Donna Freedman - Surviving and Thriving

Time is something we can’t do over.

October 15, 2015October 25, 2013 by Donna Freedman

The 2013 Financial Blogger Conference was the best yet, and also the most exhausting. We got up at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to fly to St. Louis and, coincidentally, walked back through our front door at about 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24.

In between: a long plane trip, most of a day spent “frugalizing” a family with MP Dunleavey (for her Woman’s Day column), the conference itself and then a few days hanging out with my daughter, who also attended.

The conference days were a blur of activity, four days of leaving the room at 7:30 or 8 a.m. and falling back into bed at 1:30 or 2 a.m. Yet it was delightful to attend sessions, reconnect with others who’ve attended for three years running, to win prizes, and to discuss some very interesting work-related propositions (nothing I can noise around just yet, though).

Right now DF is on furlough (grrr), so we had Thursday and today to recover from the trip. It’s been tough for me to get my head back into the game; instead, I want to spend my days talking about writing and having other people cook for me.

Scratch that: I want to spend my days working only when I feel like it. I expect I’m not alone.

As I noted in “Termination dust,” being kicked to the virtual curb by MSN Money has caused me to reconsider the kind of life I want to lead. That’s why an e-mail I received today really resonated.

Coffee: Way too freakin’ early on Monday, Oct. 21.

October 19, 2013 by Donna Freedman

I’ll be at the St. Louis Bread Company, 116 N. 6th St., starting at 7 a.m. on Monday. Anyone who wants to meet for coffee and one of their distressingly good pastries is cordially invited to join me.

Just look for the bottle blonde who seems very tired yet oddly keyed-up. Conferences do that to me. I’ll have my battered MacBook open and will be drinking far too much Diet Pepsi.

On the bright side: thanks to my Panera Rewards card, I will get my pastry for free. Although I like to think I’ll have a whole-grain bagel, lightly toasted with just a touch of canola-based margarine, that’s probably not going to happen.

We’re having a swell time at the Financial Blogger Conference — almost as much fun as those Cardinal fans had last night. I’d like to thank the city of St. Louis for the fireworks display after you guys cinched the World Series: We had a primo view of the pyrotechnics from our hotel window.

To paraphrase the poet, we have eaten not wisely but too well. For more on that, see “Food food glorious food” at I Pick Up Pennies (which just happens to be the People’s Choice winner at the 2013 Plutus Awards.)

Quick (and exciting!) news from FinCon13.

October 18, 2013 by Donna Freedman

The bad news: Abby didn’t win the Plutus Award for “Best-Kept Secret Blog” last night.

The good news: She did win the People’s Choice Award. Her reaction was quite choice; read about it at her blog.

And I won for Best Frugality-Based Blog, which frankly astounds me: I didn’t even know I’d been nominated until shortly before the conference. We got a lot of good-natured ribbing about it being Mother-Daughter Night at the Plutus Awards.

So many thanks to all of you who voted. She still can’t quite believe it. Abby has already noted a number of new followers.

Giveaway: The cold and flu package.

October 10, 2013 by Donna Freedman

If you’ve been in the cold/flu medicine aisle of the drugstore lately you were probably as shocked as I was by the high cost of cold medications.

I hope none of you actually get sick this winter. But we’re indoors with a lot of other people and rhinoviruses spread faster than nasty rumors. So why not be prepared? And why not let me help?

These cold-and-flu packages are invariably popular, and probably not just because they save you money. I think a lot of people simply don’t want to keep cold medications on hand because, well, you don’t need them.

Until you do — at which point ayou might feel too miserable to make the trip to the pharmacy. And if you thought this stuff costs a lot at the pharmacy, wait until you price them at a convenience store.

The frugal heating pad.

October 9, 2013 by Donna Freedman

Recently our heater went on the blink. The heating company that DF prefers wasn’t able to give us an appointment for almost two weeks – unless, that is, we wanted to pay extra for an after-hours visit.

Nope, we didn’t, even though temperatures dropped into the mid-20s at night and only into the high 40s during the day. We had plenty of split wood so we kept the fireplace insert stoked.

Nothing froze. In fact, the living room got a little too warm from time to time. However, the home office is farthest away from the heat source and it wasn’t exactly toasty. Most days I was plenty comfortable with a bathrobe over my sweats and T-shirt.

And when I wasn’t? I used the perfect frugal chill-chaser.

Wanna be ‘frugalized’? Let’s meet on Oct. 16.

October 7, 2013 by Donna Freedman

Personal finance writer MP Dunleavey and I are looking for a family who’d like to save money. Specifically, we’re looking for a family who’d like to meet with us on Oct. 16 and be the subject of one of her upcoming columns for Woman’s Day magazine.

Why Oct. 16? Because she and I will both be in St. Louis at the same time, thanks to the Financial Blogger Conference. We have that sole day free and would love to find a family in that region to visit and immortalize in print.

Yep, you’d have to have your names used and a photo taken. But this gives you some time to get that haircut and tidy your kids’ rooms.

Here’s how it would work: I’ll walk through your home in search of ways you could save money through realistic (and simple!) frugal hacks. Dunleavey – whom you may remember from her work at MSN Money, Daily Worth and Money magazine – will take a lot of notes and then write it up.

What kind of family are we seeking? This kind:

Living in the quieter spots of life.

October 8, 2013October 5, 2013 by Donna Freedman

After my recent personal economic downturn I went through my monthly expenses to create an essentials-only budget. The most obvious trim was one I’d been planning (and failing) to do for months: getting rid of the monthly cellular bill in favor of a burn phone.

Due to my job I couldn’t drop the cell without having a replacement in hand. But researching the best options was just one more chore on a to-do list as long as my leg.

The layoff got me off my dime, as it were, and within a few days I’d canceled the old cell service (which had long since gone month-to-month) and bought a pay-as-you-go.

Compared to my old metal flip phone, the new model feels like it’s made out of potato chips. Yet the flimsy little plastic thing could save me as much as $70 or more per month.

Just as important: The new phone is changing the way I live in the world.

Want a $50 gift card? Swagbucks is giving one away.

September 30, 2013 by Donna Freedman

I’m doing almost all of my holiday shopping with free gift cards from MyPoints, Swagbucks and a couple of rewards credit cards.

That’s not due to my recent personal economic downturn, however: I always shop this way. If I can get promissory scrip by using a particular site, search engine or credit card, why wouldn’t I?

If you’re starting to wonder how much you can afford to spend for the holidays, this might interest you: My favorite rewards program, Swagbucks, has offered me a special signup code for new referrals (more on that in a minute), and a chance for both new and old referralss to win a $50 gift card.

Interested? I thought so.

Writers: Stop undervaluing your work.

October 10, 2014September 29, 2013 by Donna Freedman

Last spring I turned down a writing job that would have paid $450. The piece would have been long but not particularly hard to do, as I’d covered the topic before. In fact, I did a pretty good outline in several back-and-forth e-mails with the editor.

(Note to self: Don’t do that again. Ask what the job pays before you do anything else – and especially before you spend half an hour of your day e-mailing back and forth.)

Some of you are probably thinking, “Is she nuts? She turned down an easy $450?”

But that’s not really what I turned down.