When I first discovered blogging, it didn’t take long surfing through the hundreds of Personal Finance blogs to realise that there are generally two types of PF bloggers: those who spend and those who save.  It seems that like most things in life, the PF blogosphere can be divided into two categories or personality types: Personality A vs. Personality B.  The East Enders fan vs. the Holly Oaks obsessed.  The Gemini to my Scorpio.  You get the idea!

To Spend, or Not to Spend
As a spender myself, I was instantly and totally fascinated by those bloggers equipped with a seemingly innate sense of responsible saving – how did they do it?  Take Single Ma at Fabulous Financials, for instance.  Single Ma started her blog in December 2005 and has been hitting her yearly financial goals ever since.  She readily admits to earning a six figure sal and has established her long term financial goal as achieving a $1M+ net worth.  Indeed, her determination and focus is matched only by her positive (and delightfully sassy) attitude – and an abiding love for shoes!

Confessions of a Recovering Spender
Of course, Single Ma’s positive attitude can be attributed in part to her relative financial security, and it is hard to stay optimistic in the face of mounting debt.  Just ask Ugly Debty (cutest PF blog name ever?), a self-proclaimed ‘reformed debtor’ who just recently swore off credit cards.  Like Ugly Debty, Debtless Duty openly laments her poor financial decisions, calls her blog as well as her savings a ‘work in progress’, and asks cynical commentators to ‘be nice’.

Though my debt is comparatively modest, I definitely sympathise with PF bloggers in the beginning stages of absorbing their debt.  And all those obsessed with finding new PF blogs can attest to a virtual graveyard of abandoned blogs and, presumably, the finance plans that accompanied them.  Is there anything more forlorn than a cast-away PF blog?

The Conversion
Now that I have been blogging for a while, I definitely see that the difference between PF bloggers is not nearly as clear-cut as I thought.  More often than not, the responsible saver is the recovering spender.  Trent at The Simple Dollar, one of the first PF blogs I ever read seems the perfect example.  Trent writes compassionately of his coming to terms with his irresponsible spending in his Road to Financial Armageddon series – a must-read for any reformed-spender-in-training.  Trent writes in the first part of his series;

To summarize my earliest lessons, I believed that money was the method to buying instant happiness and that accepting free things was wrong. I also missed out on any opportunity to learn about personal budgeting or finance simply because there was no opportunity for it.

I won’t ruin the rest of his series (have you already started reading it?), but I will say that blogging certainly seems the perfect way to recoup those years of staying silent about personal finances.  Though some of us only have archives a few months (or weeks) thick, blogs such as The Simple Dollar serve as refreshing reminders that the tips we receive on the road to financial recovery will be repaid along the way by our example.

Do you feel like you fall on either side of the “split”, or are you somewhere in between?  Is there ever such a thing as a reformed spender, or will we always be haunted by bad spending habits?  If so, is blogging an effective way to keep these two halves in balance?

Here is the first instalment of my series on blogging about blogging. I find the blogging process both interesting and revealing. Hopefully you will too! Enjoy.

Part 1: The Art of the PF Blog
Is it just me or have PF blogs suddenly become fashionable since the credit crunch?  It seems like a lot of people wish that they had spent more time talking (or blogging) candidly about their personal finances before Black Monday, and are now jumping on the wagon. Not that I’m complaining - the more the merrier!

Like most Personal Finance bloggers, I spent months addicted to reading PF blogs before I could muster up the courage to write one.  We all know what a faux pas it can be to speak about personal finances in the real world.  It used to be that if I found myself in a conversation about money I would change the topic as quickly as possible.

However, when I discovered the world of PF blogs, I was delighted to find the taboo associated with talking about personal finances turned upside down.  Some of the first PF bloggers I encountered had amassed credit card and loan amounts that I didn’t even think were possible.  But more than anything, I was amazed at the willingness and honesty with which they wrote about their financial blunders.  I was really surprised how willing people were to air their dirty laundry without worrying about being judged as flighty or irresponsible.  And inspired by all the things it was possible to learn from others’ mistakes.

Before I knew it, I was becoming more personally invested in several bloggers’ debt repayments and savings progress.  Slowly but surely, I realized that it was not simply anonymity that encouraged these bloggers to write so candidly – it was also about the sense of community that developed around the blogs, the comments, and the discourse that evolved as a result.

As I should have expected, it didn’t take long until I joined the commentators, chose a pseudonym (‘FruGal’, of course), and began airing my own financial concerns as honestly as I had ever done.  I’m thankful that my background as a personal finance writer gives me a unique insight into how regular people encounter financial stress.  Yet it wasn’t until I started commenting on other’s blogs that I confronted my own monetary misgivings; and began to apply what I was learning to my own finances.  What followed was therefore inevitable – suddenly blogging became the perfect anecdote to years of ignoring haphazard spending and a scant personal savings.

Little did I know that the impending credit crunch would renew the way that we talk about money in the real world.  No doubt, this gives PF blogs in general a new and exciting sense of purpose – talking about personal finances in an honest and open way is vital to responsible spending!

Though I’ve only been FruGal for less than 6 months, I feel strongly that it is not simply a coincidence that so many PF blogs exist today.  I think that people tend to blog in the first place because of the general lack of openness in talking about personal finances – that is, the ability to express misgivings and missteps about financial choices.  I totally respect and understand why one would keep their personal finances, well, personal, but what is so great about PF blogging is that it gives the reformed spender a space to talk honestly about his or her spending habits.  After all, how are we supposed to learn to spend responsibly if we are discouraged from talking about spending in the first place?

Is there anything scarier than spotting New Years decorations in the shop before it has even hit December?  I almost fell off my chair the other night when I turned on the TV to see Sugababes dancing around after turning on the Oxford Street Christmas lights (looking very cold I might add - mini-dress outside in November? Better them than me).  Christmas is coming! The end of the year is nigh! Start panicking!

Indeed, whilst riffling through the archives on FruGal, I was amazed at how quickly this year has whizzed by.  It seems like only yesterday that I was a fledgling recovering spender, buried under a pile of barely worn stilettos and unopened CD cases – and still living the illusion that because my debts were only modest, they were OK.

Looking back over the progress of this blog got me thinking: how, if at all, had my spending habits changed or improved over the 5 months since I’ve been writing?  I have certainly made a lot of changes, and am in a much better position now than I was then. I now live well within my means, and FruGuy and I are well on the way to paying for our wedding entirely without going into debt for it. Both good things, and big changes from my attitude of this time last year.

What I can say about the blogging process is that I feel like a member of a real online supportive community.  I still learn something new every day from the PF blogs I read and I really value the personal connections I’ve made over the PF blogosphere.

I’ve discovered that as a PF blogger, it is easy to get caught up in number crunching – after all, it’s years of ignoring those nasty numbers on our bank and credit card statements that led most of us to where we are today.  This is why I thought it would be a breath of fresh air to start a series for the rest of this week reflecting on the world of Personal Finance blogs.  That’s right; I’m going to blog about . . . blogging!

In the series I will reflect upon my own individual transformation into a PF blogger as well as the world of PF blogging in general – why recovering spenders feel the itch to write, as well as the differences between PF blogs written in different parts of the globe, and why that may be.

As always, suggestions are more than welcome.  What would blogging about blogging be without the input of, well, bloggers?

Stay tuned for the series Not-so-Personal-Finances starting tomorrow.

I will firstly lay my defence: I was on holidays.  Argue against that if you will.

The problem:
Fast acting addiction to cream teas. No cream tea by 3pm on daily basis = itching for a fix.  Still no cream tea = one hell of a come-down. Not pretty.
The solution:
High-tailing it to the nearest tea room.

The problem:
Trying to resist the urge to stuff an entire scone into one’s mouth at a time, and eating the clotted cream straight from the bowl with a spoon.  Yes, a spoon. Personal high or low? Tough call.
The solution:
Try weaning selves off cream tea addiction by interspersing consumption with other, non-cream tea based products. Suggest sausage and mash, game pie, lamb shanks, pints of ale.

The problem:
Hearty country meals. Too many; roughly three times a day. Not including morning tea. Or afternoon tea.
The solution:
Plan on long, rambling country walks to burn off extensive intake of sausage and mash, game pie, lamb shanks, pints of ale.

The problem:
Cold, wet feet. Suspect converse trainers to be inappropriate footware for long, rambling country walks. Note: the countryside is wet. And cold.
The solution:
Some expensive leather, rubber soled boots with snugly lining, purchased with intent to get use of through extensive country walks.

The problem:
Not going on any country walks in favour of sitting by fireside with book and glass of red wine, hence rendering expensive leather, rubber soled boots an expensive (but fashionable) mistake.
The solution:
Drink more red wine in order to numb feelings of inadequacy due to aforementioned lack of country walks.

The problem:
Red wine must be accompanied by cheese. Is criminal to not fulfil the destiny of red wine and cheese to be consumed together.
Solution:
Luckily find a speciality cheese shop less than 100 paces from front door of cottage.

The problem:
The cheese shop less than 100 paces from the front door of our cottage.
The solution:
No solution. In the face of adversity, eat cheese. And gorgeous black olive crackers. With homemade quince paste. Follow with cream tea.

Back from holidays… boo! Hope you all had a great week, mine week in the Cotswolds was FAB. Didn’t want to come back to grey ol’ London again, but here we on so let’s press on. This morning’s Five Frugal Minutes is with the Paisley Penguin, which is a lovely blog that I read regularly - and if you don’t, you should! Check out the interview then go for a little wander… now, anyone know where can I get a cream tea in London? I’m addicted!!

Tell me a bit about your “lightbulb moment”.
My lightbulb moment came when I realized how long it was going to take us to pay for things we had charged and had either enjoyed already, given away or sold or just really didn’t need. I looked around my house and saw all the clutter and the dollar signs we were still paying on. It seemed pretty wasteful.

What made you decide to start blogging?
I started blogging because I got in to knitting and reading other knitters’ blogs. My blog actually started out as a knitting blog. Soon I was reading other blogs about decluttering and oranizing, alternate streams of income and personal finance. It’s like a public diary that keeps me more accountable than any personal diary ever could. It also combines my love of writing with visual representation with photos (I used to be a scrapbooker). I also love the interaction with other bloggers and people I have “met” in the blog world.

A lot of personal finance bloggers talk about keeping their “eyes on the prize” - What’s your prize?
First prize would be freedom from consumer debt. Second prize would probably be starting a successful home business I can live off of and pursue to help pay down the debt faster and advance my and my husband’s passion for film making. We were involved in an indie film in the summer of 2007 and we are so hooked and want to do more. Third prize would probably be complete debt freedom - our condo and the freedom to travel.

What’s your top tip for saving money?
Right now the way we save money is through several different streams. We are using coupons, doing online surveys and offers, selling stuff on Craigslist, stretching our grocery budget and watching what we spend our hard earned money on. Is it a need or a want? If it’s a want - what is the payoff, what feeling is it replacing?

Recommend a blog that you couldn’t live without
Where to start? There are several I read every day for different reasons. Anything that I link to on my blog I check if they have updated recently. I don’t think I could list just one but I could list my top faves.
Crazy Aunt Purl - She is a knitter who wrote a book about her divorce. Sounds like a downer but her writing style is so great and her blog covers more than just knitting. Quite a bit of personal finance actually. Her stories about New Jersey guy crack me up!
Unclutterer - This site has a lot of different people posting. I love the workspace of the week and have found so many great articles there about decluttering and organizing.
Spilling Buckets - This is a personal finance blog I have been reading for a while. It’s a couple in upstate New York who write it together and there blog posts are always informative and well researched. They talk about finances and politics mostly but sometimes they post recipies or updates on their lives.
Chez Larsson - An amazingly organized woman who lives in Sweden. Her house is tiny but you couldn’t tell by her photos and the way she has organized it. I have gotten so many good tips from her since I found her blog. I believe anyone looking to be better with money could always look around their living space and make do instead of trading up.
There is a tie between Sallies Niece and Savings Not Shoes - These are both personal finance blogs. Both gals writing about their debt and how to get it paid off. SNS is an American living in London so I live vicariously through her because that is a dream of both me and my husband
There is also your blog which I literally found a week ago cause I think you found me? Love your writing style.

Has organising your finances and living frugally had any other positive effect on your life, other than saving money?
My husband and I have had a better focus on the prize. However, we are trying our best to live a great life while being frugal. Taking more time for each other. Doing little things that may not cost money but don’t involve sitting in front of the computer or the TV. It’s really energized us and opened us up for new opportunities.

It’s only November, but you’ve probably already got a bunch of parties and Christmas drinks events scheduled in for the impending silly season. I know I do – it seems to begin earlier every year.  This year is a little different for me, because this will be my first properly frugal Christmas – and in my opinion, the social aspect of Christmas is the most expensive part. All those cocktails… all those hangovers… don’t you just love it?

I’ve already started thinking about some things I can do to cut costs in this area – namely the fashion side of things.

The LBD

With a little careful planning I think I can get by with two dresses, both of which are fairly new (purchased for specific recent events) and hanging in my closet, ready for action. One is very dressy, for the big parties, and one is a little more casual, for after-work type Christmas drinks.  If you haven’t got your hands on the perfect little black dress yet, my advice is to splash out a little and get something that is good quality that will last for more than one winter season. Opt for structured fabrics to hide the buldges you don’t like (or at least some Bridget Jones style pants). If you can’t stretch too far, take a look through your local thrift stores for good quality garments on the cheap.

Rock the accessories
The key to getting through the whole Christmas season with just two dresses? Accessorize to the max. I have thankfully a wide range of shoes (See FruGuy? I knew they would come in handy one day, thank you), and clutches to get me through. And as for jewellery, you cannot do better than a huge statement cocktail ring and some beads/earrings to totally change the look of a plain dress.  The cocktail jewellery in most of the high street stores is fabulous and cheap; I also raided the vintage stalls at Portobello Road market for some unique gems.  I am not splashing out on a new ‘going-out’ winter coat this year, either. Instead, I got last years’ dry-cleaned, found an awesome vintage brooch at the market and updated it with a waist-cinching patent leather belt.

Beauty
If you’re anything like me – and I am the whitest women alive – it can be intimidating showing skin in a country where sun beds and fake tan are ubiquitous.  But not this year – I’m all about the pearly white skin!  I’m embracing my inner Sophie Ellis-Bextor and am determined to be proud to be pale!  It’s far cheaper. The most important thing is to get your skin looking fab with a LOT of moisturiser. Start now. Exfoliate 3-4 times a week and moisturise like a mad woman and then you’ll feel much better about flashing your pins without laying out for the expensive fake tans, which at £25 a pop can really drain the budget.

Finish off by investing in a manicure and pedicure for a polished look, or better yet, learn to do them yourself (this is a talent that you will never tire of!).  And most importantly, the cheapest thing you can do to ensure you look amazing while you quaff the champers this Christmas: drink water in between drinks and all day! Your skin will thank you, your eyes will be clearer, and you will feel a lot less like you want to die the next morning.

Any other frugal tips for a frugal party season?

I mentioned in my November goals earlier this month that I want to start thinking about Christmas gifts now.  Ideally I really wanted to get most of my Christmas shopping a lot earlier than November, but hey, does anyone ever get around to doing that??

This year I have to send my family’s gifts home through the mail, as I won’t be going back to Australia for Christmas this year (for the first time in three years…sniffle sniffle…) And the golden rule of buying gifts to send by international mail is that they have to be light and small, otherwise you end up doubling the cost just to send them. More importantly than that though, I really want to find some original gifts to send this year. I love buying gifts, and love spending time finding things that I know (think…) my family will love.

And I have found the perfect place to do all of my Christmas shopping… Etsy. I’m seriously addicted to it!

If you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard of Etsy, it’s an online marketplace for people to sell handmade products. And you can get some highly awesome, original and inexpensive things on there. The best thing about it in my view, is that you can put in your location and find sellers that are local to you – so you get to support local small businesses.

I’ve already found dozens of things to get my sisters and girlfriends back home. I love these original neck warmers. And these silver rings are gorgeous.  Love love love! You get the picture. I could go on and on…

Go check out Holly’s blog for this week’s Five Frugal Minutes. She’s interviewing A Piece of Wood, the great blog that always gets me thinking each and every morning.

Happy Monday, everyone!

FruGuy and I are off on holidays next week. Hurrah! We’ve hired a cottage in the Cotswolds for a week and are planning on getting away from busy London and relaxing – just doing nothing, really.

Cue visions of me and FruGuy romping through the gorgeous countryside in Wellies and cute chunky knit cardies and tousled, flowing locks. Or else, cue visions of me as Miranda in that episode of Sex and the City where she goes on honeymoon with Steve to a cottage in the woods and freaks out from lack of communications and things to do… who knows? Could go either way. I’m hoping for the former: open fires and hearty game stews and friendly country folk and… wait a minute, do they have broadband in the countryside..?

No big. In case they don’t (and considering that I already gave FruGuy a no-blackberry decree, I probably shouldn’t count on being able to access this blog. But hang on, isn’t that what double standards are for?) I have lined up some articles for next week and my awesome friend – and full time lurker – Cosmo, has volunteered to write a guest post for next week. And he’s super psyched about the whole thing (to a somewhat disturbing degree to be perfectly frank), so watch out for his frugal musings next Thursday. Oh yes.

Oh, and before I forget, don’t forget to check out this weeks’ Festival of Frugality, which was hosted by Bargain Briana, who was kind enough to include my post on false economy.  Thanks to Briana for hosting – go see for some great posts to get you through the Friday Afternoon Yawn Fest.

That’s it from me. Go forth and enjoy your weekends!!

Here’s the second half of my ‘roll tour. Once again, in no particular order:

Brunette on a Budget
I’m quite new to Brunette on a Budget, but am definitely hooked. Crystal, a personal finance editor, has so much great advice for her readers. If you haven’t already checked it out do so! Run, don’t walk.

QuarterLife Finances
This is a great blog about the life and finances of relatively recent college-graduate QL.  I have to say that I am naturally drawn to these types of blogs, because QL is very similar to myself. Not a lot of debt, just working towards having good financial health by being more aware of the flow of money through her life.

Paranoid Asteroid
I’m quite new to Paranoid Asteroid also, but instantly liked it when I found it and have been faithfully reading along ever since. She’s a 20-something girl working her way through a masters degree, a hopefully not-to-expensive wedding and sharing her personal finance insights along the way.

Always the Planner
Always the Planner is written by a woman living in New York, and the blog is about ‘planning more for my financial future and less when it comes to life. It is about budgeting, saving, living, loving and having fun’. And – oh, it’s really great reading – not least as she’s inspiring me to run the marathon next year. Eek!

Dog Ate my Finances
I enjoy reading this blog, as she has a lot of interesting things to say about personal finance, and often discusses topics and presents her arguments in ways that make me really think.  Often I will find myself thinking about something she’s written for days afterwards.

Money Mate Kate
This is a really great blog, also written by a New Yorker (makes me looong to visit NY each and every day!). Kate has a lot of great stuff to say about finance, and even better, her outlook on life is fantastic. Great reading. Love it.

ShtinkyKat
This blog chronicles ShtinkyKat’s journey to atone for past financial sins and find some financial security. Her blog is highly motivating and full of great advice and tips. Check it out.

Plonkee Money
I think it’s safe to say that Plonkee is probably the best-known and most widely-read personal finance blog in the UK… It’s certainly the only one I knew of before I became actively interested in PF blogging. It’s great and full of fantastic articles that always make me think about money-related matters in a different way thanks to the really great discussions her posts start.