Well done. I am proud that my world of blogging started from reading one of your posts.

Regards

People are more than willing to talk to others, and share the lessons they’ve learned from their successes – and more importantly – their mistakes. All you have to do is ask.

I’ve done this twice since I read Ramit’s post (actually a guest post on another site), and both times, people that I admire from both a personal and financial point of view agreed to talk to me and answer ANY and all questions that I had.

The lessons that I learned from those two people are priceless, and I can honestly say has changed my life.

If that’s not good advice, I don’t know what is.

I was glad to see Trent acknowledge that there is value in Ramit’s approach.

One thing I’ve noticed in the comments here, is that many people seem to be saying “I’m already all the big things right, so I have nothing to learn from Ramit.”

But that’s a dangerous attitude to have. It’s rare for anyone to always be doing everything you can. Even if most of Ramit’s tips don’t apply to you, they are structured in such a way that when you find something that does, it can make a significant difference.

There is always something new that we can learn of improve upon in our lifes. It’s much more beneficial to keep an open mind, than to assume that you have nothing to learn.

Ramit’s blog is designed for young people with decent incomes who don’t think rationally about their finances, and rightly tackles automated big wins.

Trent’s blog is designed for people are are already unusually frugal, and want to improve their frugality by learning about new ways to save even more money.

You can even see the different in their styles…Ramit’s is written in an edgy, wiseass tone that in a previous era, would be been dubbed “extreme.” His job is to break through the clutter in an unfocused person’s life and shock them into taking the first, important steps.

Trent’s is written in a soft-spoken, straightforward style that makes even my writing look impolite. His job is to preach to the converted and help move them even closer to perfection.

This may be why Trent didn’t take the challenge–his readers are already so frugal, that they simply couldn’t save that much more (versus Ramit’s readers who include the profligate Manhattan “Sex and the City” types).

It’s true that Ramit’s advice ignores certain opportunities to save money. But it’s also true that not many people have the discipline and willpower to follow Trent’s advice.

I guess, to each his own, not all frugal tips are applicable to us. I do like the moderate path, a mix between Trent’s and Ramit’s tips.

I looked at his blog while he was doing the 30 days to save $1000 thing and it was so ridiculous for where I am in my personal financial situation. Bring your lunch to work a few times a week? I work from home (saving on gas too) and make my lunch every day. My husband “brown bags” every day that he’s not home for lunch too.

Reducing interest rates? Doesn’t do anything if you are out of debt.

No cable here, no landline (since we’re a military family, most of our calls are long distance so we do the cell thing)… we’re selling the things we no longer use, etc.

We live on base now and utilities are included, but when we were off-base, we most certainly adjusted our thermostat at night and when we were out of the house. A programmable one would’ve been amazing.

And once you do all the big things, you only have two choices for bettering your financial situation:
1) Spend less
2) Earn more

We’re working on both of those at this point, building my business, and being frugal!
(That said, I use as much toilet paper and hot cocoa mix as I want, but I do make my own bread, cook from scratch, and lots of other “too hard” things)

Ramit’s blog is fine for people who are at that stage in their PF life. Most of your readers are beyond that though.

Ramit,

So Trent called your little baby ‘ugly’ huh? Did he? What my eyes see is someone (Trent) defending HIS baby against one of YOUR fans who calls it UGLY. He defends himself by noting that it’s short-sighted to dismiss small savings because you’ve got to look at them long-term to see their value.

Now you turn things around and play the victim? All I can say is that you’re a witty marketeer, haha! ;-)

Problem is, his writing was just as condescending as I had imagined it would be.

Keep up the good work Trent – but PLEASE, no more references to your own personal TP requirements. That was just gross.

There is no point in comparing these two strategies. Both are the way of achieving some long term target of having financial independence and enjoying the journey of life as we go along. You can choose either or them or both of them based on your comfort level.

Trent, sometimes I feel that ignoring these kind of aggressive behavior is also good way to respond (personal opinion and my learning).

My thoughts exactly on this topic.

KCDesi

Thanks for responding with patience and grace Trent! Instead of being annoyed you took the opportunity to draw conclusions on sociological trends. I respect it! :)

Dueling blogs: Ridiculous waste of time that could be spent on changing lightbulbs – or comparing CD rates – or wahing baggie (that’s me-protect the landfills)

Ramit: He has his followers and dispenses some decent advice on occasion. But the SIMPLE DOLLAR blog is MUCH more – some good advice – with a bit of homespun humor and a bunch of wild and crazy devotees that make it just pure fun to read!!

First comment – long time reader. Keep up the good work.

BTW, new RSS subscriber here, checked you out after he posted his challenge. ;)

I’m also in the camp of having done most of the big things already, and I actually live WELL within my means — as in, on less than 50% of my income. But still digging myself out from student loans. So I look forward to reading. :)