Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Slight Redesigns Edition

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:34:45 +0000

I liked that witch hazel post at wisebread as well . . . nice recap.

By: Another Joan

Another Joan — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:01:01 +0000

I agree with Joan (no 10) that your blog is one of the few that I read consistently. Plain, good, honest writing with helpful links and suggestions. I appreciate the fact that it is easy on the eyes too. For those of us who work so much online, that is important.

By: Helix

Helix — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:59:35 +0000

I just have one suggestion. When you post links can you make it so they automatically open a new window? I have no idea how complicated that would be… just a suggestion. Sometimes when I follow one of the links in the weekly round up I end up surfing around their site quite a bit so the back button wouldn’t work so well. I usually try to remember to right click and “open in new window” but for some who don’t do that it might cut short the time they would otherwise spend on your site if they get lost in another link.

Like I said, just a suggestion. As I’m sure you’re already aware I think the site is great.

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:37:32 +0000

Re: Michael #3,
Do you really think SD readers are that easily confused?
Many fans of SD are Get Rich Slowly readers as well. On that site, for example, names and links are posted first, comments second. Makes it easier to spot your favorites. In my world, this includes people who consistently add something positive to the dialog. If that constitutes an “AGENDA” in your mind, I can live very comfortably with that, thank you.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:02:10 +0000

On the article about your fridge being full to run more effeciently, it reminds me of a comment my sister in law once made when visiting us. She looked in the fridge and freezer for something and said that both were very empty. When we visit them, they have two fridges(one just for soft drinks!), and a freezer and they are always full, however they are always eating out. How does this save money. My brother in law said that they like to go to the gocery store and spend about $400 at a time. Why spend money that could be in the bank for food that sits in the fridge and pantry. I like my $50 a week plan.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:01:53 +0000

I have a little beef with the putting of milk jugs full of water into the fridge/freezer. I am not sure this would really help that much because water has a very high specific heat (the amount of energy it takes to adjust the temperature of one gram by one degree Celsius). It is much higher than air. It takes much less energy to cool the gas than water.

I suppose maybe if the volume of gas was big enough to cool you might gain some efficiency by freezing the water. But as a block of ice might help keep the freezer cooler when you open it, you have to have in initial energy to get the water to freeze. Plus, while it might make it cooler when you open the freezer, any ice that melts, even a little, has to re-frozen (again taking lots of energy). I would be interested to see if you have any hard numbers on this.

By: joan

joan — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:09:21 +0000

I love your blog just the way it is. It is the only blog that I regularly read. Partly because it is so readable. No weird colors, right size font, etc. Most of all great information. I have tried several of the blogs that write in your comments and one trip is usually more than enough. Plain, easy to read good writing goes a long way.

By: Joel Falconer

Joel Falconer — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:36:38 +0000

Trent, thanks for the link to FreelanceSwitch! Lots of great articles to check out here.

By: k2000k

k2000k — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:42:25 +0000

Nice collection of articles.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:26:45 +0000

I’ll have to check out the witch hazel article. I’m due in August, and trying to refrain from buying more expensive/unnecessary things for the baby. Trying, mostly succeeding! :)

By: jc

jc — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:14:30 +0000

I’d hardly noticed this before, but it now occurs to me hat you have a lot! of exclamation points! in the top right corner! Such breathlessness doesn’t really fit with your usual tone, Trent, too hucksterish.

By: rhymeswithlibrarian

rhymeswithlibrarian — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:53:21 +0000

I have three suggestions that would make the site more useful for me:

1. Allow readers to register and login, and then have an individual “saved articles” list. There are some posts like cooking instructions or your recent post on preparing for disaster that I’d like to be able to save for future reference and find again easily.

2. In the “Categories” section, make it so when you click on a category you get a list of clickable titles rather than going directly to a page full of articles. For the categories with many entries, it’s unwieldy to have to scroll through many pages to look for something new or something specific.

3. In the comments area, it seems that comments sometimes show up out of order – perhaps this has to do with an approval process, and comments are numbered according to when they were first made rather than when they become visible. It would be better if newly visible comments were always at the end instead of appearing in the middle, for two reasons. First, if you’re following an interesting discussion, then when you come back you can just read the last part of the thread to see what’s been added. Second, if the comment numbers were stable, then people could write, for example, “I agree with #19 because….” and other readers could easily check back to see what they mean. When the numbers aren’t stable and you have to refer to the previous commenter by name, then the new reader has to skim the whole thread looking for that name in order to follow the discussion.

By: MJ

MJ — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:42:17 +0000

Trent,

Have you ever thought about formatting your site to accomodate different resolutions? I have a wide screen laptop and I have about 2-3 inches on the left side of your content as well as 2-3 on the right side. This could be valuable advirtising space. Just a thought. Other than that…if it aint broke…

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:34:54 +0000

I imagine Diane wants to skip all criticism for some personal reason. AGENDA ALERT!

Also, eyes habitually check bylines and signatures just before or while they read posts, so there is little need to place the name first. If anything it might confuse some of TSD’s readers.

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:10:23 +0000

Hi Trent,
Since you’re tweaking your site, would you consider a format which places the commenter’s name at the top instead of the bottom? That way it would be easier to skip the people who consistently rip your posts in favor of their own personal agendas.

By: Kristen @TheFrugalGirl

Kristen @TheFrugalGirl — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:02:42 +0000

I have an enormous chest freezer that someone gave to us, and I fill the empty space with milk jugs full of water just like you do. My fridge is not usually empty enough for that, though!