I finally decided it was time to divide up the weekly giveaway roundup with my own personal weekly roundup. We have 118 giveaways listed on the roundup this week so be sure to head over and get entered!
As for this post, I will write about what we did here at Young Adult Money this week, a few updates from my personal life, and finally a few posts I read this week that I thought were worth sharing.
Below are the posts from Monday through Thursday:
- On Monday we launched a $480 Cash Giveaway. If you want to win some extra cash, head on over and make sure you get your name in the hat.
- On Tuesday we celebrated our One Year Bloggerversary. In the post I shared some of the major accomplishments from the past year as well as goals for the future.
- On Wednesday our staff writer Cat shared about Paying Bills As An Expat.
- Thursday was the Fourth of July and we participated in a blog carnival put on by Pauline of Make Money Your Way. We wrote about What Financial Independence Means to Me.
Next I have a few “quick hit” updates to share:
- Last weekend I went up north to a cabin that my parents rent each Summer. Unfortunately, because I am an accountant who has monthly close duties – and the first week of July we are closing the books on Q2 – I was unable to stay for longer than about a day. Below is a pic from the lake:
I would love to spend more time up north and own a cabin someday. Unfortunately right now my allergies get so bad up north that it’s hard to fully enjoy it. Which leads me to my next point…
- I recently got tested for allergies and I’m allergic to 23 of the 25 most common allergy triggers in Minnesota. Because of this I am starting shots for my allergies. This is a long-term fix, not a short-term fix like most allergy medicine (which I have been using on a daily basis for years). For the first six months I have to go once a week, and will see little change. Over time I will take them less and less – I believe eventually just once a month. The good news? 70% of people who take them for five years have no reaction to their traditional allergy triggers. I can’t even imagine what life is like without allergies and if I had started these shots years ago I might have avoided sinus surgery.
- Yesterday was the Fourth of July which is a big holiday here in the United States. I will admit that I wrote this post on Wednesday night so I don’t actually have anything to share about it.
- This weekend I will try to “disconnect” a bit and relax on Saturday. My wife and I might hit up the Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed exhibit at the Science Museum. It’s over $20 a person to see, but they usually do a good job so it might be worth the relatively high admission price.
Finally, here are five posts that I really enjoyed from this week:
- Michelle from Sense of Cents revealed she made over $10,000 in extra income for the month of June. Michelle has been a big supporter of our site and truly an inspiration. In May of 2012 she made only $672 in extra income. It’s crazy to see how far she’s come in this area.
- Matt from Mom and Dad Money asked Is Now the Right Time to Buy a House?
- E.M. form Journey to Saving reflected on Early Retirement
- Thomas from Your Daily Finance talks about Paying for College with Federal Student Loans
- Kari from Student Debt Survivor asks Swimming in Debt or Lifeguarding?
What are you up to this weekend? Also – what is something good that happened to you the past week?
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Photo copyright David Carlson
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Those shots don’t sound like a lot of fun, but it sounds like they make sense in the long-term, especially if you could stop taking the daily meds. One good thing that happened this week-I took today off so I have the whole day to catch up on things I need to do for school. Thank for including my post, have a good time at the museum.
StudentDebtSurvivorI need to take a day (or five) off to just catch up on things. The allergy shots will definitely pay off long-term and I’m ready to start them! Hope you have a great weekend.
Thanks for the shout out! Hope you had a great 4th! We had an awesome time on the 3rd at a friend’s house and on the 4th at Boston’s big party downtown. Lots of fun.
Matt @ Mom and Dad MoneySounds like you had a good time celebrating! I had a great fourth of July, though it would have been better if I didn’t have to work today :P
Hey, DC, I’ve got friends who suffer from terrible seasonal allergies and they’ve done the mean green juice fast (google it, I think the guy’s name is Joe) and it’s done wonders for minimizing their symptoms to almost nothing! Looks like lots of great links here – thanks for sharing! We want a cabin too someday – MN is the best for that kind of stuff!
Laurie TheFrugalFarmerI will certainly look into it though I am a lot less motivated to look into short-term solutions since I’m doing the long-term retraining of my immune system through the shots. I hope you have a great weekend!
Thank you for the mention! The cabin looks wonderful; I always wanted to go upstate and rent a cabin on a lake. It seems very relaxing. I hope the allergy shots work for you – I have environmental allergies as well, but not to the point where I need to take medication everyday! The exhibit at the museum looks interesting, I love those kinds of things. I think the best thing that happened to me this week was having yesterday off.
JourneytoSavingHaving yesterday off was huge for me as well as it gave me a chance to just relax and be away from the daily grind. I would love to have a cabin someday in Minnesota – as long as my allergies (and bank account) cooperate.
Thanks for the mention DC! Sorry that you were only able to spend 1 day at the cabin but its nice photo. That happens a lot with my wife and she was working in a department at her job. The would have closing at the end of the month so the last five days were brutal. I didn’t actually post on Thursday as normal because it was my birthday and wifey and the family wanted the laptop and Iphone off limits. This weekend we are cleaning up and I have made plans to go help a homeless person. Its amazing that one day a person can be living well and you hear from 6 months later and they say they are homeless. We have so much to be thankful for.
YourDailyFinSorry to hear about your homeless friend and I pray that they will be able to find housing quickly. It’s definitely a good reminder that we all have a lot to be thankful for.
I had severe allergies growing up to dust, mold and ragweed. I started getting weekly allergy shots in the 7th grade and they continued through college. They did get less frequent so by the time I was done I was only going once a month. They really helped me. Today I have no reactions to mold or ragweed and only have a reaction to dust when I am around intense quantities of it. It was a long haul but greatly improved my way of life. Hope that is some encouragement for you DC.
Luke_1428Thanks a ton for leaving that comment. It definitely is encouraging hearing about others who have had success with the shots, and I am confident at the very least it will increase my quality of life and cause me to have a lot less reaction to my allergy triggers.
That lake pic looks heavenly! Greg’s parents had a lake cabin but they sold it last year. They bought a new lot on a different lake and are building their “forever home” later this year!
Sorry about your allergies!!!
Holly at ClubThriftyMinnesota and “Lake Life” go hand-in-hand. So many people here either own cabins or rent them. I bet that “forever home” will be really nice!
sorry about the end of the quarter affecting your vacation– I work in fundraising at a Catholic high school and since we no longer receive money from the Diocese, we switched our fiscal year from ending in August to ending in June so this June was CRAZY so I can relate!
Keep us posted on the allergy shots process. I have terrible seasonal allergies and the one thing that is the worst is my itchy eyes. Were itchy eyes one of your symptoms? I’ve had them since I was a kid when I lived in Texas and still have them now that I live in NY so I can’t get away from the allergens, lol. If your shots are successful, that is something I’m sure your allergy suffering readers would love to know. :)
tzoltekI will certainly be posting about the shots, though it will be a long-term thing versus an immediate improvement/short-term fix. The statistics speak for themselves and many people have been able to at a minimum have far less of a reaction than they used to by using the shots. I can’t wait to get started!
Sorry about the allergies DC. My wife has quite a few herself and once we moved from San Diego to Omaha they went absolutely nuts. Thankfully she’s been able to manage them somewhat with Claritin and some prescription eye drops…assuming she’s not pregnant at the time. Have a great weekend!
FrugalRulesI would say I can “manage” mine but I’m just around allergens too much and pretty much every season of the year. If you only get them one or two seasons of the year it is much more manageable. I get them all four, though!
That stinks about the allergies, that’s no fun. Great picture though. And thanks for the mention! :)
SenseofCents No problem Michelle!
Sorry to hear about the allergies my friend. Hopefully the shots will do their thing. I am planning on relaxing a bit on Saturday and then catching up on some blog things Sunday. Who knows if that will actually happen, but that is at least the plan. Have a good weekend DC!
DebtRoundUpBest of luck on our blog work! Try to brainstorm a spreadsheet we can collaborate on ;) Hope you have a great weekend!
The lake location looks beautiful. Easy to see why your parents go there every summer. Good luck with your allergy shots. I hope it helps you feel better and works well. Enjoy your weekend :-)
I hope you feel better after allergy shots!! I got them as a kid and I haven’t had that many problems at all as an adult. Here’s hoping the same happens for you! Have an awesome weekend!
BudgetBlonde Dang I wish I had gotten them as a kid! Hope you have a great weekend too!
Wow – you’ve talked about your allergies before but I didn’t realize that you were affected that severely. Fingers crossed those shots take care of the problem. Thanks again for inviting to participate in the giveaway – I really appreciate it! Enjoy your weekend!
Thanks for the shout out! It looks like a lovely place your parents rented, sorry you couldn’t enjoy it more. And I really hope you are in the 70% for the allergies. This week was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing!
RFIndependence Even if I’m not in the 70%, I will have far less chance of reaction than I do today : ) Haha always funny when an “uneventful” week is a good thing.
What a beautiful picture! It’s too bad you weren’t able to stay longer. I hope your allergy cure works well for you – that’s something to be allergic to 90% of your state. ;)
I hope you had a great 4th of July, DC!
LindseyatCents I hope you had a great 4th as well!