
- I owe huge thanks to Dr. Dean Burke and Len Penzo. These two gentlemen have become my blogging “big brothers.” I feel lucky to call them friends. They’re people I’ve leaned on often during this first year. I’m glad they feel comfortable giving me advice and I’m happy to take it.
- …as I do Dominique Brown and Carrie Smith. These two are my daily inspiration. I’m not naturally social: Carrie reminds me of the importance of that by being EVERYWHERE. She’s proof that good writing and staying connected pay dividends. I need that reminder often. Dom is the “I can do it” guy. I don’t think there’s a single obstacle that stands in his way. If it does, he aims directly at it and knocks it down. The stuff he’s done with video lately on his site has been unbelievable.
There are many other people I’m not thanking here, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t been a HUGE help and support system. You know who you are. Hell, I somehow even snuck through to complete the Yakezie Challenge. You can’t do that alone. The whole Yakezie team is a constant flow of support.
If I had one piece of advice for a “younger” blogger just starting out, it’d be this: I’m naturally a loner and “do it myselfer.” Don’t be. Find people and lean on the community. There’s so much to learn and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Let’s Award an Award to An Award Winner
Enough self-absorbed birthday prattle (I flippin’ love that word….prattle!).
I’m uber-pleased to hand the first Blog Post of the Fortnight! to Femme Frugality for her two-piece review of the documentary Happy. It’s fitting that Femme Frugality wrote—of all the topics available—about “happy.” When I think happy, I think Femme Frugality.
Read Femme Frugality’s post: How To Be Happy.
FF’s review reminds me that “happy”, to a large extent, is a state of mind. People think that events or society need to bend more to make them happy. While there certainly are cases when happy in unachievable (the Holocaust, Rowanda, etc.), in many cases “happy” is an internal button that needs to be pushed, not an external condition that needs to change.
FF, you know what to do:
You may print out this page and post it proudly on your refridgerator…for the next fortnight.
8 Other Fantastic Blogs You Should Be Reading But Maybe Haven’t, So I’ll Remind You
Lance from Money Life and More hits a homerun with Buy An Older Generation or Last Season’s Product. Don’t be the guy who pays the premium for the hot new thing. Celebrate the hot new thing so you can cheaply grab last year’s hot thing.
Christa at MomVesting has always been one of my fav writers. I’m glad she’s back with a vengeance in Investing in Family: Bringing Home Baby. In some respects, Christa’s piece was inspiration for this week’s roundtable topic on our podcast.
Roshawn Watson at Watson, Inc. – This dude does it again. Does there come a time when you just send bloggers to the Hall of Fame because EVERY post they write should be on your “best” list? My disgust with the idiocy known as the “latte factor” knows no bounds. Roshawn knocks this silly notion in When Latte’s Are Not Your Problem. Let’s give a well-deserved nod to Jake at iHeartBudgets for doing good work in this same territory late this week in How the Latte Factor Works in Real Life.
Jason at Work Save Live does a nice job of showing that percentages don’t tell the whole story in Stop Believing the Hype, The Average Rate of Return Isn’t What You Really Earn. Advisors like to use pseudo-math to tell stories. Often it doesn’t add up.
Michelle at SeeDebtRun shares a very personal story about her relationship with her dad in Already Rich – What Cancer Taught Me.
Kim at Eyes on the Dollar flexes her professional muscles in Does LASIK surgery Make Financial Sense? You’d almost think she worked in this field, based on how thorough this piece is. Also, if this were “Picture of the Fortnight!” Kim would win hands down.
My soon-to-be virtual running partner Maria at The Money Principle asks some good questions about college students and how they make ends meet in Students and Money: Who Said This Personal Finance Stuff Is Easy?
Hello, New Friend!
Everyone stop by the “new to me” site Frugal Rules. John’s a financial professional and has had a great start. Welcome to the community, dude!
We’re Very Popular and Humble, Too
Dr. Dean at the Millionaire Nurse Blog wrote about me and board games in Pee Your Pants Fun? (I would have never seen the connection).
BogofDebt allowed us to sit in her chair and attempt to ruin her blog this week. Luckily for her, I was able to pull together a coherent piece called How to Turn Losing Into Winning With Your Money, about the role of momentum in your financial life. You should at least watch the second video in the piece. Thanks to Jason at Work Save Live and Jordan at My Alternate Life for mentioning that post on their weekly roundup.
I’m SO glad the Club Thrifty team is back from vay-cay (I’m beyond hip). What a fun site. My goal is to keep a chair in the VIP lounge. Thanks for giving OG the pass this week! Don’t pay any attention to the dude who snuck in behind him. Nothing to see here!
One More Thing
I’m constantly playing games on this site and on our podcast (some are noticed, some not, but that’s not the point of the whole boondoggle). This week we reached a milestone. I’ve mentioned Dr. Dean in every single Blog Post of the…. piece for a year! He asked me why I’m doing it several weeks ago, to which I replied, “It gets me through Friday.”
I’ve capped it off by mentioning him three separate times in this post. HA! That means it’s going to be a fantabulous weekend, assuming the replacement refs didn’t get to that, too….
j.
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- Weekly Wrap-Up, Mentions and Good Reads #18 - [...] The Free Financial Advisor mentioned me in Blog Post of the Fortnight by Femme Frugality [...]
- Can't Take My Eyes Off These Blogs #7 | Eyes on the Dollar - [...] Blog Post of the Fortnight by Femme Fruglity at The Free Financial Advisor/Average Joe’s Money Blog [...]
- Carnivals, Mentions, & Weekend Reading #32 — WorkSaveLive - [...] Blog Post of the Fortnight! by Femme Frugality by Free Financial Advisor [...]
- Frugal Friday: Posts That Ruled This Week - Frugal Rules - [...] Blog Post of the Fortnight! By Femme Frugality on Average Joe Money [...]
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Thanks again for guest posting! As I said, I’m just happy it wasn’t marked as spam
Bobbie @ Bogofdebt recently posted..Top Tips for Apartment Hunters
Ha! That is Joe’s calling card, isn’t it? That was really good post BTW!
Greg@ClubThrifty recently posted..The VIP Club – Weekly Roundup 5th Edition
Thanks for the thank you! We don’t mind if you sneak in behind OG;) While your goal may be to keep a chair in the VIP Club, ours is to win the Blog Post of the Fortnight. Every week (well, two weeks now) I dream of seeing our post up on the big stage here at The Free Financial Advisor. It my new goal to win this award, print it off, and paste it on my fridge so that my little girls have something to shoot for. I want them to know that with hard work, they too can realize their dreams.
On another note, I like your fortnight idea. I was thinking about switching to this with our VIP Club as well.
Rock on with your bad selves and have a great weekend!
Greg@ClubThrifty recently posted..The VIP Club – Weekly Roundup 5th Edition
You crack me up, Greg. It is a worthy goal…the bar is high.
Yeah, first I had to figure out what the hell a fortnight was. Once I got that down (thanks to Kylie and Maria!), it was definitely less overwhelming. Have a great weekend, too!
I didn’t know you loathed the latte factor. I’m glad I could scratch your itch this week by outing the fact that it usually doesn’t work in real life.
And congrats on one year of bloger-ness. You’re one of the few who don’t just rage quit by stabbing a samurai through their laptop screen, yelling at your HTML because it keeps putting your logo in the wrong spot. Nice work.
Jacob @ iHeartBudgets recently posted..Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables: Cost Comparison
I was fired up to read that both you and Roshawn had strong feelings about it. I agree with Greg: your solution was really cool.
Thanks on the one year…although I’ve SO wanted to quit when either the blog or podcast has had some editing/HTML/Libsyn issues. Instead I’ve just taken up drinking heavily.
Big thanks for the mention! Sorry to offend you with my reply to your comment on that article; I meant no disrespect. I’ve been really busy lately and just shooting off replies rather quickly. I was simply stating that the dollar cost averaging didn’t hold true in that example, but also wanted to soften that state by saying that I FIRMLY believe in dollar-cost averaging. Anyway…sorry if what I said came across wrong.
WorkSaveLive recently posted..Carnivals, Mentions, and Weekend Reading #31
That’s alright. That’s why I wrote to have you take down my reply. I was grumpy and too thin-skinned. It doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a great read.
Hey, glad you liked the questions: I like them as well but what I really mind are the answers
. As to running, how to do this hooking up on Nike + thing? I’ll send you my running name so we really become virtual running partners – I am running in South Africa next week.
maria@moneyprinciple recently posted..Investment options: trading futures
South Africa!? Show off! I want to do that Comrades race some time. I think it’d be really fun.
While you’re in South Africa, I’ll be running in Fantasyland. You probably call it “Texarkana, Texas”, but to me it’s completely Fantasyland. Dream!
Please send it. I don’t have any friends on Nike+. We should sign up for some of the challenges together.
Oh you are ridiculous! And you know exactly why! :/ THANK YOU for including my post!!! Have a super fantastic weekend. You big ridiculous person, you!
Michelle @ See Debt Run recently posted..Teaching Kids About Money: Leading By Example
Ahhh! Thank you so much! So honored! And you can bet I’m printing this page out and putting it right next to the crayon scribble masterpieces on the fridge.
By the way…happy almost one year! So exciting!
femmefrugality recently posted..Family History for All Price Ranges
Ha, my ploy has worked. I’m really a ferret groomer, not an optometrist. Congratulations on your one year anniversary. I too am usually a loner, but it’s easy to like this community. Thanks for including me and can I print a certificate for picure of the fortnight?
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..Why You Should Visit a National Park
Thanks for the mention! I actually figured out Dr Dean lives pretty close to me after PT mentioned it! He has no clue who I am though I’m sure.
Lance @ Money Life and More recently posted..How I Bought A House On A Whim and Why You Shouldn’t
Thanks so much for the shout out Joe! Thanks even more for the help you’ve been so far. Hopefully I’ll be around a year from now as well.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Frugal Friday: Posts That Ruled This Week
Congrats on one year, Joe – I think it’s safe to say you’re in it for the long haul! Good to have you around.
PK recently posted..The DQYDJ Weekender, 9/29/2012
You, sir, are someone else I should have mentioned! The fact that you put so much time into the 2 Guys and Your Money show….great stuff. Thanks for being an awesome partner the last several months.
Happy Birthday1!! Congrats on making it past your first year. You are doing GREAT! Thanks for the include
Roshawn @ Watson Inc recently posted..Even Adults Need Those “Look What I Did!” Moments
Happy Blog Birthday! Wishing you more projects to come. Job well done you really did a great job.
Thanks for the mention, Joe! Love the podcast — as you guys mentioned, you “sound so professional”!
Seriously, though, great podcast with awesome, professional intro!
Happy almost-one-year-blogaversary!
Christa recently posted..Investment Properties: Deciding on a Property Type
Dave Hilton really is a stud with that intro. We won’t be using it every week. As longer-term listeners know, we aim to surprise you with goofy stuff every week.