The only really out of the ordinary thing that happened this week was that Kyle and I babysat for our friends’ kids one evening this week while they went on a date.  Their kids are three and a few months and were super easy, so it was quite fun.  I got lots of baby cuddles and Kyle got lots of playtime with the older child.  I think that taking care of cute, well-behaved, fun children is supposed to make biological clock tick or something, but no dice so far.

Kyle finished debugging his code and is generating results again after being stuck for a few months.  After a week of panic, I found out that an animal study I’m doing with some collaborators is going forward, with a deadline extension for me.  Also, I was accepted to a professional development program at my university that should be pretty valuable!

Posts I Liked

Connie from Savvy with Saving details how she uses Elance for extra income.

Ashley from Saving Money in Your Twenties knows that most small businesses fail, but chooses to believe that hers will succeed with the mantra “why not me?”

Brendan Diamond from Fit Is the New Poor just negotiated a job offer and recalls getting burned on benefits at a previous job.

Broke Millennial splits traveling expenses with her long-distance boyfriend.

E.M. from Journey to Saving doesn’t regret these five big purchases.

Michelle from Diversified Finances outlines the pros and cons of self-employment.

Mentions

nicoleandmaggie referenced my post on Dave Ramsey’s flawed teaching on wealth building in her explanation of why slightly overestimating your rate of return slightly has a huge impact on your ultimate balance.

Carnivals

Oops, We Need to File an Estimated Tax Payment This Month was featured in the Yakezie Carnival.

Anchored in this Anomalous Economy was featured in the Carnival of Money Pros, the Carnival of Personal Finance #477, and the Carnival of Money.

Financial Heroes or Financial Zeros? was featured in the Carnival of Financial Planning.

How Do You Decide If You Can Afford a Purchase? was featured in the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie.

Top Comment

Leigh from Leigh’s Financial Journey added a few of her own to my five money-saving moves: “Programming my thermostats and a few other minor tweaks with the electricity has dropped my summer bill from $60 to $30 and possibly halved my winter bill as well – I’m still waiting to see what January looks like this year after last year’s $240… Oh and I saved $500 on my insurance policies by switching insurance companies after I turned 25. That was pretty cool – I hardly had to do anything.”

Most Frequent Commenters

1. Done by Forty
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Top Blogs Referring to EPF

1. Get Rich Slowly
2. The Simple Dollar
3. Done by Forty