February was interesting at Get Rich Slowly. I had less time to write this month than at any other time since starting the site. I did my best to maintain quality, but I’m looking forward to finally doing this as a full-time gig starting sometime in the next few weeks.
Because of concerns with the U.S. economy, my subject matter strayed to large-scale topics more often than I’d like last month. I don’t know much about economic policy, and I’d rather write about how to save money on groceries than the implications of a recession. (And I suspect you’d prefer that, as well.)
Here are some of the best GRS articles from February:

February 4th: How to quit your job gracefully
February 5th: The power of positive cash flow
February 11th: Extreme personal finance: America on $10 a day
February 12th: Mortgage prepayment made easy: Own your home in half the time
February 13th: How to prepare for a baby (without [...]

In the Get Rich Slowly forums, DannyBoy has a question that I think many people face: “What can I do if my girlfriend isn’t serious about money?” He writes:

I’m the sort of person who essentially looks into every area of his life to save, start investing, and be smart about money as much as possible. Do you think that somebody like myself, who cares so much about where his money goes, can be happy with a girlfriend who doesn’t? Everything else between us is cool, fun, etc, But I don’t want the money issue to turn me off her.
We’re both young: I’m 19 and she’s 23. She says she doesn’t want to save for retirement because we could all die in a second, therefore it’s a waste of time and money to save if the worst should come around. I don’t really agree with this. I mean, chances are most of us will make [...]

Recent research at the Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests that shopping can lead to more shopping.
When such savvy marketing researchers as Uzma Khan of Stanford, Ravi Dhar of Yale, and Joel Huber of Duke noticed that shopping sometimes proceeded unchecked even in their own private domains, they decided to get to the bottom of things. Setting up a series of tests of purchasing behavior, they found that for most people buying that fateful first — and often innocent — item seems to open the purchasing floodgates. This realization, they say, has important implications for how stores are laid out as well as for understanding individual behavior.
These researchers indicate that shopping is a two-stage process.

First, a consumer deliberates over the need to purchase an initial item, weighing the pros and cons.
Once this initial “deliberation phase” has ended — once a consumer has decided to buy one thing — the consumer deliberates less about subsequent items.

Essentially, [...]

For the past few weeks, I’ve been making sales calls with David, my replacement at the box factory. We’re visiting existing customers to explain the transition. Most of my clients know that I’m part-owner in the family business. “Why are you leaving?” they want to know. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to write,” I say.
“About what?” some of them ask.
“Personal finance,” I say, and that’s usually the end of the conversation. But this morning my answer launched a great discussion with a long-time customer named Ray.
“I was going to get into personal finance at one time,” said Ray. “Too many money guys are jerks. They’re slimeballs. They take advantage of little old ladies. I wanted to help the little old ladies. I was going to become a Certified Financial Planner. ”
Our conversation turned to the economic doom and gloom so prominent in the news media over the past few weeks. With storm [...]

Here’s a sad (but true) case of advertising at work. For reasons I have not yet discerned, ads for a product called Bacon Salt have been appearing on Get Rich Slowly. Yes, Bacon Salt — salt that tastes like bacon. (The company’s slogan? “Everything should taste like bacon.”)
Being a man who loves both salt and bacon, I visited the web site. I wanted to try the stuff. It turns out that my hometown sandwich shop carries it, so this afternoon I plunked down $5 to try some. You know what? It’s salt that tastes like bacon. (Actually, like bacon bits, but that’s a petty distinction, isn’t it?)
In yet another small way, advertising has claimed a victory over J.D. Roth. Had I never heard of Bacon Salt, my life would still have been complete. But once I knew of its existence, I had to try it. (And to make matters worse, I’m basically providing free [...]

“Switching to organic is tough for many families who don’t want to pay higher prices or give up their favorite foods,” writes Tara Parker-Pope at The New York Times. “But by choosing organic versions of just a few foods that you eat often, you can increase the percentage of organic food in your diet without big changes to your shopping cart or your spending.”
Last fall, Parker-Pope spoke with pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, who suggested five organic foods that can have a large impact on a family diet with minimal strain to the pocketbook:

Milk. Some people are reluctant to drink mass-produced milk for fear of being exposed to antibiotics and hormones. Organic milk can cost twice as much as the regular stuff, though, which leads some to question if the benefits are worth it.
Potatoes. According to the article, a commercially-farmed potato “has one of the highest pesticide counts” of all vegetables.
Peanut butter. I’m a recent convert [...]