Ok, I've got it. I went through and through and back through the dozens of cool sites submitted for review (that's a full day's work!) before deciding on this one:

The Simple Dollar was one of the web sites our members recommended. After spending some time there, I had no questions as to why.

This blog is billed as "financial talk for the rest of us," and it surely is. You don't have to be a Wall Street junkie to understand what he's talking about; the real nuts and bolts of investing, saving and otherwise handling money. He goes far beyond that, though, tackling a great variety of topics, none of which are safe or sacred from his view.

Starting out with a bang on October 31, 2006, Trent began to outline his "Road to Financial Armageddon." Like many personal finance writers, he learned the hard way, so that's what he wrote about. He said, "I just did what made sense to me." After reading the first of the 10 "Road to Financial Armageddon" entries, it made sense to me, too, that he should write it, so I kept reading.

There's one thing that's conspicuously missing in this blog, and that's a lack of certain personal information. Being the tactful person that I am, I asked him about it. His answer? He works in "a research lab that is so covered in non-disclosure agreements that I can't even directly mention my employer. This is why I make really weird, semi-contradictory and vague asides to my long-term employment on the site." Good enough for me! I won't ask any more questions.

Why I really like this site:

The Simple Dollar has content that is real content - no fluff, no filler. No baloney, either. Trent has a wonderfully analytical mind and he's created an informative as well as entertaining site.   

The most interesting thing I found:

This guy is only in his twenties. He writes with far more maturity than one would expect, so don't let the age throw you. He has something to say to all of us.

What do you think? 

Do you like this site? Dislike it? Why or why not? Help me out here and tell others the things I didn't say.

I generally dislike blogs. I prefer the visual appeal of websites or the interaction of message boards. And as blogs go this one is indeed a blog.

But...

The first article (or whatever they are called in blogs) written grabbed my attention..enough so that I read the whole thing and went on to the next that was even more interesting (and entertaining too) than the first. Ok, so maybe all blogs are not equal.

Oh, so just a little farther down are frugal wedding registry tips. Which is great because my brother found someone he loves more than his car and we thought that would never happen. So wedding plans are in the air and none of us are wealthy so gold napkin holders are out. Since he is odd and she must be odd for loving him, the typical stuff is out too. These tips give me a great idea for a gift.

 Battling stress? I am with trying to reclaim normal life and worrying about housing. The article on depression backs up some of what I am doing to help my family to  reach happier ground and I picked up some new ideas too.

 There are tips to help me in that organising I am doing! I may not have room for a filing cabinet but this helps in deciding how to file things away and what should be together.

 

I haven't even gotten past the material on the first page. There is a list of links to look through as well. I think this site offers information many of us have been searching for..no matter what it is you were looking for in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

I am now poking through the links on The Simple Dollar and found a category on Dave Ramsey:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/category/dave-ramsey/

 

 - I still like Dave's steps even though I have to dance around the first few due to my circumstances.

- Trent says this: "In my own life, I’ve been using a variation on the snowball system. I call it the “scared straight” snowball. Basically, it works the same as the debt snowball, except that I just make minimum payments on all of my debts and put the remainder of my “debt elimination” budget into a high-yield savings account. Once the amount in that account exceeds the amount remaining on my top debt by more than 30%, I write a check to pay off all of that remaining debt, leaving me with fewer minimum payments each month and more to “snowball” into my savings account.

  I find myself preferring this method over Dave's snowball and this one of my "dance arounds". It's nice to see someone else going at it a bit differently. Thank you Trent, I don't feel I am doing something hideously wrong now!

- If I had read Trent's article on whether or not to buy Dave's TMMO, I could have saved myself the money I spent on it. The book was an interesting read but not helpful to me at all.

 

Thank you, Pat!  A good, new site I can add to my Internet list.

You're right, there's a lot of content there!

I liked the "Road to Financial Armageddon." That's where the blog starts, on October 31, 2006. He gives his background, which I thought was inspiring. http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/10/

Like Brandy, I found a lot of things to interest me, including one called "Ten Financial Reasons to Turn Off Your TV" It reminded me of a discussion we had here.

It's on my list of favorites now! Thanks for reviewing it.

2 things, 1 positive & the other negative.

(1) GOOD -- You can subscribe to his blog, so as to not have to go into it daily.

(2)  BAD -- His statement that all Discover & Washington Mutual credit cards have the policy of billing interest on accounts where in the prior month the entire balance due was paid (the bill of interest that he claims is one-half of what the interest would have been in the prior month, had teh balance not been paid).  This is not true about my credit card, so he is not infallible. 

He is MOST INTERESTING, but not infalliable.  I have subscribed to his blog, & hope not to catch him in further important errors.

Hi, this is Trent, the writer of The Simple Dollar.  I wanted to thank you all for reviewing the site and for such nice comments.  I did want to address one thing, though.... 

Deborahmichelle:

(2)  BAD -- His statement that all Discover & Washington Mutual credit cards have the policy of billing interest on accounts where in the prior month the entire balance due was paid (the bill of interest that he claims is one-half of what the interest would have been in the prior month, had teh balance not been paid).  This is not true about my credit card, so he is not infallible.

The comment about the WaMu and Discover cards was part of my review of Money Magazine's May 2007 issue - I even gave the page reference for that specific bit of information about the Discover and Washington Mutual cards so you can go see it in print for yourself.  If it is factually wrong, shame on Money for publishing it!

Trent

Dear Trent & All, I apologize.  I skimmed the article rather than reading it closely. And then, MONEY Magazine was wrong!

Trent, thank you for an informative and enjoyable site.

 

A very informative site. too much to read at one sitting!

I like Dave Ramsey's plan and it works great for me, but I do get tired of his regurgitated overly simplified books.