SKINT IN THE CITY

Hey there Skint pals,

Hope you’re all doing well. One of the pleasures of running Skint in the City is the chance to connect with fellow bloggers and learn from what they’re doing. I’ve got a few of my own favourite bloggers whom I read daily, and today I want to bring you a round up of some articles I’ve been reading this week that I thought you might like too.

1) One of my favourites is financial blogger, J Money, who writes at Budgets Are Sexy. For witty, topical advice you can’t beat the J Man. And this post really struck a chord with me, because he’s expecting the arrival of little Baby J any day now and he’s totted up what the little bean has cost him so far.  I’ve been meaning to do the same with Baby Skint, but as always

J Money is just so much better organised! Hats off to you J Money – it’s a fabulously comprehensive list. 

2) This week’s new site discovery is  The Style Crone, a blog by 69 year old Judith, who beautifully details and  photographs her outfits, then writes about how they integrate with her life. I love her way of writing about being a stylish older woman, and her clothes sense is right up my street. For me, this site really stands out amongst fashion blogs.

3) Another blog I read regularly is Kylie Ofiu’s.  She’s full of new, fresh ideas and this week she rounded up some of the best here.

4) America’s obsession with stuff and size is the topic tackled by Ashley Kipp, writing at Get Rich Slowly about how she and her husband have turned their backs on supersizing to live a different way of life.

5) Have you heard of Hulu and Pandora? I hadn’t till I read this post from Wise Bread on which online services are worth paying for. Some of them I knew about already, but Hulu and Pandora are new ones on me and both sound like they’re definitely worth checking out.

6) And lastly, sometimes when reading blogs you come across new concepts you’ve just never heard about before. That’s what happened this week with Impulse Saving? It’s a new idea on on me, detailed by Broken Coin blog. The thinking is that every time you almost impulse spend, say on a new lipstick, you resist, take a step away from the make-up counter or the shoe hall, and instead bank the money straight off via your phone, using a special Impulse Saving tool. I like the idea – still taking the money out of your purse but putting it straight into an account instead – ker-ching! Here’s the post.

The Style Crone - if 69 looks this good, bring it on.

What are your favourite sites, folks? Do you read any sites regularly that always give you great advice or just cheer up a grey morning? For me the Style Crone and her gorgeous colourful outfits will be brightening my summer and giving me ideas. I’d love to know what your top reads are – just click the comments box.

Hiya Skint pals,

A nice bit of news just in. Skint in the City has been named as one of the UK’s top 25 personal finance blogs here. Just managed to squeeze in at number 25 but I’m not jealous of all my fellow bloggers further up the list, am I? Am I? Nah, just happy (and a bit bamboozled) to be included, frankly.

Anything higher would just be vulgar.

Anyway, in the spirit of lists I’m kicking off a new feature here today, the first in an ongoing series – Skint Picks Six.

See, I read blogs all the time and I frequently come across some amazing stuff. When I do, I bookmark it or I start to follow the blog, but I’m not very good at sharing it. Now I’ve decided to spread the love. Skint Picks Six will take the six best blog posts I’ve read that week and share them with you, in the hope that you might love them too.

A new find this week is (1) Grand Per Month, a rich, generous blog about ways to make an extra grand every month. Nice, huh? As I’ve been mulling over ways to make my this site better I really enjoyed reading this post about how to make money from blogging – something I’ve never really tried to do: You can check it out here

In at (2) my favourite personal finance blogger, Budgets are Sexy. I love $J Money’s blog and the way he finds quirky yet incredibly useful things to write about every single day, the sort of stuff you never thought you wanted to read till it’s up there and you suddenly find yourself intrigued. For me that’s what blogs are all about – fresh ideas and a take on things which is quite different from my own yet gets me thinking.

(3) This post from Debt Consolidation Care really struck a chord with me, as I take on the Skint 2012 money saving challenge (Hmm, I’ve a feeling that title makes it sounds a bit grander than it is!) I particularly like the idea of considering how you can rent rather than buy large purchases like cars. It sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it – isn’t buying always the best option? But for those who live in the city and tend to bget around on public transport or by foot, owning a car is often an unneccessary expense. Cheaper often to rent one via a car club when needed and to shell out for occasional taxis. I tread the middle ground by owning a car that’s fast approaching pensionable age – hardly ever using a car for anything other than titchy journeys means spending on it just isn’t a priority.

(4) This post from helpmetosave.com got me thinking about what motivates us all to spend and, especially, to splurge. I’ve read before about fear being at the root of most people’s spending decisions – fear of not keeping up with the Joneses, fear of looking unfashionable, fear of some disaster as yet unknown. So, why do you spend? Do you agree with this post’s assertion that it’s down to either greed or fear?

(5) Meanwhile, over at Curb your Consumerism, there’s a debate on whether we’re more dishonest as a nation now than we were us 2000. Whaddya think?

(6) And lastly, news just in from another planet. I was fascinated by this blog post, showing that America’s top 1% of earners are really concerned they can’t make ends meet. From struggling to maintain two or three houses, to feeling inferior to their wealthier pals, turns out keeping up with the Joneses never, ever ends. Ah, you’ve got to feel sorry for them, don’t you??

Hope you find something good from reading these. What are your favourite blogs? Just hit the Comments box below to share them, Skint pals.

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