by Trent Hamm
Available in 24 free installments
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Queercents is actually a collective blog, including writings from a large number of writers that are all members of the LGBT community. As with many group blogs, the presence of many writers creates a great diversity of opinion and perspectives - and
Everything PF http://www.thesimpledollar.com 47/49
often you find a writer or two that you really click with (I like Nina, for example) while being exposed to a lot of ideas and angles that you would have never considered before.
Red Tape Chronicles
http://redtape.msnbc.com /
Red Tape Chronicles (from MSNBC) focuses on consumer issues - mostly how to deal with customer service headaches, identity theft, and other painful elements of modern financial life. Bob Sullivan provides great fact-based coverage of consumer fraud, writing really strong material that often leads me to investigating similar experiences in my own life.
Smart Spending
http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/
Smart Spending is something of a "meta-blog" of personal finance blogs. Karen Datko and Donna Freedman do a great job of scouring a wide range of personal finance blogs, finding a wide variety of commentary on personal finance issues while adding their own unique views. Smart Spending is a great resource for seeing what lots of different voices are saying on personal finance topics.
The Digerati Life
http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/
I often look at The Digerati Life as something of an urban parallel to The Simple Dollar. The author lives in the Bay Area and often has a more urban perspective than I do, but we regularly come to the same conclusions. What keeps me coming back? A warm tone and a lot of excellent advice.
The Wallet
http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/
The Wallet is a personal finance blog from the Wall Street Journal. It can be dry at
times, but if you want a flood of thought-provoking reading on personal finance, this is a
great source. It's a mix of link collections to interesting articles from all over and short
pieces from WSJ staff writers, all adding together to create a compelling mix of money
material.
Unclutterer
http://unclutterer.com /
Unclutterer is a fascinating blog with a very specific topic: reducing clutter. In Erin's eyes, clutter stands in the way of personal productivity personal happiness, and good personal finance, too. Her soft, witty tone and her consistently thoughtful ideas on reducing the clutter in one's life keep me constantly coming back for more.
Wise Bread
http://www.wisebread.com /
Wise Bread is a group blog that looks at a huge array of personal finance issues,
providing a wide range of voices and insights on money matters. The wide variety of
voices (in particular, the always-excellent Philip Brewer) and wide variety of issues
make this one a great blog for getting your juices flowing when it comes to money
management.
Zen Habits
http://zenhabits.net /
Last but not least is Zen Habits, a site focused on simplicity in life, money, work, and love. Leo's goal with Zen Habits is pretty clear - if you reduce the complexities in your life, you have much more life to enjoy, a philosophy I wholeheartedly agree with. Leo's posts vary widely, but they all strike the common theme of finding a simpler way in life.
The Final Thought
You can do this. Two years ago, I was almost bankrupt and in deep despair [109] because I didn't believe this stuff, either. It took a lot of learning and a lot of honest soul-searching, but I began to realize what was really important and I turned the ship around. Trust me: you can do it, too.
