Weekly Roundup – Thanks For Visiting!

February was a very good month for me – personally, professionally, and with my blog. I hope everyone else had a great month as well! Here are some announcements, thank you’s, and great articles I would like to share!

February’s top referring blogs: Here are the top 10 referring blogs to Cash Money Life this month. I sincerely appreciate everyone who sends a visitor to my website, whether it is 1 visitor or 1,000, it means a lot to me. Thanks!

• The Wisdom Journal
• Being Frugal
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
• My Money Blog
• Moolanomy
• No Credit Needed
• My Two Dollars
• My Dollar Plan
• Mrs. Micah
• Single Guy Money

Two Big Announcements in the Personal Finance Blogosphere! Silicon Valley Blogger, from The Digerati Life, and Trent from The Simple Dollar have both announced they are quitting their day jobs to follow other entrepreneurial pursuits. SVB is leaving her day job and pursuing her dreams, and Trent bluntly stated – “I Quit.” (But he is pursuing his dreams too!)

Both of them made plans before quitting their day jobs and have a solid side income to fall back on. I wish you both the best of luck during and after this transition!

Here are my favorite articles this week from the M-Network and around the personal finance blogosphere:

• Being Frugal – End of the Month Goals Update. Lynnae shares her goals and her progress. There are some victories and some room for improvement. But she and her husband are making great progress overall!
• Gather Little by Little - Save money: buy an engagement ring online! This is a difficult story to tell, but it has a happy ending.
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… Baby Step 2: Pay Off Debt Using the Debt Snowball. paidtwice shares Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step #2 – paying off your debt using a debt snowball. It’s a great way to pay your debts more quickly!
• Moolanomy - LendingClub Highlights and Giveaways. Pinyo gives some insight into lending with Lending Club and is offering free t-shirts if you sign up through his referral link.
• My Two Dollars - Take Care Of What You Own To Save Yourself Money. Great tips on how to save some money just by taking care of your things.
• Plonkee Money - reminder: saving is different to investing. You can save all you want, but unless you do something with it, your money will just earn regular interest, which may only keep up with inflation… if that.
• Single Guy Money - Avoiding Identity Theft – Part 2. Single Guy continues his series on avoiding identity theft.
• The Dough Roller – What a 9-day hospital stay taught me about health insurance. Thankfully, his wife is fine.. but this is a scary situation for anyone to deal with!
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity – Gambling Is Entertainment, Stock Market Investing Is Not! I agree, you shouldn’t gamble with your investments. But I also think that if you want to have a little “Mad Money” to gamble around with that is fine – as long as you have the discipline not to gamble with your retirement money!
• Brazen Careerist - How to job hunt from your current job. Yes, I am officially looking for a new position.
  
• Credit Withdrawal – How to Get Your Dream Job pt. 1 – The Job Search. Great tips for starting your search… something I recently began. Wish me luck!
• Erik Folgate – How To Know What You Are Worth. Very timely article for me as I have recently begun my job search. I have had a couple different phone screenings. Hopefully there will be some good news to follow in the coming days/weeks!
• Free Money Finance – Don’t Dollar-Cost Average a Lump Sum.
• My Dollar Plan – Negotiating a Raise. These are great tips for negotiating your raise. Even though I am looking for a new job, I negotiated my new raise. I wanted a higher starting point if I find a new position!
• The Digerati Life – I’ve Left My Job! Tying Up The Loose Ends. Great list of things to do when you leave your job. Good luck SVB!
• The Dividend Guy – You Can’t Be a Lazy Investor. It takes work and dedication to invest. But the results are worth it!
• The Penny Saved – The Ultimate Credit Card Cut-Up Contest. Jesse is giving away a pair of iPods to two lucky individuals. Stop by for your chance to win!

This week’s Carnivals and Festivals:

• The Carnival of Personal Finance #141 – The College Years Edition was hosted at Broke Grad Student. My article, Where Should You Invest First – 401(k) or IRA?, was included.
• The Carnival of Debt Reduction 70’s Edition was hosted at Being Frugal. My article, using your economic stimulus check, was included.
• The Carnival of Money Stories # 48 — Leap Year Edition was hosted at Collecting My Cash. My article, The Choice of What is Right, and What is Easy, was included.
• Money Hacks Carnival #1 – Hacked Gadgets Edition was hosted at Prime Time Money. My article, How Do You Negotiate Salary?, was included.

Stayed tuned this coming week – I plan on sharing a bunch of deals, freebies, and ways to make some free money! thanks for stopping by!