I’m proud to announce that I’ve joined 12 other personal finance writers to form the Money Tips Network.  I’m happy to be a member of this new network – made up of some of the most trusted writers in the personal finance blogging community.

Here’s more information about the Money Tip Network and it’s members -

Money Tips Network Members

The mission of the Money Tips Network is to provide you with honest and helpful money tips from the best personal finance blogs. All 13 of these bloggers have been doing just this for many years. Here they are (in alphabetical order):

1. Bargaineering – Written by Jim Wang, Bargaineering is a blog that chronicles his personal finance life. Jim is co-host of the Personal Finance Hour podcast with JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly.
2. Consumerism Commentary – Created in 2003 by Flexo, Consumerism Commentary has been honored by Kiplinger as a must-read blog and named as one of Yahoo’s “Ten Money Blogs Everyone Should Read”. Flexo runs the original (and still the best) PF blog aggregator pfblogs.org, and recently started the Consumerism Commentary Podcast.
3. Five Cent Nickel – Written by a man who has been meticulously recording his finances since 1997 (stored in Quicken), Five Cent Nickel is one of the oldest and most respected blogs around.
4. Free Money Finance – This site is about one simple thing: growing your net worth. The 5 Principles of Free Money Finance is a PF blog classic. Business Week says Free Money Finance “offers an inspiring mix of timeless investing wisdom and money-making ideas”.
5. Generation X Finance – Jeremy Vohwinkle is the blogger behind Gen X Finance, a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, and the editor of About.com’s Financial Planning section.
6. Get Rich Slowly – Get Rich Slowly, recently named “most inspiring money blog” by Money magazine, is devoted to sensible personal finance. JD Roth is the other half of the Personal Finance Hour podcast.
7. No Credit Needed – NCN (that’s me) started this blog in 2005 to track his debt reduction efforts, and has since been inspiring others in their debt reduction efforts. In addition to the blog, check out the No Credit Needed Network and No. Calories Needed.
8. Squawkfox – Making frugal living sexy, delicious, and fun. “Fox” has a new book coming out in 3 weeks! 397 Ways to Save Money will help you spend smarter and live well on less.
9. Stop Buying Crap – Despite the title, Cap doesn’t preach being cheap. Stop Buying Crap is about understanding your unlimited wants and how you may fulfill it with your limited resources.
10. The Digerati Life – You can always count on Silicon Valley Blogger (SVB) to churn out practical, comprehensive, and helpful advice about personal finance and small business.
11. The Frugal Duchess – Miami Herald columnist Sharon Harvey Rosenberg offers a fun, frugal and fashionable way to save money and live well.
12. The Simple Dollar – Trent Hamm is a respected personal finance blogger. There’s a great new article on The Simple Dollar everyday, and Trent’s book reviews are legendary. Get a copy of his recently published book, 365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money, that helps you save money every day of the year.
13. Wise Bread – A community dedicated to helping each other live large on a small budget.

For more information, check out the Money Tips Network Homepage and subscribe to the Money Tips Network feed via RSS or email.

Whew.

What a week!

I’ve been “away” for a week, taking care of several little odds-and-ends.  I use quotations marks, because I haven’t actually been away.  I simply took a few days, set them aside, and just plowed-through a series of once-every-year type tasks.  Instead of spacing these tasks out over the course of several months – it was better for me that I just do them all, and get them out of the way.

On the work front, I managed to complete three or four major projects – and get myself ready for some important events scheduled for summer.  It feels good to have my ducks-in-a-row.

On the blog front, I have updated some of the back-end software for each of my sites.  Updating a site only takes a few minutes, but backing up files and doing several updates, across several sites, can take some time.

On the home front, I finally broke down and purchased a new lawn mower!  No, I did not save up enough soda cans to pay for the new lawnmower, but I DID manage to collect a couple hundred dollars worth of cans.  I cashed-in the cans, sold some stuff on eBay, and combined those profits with some gift cards that I received at Christmas.  I am now the proud new owner of a brand new Husqvarna lawn tractor – the very first new lawn mower I’ve ever owned.  I spent the better-part of today working in the yard, mowing, edging, and trimming the grass.  I also planted some flowers in the flower boxes that hang from the railing on our porch.  I also cleaned out the garage and organized the storage building.

On the financial front, I’ve just been plugging along.  We are still funding our retirement accounts, and building up our cash reserves.  I upgraded my automobile insurance coverage, and purchased some additional disability coverage.  The recent movements in the market have actually caused a nice rebound for our retirement account balances, which is a good thing.  I’m very interested to see if the economy has indeed started to recover.

Well, it’s good to be “back”.  I hope that those of you who celebrated it had a wonderful Easter.  We certainly did.  Tomorrow, I’ll resume my regular posting schedule.  (I also resume updates over at the No Credit Needed Network and No. Calories Needed and 99 Changes.)

I love Trisha’s article over at Blogging Away Debt – Sometimes I Feel Like Our Timing Is Off.

Trisha and her family have made some remarkable process over the past few years, and they are now down to less than $2500 in credit card debt.  I have always enjoyed Blogging Away Debt, and consider it a daily must-read.  (I still say that Blogging Away Debt is, quite possibly, the coolest name for a personal finance blog, and one that I should have considered, long before going with the awkward No Credit Needed.  Plus, my initials would be B.A.D. instead of N.C.N. Oh, hindsight…)

In her article, Trisha talks about timing, and how she feels that hers is a little off – when it comes to hair styles as well as personal finances.  I just wanted to say, I think we all know how Tricia feels.  It’s always difficult to know just the right time to buy a new home or invest in the stock market.  That’s one of the things that makes this whole personal finance management thing so difficult – that – not-knowing-if-I’m-doing-exactly-the-right-thing-at-the-right-time-feeling.  The reality is, none of us have mastered this timing thing, but, I for one, think that Trisha (a.k.a. B.A.D.) is doing an awesome job.

New readers might be interested in another site I manage, the No Credit Needed Network.  NCN Network members create a goal, which they can then update and track via the Network homepage.  As an example of how the Network works, here are the 10 latest NCN Network updates -

• debtmaven

• Paid Twice

• AllPennies

• AllTheTime

• Time4Change

• SeekingSerenidy

• project10k

• Greedytoolong

• Livelikenoone

• KeepMyMoney

As you will see, if you take a look at a few of the above mentioned charts, Network members are making some pretty impressive progress.  In April, I plan to open the Network up to new members.  I’ll make an announcement here, at No Credit Needed, so stay tuned.  In the meanwhile, you can click through and view the entire list of Members’ Charts and Members’ Websites.

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