Highlights From My Blogroll

I’ve been catching up on my blog reading today, and found lots of good stuff to pass on to my readers:
Shanti has a great post about how a car is not an investment.   I couldn’t agree more.   Our 1991 Civic and 1990 Audi are getting along just fine.   We have no car payment, we pay about $600/year for auto insurance, and about $50/year for registration on both vehicles combined.   Each of our cars gets nearly 30 miles to the gallon on the highway.   Every year they pass the required emissions test with flying colors – they’re not smoke bombs.   We will keep them until they literally won’t go anymore.   They are a means for getting us from  A to B, nothing more and nothing less.   They are not an investment, not a status symbol, not  entertainment – and we’ll continue to not spend money on them.
Lynnae has an article about modern marriage and money.   I agree with her position  that marriage means you’re  a team – and that includes money.   I cannot imagine  my husband and I having separate finances.   We combined our money before we got married  (when we bought our house) and  that’s the way it’s been for the last five years.    Neither of us even knows how much money we make individually.    We run our business together, so technically we split the income on our W2s and dividends, but my husband does more of the actual work.    Neither of us cares, since all the money goes to the same place, and we both have the same financial goals.   We might have different ideas about how to spend small amounts of money,  but we make all of our financial decisions together.   To us, that’s just part of being married.  
Trisha has rounded up a whole list of bloggers who have paid off their debt, and she and her family are well on their way, with their debt dropping below the $9000 mark last week!
NCN has posted about the finances of having a new baby – something we can relate to right now.   Our little boy is one week old today (I can’t believe a week has gone by already.   Sometimes three hours go by while I do nothing but hold him and watch him sleep).   So far, we’ve spent almost nothing since he was born, mainly because we’ve hardly left the house.   We have  wonderful neighbors, family, and friends who have stopped by with food for us, and our fridge is still full to overflowing.   Our baby and I have gotten the hang of breast feeding, which I plan to continue for at least a year (free baby food – doesn’t get more frugal than that).   I’ve been washing a load of diapers every day and a half or so.   I just use the low water setting on the washer, and wash them with vinegar, baking soda, and an all-natural chemical-free laundry soap that I get at Costco.   We dry them on a drying rack, so no electricity used for the dryer.   So far so good as far as the baby and money are concerned.   I’ll keep you updated as we go along…
Nick has a great post about how to not be evil with your money – and there’s even a nifty graph to go along with the article.  
Kyle has a post about beating gas prices.   Lots of good tips, although I’d have to say that my favorite way to get around high gas prices is by not driving.   Sometimes it takes some creativity, and pretty much always requires extra effort.   But by walking or biking to the grocery store, library, bank, post office, etc., I save gas and get a little workout at the same time.  
I’m starting to feel like myself again after a rather hazy first week of parenthood.   I should be back in the swing of things on my blog next week.   Thanks for stopping by, and for all your good wishes after the birth of our little boy!