I love this blog, it's been bookmarked for a few months but I've only just now had the courage to join the forums. I'm sure they're bound to be just as enlightening! Anyway, see you in the convos.

I am a single mom from PA. I have been seperated/divorced for almost 4 years in which time I went from horrible credit and a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt to pretty good credit and my credit cards are paid off. I have funded (along with my employer) a 401K. I finished my BA and started a new job in July. In the school venture I have accumulated 21K in students loans.

I have 2 daughters, ages 10 and 8 and we are holding it together financially. I have questions, but I'll post them in another area.

I really enjoy the email newsletters I receive and am now interested in checking out the forum more.

I'm 23 and graduated from college 2 years ago. Since then I've been trying to start a successful business while having almost no money. I was working in a recording studio and purchased a very expensive piano that has hardly made me anything. The studio fell through and I started a lawn and garden maintenance business. The gardening business has been successful but growth is slow because of my extreme debt from; school, the piano, and the money i borrowed to start the second business. I started a blog to force me to think about my financial situation and hopefully it will help others as well. This is one of the highest quality forums I've come across on this subject. It's nice to know that there are so many people out there. It's nice to feel like you have such a large support system behind you aside from friends and family.
Look forward to browsing the forum!

Hi Everybody,

My name is Raj and I've been reading the site for a while now - I'm just not getting around to joining the forums. I'm also just now getting around to cleaning up my financial mess. I recently had one of those "holy crap" moments, and I'm blogging about my plans, progress, and general economics and finance stuff at http://www.personallyfinanced.com.

Thanks for the great site, JD! It's on my blogroll!!

-Raj

Hello, I'm Randy Peterman. I'm a programmer/web developer/graphics designer living in Aurora, Colorado. I spent much of my youth growing up in Northern California or Carson City, Nevada. Upon getting married to my high school sweetheart we moved to Texas to go to school (seminary). I never graduated due to getting a job as a programmer. I let my finances get way, way, way out of control and now am recuperating and attempting to make up for lost time. I just turned thirty about a five weeks ago and am looking forward to a very successful next decade if at all possible.

I run a blog called "Watch My Money Maker" which is just a humorous name and shouldn't be construed as anything naughty. I try to write there daily and am enjoying a growing list of RSS feeds to help keep me on the focused path of financial independence. If I could retire and help counsel and mentor people for the rest of my life I'd be a happy man.

I have a wife and two beautiful daughters - they're five and two and they're a hand full. I love them dearly and am glad that I get to spend so much time with them.[/i]

Hello there,
I've been frequenting this blog for the past couple of months. I found it when my nephew asked me for advice on opening a Roth IRA. I'm a stay-at-home mom of 3 little ones, ages 5, 3 & 1. My husband is a counselor at a Jr. High. Before starting as a full time mom, I worked in both the banking and insurance industries. I have a real passion for personal finance and have enjoyed learning more on this website and others like it.

Our financial situation is fairly good, considering the low salary educators in our state receive. We took the opportunity to invest in real estate, and luckily timed the market pretty good. But, while we made a good chunk, we invested that money and live day-to-day on one salary. We believe in living within our means, and making the most of those means. Family and friends ask me for financial advice fairly often and I enjoy providing them with workable solutions. I could spend hours working on creating budgets and debt eliminations schedules -- kind of weird, I know.

I have been toying with starting a Personal Finance consulting business, but it seems counterintuitive to try to help people get out of debt by charging them consulting fees. I've given presentations on PF basics at some church functions and have counseled friends & family (hence, the initial visit to this site). I visited PF101's site and am extremely interested in her concept.

I'm looking forward to becoming more involved in this on-line community. Thanks, JD, for the opportunity

Hi, I've been reading JD's blog for about a year now. Don't recall exactly how I found it, but have thoroughly enjoyed it.

About a year ago, my family and I went through a major life crisis that caused us to take a really hard look at our lives, our priorities, and our finances. We began an journey of regaining control of our finances and our lives.

In the real world, I am an IT manager for a US Bank. I'm a husband to my beautiful wife of 15 years and Dad to 6 beautiful children.

I have a blog named Gather Little by Little where I write articles on personal finance from a Christian perspective. The blog name is taken from Proverbs 13:11 - "He who gathers money little by little makes it grow". I write articles daily on topics on saving, budgeting, money management, and investing all from a personal and faith based perspective. The popularity and growth of my blog has been a big surprise for me.

Look forward to joining in the discussions!

I have been lurking on GRS for a few weeks now -- not sure how I got here originally, but it is one of my favorite PF blog sites. Finally inspired to join the forums by JD's announcement of his plan to blog fulltime. I'm currently at a point of career transition myself, and blogging is one of the directions I am considering exploring. Have some other balls in the air at the moment and need to see where they land before I make a decision, though.

As for personal details, I am originally from the Seattle area (happy but not entirely surprised to see such a strong PNW contingent here!), have a Ph.D. in the social sciences, and have been working in international development for the past several years. Been living in China since 2002, but just recently moved to Beijing. I have a great DH and two lovely kids -- DS is 6 and DD is almost 3. I am a moderator on the Simple Living Network forums (www.simpleliving.net/discussionforums).

Looking forward to being a more active member of the community here -- seems like a great one to join!

lhamo

Hello all,
I am SingleGuyMoney. I am a 30 yr old single male trying to get rid of the debt monkey on my back. I started a personal finance blog about 5 months ago. Please feel free to visit me at: [url]http://www.singleguymoney.com[url][/url]

I just found this forum on yesterday so I have alot of reading to do.

Hello people. Glad you've found your way here.

Very Un-Official Welcoming Committee

Hi, My name it Kat, and I'm in debt. lol I am here to suck the knowledge out of everyone in order to get myself out of debt and stay that way! Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

~Kat >^.^<

Hi, I started coming here after finding GRS on Orblogs. I thought, I'm HOME!
Years ago I'd read about Amy (eyechart) aka the Frugal Zealot who did those neat newsletters called the Tightwad Gazette. At that time, I proudly considered my decorating style "early American garage sale."

Now, I'm married to a different guy, live in semi rural Coos County Oregon and own my home outright. We're fortunate to have outstanding libraries out here and I consider it my Mecca. Movies, books on tape, never ending booksales and lots of magazines for free (in North Bend), It just thrills me to go in there and see all that stuff.

In Oregon, we pay property taxes to the library, so I figure we should get our money's worth. I started a blog to review the DVD collection and just reached 100 posts the other day. http://orcoastmovies.blogspot.com/ if you like film. Live in Coos County Oregon? Even better. Please get a library card, after all, you pay for it.

Years ago, I used to frequent the Motley Fool Index Fund forum. They started charging to participate and I left. I love thinking about money and how to spend less and still have a good time.

Well, that's it for now. Type at you soon.

OiVey

Hi, I'm Lynnae from Southern Oregon. Looks like there are a fair number of Oregonians here.

I've been reading Get Rich Slowly since May or June. In January my husband and I made a commitment to get out of debt. In May he lost his job. He got another job, and then in October he lost that job, so it's been a rough year, financially speaking. We're still determined to pay off that debt, though, even though it is probably going to take a lot longer than we first thought.

I blog over at http://beingfrugal.net. I write a lot about frugality, paying off debt, and surviving on a low income with a good attitude.

One of my readers, Rob in Madrid, pointed me toward these forums today. I'm glad he did.

Hey all,

I'm Dave and just found this place by searching google for personal finance forums. I've been working with 401(k)s for almost a year. Watching enough people sacrifice their retirement plans for their immediate everyday needs spurred me to start taking control of my own finances to keep from having to do the same a few years down the road. I'm only 24 but figure the earlier the better, so here goes.

My name is Mike. I am recently married and stumbled on to this site after a discussion with my wife about school loans and retirement funds. I have gone to school for ever and finally graduated and am now working as a school counselor. Unfortunately, between my wife and I am heavily in debt (school loans) 55k in private and public and this could be stretched to around 90k if my wife decides to return to school. I do not have any other debt. I own my cars and have an emergency fund set aside $6,000. It looks like I will be switching careers very soon due to the fact that schools just don't pay enough. I am here to read and learn. So anything advice you have would be great.