Open Source Blogging

I’m an avid reader of fiction and just love a novel that transports me, that is so gripping that I can’t put it down. But I also enjoy a good non-fiction book, from self-help stuff to philosophy to biographies to just about anything that makes me think.

After the warm reception of my post on novels (50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library), a number of people asked for a list of non-fiction as well. Well, here it is!

I was hesitant to do this as there are so many classic non-fiction texts, from the Greeks to philosophers through … Continue Reading

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book.

Rather than being a typical personal finance “advice” book, Enough is more of a summary of the life philosophy of John Bogle, the founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group and the biggest proponent of index funds in the world.

Bogle’s main argument in this book is that the reason people run into trouble in life, in money, and in business is because they’ve lost touch with what exactly is “enough” in their lives. They continually seek … Continue Reading

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book.

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of PaperBackSwap. I use it all the time to trade books - I request ones I’d like to read and send out ones that I’ve finished reading so that others can enjoy it. It almost functions like a giant online library for me, except with no late fees - I can keep the books I get from there for as long as I wish.

One thing I use PaperBackSwap … Continue Reading

Article by Leo Babauta. (Follow me on Twitter.)

The holidays are a time of celebration for many — good food, lots of parties, gift-giving, family and friends, — but they can also be a time of mass consumption and hyper-consumerism.

I think with all the stresses of this season, and the expectations of our society, we often feel that we must give expensive gifts and throw lavish parties and cook up incredible amounts of food and drink — let’s admit it — what can only be called an unhealthy amount of alcohol.

It’s easy, with all this going on, to forget … Continue Reading

A while back (actually, almost a year and a half ago now… how time flies…), I talked about using a 401(k) to pay off credit card debt. I largely viewed the decision as one that makes terrible sense on paper, but the decision can make sense in the broader terms of the choices life hands you.

This brings us to a question from reader “Mandy” who is going through a similar dilemma:

I recently ended a lengthy relationship with a person who used my credit recklessly. I am now left with about $30K in debt, almost all of it … Continue Reading

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal productivity, personal development, or entrepreneurship book.

This book attracted me from the title alone - The Myth of Multitasking is something I’ve observed over and over again in my own life. In fact, I’m observing it right now - I can write better and faster if I shut down all distractions: my email program, my web browser, my instant messaging programs, my phone, and my office door.

Whenever I start trying to juggle multiple things - like writing while on the phone with … Continue Reading

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book.

It fills a special warm place in my heart when a fellow blogger, one of the first people to take an interest in The Simple Dollar and someone that I’ve communicated with pretty regularly over the past two years, gets a book published. It’s even better when that book is about frugality and the tone is witty, light, and humorous throughout.

The Frugal Duchess, by Sharon Harvey Rosenberg (of the blog of the same name) … Continue Reading

About two years ago, I wrote a very popular piece for The Simple Dollar called 30 useful Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows. In it, I talked about how I had a new Dell laptop and that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on additional software for it, so I went hunting. I sought out open source software so that I knew it would be not only free, but the code would be peer-reviewed and it wouldn’t have any bugs or malicious elements in it. And, eventually, I found thirty … Continue Reading

Having worked for years in the medical field I applaud anyone that decides that they want to become a doctor. But I’ve met my share of people that seem to have become doctors for “the money” or who once they became doctors, wanted to do something else with their lives.

Being a doctor is not easy, but being a medical student today is even harder. With student loan debt for medical school and studies, escalating, it is not unusual for doctors to wind up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

I’ve talked about the side effects of debt a lot. … Continue Reading

In 1994 I decided I would start a non-profit charity to help find good solutions for bad debt problems, all I really knew was that I wanted to help people.

Almost every organization at the time was named something with credit counseling in it. I figured that I did not want to counsel people about credit, but about debt, so Debt Counselors of America seemed like a much more logical name. And that’s how Debt Counselors of America was born.

I learned a lot of things as Debt Counselors of America grew. Some of them were good lessons, some, not so … Continue Reading