Here we go with the first round of Free Money Finance March Money Madness (if you wonder what's going on in these posts, see my article announcing March Money Madness and/or click on my March Money Madness category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject.)
I've listed each "game" (one post versus another) in segments along with the wording provided by the author when the post was submitted. I've also listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Game 1 - Saving; Game 2 - Investing, etc.) Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two -- you will help determine the winner! Criteria for the best article is somewhat subjective, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) practicality of the post 2) how interesting/provocative/unique it is, 3) the "personal-ness" of it and 4) its impact on net worth.
Here are today's games:
GAME 7
- You're Not Frugal Enough and You're Killing the Planet (Planet) - When you make the decision to make smarter choices with your money and live more frugally, there will be an endless supply of people there to try and knock you down. They'll belittle your ideas, tell you you're wrong, or tell you you're not doing enough to make a difference. Don't believe them. It always makes a difference.
VERSUS
- Homeless to Homeowner - How I did it (Homeless) - By age 17 both my parents had passed away. They didn't have a will or trust. They had very little life insurance and my father was bankrupt at the time. I spent a short time being homeless and a very long time as an angry frightened person. Eventually, a number of things came together and I was able to get myself on my feet financially. Here's how I did it.
GAME 8
- How to make money with a blog (Blog) - Since beginning my blogging journey a couple years ago, I had aspirations of becoming a full-time blogger. After reaching the full-time status I created this 6000-word article explaining everything I had done to get my blog to the point where I could make a living from it. This article provides talks about the blogging basics, ad networks I use, SEO for blogs, how long it really takes to make money, getting traffic, increasing Adsense earnings, tips and tools, and a lot more. Enjoy!
VERSUS
- 7 Ways to Find Your Financial Heart (Heart) - Featured on Get Rich Slowly and the MSN Smart Spending blog, this post explores seven very different strategies for setting financial priorities. Each one is meant as a stand-alone exercise and can give you insight into your natural leanings, unexplored priorities, and ways of thinking about money. How would you handle income change? All things being equal, how do you react to a financial situation? All of these questions are more can be answered through this post.
Planet
Heart
Posted by: Ida Davidson | January 25, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: neal | January 25, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Homeless
Heart
Posted by: Wojciech Kulicki | January 25, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Homeless, Blog
Posted by: bob | January 25, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: Lee Holcomb | January 25, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Game 7 - Homeless
Game 8 - Heart
I did want to say to the writer of "You're Not Frugal Enough and You're Killing the Planet" that I very much appreciated the article. I completely agree that there are just too many people out there making negative comments that aren't helpful at all. IMO, you simply had tough competition and it was hard to read your article since it was black words on such a dark background. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks!
Posted by: Crystal | January 25, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog | January 25, 2010 at 11:36 AM
7-planet
8- blog
Posted by: Maggie | January 25, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: Tristan | January 25, 2010 at 01:01 PM
Game 7 : homeless
Game 8 : blog
Posted by: Jim | January 25, 2010 at 01:30 PM
Game 7 - Planet
Game 8 - Heart
Posted by: Nestle | January 25, 2010 at 01:36 PM
Planet
Heart
Posted by: Simon Zhen | January 25, 2010 at 03:27 PM
homeless
blog
Posted by: MD | January 25, 2010 at 03:57 PM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: Jason | January 25, 2010 at 04:00 PM
Homeless
Heart
Posted by: Daniel | January 25, 2010 at 04:10 PM
Homeless
blog
awesome.
Posted by: J. Money | January 25, 2010 at 04:13 PM
Homeless
Heart
Posted by: LeanLifeCoach | January 25, 2010 at 09:09 PM
Homeless
Heart
Posted by: Tanna | January 25, 2010 at 10:14 PM
Game 7 Planet
Game 8 Heart
Posted by: Mark | January 26, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Homeless
Blog
Posted by: Jason@LiveRealnow | January 26, 2010 at 11:12 AM
Planet
SOOOOO true!!!
Posted by: Sharon Wigley | January 26, 2010 at 11:18 AM
PLANET
Posted by: Heather | January 26, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Planet!
Posted by: Brooke | January 26, 2010 at 12:10 PM
Planet
Heart
Posted by: Christine | January 26, 2010 at 12:55 PM
homeless
blog
Posted by: lauren | January 26, 2010 at 06:49 PM
homeless blog
Posted by: Pat | January 26, 2010 at 08:07 PM
homeless and blog
Posted by: Linda | January 26, 2010 at 09:41 PM
These games are now over. The winners are:
Game 7: Homeless
Game 8: Blog
Thanks to everyone for voting. Another set of games is out today -- be sure to vote!
Posted by: FMF | January 27, 2010 at 09:24 AM