by Trent Hamm
Available in 24 free installments
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Deal Seeking Mom mostly just provides a lot of great coupons and freebies - the site does a great job of filtering out many of the less-useful items and just provides some of the cream of the crop - and occasionally drops a great article on specific money-saving tactics in the middle there.
Dumb Little Man
http://www.dumblittleman.com /
I keep coming back to Dumb Little Man for the variety. The site posts articles on a wide variety of topics - productivity, personal development, money management, careers, and so on. The author usually gets right to the point, outlining a handful of good suggestions on the topic. For me, it usually serves as a great starting point for ways to improve myself, whether in terms of money or career or even my day-to-day life.
Freelance Switch
http://www.freelanceswitch.com /
Freelance Switch focuses very specifically on the money and career issues that face
people who are freelancers - of which, to an extent, I would include myself as a
member. Because of that tight focus, Freelance Switch can toss out many of the extraneous details and really hone in on factors that matter specifically to freelancers.
Free Money Finance
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com /
Free Money Finance succeeds for me because the author is very very effective at combing through the mainstream media, finding the articles on personal money management that are really compelling, and commenting on them in a relatable fashion. The (slight) majority of the posts at FMF follow that general format and, for me, those are the ones that keep me coming back for more.
Frugal Dad
http://frugaldad.com /
Frugal Dad. The name alone tells you exactly what you're going to get: frugality tips and personal finance thoughts related to kids. Two topics that, unsurprisingly, appeal to me quite a bit. Another factor that works in Frugal Dad's favor is that the site, over time, tells the story of his life - a meshing of good advice and memoir that I find appealing.
Get Rich Slowly
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/
Point blank, this is the best personal finance blog out there (besides The Simple Dollar, of course). JD and I have similar ideas so often that I'll sometimes check Get Rich Slowly before I post a new article just to make sure that JD hasn't randomly came up with a similar idea.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com /
I read I Will Teach You To Be Rich for two reasons. First, Ramit's focus is largely on entrepreneurship - it's fairly obvious that his audience is the Silicon Valley startup crowd. Second, his tone is pure entertainment - a pastiche of self-assurance and compelling advice that makes most of the articles there quite worth reading.
http://lifehacker.com /
Lifehacker is a very frequently updated site (ten or more times a day) focusing on
productivity technology issues, but occasionally brushing on personal finance, personal
growth, and other areas. I almost always find a gem or two by browsing through
Lifehacker - a useful piece of software, a good piece of advice, or something wholly
unexpected.
Money Saving Mom
http://www.moneysavingmom.com /
Money Saving Mom is something like a hybrid between Frugal Dad and Deal Seeking Mom - it's a real medley of frugality tips, solid coupons (I've used more coupons from MSM than from pretty much any other site I've visited), and excellent anecdotes about parenting with frugality in mind.
Pick the Brain
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog
Pick the Brain is an excellent wide-ranging self-improvement blog, offering up tons of interesting articles on motivation, productivity, money management, and other aspects of self-improvement. The variety of ideas is what keeps me coming back - it's infrequently updated, but when I do see an update, it's usually full of solid ideas.
Productivity501
http://www.productivit.y501 .com /
Productivity501 focuses squarely on how to be more productive with your time - and time is money, after all. Mark does a consistently great job of digging through ordinary tasks and finding ways to reduce our time investment on those tasks, resulting in more time to spend on other things of greater personal value (like spending time with my kids, for example).
Queercents
http://www.queercents.com /
