You Down With OPP? (Other People's Posts)

I read a lot of blogs about personal finance, and I'm always on the hunt for more of these great sources of inspiration. Here are a few blogs and/or posts that I found this week.

The blog No More Spending sent a bunch of new readers my way last week after linking to one of my posts, and I'm returning the love. Upon checking out this blog, I found its open number sharing really interesting. S/he actually posts a monthly budget, weekly spending (down to how much spent on postage stamps), and "personal finance goals" - which include how much is still owed on the mortgage. That takes cojones.

(Side note: I often want to fess up to the actual numbers here on this blog, as if somehow coming clean with a public confession of just how much I owe will rock me into an intensive debt payoff. Like by giving you the detailed truth, I'll become one of those plan-to-be-debt-free-in-two-years-but-pay-it-off-in-one superheros. Part of me would love to put my line-item weekly spending on the record so I would be shamed into a bare-bones spending plan. Maybe someday I will.)

This post from The Simple Dollar about living on one income (even if you have two) was intriguing because it came right after an in-person discussion I had with a couple who made every effort to live on one income. They did this so they would have the freedom to leave a crummy job, and also remain financially secure if one of them was laid off. The Simple Dollar post gives more great, motivating reasons to try this.

And one more post from The Simple Dollar was a refreshing read. Many of the get-out-of-debt bloggers are already out of debt. They share great information, but sometimes it doesn't apply to me (like when they talk about where to put their retirement investments. Ha.) This post, called Making the Rent, lays out a plan of attack for folks living paycheck to paycheck. The exact plan might not work for everyone, but it does contain some good ideas. I felt like it could talk me down from the panic that comes in those rare months when I realize I'm not sure how we will cover all of the bills. It happens, am I right?

Have you read any motivating or inspirational posts this week? And if you read them through Google Reader, have you found any alternatives you like since learning Google is cancelling Reader?