Not for myself! I did ask for Plutus Awards votes back in 2011, when I was nominated for “Best Blog Contributor or Freelance Writer” and “Best Written Blog.” (Thanks to all who voted, because I did win the first one.)
This time around, I’m asking for your votes for someone else: my daughter, Abigail Perry, who writes I Pick Up Pennies.
It’s pretty easy to do: All you have to is click on this link and her site’s URL will automatically be filled in under “Best Kept Secret.” Enter your own information (name, e-mail and whether or not you’re a PF blogger), then just scroll a bit further down and hit “nominate” – and you’re done.
Do I sound impossibly stage mom-ish? Well, she’s too modest to nominate herself so I felt compelled to do it for her. Here’s why.
Her blog is a best-kept secret because she writes about money management, frugal hacks and (quite honestly) about her frugal fails. She’s been doing so for five years now despite health, work and family issues that might have caused other writers to lie down and scream.
Which, I guess, she does – through her site. Some of her posts are what she calls “rants,” whether that’s regarding the health care system, insurance snafus or retail runarounds. However, even the rantiest of rants has something to teach – how to work through bureaucratic thickets, say, or how to write a complaint letter that gets results.
Some of her posts are strict how-tos: earning money through cash-back shopping, stacking coupons and rebates, prioritizing debt repayment.
What makes I Pick Up Pennies unique, however, is that it’s one of the few blogs aimed consistently at readers who aren’t members of the middle class.
Fewer financial options
“If you’re unemployed, underemployed, chronically ill or a member of the working poor, you have fewer financial options,” she says. “Yet you still have the same obligations as everyone else: food, shelter, clothing, medical care, family, retirement.”
Not everyone in those situations has the time/energy/facility in which to take on a second job or pinch every last penny. While countless blogs preach the gospel of perfect frugality, few address the day-to-day challenges faced by the audience noted above.
“My blog is about coping with the reality of our less-than-perfect lives. We have a near-infinite number of things we should do (or want to do), but an all-too-finite amount of time and energy,” Abby says.
“Every day we make mistakes or take shortcuts due to overcommitment, stress, health issues, or simple exhaustion. That’s not a flaw or personal failing. It’s normal. It’s human.”
Meet us in St. Louis?
To make a short story long – a trick that came in really handy in college – that’s why I think she deserves your vote. Your friends’ votes, too – feel free to pass the link along.
Again: Just click on this link, then scroll down and and her site’s URL will automatically be filled in under “Best Kept Secret.” Then hit “nominate,” and you’re done.
Voting ends Sept. 30. Thanks for any support you can offer.
The Plutus Awards will be announced at the Financial Blogger Conference, which takes place Oct. 17-20 in St. Louis. I’ll be speaking again (on writing, of course) and so will a boatload of very interesting folks. If you’ve always wanted to meet people like Liz Weston, Jean Chatzky, J.D. Roth or Flexo, meet them in St. Louis by signing up for the conference.
And if you do attend, please come up and introduce yourself.
I voted – we’ll see what happens. Good luck!!
I voted. Good luck to your daughter. I’m a regular reader of “I pick up pennies” – as well as a regular picker-upper of pennies.
Done!
I voted for Abby, I enjoy reading her blog. I also voted for a few in other categories. Thank-you for this opportunity:)
Thanks, all of you, for your support.
I just went to your daughter’s site to read it and can’t find the button to subscribe. I’m feeling very frustrated because I’m trying to be supportive of an interesting blog, but she’s gotta throw me a bone so I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time!
The subscribe button is to the right of the most recent post. It’s in a blue box.
Done and Done. Can we vote more than once?
Can’t find where to nominate her either.
Click on the “click on this link” that Donna has in her post. Then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click on the “nominate” button. The “I Pick Up Pennies” blog is already listed in the “Best Kept Secret” category, so we all we have to do is click “nominate” (and enter our name & email) .
Took me to a different place now, so I’ve voted.
I voted! Good luck. I really hope she wins.
Was delighted to vote for her. She is a great writer and a fabulously courageous, motivated girl despite the difficulties she has had in her life.
Was delighted to vote for her. She is a great writer and a fabulously courageous, motivated girl despite the difficulties she has had in her life.
I voted for your daughter and I am wishing her good luck and all the best!
Thanks, Melissa.
Voted. Wasn’t sure if a vote from Canada would be accepted, but it was.
Good genes never wear out!
I appreciate it, eh. 🙂
I voted!! And I think that mom-ish is a great word and our kids are lucky if we do mom-ish sort of things. I’ll be saying mom-ish all day.
Thanks, ma’am.
I voted for “I Pick Up Pennies.” AND DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR DONNA!!! I voted for Donna as best frugality site and best contributor/freelancer. I didn’t see a category for best-written blog. Good luck to both Abigail and Donna!
Thanks, Barbara…I appreciate it.
I am new here, but I already love the idea of your daughter’s blog and can’t wait to read even more.
And any Mom that takes the time to do this deserves to have her daughter nominated. Mom, you rock! 🙂
Thanks, Skip. Tell your friends! (About the contest, not about my ability to rock.)