Comments on: A Beginner’s Guide to The Simple Dollar

By: littlepitcher

littlepitcher — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:46:16 +0000

No problem being fangirl. This is a blog everyone in America should be reading–and your review today could keep many families and children out of future trouble.
Just read your column on your childhood experience with thieving relatives. I signed many papers in my childhood, and have found out over the years that my alcoholic father signed away my, and my sister’s, intellectual property rights in perpetuity. They consider references to be intellectual property, and keep me in jobs too poorly paid to afford attorneys. Your blog, and others, just might eventually enable me to evade these thieves and get honest legal help.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:25:24 +0000

I think that this is a great intro post, and you should seriously consider replacing / integrating it into the about page (but leave the Mad Max reference) And I also want to agree with @haapai and point out that if you’re on the website, the layout and basic websurfing skills will give you everything you need to know about the website (although I just realized there’s no “best of” section)

The fulfillment curve was one of my favorite articles. However, I think that one of the strengths of the website is that I always seem to find exactly what I needed to hear. I’m on Baby Step 3 and about 75% of the way done, so I’ve gone the hang of most of the frugality posts (which just seem like repetition over and over and over again to me). However, when I was working my way through the debt snowball, I actually printed the list of 100 trick to save money (which I’d NEVER done with a blog post before)

Another great read is Get Rich Slowly’s Financial Stages series as well as Trent’s well thought out response to it.

However, I really feel that TDS (and GRS as well) bring a greater understanding of the emotional / psychological issues of money, which at this point in my journey is what interests me most. I’m also a big fan of the way that Trent explains how it’s okay to spend money on stuff that is in alignment with your values and screw the rest of it. Again, at this point in my journey, it’s a bit of a shift for me to be able to justify to myself to be able to spend money on things that are good for my emotional health.

This being said, I do enjoy the variety of types of posts that Trent writes for. He really covers issues for people across the spectrum (How to rise above Min wage) to frugality tips to career advancement (see What Color is your Parachute book club, etc) to psychology, etc, etc, etc… You never know what you’re going to find and I think that everyone, no matter what stage they’re in can find something of value.

I hope that didn’t sound too fangirl like ;)

By: TheDebtHawk.com

TheDebtHawk.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:24:35 +0000

Great post Trent. I love these posts that sum it all up. You have inspired my to write my own guide. Thanks for the inspiration.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:00:46 +0000

This is helpful and gives me HOPE!

By: haapai

haapai — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:40:58 +0000

I have to disagree with starting with the business cards. The Road to Armageddon series is where most people start and what hooks them. That’s your strongest and most interesting writing.

But you probably already know that and the first link is to the beginning of that series.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:26:15 +0000

Fantastic – I will definitely use this!

By: Patty

Patty — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:16:19 +0000

Trent – Great overview of your philosophy! To Chris – take a deep breath, remember to take baby steps – Good Luck!

By: Aman@BullsBattleBears

Aman@BullsBattleBears — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:13:16 +0000

great introduction post! I try to read your blog posts when I can and it was nice to learn a little more about the person behind the site! Keep it up!