Much to my delight, and entirely unexpected, I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Addison over at Cashville Skyline – a terrific blog based out of Nashville focusing on all sorts of personal finance topics with a little Tennessee flair. She’s definitely made me want to visit there!

Then today, I received a second nomination from Shannon at Financially Blonde. Shannon is one of a handful of bloggers I’ve met in real life and I think she’s awesome. She described herself initially as the Elle Woods of personal finance and she’s not far off – I do think she’s a little bit tougher though, and I really enjoy that about her.

And as if my head weren’t big enough, I received a 3rd nomination from Mr. Ikonz over at Project Ikonz, a terrific, Australian based personal finance blog with a good amount of blogging/niche website tips too.

Finally, update as of July 9, I was just nominated once again by The Spunky Banker, a great new blog by, you guessed it, a spunky banker who, like too many of us at one point or another, is trying to dig her way out of debt. And since I never get tired of .gif’s, I figured I’d update this post with her questions too.

For those who don’t know, the Liebster Award was designed to help discover and promote new blogs. So, someone reads your blog, thinks it’s swell and passes on the Liebster to you – along with 10 questions you’re supposed to answer. You then select 5 new blogs (preferably with less than 200 – readers? page views? Facebook likes? I really have no idea) and pass the torch to them, with 10 questions of your own. Honestly, I have no idea how to tell how many followers you have, so I’m just picking 5 blogs I like.

Without Further Ado – Questions from Addison at Cashville Skyline: 

1. Why did you start a blog and what’s your favorite thing about it? I started blogging while I was paying off my college debt and I kind of just wondered if I could. I’m crummy at sticking with things. So far, so good though, right? I also get frustrated that people who work in the arts sort of have this “badge of courage” about how poor we all are – I really think that a little PF education could fix a LOT of our issues.

And my favorite thing about it is that it’s all mine – I blog when I want, on what I want. I think of brokeGIRLrich like my little piece of internet real estate, and I kind of love it.

2. What do you find the most challenging about blogging? Sticking to a regular schedule. I mean, I don’t have to – like I mentioned in the previous answer… I DO WHAT I WANT here. But I also know that if I don’t form some sort of schedule, I’ll probably stop writing completely. Also, I think my writing style sucks and would like to improve it.

3. The next trip I’m planning is to… New Orleans. FinCon14 or bust! But I’m trying to figure out something to do this summer too. Oh, and for the first time in 10 years I’m close enough to be able to go Labor Day camping with my extended family… it’s not really a “trip,” but I’m really excited about it.

4. What’s the best financial advice that you’ve ever received? An ex-boyfriend nagged me for months to open an IRA when I was 25, so I did to shut him up. I wish I’d met him when I was 18.

5. If money suddenly wasn’t a necessity, how would you spend the majority of your time? Traveling. I would see everywhere.

6. What advice would you give your 18 year old self? You do not need 4 Master’s degrees. No one does. Oh, and open that IRA.

7. What’s your favorite thing to geek out about (other than personal finance)? Doctor Who! Harry Potter is a close second.

8. What are your five favorite cities or places? Oh gosh, only 5? Rome, Santorini, Colorado Springs, London and Wisconsin

9. If time were not an issue and you were given $100K to go back to school, what would you study? Hah. Well. You shouldn’t encourage that, but I’d probably get my PhD in Theater and Performance Studies, since that’s what I’d kind of like to do someday anyway… although all the things I read about getting a PhD make me think twice and three times about doing it.

10. What’s your musical guilty pleasure? Mumford & Sons, Lord Huron, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros… pretty much anything that sounds like someone sitting around a campfire with a guitar singing, which is suddenly all over the radio. Um, also, I like a little bit of Sun Ra and The Bad Plus, which can be straight up weird.

Questions from Shannon at Financially Blonde:

1. Why did you start blogging? See above. 
2. What is your greatest accomplishment to date? I sold my little brother once for a quarter. My neighbor was an only child and didn’t want to be. She had him in her house for half an hour before anyone noticed. He was like 3 months old and we were 9. I was an entrepreneur from the start. 
3. What gets you going in the morning? A shower. I’m not a huge coffee drinker (although I like it sometimes). I think a shower wakes me up better than anything. 
4. What is at the top of your bucket list? I guess my highest priority these days is to visit all 7 continents. 5 down though, so I’m doing pretty good. Asia and Antarctica to go.  
5. What is your favorite color? Green.
   

   I Have No Idea What This Is

6. What was your first job? I was a cashier at Walgreens. And it sucked. 
7. What is your favorite t.v. show? M*A*S*H. But there are plenty of others I love a little too much. 
8. Netflix or Hulu Plus? Neither. I just stream what I want to watch or find it somewhere online. 
9. Have you ever met a celebrity? If so, did you play it cool? I’ve met a handful of celebrities because of my job, but since I’m working with them, I usually do play it cool. I’ve never met one I was really excited about – but since these questions are from Financially Blonde, I did work with Jennifer Coolidge and she was insane. I chased her around a cruise ship trying to get her to put her shoes on. 
10. If you won enough money to not have to work tomorrow, what would you do with your life? Hmm.. I really don’t think I’d do much. I’d max out my IRA and put aside some money as an emergency account. I’d try to get my parents to let me pay off their debt. Oh, I would totally go on vacation on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. And then I’d invest the rest and go back to work anyway. 

Questions from Mr. Ikonz at Project Ikonz: 

1. Where would you go on a first date if you were on a tight budget? Ok, totally cop out answer, but it’s the boy’s job to plan the first date. At least, if he were actually trying to impress me. Honestly, I like it when you do something and then go somewhere you can talk about it – so even if you hate each other and have nothing to say, you can scrape through with what you’ve just done and then make a hasty exit. Like roller skating and then grabbing an ice cream cone. Total price? About $9 a person on the right night.

2. What would you spend your last $10 on? Seriously? My last $10 ever? Crap. I’d need a little more context, because I would use that $10 to make more dollars… I just have no idea how. I feel I’d be very motivated though if that was really my last $10. How did I get to this point?? What are you seeing in my spending habits that I’m not, Mr. Ikonz?!?!

3. How old were you when you first started your journey to financial freedom? Toward freedom? I guess I feel like I’m just starting it now. I was rabid about paying down debt from the moment I took it on, but it’s only been recently, since reading all these personal finance blogs, that I’ve really considered financial freedom. It was compounded by HATING my previous job and feeling owned by my employers… I’m not keen on that happening ever again.

4. What do your family/friends think about your blog and your financial journey? Honestly, only a few people know about it. My mom thinks it’s kind of funny. My brother occasionally asks me for advice and then blatantly ignores it. My ex-boyfriend asked to read it a few times, but I was too self-concious to let him. I do know my parents are both pretty proud of how quickly I paid of college.

5. What do you do for fun when not blogging? I’m trying to teach myself how to play the trombone. I think it’s going well, people who actually hear me play… might not agree. I also love swimming and am trying to get better at roller skating so I can try out for a roller derby team. The closest ones are still not actually that near to me though, so that dream might not happen yet.

6. Favourite destination for a holiday and how you would get there? Honestly, I like anywhere I haven’t been yet. I’d like to go to Thailand someday… soonish. And China!  I’ve also never been to New Zealand. That could be cool. And I was only in Sydney for one day, so I wouldn’t mind properly checking out Australia.

7. Favourite pair of Nikes? Oh gosh. I’m not sure I’ve ever owned a pair. Is that a thing in Australia? Are they super special there?

8. What would you count as blogging success? If my blog made as much money as it costs to maintain. If my writing style got less sucky. If I got better at developing reader interaction.

9. Do you wear a watch or check the time on your iPhone/smartphone? I wore a watch for years, and since starting my new job, I’ve totally transitioned to checking the time of iPhone. I guess I’m really not a stage manager anymore. :o/

10. The biggest win you’ve had in life? Ok, so this will sound really weird, but my biggest win was getting dumped when I was 23. I was all set to marry the boy I’d dated all through college and grad school and settle down in the suburbs somewhere when the jerk just called things off abruptly and said he wanted “adventures.” Last I heard, he moved back to his hometown and is still single. I, on the other hand, have absolutely nailed having adventures. And I wouldn’t change a thing about how the entire last decade turned out.

Questions from The Spunky Banker 

1. Why did you start your blog? See above.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Ack. I feel like hyperventilating in that bag thinking about it too much. No. That’s a lie. I see myself happy. Cop out answer. Except not. Because happy is really hard to be sometimes.

3. If you didn’t blog about money, what would you blog about? Road tripping and weird roadside attractions. Sometimes I do anyway. 

4. If you could meet anyone in the world, who would you meet and why? Jesus. Pretty self explanatory. Also, I’ve got questions.

5. Describe yourself in 3 words. Sarcastic, apathetic and determined.

Tag, you’re it.

1. Eva at TeensGotCents

2. Kat at Green Money Stream

3. FF at Femme Frugality

4. Krista and Jon at 2 Copper Coins

5. Dave at The New York Budget

If you’re up for playing, you should:

1. Post the award on your blog
2. Thank the blogger who presented the award to you and link back to their blog
3. Answer the questions given to you by the nominator
4. Nominate 5 to 10 bloggers with less than 200 followers
5. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer
6. Notify your nominees by posting on their blog

Your Questions:

1.) What’s the weirdest thing you’ve been asked in an interview?

2.) If money were irrelevant, what job would you want to do?

3.) What TV show just destroys your ability to be productive?

4.) How did you pick the name of your blog?

5.) What advice would you give to someone $50,000 in debt?

6.) What was your favorite movie as a child?

7.) What’s your favorite blog to read?

8.) Have you had a “doh” moment since starting blogging?

9.) What’s been your greatest financial achievement so far?

10.) Where would you want to travel if money were no object?

 

Congrats guys, I love reading your blogs! And thanks again for the nominations, Addison, Shannon and Mr. Ikonz! And the Spunky Banker!