Top Five Personal Finance Blogs

I read a lot of Personal Finance blogs. My Google Reader is regularly jam packed with fantastic tips and information. There are so many blogs out there, though, that it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here are my personal favorites (in no particular order) from the Blogosphere. 

Get Rich Slowly

This blog is all about sensible money tips and stories. J.D. mixes his advice with tales from his personal experiences. Get Rich Slowly is an inspiring blog. 

The Simple Dollar

Trent always has great down to earth articles. He knows what he is talking about and he always comes across as honest and informed. His Road to Armageddon series is a must-read. It chronicles how he got himself into financial difficulties and how he got out of them again.

My Dollar Plan

Madison has a plan. A really good plan. A plan that she is succeeding in to get financially comfortable. She writes very smart informed articles not just about herself, but also about the financial world and markets. 

Five Cent Nickel

Nickel is great about keeping up with financial news as well as giving incredibly sound advice. He has a great style and his articles are always interesting and to the point. 

Dual Income No Kids

James and Miel are a fascinating couple. She works overseas and he is here in the US a lot of the time. They both write and share their views. They are often on top of current events and have opinions worth reading.

So what are your favorite personal finance blogs? Who do you subscribe to? Check out the sidebar link for a list of everyone in my Google Reader.

Sunday Blogosphere Link Love

I subscribe to about 50 other Blogs right now. My Google Reader is never empty, and this week I'm sharing with you a few articles from three of my favorite blogs.

Queercents, a fantastic blog, tells us what happens to credit card debt if a bank fails. This is an incredibly pertinent question especially after the IndyMac failure and the rumors about Washington Mutual being in trouble.

By the way, a lot of people looking for information about Washington Mutual have stopped by here over the past few days. Here is my take on it from a few weeks ago.

20's Money talks about why your twenties are the most financially important years of your life.

Frugal Babe has an article about how being frugal has helped her reach her goals. Her blog is truly an inspiration for me with regards to getting a grip on my finances.

Unveiling My New Design!

Thanks to my amazingly talented husband, I now have a much more elegant and updated design. I've been craving something more personalized and the banner still isn't finished, but I am incredibly happy with the results.
I felt like the previous template didn't reflect my own personal style and I was very excited to head downstairs this morning to see Andrew working on it for me. I would love to hear some feedback, so please do comment away!

Introducing Regator : A New Site Worth Checking Out

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a launch party last night for Regator, a new site dedicated to aggregating the best of the Blogosphere. I had a blast at the party and decided that I'd take a step back from finance today and tell you about this site because it really is a great tool. 

The way I understand it, people nominate blogs to Regator ( yes, you can nominate your own), they are screened and either accepted or not. If they are accepted, their RSS feed gets added to Regator. The content can be voted on by users to move it up to the front page, similar to Digg but no numbers are shown, and the posts are automatically included, not individually submitted. 

I got a chance to chat with one of the co-founders, Scott, and he told me that they reject 52% of submitted blogs because their emphasis is on quality content. They like the idea of giving smaller unknown blogs with great content a place to shine. The intent is that blogs with really stellar content will be acknowledged for their content and writing.

My Opinion

I think that Regator is a great concept and you can tell that the people running it really believe in what they are doing. I think that right now, there are a lot of big name blogs on the front page, so they have a way to go to hit their mark, but it is certainly a good place to go and look for new reading material that you otherwise might not find. 

I like the fact that you can't see how many votes something has, because then you can't really see exactly how popular it is, you just know that it's popular.

Regator is definitely worth checking out and playing around with. They are still very new and there are a few blog categories that are under-represented, but it looks like they are growing rapidly so I am sure that it is only a matter of time.

 

Blogosphere Link Love

Here's what I've been reading about in the Blogosphere today:

Nora Dunn over at Wisebread explains all about how to make your own Tofu, Soyburgers and Soy Milk out of Soy Beans. At $1.50 for 24 meals, I think she's definitely on to something.

Garrett McCord over at Simply Recipes has a recipe for Coconut Cupcakes that makes my mouth water. You can be sure I'm picking up the ingredients next time I hit the grocery store. 

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly introduces us to Fuelly. It's a great site that allows you to track your vehicle's fuel consumption as well as a bunch of neat add ons. I've already signed up and think it's fabulous. 

Jen at Cake Wrecks found an Olympic themed cake that made me burst out laughing. If you haven't checked out this blog yet, I highly recommend it. It's kind of  guilty pleasure for me. 

A Shout Out to Commenters

Here is a little shout out to my two best commenters, Chris at My Debt Journey and Scott at The Passive Dad. 

These lovely gentlemen are not just great commenters, but they are also great bloggers and I highly recommend reading their work. 

Chris is joining me in working on a debt snowball.

Scott is a fellow Etsy lover. 

Guest Blogging Welcome

When I scour through my Google Reader each day, I notice that a lot of my favorite blogs have Guest Writers on a fairly regular basis. I am a huge fan of collaboration so the idea of this greatly appeals to me. 

I would really enjoy having Guest Writers here on Distilled Rose, and I would also love to write Guest Posts over at other blogs. I am open to any of the topics that I cover on here from personal finance to freelance writing to food, books and movies and blogging. I will certainly entertain any ideas you throw my way!

If you are interested in either having a guest post here, or having me write one for your blog, please feel free to contact me using this handy form. 

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A Nod to Frugal Dad from my Google Reader

This is the best list of money saving tips I have read in a while. Frugal Dad is right on the money with a lot of these. I particularly like these ones:


1. Switch to cloth napkins. I’m not sure why it took a down economy for this one to dawn on me, but cloth napkins are a great alternative to paper napkins, which increase waste and add to our non-food budget.

10. Buy a used car, and drive it until the wheels fall off. My grandfather has driven two vehicles in 34 years! Sam Walton drove a twenty year-old pickup truck right up until the time he died. Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Remember, a new car is “used” the minute you drive it off the showroom floor.

28. When eating out, divide entrees in half and save the rest for a second meal. Ask for a to-go box as soon as your meal arrives and save half for tomorrow’s lunch. Restaurants are notorious for piling on portions, so this move will help you spread out the calories and cost of the meal.

34. Plant a tree next to your outside air conditioning unit. By shading your outside unit you may improve the operating efficiency of the overall system by 20%. Take care not to plant to close to the unit to maintain proper airflow.

40. Reuse bath towels. Sounds gross at first, but think about it - you are clean when you get out of the shower. Hang up towels after each use to thoroughly dry, and only add them to the dirty clothes pile after every three or four uses.

55. Divide credit card minimum payments in half and pay that amount twice a month. Interest is calculated based on the average daily balance of your account for the entire month. By making a payment every couple weeks you are reducing that average balance and therefore reducing the finance charges assessed, as opposed to waiting until the end of the month to make a single payment.

I subscribe to about 35 different blogs and you can see links to most of them in the section entitled What's in My Google Reader in my right sidebar.