Great news, everyone. By popular request, comment numbering is back! When we moved to threaded comments last month, we lost numbered comments. While I think everyone loves the threaded comments (so much easier to follow conversations), a lot of us liked comment numbering because it let us remember where we left off in the discussion. Thankfully, the GRS technical elves have returned the comment numbers to us.

The technical elves also indulged a whim for me while they were at it. Comments are also color-coded now. The more recent a comment, the greener it gets. In my mind, this was a great idea — a way for a reader to get a quick clue about which comments were most recent. But seeing my dream become reality, I’m not so sure. Comment threading and numbering are here to stay. But colored comments? It’ll depend on your reaction, I suppose.

In other site news, Andrew the social-media elf will be hosting another Tweetchat session this afternoon. These are much more popular than I would have expected. (I’m not a good Twitter user.) Today’s topic is money-saving moves for food. Grocery prices are rising — how are you coping? Follow @GRSblog Wednesday afternoon at 4pm Pacific (7pm Eastern) and join the discussion at the #moolah hashtag! (Here’s more info about the GRS Tweetchats.)

Race update: Though I suspect nobody cares but me, I’ve been in a sort of race with Trent from The Simple Dollar. Both his site and Get Rich Slowly have been closing in on 10,000 Facebook fans. For most of this marathon, TSD has held a 100-500 follower lead on GRS. But now that we’re near the finish line, we’ve pulled within four fans. (As I write this, TSD leads GRS 9960 to 9956.) If you haven’t already “liked” Get Rich Slowly, do so now. You can help me win this purely arbitrary race that has no prize!

Moving on to matters of more importance, here’s my weekly round-up of financial articles I’ve enjoyed lately:

First, the afore-mentioned Trent at The Simple Dollar has a though-provoking piece about why he prefers living rural. Though I don’t agree with all of Trent’s conclusions, I admit that rural living has its charms. I have fond recollections of growing up in the country. But more and more, I’m finding myself drawn to city living. If I could start from scratch, I’d rent an apartment in a walkable neighborhood. Still, there are things I miss about living in the country.

Over at the Personal Finance Advice blog, Jennifer Derrick has a fascinating look at the truth about extreme couponing. I haven’t written a lot about couponing at GRS, though I’ve had a lot of contact with folks who write couponing blogs. I admire them. I think they’re clever and resourceful. Just last night, I chatted with some women who have used coupons to cut their grocery bills nearly in half. And, in fact, I’m hoping to have a couponblogger give us a guest post in the next few months. But Derrick’s article points out the dark side of couponing. I never would have guessed there was such a thing.

Julia Scott’s article at Bargaineering is a good follow-up if you’re not a fan of extreme couponing. She shares some tips for saving on groceries — with or without coupons. We’ve covered most of these before, but if rising food prices are giving you headaches, it’s worth reviewing these ideas again.

Next, Leo from Zen Habits recently wrote about breaking free from consumerist chains. “We are not consumers,” Leo writes. “We are people.” He urges readers to question the way our society works, to make their own alternatives: “The funny thing is, there are millions of alternatives. But we’ve been so trained to believe there is only one way, that we can barely imagine something different.” I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. And, in fact, I just edited a guest post on the psychology of consumerism for here at GRS. (It may even appear tomorrow morning.)

Finally, here’s something completely unrelated to money. (Well, mostly unrelated.) In December, I asked how to build a wardrobe on a budget. Many commenters recommended the blog Put This On. I’ve become a regular reader. Earlier this week, Jesse posted a quote from public radio’s Ira Glass. It’s all about the gap between our appreciation for quality and our ability to produce it. “It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as your ambitions,” says Glass. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I love this piece.

Blatant self-promotion: Just a reminder that I recently started writing Awesome People, a blog about amazing people around the world. It’s low volume now (just a couple of posts per week), and will likely remain that way for the near future. But it’s a fun way for me to share good news as an antidote to the negativity that dominates most of the media. Come over and take a look, won’t you?

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