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I’m going to take some time in the coming few weeks to lead you on a tour of my blogroll, starting with the most important people, the motley collection of personal finance bloggers known as the m-network.

being frugal

Lynnae is trying to get herself and her family out of debt, predominantly by being frugal, hence the name. At the moment, they’re going through a rough patch since her husband lost his job, but they (and I) are sure that the best days are still around the corner. Some of the best of being frugal:

• what little house on the prairie taught me about debt - apart from a little concern at dating herself
• my credit cards are frozen - ever since I first heard of this, I have thought it was a brilliant idea, and wanted someone I knew to take it up and Lynnae has.

This week’s selection

• crossing the line: when does frugal become cheap? - chime in with your opinions on whether, for example, re-gifting a wedding present is acceptable behaviour

christian finance

You might be forgiven for thinking that Bob’s religious themed blog would have a limited appeal. You’d be dead wrong. Christian finance concentrates on sensible financial tips, hints and suggestions with a thoughtful Christian perspective. Some of my favourite posts include:

• money doesn’t solve money problems - don’t worry, as Bob explains, this also means that you don’t need money to solve money problems
• don’t give to the poor? - are we doing the right thing when we give money directly to people on the streets? possibly not (try donating to Shelter)

This week’s star post

• budgeting is like baking cookies - no, Bob is completely right it really, truly is and any budget should definitely include nice things

debt-free revolution

Ana is as you may have guessed another debt-free wannabe with a vociferous dislike of debt of all kinds. She’s turned her hand to pizza delivery to bring in extra cash, whilst simultaneously supporting her army husband, studying organic chemistry and managing her kids. Her best posts include:

• financial tug-of-war - or the ongoing saga of her husband’s truck
• dave ramsey: con man, cult leader or other? - well, personally I reckon he is (unintentionally) a cult leader but read what Ana thinks

From the last seven days:

• top 10 reasons to be debt-free - add some humour to your day and check out this list, my favourite is number 10.

gather little by little

Another Christian blogger and debt-free wannabe, I first encountered glblguy when he wrote a post commenting on why religion is an important part of personal finance. He hasn’t left my feed reader since although I’m always amazed at how he keeps it going as well as running around after six kids. Anyway, some of glblguy’s best posts:

• finding and killing nemo along with my debt snowball - tropical fish are, apparently, expensive and difficult to keep, but make kids happy
• 7 stupid financial mistakes I’ve made - when you can, learn from other people’s endeavours - I’m also guilty of no. 5

In the past week:

• money saving tip #14 - save money when eating out - 9 different ideas to save some cash, my favourite is probably ‘eat slow’

I’ve paid for this twice already…

Taekwondo blackbelt Jaimie has already paid out a lot of money to her credit companies, and is now working on her plan to never need to do so again. She also writes like a fiend and has excellent guest posts everywhere as well as writing on her own blog.

• what was your tipping point - have you ever had a moment when you realised that you needed to sort out your financial house once and for all?
• considering the cost of things I took for granted - realising it costs you $2.50 just to go to Walmart? priceless

This week’s offering:

• does it look like I’ll say no? good. - avoid street sales tactics by just looking like you’re not worth the hassle, brilliant idea

moolanomy

In the tradition of Shakespeare, Pinyo, the founder of the m-network, invented the word moolanomy to describe the science of money. He’s a regular guy, originally from Thailand, but now resides in Queens where his wife is expecting their first child. Pinyo is hot on investing as well as all general finance stuff. Some of his best posts are:

• the seven deadly sins of personal finance - learn how gluttony, wrath, lust and the rest are holding you back from a financially successful future and what you can do about it
• $1 million by 2017. what’s your goal? - erm, yeah mine is still in the planning stages, but I’m taking inspiration from Pinyo’s detailed outline of his ambitious goal

In the last week:

• does your family have an emergency plan? - suggestions for how to reduce your expenses in the short term if your income is hit

my two dollars

Simultaneously the newest member and the longest running blog in the m-network, on top of providing great personal finance posts, david also has another blog, the good human, where he writes about sustainability, progressive politics and environmental issues [subscribe here]. A few of the best of my two dollars:

• sometimes the simple things can save the most money - a list of 25 tips and tricks to cut down on the money you spend, leaving you more for the things you enjoy
• why you should stop paying for storage and get organized - not many things are worse than paying a fortune to store things that in reality you neither want nor need, I’m a big fan of de-cluttering and am aiming to only have things that I love

From the past week:

• money mistake monday - doesn’t care how you pay for it girlfriend syndrome - a great example of never trying to impress someone with money you don’t have

single guy money

The clue is in the name, the author of this blog is a single guy that talks about money. He’s been working hard to get his debt down over the last year and is writing a little about his endeavours in rental properties as well as keeping us up to date on his debt free quest. My favourites from single guy money include:

• my cousin’s birthday - I got the present - success in teaching some of the next generation that saving is better than debt
• who gets my money? - if you’re single without dependents, is having a will important?

From the last week:

• waiting is the hardest part - no one likes the bit between putting in an offer on a house and getting it accepted

the dough roller

A much valued member of the m-network, dough roller is on his way to achieving that elusive goal, financial independence. He has reached through a more challenging financial background to teach us more about how we can all improve our finances. Some of my favourites are:

• 10 things I now know at 40 that I wish I knew at 20 - so much good advice its not true, I’m a particular fan of ‘compounding is pure magic’
• 10 sure fire ways to spend more than you make - another top 10 post, but this time a whole great list of things that you shouldn’t do

And from the last 7 days:

• the doomsday fund: how planning for the worst prepares you for the best - what will you do in your worst case scenario, and how does that help you in the present

m-network

If you liked this tour of the m-network, then subscribe to our new feed. It was updated recently to a genuinely new and improved product, with the same old excellent articles. Unfortunately, if you have been subscribing, you’ll need to switch over manually but I can promise you that it’ll be worth it.

Edited to Add: I can’t believe I missed the dough roller out. Rest assured it’s purely an oversight on my part and the dough roller is a great blog and made an excellent recent host for the carnival of personal finance.

Similar Posts:

• looking for good personal finance books
• my least bad and least good financial decisions
• measuring financial success

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