Saving Your Personal Economy By Sharing Collective Knowledge

Ivy says:

Even though I’ve been avoiding the news like the plague to keep from being worried about the economy, I’m still hit with reminders nearly every day that the recession is here in full force. Friends and family are losing jobs, having hours and/or pay cut, you name it. Seems like everyone is struggling these days.

Worse, nobody really seems to know what we should be doing to save ourselves. People tell us to save, to spend, to keep money in the bank, to hide money under the mattress, to call upon unicorns and rainbows, etc, etc, etc. The hard truth is, there’s no easy and fast way to fix the economy; it will right itself eventually, but no matter what we do, times are hard right now.

What can a person do? Well, now more than ever, it’s time to use our heads for something other than a hatrack and do our best to hold on to what we’ve got. Back during the Depression, people banded together to help each other out, when and where they could. My grandma used to tell me about how they lived somewhat close to a railroad tracks, and on a tree near their backyard there was carved a kitty cat face. Why? It was the sign of a kind woman who was likely to share food with the hobos on the train tracks. My grandma said hardly a day went by when her mom wasn’t feeding extra folks at her table. It’s not that they had a fortune- in fact, my grandma never could bear to eat white rice because she said they had it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years and years.

Things have changed, people are probably less kind and giving than they used to be, but I think one of the greatest kindnesses exist today in blogs across the internet, people sharing their collective knowledge for the greater good. Sure, most of us are out there to make a few bucks, but almost all of the people I have talked to about their blogging endeavors would do it for free as long as they were helping people.

Sure, reading blogs won’t keep you from being laid off, or getting your hours cut at work, but they can help you save money, learn how to do things yourself that you might normally pay someone to do, learn things you didn’t know about personal finance, or maybe they’re not that useful, but are a great form of free entertainment.

Here are the blogs I find to be some of the most helpful/entertaining/informational/etc.

Like Merchant Ships– Meredith is part entertaining, part informational, part inspirational. I’ve said many times that this is my very favorite blog on the entire internet. It still holds true to this day.

Lifehacker– Want to streamline your life, from computer hints to just general hints on life? Lifehacker’s the place.

Frugal Upstate– One of my very favorite blogs about saving money, Jenn has a cool radio show AND her blog as well. She shows you how to do things as well as has some great personal commentary on various issues.

The Craftzine Blog– A fabulous roundup of the best crafty stuff on the web.

Oh No They Didn’t– Celebrity snark at its finest. The best part is the comments here, I think- they’re lulzy to the extreme.

And that’s just a few. I could do a post a day of my favorite blogs and it would take years to list them all. Tell me, Home Eccers, what are you reading? No fair linking to yourself, now, kids.