Favorite Posts, Mentions, and Top Comments Week of 24Feb2013

I gave THREE practice prelim presentations this week – once for my lab, one for my peers, and one for my advisor.  I wanted to work far in advance so we could go see Les Miserables on Friday night and watch a basketball game and go to a game night on Saturday without feeling too stressed.  Kyle also gave two presentations this week so he was working hard as well.  My prelim is TOMORROW!

Oh, and in PF news, the grad student tax workshop I helped prepare was last Wednesday and it went really well!  The audience was very diverse – from people who had never seen a 1040 to people who were trying to argue that grad students should be paid with W-2s instead of 1099-MISCs.  I think our speaker did a great job covering the material, which was very difficult and confusing, and there were a lot of questions from the audience.  My partner and I both came up with the same question during the session, which we researched independently and came to the same conclusion on.  Unfortunately it seems that I should have been paying taxes on the scholarship income (?) I’ve received for my health insurance (paid by my university to my university… I never see the money though it passes through my Bursar account).  I will post about this issue when I am more confident in the conclusion.

And our fellowship income tax pages went live!  Please give me feedback on the post on it.

Guest Posts

Our EPF this week Jen from The Happy Homeowner told us about the month she had an $11 electric bill!  Thank you so much for the post, Jen!

I also had a guest post go up at iHeartBudgets (I wrote it a long time ago, haha) this week.  I constructed a personal finance project for high school students inspired by an episode of Dawson’s Creek I recently saw.  Please head over there and leave a commenting letting me know what you think!

Favorite Posts

Suba from Wealth Informatics is shocked at how large a mortgage she was authorized and how it compares to what different gurus recommend.  Great tables!

Lauren from L Bee and the Money Tree asks if we miss our days of carefree spending.  Um, not all of us had those!!

Eric from Narrow Bridge Finance recommends that you not act like a broke person all the time with your friends.

Joanna from Our Freaking Budget explains how she made money off a supplemental insurance payment after she gave birth.

Stephanie Halligan from The Empowered Dollar explains at L Bee and the Money Tree how to find your enjoyable and profitable niche.

Mrs. Pop from Planting Our Pennies details her job requirements and benefits from when she was an RA and shows that it’s a great pay rate for a college student.

Mentions

Derek from Life and My Finances listed What’s an Impulse Purchase? in his weekly roundup.

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff included Blog Statistics Update January – February 2013 in her weekly favorites.

Grayson from Debt Roundup worked What’s an Impulse Purchase? into a story about shopping for a couch.

Cash Rebel referenced my “snowball contribution limit” method – it’s a method now! – in his post on saving from the start.

Kim from Eyes on the Dollar listed Jen’s post The Month I Had an $11 Electric Bill in her 20/20 posts of the week.  Congrats Jen!

Carnivals

What’s an Impulse Purchase? was featured in the Finance Carnival for Young Adults, the Carnival of MoneyPros, and the Money Mail Carnival Fifteenth Edition.

Blog Statistics Update January – February 2013 was featured in the Yakezie Carnival.

Top Comment

Heather detailed her savings priorities in a response to my post on contributing to last year’s IRA, which is always fun to hear about: “Last fall I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to max out both of our Roth IRAs as well as pay N’s health insurance (due in Jan) and pay off N’s final student loans (due in Feb)–our top priorities. After paying those items, we looked at our finances and were able to contribute the last few $k to hit our max for 2012. Sure feels good, doesn’t it?”

Most Frequent Commenters

1. Jen @ The Happy Homeowner
2. Edward Antrobus
3. Ross @ Cash Rebel
4. Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies
5. Lucas

Top Blogs Referring to EPF

1. iHeartBudgets
2. Happy Simple Living
3. Making Sense of Cents
4. L Bee and the Money Tree
5. Punch Debt in the Face