Unexpected Financial Benefits from Blogging

Posted on February 23, 2008
Filed Under budget, debt, frugal living, goals, motivation |

When I started Aching Debts, I had two goals in mind; staying focused on my finances and making myself accountable for them by writing them down. I have been doing some mental calculations over the last few days about where I was when I started and where I am now. I have also been thinking about blogging in general and what it has meant to me.

In thinking back over the amount of time that I spend maintaining, promoting and updating the blog and really thinking about whether it was worth the time I spending, I realized that if I had not been researching personal finance for my blog, I would not have known how to negotiate to reduce my debt. Frankly, I probably would have thrown my hands up in the air, buried my head and let them get a judgment against me.

I also realized that I have changed my lifestyle significantly not only because of my focus on my finances but also because of the education I have gotten from reading other personal finance and frugal living blogs.

While I am still not swimming in money, I am in much better control of the money that I do have. I know where it’s going and that it’s being spent on things that bring the most value. Mostly, I feel in control of my life again and that is a very, very good feeling.

The following blogs have been most influential in helping me to understand where I was, what the problems were in my planning and how I could change. These are listed in no particular order and are most certainly not the only blogs that have influenced me.

The Simple Dollar Trent has great material with everything from budgeting to cooking.

Being Frugal Lynnae introduced me to frugal living and taught me that being frugal didn’t mean doing without.

I’ve Paid for This Twice Already Introduced me to the concept of snowflaking and while I haven’t been able to snowflake my debt away yet, I have been snowflaking money into my emergency fund.

It’s Your Money Michael has a TON of cool tools and articles on his site. If you want a spreadsheet for anything including Etsy and bless his heart, it’s all FREE.

Brip Blap Steve has a little bit of advice for everything that has to do with improving your life.

My Two Dollars I identify a lot with David at My Two Dollars, like myself he started blogging while teetering on the brink and has made it back to a comfortable life. I have dug around in his archives quite a bit to see how he did it.

There has been a lot of moral support from fellow bloggers as well.

Bouncing Back From Bankruptcy BB has jumped in with advice and moral support at times when I thought that I would give up if I could only find a way to do it.

Oh Horsefeathers Mrs. Mom is the person who told me about Dave Ramsey and got me started on the hunt for more information. She has also been tremendous moral support when things are going badly and someone to share the successes with when they go well.

My thanks go out to all of the above and so many more. So after looking at some of the unexpected benefits of blogging, I need to sit down and go through my plan, update my spreadsheets and revisit my goals for the year. Look for a goals update in the next few days. It’s hard to believe that we are 2 months into 2008 already.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Unexpected Financial Benefits from Blogging”

Lynnae @ Being Frugal.net (6 comments.) on February 24th, 2008 1:40 am

It’s amazing how much blogging can improve your finances, isn’t it? Blogging has made a huge difference in how much I know about money and how much I spend, too. It’s a lot harder to blow $50 mindlessly, if I know I’m going to have to confess it on my blog!
You’re doing great, and I can’t wait until the day we’re both celebrating the debt-free life!
CindyS on February 24th, 2008 6:56 am

And what a celebration that will be! I don’t think that being debt free will change the way I spend my money though. I have found a certain level of comfort with finding the best value for my money.
Cynthia Blue (2 comments.) on February 27th, 2008 7:09 pm

Blogging is a great way to keep track of things and have a good look at ourselves. It’s helped me too.
Brip Blap (1 comments.) on March 5th, 2008 7:29 pm

I’m glad my blog has been helpful. I get a lot of inspiration from my fellow bloggers, too! Good luck with your goals - anything you can conceive you can achieve!
David (1 comments.) on May 16th, 2008 6:55 pm

Glad my site has been helpful, and it’s always great to be in such good company!