Those of you who’ve been keeping score may have noticed that I’ve been posting more frequently. A lot more frequently. That’s because I bought into the BlogHer version of National Blog Posting Month.
Normally NaBloPoMo occurs in November. Over at BlogHer it apparently happens every month. I didn’t know that when I made a secret promise to give this a try.
The theme this month is “risk.” Appropriate, because I thought I couldn’t do it.
Earlier today a guy knocked on the Phoenix home where my daughter and son-in-law live. He said he’d just lost his job and would be willing to do their yard for $10.
Scam, right?
Wrong. He did the work. Before getting paid for it. And no doubt he was surprised by what happened next.
“We gave him $20 because, uh, we prefer not to go to hell” is the way my daughter described it.
Apparently some of their immediate neighbors have no fear of everlasting immolation, though, because they took the guy up on his $10 offer. Which brings me to the point of this mercifully short screed:
How much do you earn? How much do you think you should earn? This book by Brian Tracy offers ways to “maximie your income at any time in any market.”
If you ‘d like to know more, enter to win a copy.
Recently a commenter left this message:
“Donna, is it possible for you to write more thoughtful posts instead? All you are doing is writing simple posts on ways to try to make you money and giveaways.
“That’s nice and all, but the writing quality is really low. There’s not much insight or value added.”
My first response was, “Feel free to skip the stuff that doesn’t work for you.”
OK, that’s a lie. My first, visceral response was, “Feel free to kiss my ass! Even when I’m doing a quick-and-dirty piece the writing quality is higher than you’ll find just about anywhere else on the Internet.”***
My second response? She’s right. And I know it. Not about the low-quality part, but about the fact that I haven’t been doing enough substantive writing lately. That’s because the work-life balance continues to elude me.
Specifically: How do you balance work and life once you’ve gotten a glimpse of what life could be like if it didn’t have so much work in it?
Recently ING Direct did a survey asking about saving for retirement vs. training for a marathon. (The company sponsors the New York City Marathon.)
More than half the respondents think retirement is harder. I disagree, mostly because I do not choose to run.
Actually, I hate running. Walking is fine. Walking fast is OK. I even plan to learn cross-country skiing when enough snow falls to permit it. (Which could happen any minute: The sky is fluffy and gray and the temperature is inching into the high 20s.)
I’ve automated my retirement, living carefully so that I can save as much as possible. My work history does include an 18-year stretch of full-time employment, but I’ve spent about 14 years working only part-time (and earning very little indeed during five of those years).
But frugal living is a lot easier for me than running. I just don’t have the inclination. The only way I could ensure that I would run for health would be to hire someone to chase me.
Interested in not just starting but also “monetizing” (ugh — hideous neologism!) your own site? You need this week’s giveaway.
It’s a copy of “How I Make Money Blogging: The Beginner’s Guide to Building a Money-Making Blog,” an e-book by Crystal Stemberger. The author, who owns or co-owns eight sites, offers how-to advice on everything from choosing the right title to how much you should charge for ads.
Last week was National Boss Day, but I’m just now getting around to commemorating it. This week’s giveaway is for anyone whose supervisor makes him a little tense.
Call it “revenge of the cubicle dweller.”
I don’t know what I was thinking when I booked a 6:15 a.m. flight to the Financial Blogger Conference, which starts this afternoon in Denver. Why, oh why, didn’t I travel yesterday?
That will teach me to make flight plans while I’m in New Jersey. Apparently the combined impact of heat, humidity and Tastykakes prevented me from thinking clearly.
In honor of Labor Day I’m giving away three books about the working world — and how to approach it on your own terms. Three books, three winners.
On Wednesday I read “A message of freedom” over at DailyWorth. It pointed out that “happy Independence Day” could also be read as “happy freedom day,” i.e., the freedom to live the way you want if you take responsibility for your finances.
“Happy freedom to dream differently, choose carefully and slow down a little right now day,” wrote site founder and CEO Amanda Steinberg.
“Declare it. What is your freedom?”
Steinberg’s statement jibed pretty well with what I’ve been mulling over for the past few days: Frugality made me independent and it keeps me that way.