Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 10Mar2013

This week was spring break – of course that doesn’t mean anything changed schedule-wise for me and Kyle, but campus was just a bit empty.  I found a really exciting paper and I want to implement the method in our lab, so I decided to give it to my undergrad to work on – Kyle said “Look at you, delegating like a PI!”  I’m still trying to get comfortable in the whole mentor role thing.

 

Our weekend plans were pretty well ruined by our team getting knocked out of our conference tournament early!  We’re really bummed about that but hope it’s a wake-up call so they get it together for the big dance.

 

 

Posts I Liked

 

My Money Design lays out several wealth creation strategies.

 

Kraig from Young Cheap Living details how to use Mint and why it’s so useful.

 

TeacHer Finance is aggravated by people who make terrible financial decisions and don’t get their just desserts.

 

David from Money Under 30 asks how much help 20-somethings should receive from their parents.

 

G.E. Miller from 20 Something Finance compares his budget to the national average – always impressive!

 

Kim from Eyes on the Dollar asks if professional graduate degrees are worth the cost.

 

 

Mentions

 

Money Smart Guides listed Hard and Soft Targets in Earmarked Savings in his round table.

 

 

Carnivals

 

Contributing to Last Year’s Roth IRA was featured in the Carnival of Retirement and the Financial Carnival for Young Adults.

 

Grocery Challenge Update for February 2013 was featured in the Festival of Frugality.

 

What Is a Courtesy Letter and Does It Mean I Don’t Have to Pay Taxes? was featured in the Carnival of Money Pros.

 

 

Top Comment

 

Lauren detailed her family’s targeted savings system in my post on hard and soft earmarks: “We don’t have any irregular expenses that can’t just come out of the monthly cash flow. We have one savings account with everything (10 month Efund and other savings) that is tracked by spreadsheet. Our monthly surplus gets allocated by percentage in to 1) Student Loan (in deferment) 2) House Down Payment 3) Car Replacement 4) Travel and 5) Extra. Regular irregular expenses (car insurance, parking pass, etc) usually just come out of that month’s cash flow but irregular expenses (medical, new dryer from Craigslist, my part of throwing a friend’s bridal shower, Christmas gifts, etc) have been funded, all or in part, by our “Extra” savings. In an emergency we would first turn to our Efund and then to the other accounts if that wasn’t enough. The Student Loan and Down Payment funds are especially flexible since we’re not sure where we’ll be after I graduate and whether we’ll want to buy a house there right away. And the percentage based allocations are flexible, too. For example, if we needed to replace a car sooner than anticipated I could see us reducing the savings in the other categories to save up money faster for the car replacement.”

 

 

Most Frequent Commenters

 

  1. Kim @ Eyes on the Dollar
  2. Edward Antrobus
  3. Cash Rebel
  4. Leigh @ Leigh’s Financial Journey
  5. nicoleandmaggie

 

 

Top Blogs Referring to EPF

 

  1. Punch Debt in the Face
  2. Happy Simple Living
  3. Well Heeled Blog
  4. Young Cheap Living
  5. Cash Rebel 

 

 

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11 Responses to "Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 10Mar2013"

  1. richard says:

    More like : “Look at you, giving work to an undergrad for spring break like a PI.”

    1. Emily says:

      Haha, yeah I specifically said in my email that he could start reading the paper when he returned from spring break. I was actually surprised he left at all (he didn’t really tell me, I asked), though I guess I shouldn’t have been. I’m trying to be accommodating. 🙂

  2. Ross says:

    It was always eerie during breaks on campus when all the undergrads go home. Keep your head up and keep plugging away!
    Ross recently posted..Consumed By An Idea

    1. Emily says:

      I like it during the summer and always dread their return, but it’s a bit weird during the semester breaks.

  3. Sara says:

    I’m a big fan of where (I think) you guys go to school…that game was no good. Another one of my favorites was knocked out of the Big East tournament too early. Like you said, hopefully it’s a wakeup call for the big one!
    Sara recently posted..Wardrobe updates

    1. Emily says:

      Rare to come across a fan who is not an alum… Or are you?? Do you have a connection to the area?

      Yeah, we really sucked. If we’d played anywhere near the season average we would have won, even with the star opposite team player having the game of his life. Oh well! At least Rivalry Team didn’t win the tournament! 😉

      1. Sara says:

        Hah- really? You have a lot of friends in the midwest where I grew up. I myself am not an alum, but i bucked the family trend of going to you state (and most often, your school) for college. I like snow far too much, so I stayed up north and went to a Big East school.

        1. Emily says:

          Ah, family alums, that makes sense!

          Gotta love March Madness!!

  4. I’m sorry if I just can’t pull for your team in the big dance. Too many years of conditioning. Thanks for including me. Congrats on your new in charge role. It must be strange, but I bet it feel really good.
    Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted..How Much Time Would You Invest for $2.50?

    1. Emily says:

      I wouldn’t expect you to! I’m accustomed to getting hate from every direction for going to our school regarding the social and basketball reputations. Thankfully I mostly interact on the academic/medical research front where the name garners great respect. I don’t really have anything against any other teams except for our Big Rival, and that’s only for the fun of the rivalry, not deeply felt.

  5. […] Frugal Habits, Fearless Men, Gospel of Frugality, Fat Guy Skinny Wallet, Making Sense of Cents, Evolving Personal Finance, Faithful With a Few, Stumble Forward, and My Money […]

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