Friday Round-Up: The Best in Personal Finance Blogs

I read a good fiction book over the weekend, “Silver Sparrow” by Tayari Jones. It’s about a man who marries really young and falls in love later in life. His affair produces a love child, and instead of divorcing his current wife to marry the woman he loves, he brilliantly decides to become a bigamist. In the meantime, his first wife becomes pregnant as well.

The story in itself sounds slightly bland until you find out who the narrators are: his secret daughter, Dana, and his legitimate daughter, Chaurisse. Through their eyes, you can see the pain and issues that the man causes by reserving one-tenth of his attention, love and money for his secret family.

Dana, a young woman who may have otherwise pursued her doctorate, is thrown off her life path simply by knowing her father and the inequalities in her life. Chaurisse, a girl who lives a warm and sheltered life filled with love, is tossed to the wolves to figure out that her life has become a bitter pill.

The great issues of honesty, hidden truths, sacrifice, and the cheating of oneself become apparent throughout, and we are left to wonder: what choices could be more bearable than others if given difficult situations?

This idea can be applied to finances (I knew I’d get there, but you were probably wondering!). What choices in your financial life can lead to greater life riches in the end? To answer this question, I did some internet digging and found some great articles for the week – and don’t worry; there are some fun topics thrown into the mix. Enjoy!

• Visit with Retire by 40 to find out how much we Americans spend on coffee, gas, pets and beer. Also, check in with his numbers to see how you compare!
• How big is your carbon footprint? Maybe you could learn to eat sustainably like Prairie EcoThrifter. Find out how here.
• If you’re having trouble saving, check in with Little House in the Valley for some mind-bending savings tricks.
• Hungry for chocolate but want to make it a little healthy? Nikki at Debt Free by Thirty makes chocolate covered raspberries. I drooled on my keyboard.
• Cutting something fun out of the budget is enough to drive anyone bonkers…but only if they don’t know this Frual Jedi Mind Trick. Your family will never know what hit them.
• When your credit score’s not the greatest, what can you do to improve it? Budgeting in the Fun stuff takes a look here.
• Although “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” may not quite describe you, you might have suffered from lifestyle inflation. Check in with Life and My Finances to see how this phenomenon works.

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