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Paul forwarded a piece from yesterday’s New York Times entitled “Debtors search for discipline via blogs”. This front-page article profiles several personal finance bloggers whose primary focus is debt.
A decade after the Internet became a public stage for revelations from the bedroom, it is now peering into the really private stuff: personal finance. The blogs open a homey and sometimes shockingly candid window on the day-to-day finances of American households in a time of rising debt, failing mortgages and financial uncertainty. In 2006, the average American household carried about $7,200 in revolving debt (mostly on credit cards) and $21,000 in total debt
The weblogs featured in the article are:
- Blogging Away Debt, where Tricia writes about her efforts to eliminate $105,000 in debt, $38,000 of which is credit card debt. (She’s making fantastic progress, too!)
- Poorer Than You, in which a 20-year-old film-school dropout gives lessons learned from the school of hard knocks.
- Save Leigh Ann, “the daily rantings of a bulimic shopper”, describes how the author, a financial educator, overcame $20,000 in credit card debt.
- We’re in Debt, where the King and Queen of Debt share their experiences in an effort to help others get out of similar situations.
- Make Love, Not Debt, one of my favorite personal finance blogs, where Him and Her are brutally honest about the money they spend on haircuts, shoes, and their wedding.
- No Credit Needed, another fine site, where NCN takes an even firmer stand against credit than I do. (He’s opposed to it — I just think it’s a poor choice for certain people.)
Each of these sites is deeply personal. They don’t offer money advice so much as describe the ups-and-downs of real people struggling with debt. If you, too, are feeling burdened by money woes, reading how others cope with finances (and the mistakes they make along the way) can be an excellent source of inspiration.
[The New York Times: Debtors search for discipline via blogs]
.jpg "The Money Blog Network - Improving your bottom line")
February 19th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Thank you for the link! Your site is one of my favorite PF blogs - I just wanted to make sure you knew that!
- Stephanie
February 19th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
I don’t really understand the impulse to have an incredibly expensive wedding. I know that a lot of the time there is a bit of an expectation that you will have a huge wedding, but for a couple that is just starting out in life paying more than $10000 for a one off thing is just silly.
When I got married, the costs were as follows (note we had three ceremonies):
1. rings $600 (that’s a ring for me and a ring for her)
2. civil ceremony. I don’t recall the price of this but it was probably $80 for the marriage licence
3. suit for this wedding $80 for me. MY wife wore a sari that was given to her by a friend
4. island wedding, we hired a chapel on an island in fiji, paid for food and boat transfers for 30 guests. Total cost was $4000 which I paid myself. The guests paid for their drinks and accomodation
5. traditional indian wedding, we had this at the school next to my wifes house. We sent out something like 2000 invitations but got around 600 guests. We paid for the food but the preparation was done by neighbours and friends of my wife’s family. The total cost was probably a bit less than the island wedding.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
These websites, I feel, only serve to re-enforce bad financial behavior. The participants post the sites to “expose” themselves, and “share”. I’m so-and-so, and I’m a [insert problem]-olic….hey, so-and-so. Their goal is to publicize themselves, and through the process, feel relieved of their bad behavior. They will not change their behavior, only admit to it. There is always a rush of weight-loss blogs around the New Year, and everyone I saw stopped posting already. Welcome to February. It might be better to simply do what we did as kids, and mock “losers” relentlessly, until they were so uncomfortable with the criticism that they changed their behavior. That might just be an idea for a blog, “The Mocking & Bird”.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I don’t believe each one of the blogs discussed in the New York Times article serve only to reinforce bad financial behavior. When I read the article yesterday, I thought that a couple were more self-serving but then again - many blogs are just that.
The progress that people make in their journey out of debt comes before they master the art of getting rich. Bloggers that use this medium to discipline themselves DO make progress - just as those that start weightloss blogs and continue the journey should ultimately lose weight.
Great post J.D.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
[...] Debtors Search for Discipline via Blogs (via) [...]
February 19th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I read your comments about looking to change some things on the site, layout, whatever: this is a great, personal, useful site.
I’ve been cruising various sites and blogs for quite a while now, but have never felt moved to respond.
Change it however it moves you to do so. I’m sure your friendly, sharing essence will remain as the foundation.
Thank you. Keep up the good work.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I can understand what you’re saying about re-inforcing bad financial behavior. That could be a danger for some in reading these sites. For myself, they actually keep me motivated to stay on the right path.
There are actually two classes of debt bloggers, from what I can tell. The first has already paid off her debts, or is working hard to do so. NCN is an example of this type. NCN, I believe, had eliminated his debt, and preaches a positive “you can do it, too” message. As I say, his anti-credit stance is even stronger than mine.
Others, like Make Love Not Debt, do things that I think are DUMB. But I don’t take that as something to emulate. I see it as a chance to learn from others’ mistakes. And, as I say, *I* make dumb choices, too, so I try not to be too judgemental (except for the $45 haircuts — those boggle my mind).
I think the value of these sites is that they let people read stories from others who are going through similar experiences. I don’t think any of these people are saying, “Look at me! I’m in debt! Isn’t it grand? Join me!” I think they recognize there’s a problem, and want to help others by being an object lesson.
Or maybe I’m just deluding myself.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I enjoy reading about the “Comeback” stories. People that have got XX,000 in debt, realized their mistakes, and made a full recovery. Always good to read inspiring stories.
Credit is a bad, evil thing, right?
February 19th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Part of the reason I began my blog was to pay off debt. Blogging was a way for me to creativity keep track of my finances and fueled as a positive outlet for me.
I visibly place how much debt we have. The sheer joy of seeing the numbers diminish and having to publish it feels fantastic!
February 19th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I like these stories. I’ve always been pretty conservative with my money, so the only debt I have is my mortgage. But I love making balloon payments on it and seeing how that reduces the number of years left to pay.
February 19th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
When I get back to blogging (soon, dammit), I really ought to write up some posts about my wedding. My husband and I went almost entirely DIY, including the food and the attire (which I sewed myself). We saved a bundle, found tons of amazing hacks and resources in the process, and the wedding was not only lovely, it was unique because no part of it had anything to do with the wedding industry.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I never thought of “Poorer Than You” as a diet blog (debt diet!). I’ve been writing blogs in one form or another for the past 6 years (yep - February 2001 was when I started my first blog!), and Poorer Than You is my latest, and now most notable, attempt at joining and communicating with an internet community.
I have debt, and it obviously factors into my posts on Poorer Than You, but it definitely isn’t the only thing I talk about. And I post my mistakes because hopefully someone will learn from them! I have a whole post about how my dumb self started wracking up credit card debt a year ago, even though I knew better.
There are suggestions and there are personal stories, and the coexist on my site. I hope that people will come by and enjoy the site for one reason or another - because they’ve learned something, because of the way I write, or because they’re interested in seeing how things work out for me.