Review of The Simple Dollar Blog

I began reading Trent Hamm's blog, The Simple Dollar at thesimpledollar.com, about three years ago. At the time, my husband and I had just bought a new house and I was looking for ways to trim our expenses and make more money. The goal was that in 9 years, when our children entered middle school (a time when I think parents should be at home with their children), we could transition to a single income.
I began with and was fairly captivated by his series "31 Days to Fix Your Finances." Like most books I've read, and blogs I've encountered, the first few steps in the plan are about defining what you want, what you value, and eliminating incessant comparisons with "The Joneses." No problem! The second set of steps reflected the intent of Vicki Robin's and Joe Dominguez's book Your Life or Your Money. Specifically, you have to get to know your personal finance numbers: what you earn, what you spend to work, and a figure that is often considered the true cost of each hour of work. This last factor is not what you make, but what you earn AFTER you have subtracted work related expenses. The point of this exercise is to make more sound decisions. For instance, after taxes, a $40 dinner at Applebees, required about four hours of work. The question then is, was the food really that good that you would work for four hours to obtain it?
After that, the steps boil down into the normal budget and expense reduction. Hamm's a pretty frugal guy. So, I found many of his ideas interesting, though some are a little extreme for me. Finally, the last six days are about maintenance and keeping up the momentum.
Overall, I find Hamm's blog to be a good read. I hadn't read anything that truly helped to fix our finances. However, I do find that reading his posts helps to fix my mindset. I'm reminded that not everyone believes that you have to buy things or have things to be successful. Instead, money becomes a tool, not a measure of my success.
Hamm has transferred much of the information posted onto his blog into a book also entitled The Simple Dollar. I recall when his book was be published that he posted on the process fairly often on his blog. I admired that he was able to transition from his day job/desk job to being a self employed writer. His style was becoming a little too touchy-feely for my tastes, but I appreciated what he had set out to do and was able to do in a few short years. As such, I think that be it his blog, or his book, for a month - or 31 days - you too would enjoy reading about Hamm's financial transition.

Holly South lives in Honolulu, HI with her husband and two children. You can read more of her work at http://familybooknight.blogspot.com and http://7yearstofinancialfreedom.blogspot.com. Her debut book, Sell Your Stuff, Save Your Life, provides a sixty day plan for raising the funds you need to start your emergency fund by selling your "stuff." Find it on Amazon, the iBookstore, and Lulu.com.