The past ten months have been amazing: I quit my job at the family box factory at the beginning of March to become a full-time writer. Since then, I’ve worked harder than I ever have in my life. I’ve had a lot of fun, but I’ve also learned a lot about myself, and about running a business.
Today I’d like to share some of the best articles from the past twelve months. I looked at the top 25 most-visited stories that I wrote for Get Rich Slowly in 2008. From these, I picked my ten favorite, which I’ve listed below in no particular order. These offer a great representation of my philosophy and my approach to personal finance:

The psychology of happiness: 13 steps to a better life: “We think we know what will make us happy, but we don’t. Many of us believe that money will make us happy, but it won’t. Except for the [...]

J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Mandy Hering.
How can people afford fun these days?
I ask this question because my husband and I recently attended a Coldplay concert. We bought the tickets for my birthday back in June, and paid for them with some extra money that I made working as a grader for an AP exam. We didn’t need to use the extra money for an emergency fund, to pay off debt, or to finance any type of big purchase as we are already squared away on those fronts. Still, the concert was expensive:

Tickets cost $97.50 each plus a handling fee of $33, bringing our total to $228.
The concert was in a nearby town, meaning that we needed to travel there and spend the night. Transportation costs were about $15.
The hotel where we stayed (within walking distance to the venue with complimentary parking) cost $120.
We also had [...]

J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Ann Zerkle, a Get Rich Slowly lurker, and the founder of Heroes of Capitalism.
I know J.D. has posted many times about how going to the library saves money, but I personally love to buy books. Even after reading the arguments about saving money over the year, going to the library and everything else, I still think buying some books is good for me. This is my defense of buying books.
Cheap entertainment
First and foremost, the average cost of an hour of entertainment is pretty low for books. For instance, here’s a chart of entertainment options, and their financial cost per hour.

Activity
Cost per Hour

Movie ($7.00 Ticket, 2 Hour Movie)
  $3.50

Cable TV ($40.00 per month, 2 Hours a day)
  $0.67

Book ($15.00, 6 Hours)
  $2.5

Baseball Game ($40.00, 3 Hours)
  $13.34

Concert ($50.00, 2 Hours)
  $25.00

Night Out ($50.00, 4 Hours)
  $12.50

Internet
  Pennies?

These numbers are based on an informal survey of my co-workers. [...]

After nearly two weeks of vacation, I’m itching to get back to work. Still, my actual return date isn’t until next Monday. I’ve read a half dozen personal finance books (and written notes on several for future reviews), have plotted a few big posts, and am generally eager to interact with the GRS community again!
However, I’m going to stick to my guns and continue with guest posts for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, here are a few articles I’ve enjoyed from around the web:
After posting Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s guest post about learning to live modestly on Saturday, I was surprised to learn that she’s actually a Canadian personal-finance celebrity. I’m embarrassed to have not realized that when she submitted her article. Since then, though, I’ve dug through her sites. She has a great blog, and her business site features some excellent articles, including this list of 12 steps to getting financially organized. Look for [...]

J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Katrina Ramser, a freelance writer who contributes to various websites, newspapers and magazines. She also writes about swimming at SquidKid and about cars at Vehix.com.
I’m predicting 2009 will be a fantastic financial year for me. Not so much due to any income figure or increase or another form of windfall money, but rather because of my bottom-line affecting attitudes. Here are six reasons I am looking forward to the new year. 
No monthly debt payments
I pride myself on having read a slew of financial books. Elizabeth Warren has helped me to discover all my worth, David Bach to be a woman who finishes rich, and Suze Orman to be young, fabulous, and broke. But it wasn’t until Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover that I understood who I was in spite of all my idealist financial thoughts — a serial debt recidivist. 
Until now, I’ve carried debt since [...]

J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Jeremy Martin.
You’ve heard the phrase, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” I’ve often wondered about that — should we really settle for half the return just to have a sure thing right now? It could be argued, and convincingly, that our love of immediate gratification is why so many people have so much debt now.
Of course, what are those “two birds”, so elusive off in the bush compared to something concrete in your hand now? How do you know you’ll get them? In other words, as you’re looking at that new LCD HDTV, what is competing for your money in your head? Without a solid goal, a vision of the future, there is no reason not to buy that latest toy with your credit card. What else are you going to use the money for?
The power of Why
This is why [...]