Since last year, I’ve been subscribing to the GetRichSlowly blog, written by J.D. Roth. I found his blog through Gina Trapani’s LifeHacker blog, and I’m finding that reading GetRichSlowly is helping me to keep a focus on getting my finances in shape. I’ve always had a tendency to bury my head in the sand when things get dark in my financial world, and keeping up with GRS helps me avoid that tendency.
Last week, GRS ran a contest, asking for true stories of frugality by readers or people close to them, and I submitted a revision of my Of Laptops and Cub Scout Slides post. The contest was to have three winners, all of whom would receive copies of Jeff Yeager’s The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches. It actually turned out that there were four winners, and I was one of them!
I had linked to the above blog entry from the GRS site, and I was surprised to see a big spike in traffic on that post. Over the weekend, nearly 200 people read my “Cub Scout Slides” blog post, which I didn’t expect at all. I’m hoping I got some new RSS or e-mail subscribers out of those page views; if you are new to the Lytspeed Communications Creativity Journal, please speak up in the comments and let me know. And thanks for visiting!
I don’t think of myself as being good at being frugal, so I feel a little like I don’t deserve to be awarded a book about frugality. What this shows me, though, is that I do have wonderful examples of frugality in what my parents taught me, specifically my Dad. My wife has told me before that I need to collect all these great stories that I have of my Dad and put them together in one place. Maybe this blog is the place. I’ll create a new category for those kinds of stories.
It’s also interesting to note that I had referred to GRS in my most recent ComputorEdge article, which comes out Friday, January 11th, 2008. The article is called “The Dark Side of the Coin,” and is about debt reduction.
Hmmm … the stars seem to be aligning. Maybe this really is the year I will make headway against 17 years of constant debt.
Your story on the GRS blog made me cry, it was so sweet! Definitely a winner. Did you ever talk to your Dad about it afterwards? Did he know that you changed your mind about the slide, and now cherish it? Such a sweet story of parental devotion. 🙂
Hi,
Yes, I have told him about how much I appreciate it now. There were lots of other incidents and teachings that I’ve thanked him for over the years, too.
It’s important to me that he knows I appreciate his examples, because he’s getting on in years. He had a major heart attack a couple of years ago, and that really drove the point home to me.
Thanks for commenting, and for the compliment on my writing.
Hey, the Ultimate Cheapskate here.
Bravo on that story. It was real, and so nicely told, from the heart. It’s the kind of stuff I’m always striving for in my own writing, and when I see it I know it and love it.
Hope you like my book – “The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches” – which I asked the publisher to send you today. I can only hope that a few of the tales I tell in my book warm your heart as your story warmed mine.
Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager
http://www.UltimateCheapskate.com
Hi Jeff,
Wow … thanks for that great compliment! I’m glad that what I wrote touched you.
I look forward to receiving the book, and I’ll let you know what I think after I read it.
Way to go buddy. All your dedication to Writing is starting to pay off. Follow Stephen King’s advice, and keep “sharpening the knife”!