The Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica
Welcome to the Weekly Quick Hits Roundup! Every week I write a weekly wrap-up of things that were going on here at Young Adult Money, a few personal updates/thoughts, and finally a few posts I read this week that I thought were worth sharing.
We also have our giveaway roundup every Friday. This Friday there are over 250 giveaways listed that end today (8/30) through next Thursday (9/5).
Below are the posts from Monday through Thursday:
- On Monday I wrote one of my favorite posts of all time: 5 of My Small Business and Website Failures. It was fun to think about some of the projects I pursued in the past and how far I’ve come since then. Young Adult Money is (by far) one of my most successful projects ever, but I’ve also put in more time and effort than I ever have before.
- On Tuesday we had a guest post from my friend Jo Saxton in Have you had a Quarter Life Crisis?. I think most people have some sort of quarter life crisis. Look for part two of her post next Tuesday.
- On Tuesday I also announced a great sweepstakes for people in Minnesota and Illinois in my post Love Your Cub Contest – $4,500 Cub Gift Card Sweepstakes. This is a HUGE win from a financial standpoint that could really help you save money since your groceries, cleaning supplies, pet supplies, and more would be covered for months and months.
- On Wednesday our staff writer Cat asked readers How Much Would You Spend on a Once In A Lifetime Experience?. This is such an interesting question. I think it totally depends on what the experience is and how much money you have in the bank.
- Does it drive you crazy when people say they are bored at work and have nothing to do? Well it drives me crazy, so on Thursday I wrote 5 Ways to Stay Busy at Work. No more excuses!
- Also on Thursday I posted a link to my guest post The High Cost of Being a Millennial. Life can be really, really, really expensive when you are in your 20s and 30s.
Update Time
- Getting in Shape – I’ve really tried to use our gym membership as much as possible recently. For a long time before my last surgery I was working out 4-5 times a week. I now am averaging closer to 3 but would like to bump that up. I also would love to be able to run 3 miles without feeling completely drained afterwards. If you aren’t following @DebtChronicles on Twitter, you really should. I had the pleasure of meeting Travis at a Minnesota personal finance blogger meetup. He tweets his workouts each day and it has really motivated me to push myself when I’m at the gym because I feel like I’m doing nothing compared to what he gets done each day.
- Site Redesign – I think I’m almost subconsciously putting off filling out the contract for the site redesign. I’m getting a little motivated because I’m annoying everyone each week with this update, but I’ve received so many compliments on my current design that I’m scared I will “ruin” the site with a new look.
One thing I hopefully will get put together in the next week or two is a short survey to get everyone’s feedback on the design and other aspects of the site. I want to keep improving and moving forward, but being a research geek I’d love to get some feedback from others.
- I’m pumped for a three day weekend! I have work off on Monday because it’s a holiday here in the United States. I will be heading to the Minnesota State Fair again on Saturday (I wrote a fun post last year about my trip to the fair), and it should be fun even though it will be a lot more crowded than it was on Tuesday. Besides that the only solid plans I have are a fantasy football draft. If you don’t play fantasy football or understand why people play, I wrote a post about why I like to play fantasy football. I almost played in a work league but decided one league was enough. Definitely excited for the football season to start – Go Vikings!
Posts of the Week:
- John from Frugal Rules and I are on the same page. There’s no way I would ever go back to work after winning the lottery! Things I Would Never Do: Go Back to Work After Winning the Lottery.
- Nick from A Young Pro asked readers Ask the Readers: Is Downgrading to a Beater Car a Mistake?.
- Stefanie from The Broke and Beautiful Life shares Money Manners: Splitting the Bill.
- Kim from Eyes on the Dollar talks about student loans and spending in Student Loan Money-Don’t Use It To Buy an Iguana.
- Joe from Stacking Benjamins shares a humorous post in Top 5 Financial Superheroes who never were.
How was your week? What are your plans for the weekend? Do you go to your state, county, or city’s fair in the Summer?
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Photo by Christian Haugen
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You keep killing me with these wonderful vacation places DC! The wifey has wanted to visit Costa Rica for sometime now. Need to do something quick about that one. Yeah I must say I keep thinking this is the day you say I signed for the design. This week has be busy, my mom is here and she is enjoying her grand daughter. This weekend will be catching up for the lost and busy week. Nothing planned but working on these online project and signing up to take a real estate class. Hope you have a great weekend!
YourDailyFinSounds like a productive weekend! Having the redesign blurb on there is helping remind me that I need to decide asap if I’m going to sign the contract or not. Feedback from people about the current design (positive feedback, that is) makes me question things. But I hope you have a great weekend!
I put my workouts on dailymile, it is more geared towards running but similar, you publish what you did and then keep doing it if you want to avoid a public shaming haha. have a nice long weekend!
RFIndependenceI will have to check out dailymile it sounds like something I’d be interested in. The public shaming would definitely be a good motivator. Hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks for the mention DC, I really appreciate it. I know how you feel about thinking you’ll “ruin” your site with the redesign, but I don’t think that can really happen unless you’re really trying to. I saw the first mock up of my redesign this week and it has me really excited about getting it done. Have fun at the Fair. We were there last year and the MN Fair is absolutely huge. When we went to the Iowa Fair a few weeks ago, we we’re like – “This is it?!” Lol! Have a good weekend sir!
FrugalRulesHaha the Minnesota Fair is pretty huge, which is good because that means there is something for everyone. I even saw a freaking pig be born this week – where else would I ever see that happen??? You’re right, the redesign likely can’t be any worse, I just think it would be a lot easier if I had a super ugly design haha. I’m excited to see your new design. Have a great weekend!
Hope you have an awesome 3 day weekend! I didn’t realize that Monday was Labor Day until I read this.
Holly at ClubThriftyThat’s what happens when you are an online entrepreneur I guess ;) Have a good one!
Good luck with the draft! I have my big one Monday night. Unlike most years, I’ve done almost no research so I’ll pretty much just be winging it.
Matt @ Mom and Dad MoneyI’ve also done zero research so it should be interesting. Good luck with yours!
Thanks for the mention DC. Have an awesome weekend.
ayoungproNo problem Nick! Hope you have a good one as well.
I know nothing about site design…obviously. I definitely need to do something. I think your site looks fine…but what do I know? Because of a dispute between Time Warner and CBS, I won’t be able to watch football or certain games. (I don’t have cable tv, but use a splitter from the cable modem to my TV as there is no antenna in my apartment). Still hoping the dispute resolves soon. I’m only in one fantasy football league as opposed to up to 3 in some years…no time! Have a great weekend.
Andrew LivingRichCheaplyI had the opportunity to be in a few leagues this year but I decided against it because of constraints on my time. I’m sorry to hear you are affected by the dispute and I hope it gets resolved. I think my design looks fine too which is why I’m scared I will ruin it with a redesign haha. Hope you have a good weekend!
Really enjoyed the failures post. Would love to read more about your personal failures/struggles and how you overcame them. I’m new here so I’ll do some checking around to see if you have shared more on that.
Love learning from others experiences.
Have a great 3 day weekend!
The Warrior
NetWorthWarrior.com
NetWorthWarriorAppreciate you stopping by and the kind words! I will definitely check out your site and I plan on writing more about my personal failures because there’s a lot of them :P Have a great weekend!
Enjoy the fair food. I’m sure they will have tons of deep fried things with bacon to choose from. Thanks for the mention.
I forgot to say that I’ve actually been to see Arenal, and it’s amazing. It’s been a while, but when I went, you could sit in the hot springs and watch the volcano errupt. Both because of the the same geothermal energy. Mind warping, but fabulous. I hope you get to visit when you go to Costa Rica.
Eyesonthedollar That’s incredible! I should say Costa is not FOR SURE yet, but I am really hoping we win some giveaways and are able to convert everything into cash quickly enough to finance the trip : ) I will definitely have to visit the Volcano if the trip happens.
Have fun a the fair. I’ve always heard the MN State Fair is really nice. We typically don’t go to the LA County Fair. The girls have never really made a big push to go and I don’t mind since then I’m not tempted by the all food! Have a great holiday weekend!
TheHeavyPurse Makes sense! It’s hard not to just pig out at the fair. The MN fair is pretty big, though I’m not amused by the fireworks every night at 10:30ish. I keep getting tricked into thinking it’s thunder. Hope you have a great weekend!
We finally have a long weekend in common! The last big one for the summer. Enjoy your time off and have fun at the fair. And I agree, your web design is great the way it is right now.
TacklingOurDebtYou’re not making it any easier for me to sign the contract to redesign my site! Though maybe that’s a good thing? Hope you enjoy your long weekend as well!
DC @ Young Adult Money TacklingOurDebt I have no idea how much your redesign would cost you, but what if you put that money towards going to Costa Rica instead? :-)
Man tweeting workouts is a GREAT idea… so simple yet I never thought of that before
SavvyScot That just sounds wrong!
Have a great long weekend, the fair sounds like an awesome time!
I really wish I could get into fantasy football because everyone does it around here. My plans are to play volleyball, work on blogging stuff, and chill/watch movies/TV. Pretty excited eh? :)
You’re right on about working out. I get a huge rush on days that I have a hard workout. It’s a great feeling without any of the downsides of drugs/alcohol!
Thanks for mentioning my piece. The geek in me couldn’t resist asking the question: what if financial people could be superheroes? That’d liven up a topic that for some reason some nay-sayers think is “boring.”
Thanks for the shoutout DC!