Friday, July 29, 2011

EOM Wrap-Up and Misc.

1. I lowered my total debt (including my mortgage) by $1093.97 during July. Pretty good for a summer month. August is the month I worry most about--not only do I have my grandkids visiting during that month, but the little darlings need school clothes, supplies and shoes. So, my total indebtedness right now (again, including my mortgage) is $91,516.35.

2. Am I the only one really tired of people comparing our country's fiscal crisis to our family budgets? I don't pretend to understand the financial or political ramifications surrounding the debt ceiling, but I'm pretty sure it's a tad more complicated than my personal finances. Everything in life is NOT simple nor has simplistic answers. I say this without reference to the respective culpability of Republicans or Democrats for the current mess.

3. I'm doing more work on my blogroll. Mapgirl seems to have disappeared (or at least not renewed her website), which is a shame. Hers was one of the first financial blogs I started reading. Shevy at Shevy's Miscellaneous Blog also appears to have left the blogosphere. I will miss her orthodox Jewish perspective on personal finance. On the other hand, I've also been reading Mutant Supermodel for quite awhile, so I'm not quite sure why she wasn't already on my list. Another addition is Yes, I am Cheap. Two of my favorite retirement bloggers are retiring from blogging as well, so farewell to For The First Time: Feminist Women Entering Retirement but I'm leaving Retirement: A Fulltime Job up for awhile to see if Syd decides to keep blogging after all. In the meantime, I'm adding Bob Lowry's Satisfying Retirement to my blogroll. Am I missing some other great blogs? Let me know.

8 comments:

Sharon said...

I'm just plain tired. No more news for me. Thanks for listing some new blogs (to me). I'll have to check them out! :)!

Retired Syd said...

Grace:

I'm with you on #2. It's a silly sound bite.

I'm enjoying my blogcation immensely--but I do have a feeling I'll be back at it after my next trip (to Australia!) It's been good to have the time "off" without even thinking about the blog (well not very much, anyway.)

Syd

Anonymous said...

1. Yay! Keep up the good work!

2. Yes. That drives me NUTS. And that is my professional opinion.

3. nifty

Bob Lowry said...

I am most appreciative you adding me to your blog roll. I watch you debt battle with fascination and applaud your openness in describing precisely what your situation is.

Part of the reason people (and countries) fall into debt and budget problems is our tendency to want simplistic answers to complex problems. That, and our insistence, on instant gratification gets all of us in trouble.

Sandy - yesiamcheap said...

Thank you for adding me! I recommend also adding Early Retirement Extreme. It's one view on retirement!

Anonymous said...

Aw thanks for adding me! I feel special :)

MasterPo said...

Regarding #2, no it isn't much more complex other than government and print all the money they want while individuals (and companies) can't.

So we have to live with in our means or face loosing most everything.

Plus there are immediate costs and penalties if we go over budget, exceed our limits, etc.

At this point be it $14 trillion or $24 trillion it is riddiculous, even comical, to think it can be paid back just half.

Sylvia said...

I was going to stop blogging but was inspired to keep writing after publishing my book FOR THE FIRST TIME. The transition to retirement's an emergent design!