I graduated from the University of Maryland in May and I recently moved to Washington, D.C.to start my life. Over the summer, I took time to enjoy my last free summer for the next 43 years (assuming I retire at age 65), and now I’ve started to work full time, making a respectable amount of money as a Systems Analyst, whatever that means.
Being Frugal
I’ve always believed in not paying full price. That used to mean just looking for coupons before making big purchases, but it slowly turned into watching the prices of external hard drives drop while the amount of space offered increased drastically. Of course, by the time I decided that I had found a good price, it was time for a new computer, which came with more space than I knew what to do with. I’ve also learned how to reduce monthly bills and have had literally thousands of dollars taken off various AT&T bills, some because my brother decided to put his SIM card in an iPhone without paying for a data plan, and others because I simply thought that our family shouldn’t be paying for things like text messages. Or minutes.
Although I may not have too much life experience to offer, and I certainly won’t be writing about real estate or whether to purchase an annuity, I know a lot about wasting money and making poor decisions with money. We all make mistakes like paying for that magazine from the kid who comes door to door trying to “pay for college”, or the Razor Scooter that all your friends have but you’ll never use. I see people wasting money every day on things they don’t need, and it drives me crazy. I want to help, and rather than calling up the phone and cable companies for each of my friends, I think this is a better way of reaching people.
About a year ago, as I was preparing my first serious job search, I started reading personal finance articles. This started as reading the articles in Yahoo! and eventually led me to blogs such as I Will Teach You to be Rich and Get Rich Slowly, among others. To the right is a list of blogs I read daily and have been the start of me falling in love with the idea of personal finance. It just seems to fit in with how I already live my life.
Thanks for subtly referencing me…