Browsing Category: "Meta"
Welcome! It looks like you're new here. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don't miss a thing! Thanks for visiting!
As April winds down, we here at Real World Really would like to thank all of the readers who check out the site daily (either by the RSS feed, or directly); this month saw our best numbers yet. It was also the first month that Nate was a full time contributor and believe me, it wouldn’t be possible without him! Thanks to his joining the Real World Really team, we’ll be able to bring you all the great content you’d come to expect for a long time to come. Now, without further adieu, the top 10 posts (by popularity) for the month of April, 2008:
- Carnival of Debt Reduction #134 [April 7th] - Luke hosted the first ever blog carnival here at Real World Really with a few Debt Reduction Haiku
- Finding Money in your Mailbox [April 1st] - Nate reminded us not to forget that coupons are a great way to save money on the things that you frequently buy.
- SmartyPig: Smart Financial Saving With a Twist [April 3rd] - Luke told us about a new financial website taking the Interwebs by storm: SmartyPig.
- Smarter Grocery Shopping [April 3rd] - Nate lists 5 easy tips you can follow to not only make your grocery shopping experience faster, but also less costly.
- The Dollar Menu Drain: Making Smarter Lunch Choices [April 4th] - Nate examines just how much money you can save every month by packing your own lunch. I bet you’d be surprised!
- 10 Cheap & Easy Ways to Save on Your Bills (and Save the World) [April 5th] - Luke lists 10 easy steps you can take right now to lower your electric bill and “go green”.
- Do Your Taxes for Free (Sometimes it Pays to Wait) [April 12th] - Although it’s a little late now, Luke reminded everyone that H&R Block offered the basic version of their TaxCut software free on their website for anyone who waited until the last minute to file their taxes. Maybe you can hop on board next year…
- 5 Apartment Hunting Tips [April 11th] - Nate explains that anyone looking for housing for the summer or next fall can utilize these few tips to make the apartment hunting process all the easier.
- Jobs on and for the Web [April 16th] - a guest post by the folks at slickricky.com, this one outlined their top freelance job board picks, based on number of projects available, pay scale and quality of jobs. If you would like to write a guest post for Real World Really, email Luke at luke-at-realworldreally.com with your idea!
- Having Trouble Transitioning? You’re Not Alone [April 16th] - Nate reminds us all (including both of your authors) that you shouldn’t worry if you’re having a hard time making the transition from college to the “real world”. As tough as it is, at least we’re all going through it together!
As always, if you enjoyed what you read here at RWR, please subscribe to the RSS Feed so you don’t miss another moment. And, never hesitate to 
“Stumble” anything you’ve enjoyed.
Popularity: 15% [?]
First the top ten Real World, Really posts for the month of March based on popularity determined by you guys.
- College Loan Consolidation - 5 Routes to Relief [March 5th]
- Make Some Money from the Airborne Lawsuit Settlement [March 4th]
- 5 Things to Remember When Negotiating Your Salary [March 3rd]
- Fill Your Apartment With Everything You Need on the Cheap With Freecycle [March 8th]
- New Media Jobs [March 10th]
- Link Love (Or: “It’s late and I’m too Tired & too Full to Write Much Else) [March 12th]
- Generation Y as Employees: Disloyal, Lazy & Narcissistic? [March 14th]
- Choosing a Job: For Love or Money? [March 16th]
- About to Enter the Workplace for the First Time? Try the Solution That is Best for You [March 18th]
- Be More Productive: Plan Your Day [March 21st]
As always, if you enjoyed what you read here at RWR, please subscribe to the RSS Feed so you don’t miss another moment. And, never hesitate to “Stumble” anything you’ve enjoyed.
Now, any regular readers of RWR may have noticed a pretty sharp decline in posts here over the past month. Frankly I’ve just been too caught up in other ventures and am the first to admit that I’ve been unfairly neglecting this blog and that makes me sad. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
So, to try and remedy that and bring the blog back up to the level of consistency in content that many have come to expect, I’ve brought on a second blogger. Meet Nate Cleveland, the genius behind 207 Prospectus and Cleveland’s Corner. Nate is a 2007 graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts now working in an entry-level position with the university. Like all of us recent grads, he too is dealing with tackling credit card debt, a first-time job, rent, student loans, debt, etc. Nate will bring a fresh voice and perspective to Real World Really which I’m very much looking forward to. Before you know it, the level of content here should be back to normal (and then some). Be sure and check back throughout April for the best RWR yet!
Popularity: 18% [?]
As February comes to a close, so does another fun and successful month here at RealWorldReally.com. In case you missed anything, here are the top ten posts (by popularity) for the month:
- Students Failing Financial Literacy 101 [February 1st]
- Your Credit Report Might Keep You From Being Hired [February 3rd]
- I’m on TheStreet.com! [February 1st]
- My First Blogging Carnival: I’d Call it a Success [February 4th]
- More On The Benefits of Balance Transfers [February 5th]
- Are Free Credit Report Sites Really Free? [February 6th]
- The Inner Game of Job Seeking - A guest post by Catherine Jewell of www.careerpassiontest.com [February 9th]
- 6 First Job Truths [February 7th]
- Ever Thought About Moving Home? - A guest post by Wren Schultz of BlogduWren [February 15th]
- If You Have to Delay the “Real World”, Try WWOOFing [February 10th]
Thank you all for your continuing support, you make this whole exhausting bloggin’ thing worth it!
Don’t miss another Real World Really post - subscribe to the RSS feed!
And please, if you enjoy what you read here, don’t forget to Stumble it!
Popularity: 34% [?]
Last week I decided to, on a whim, submit a realworldreally.com article to a blog carnival for the first time; it was the “Carnival of Debt Reduction“. Well, much to my surprise - I got an email this morning from the Broke Grad Student — the carnival’s host for the week — letting me know that not only did my article make the carnival, but it was selected as one of the editor’s top picks! Not too shabby for my first time. The article I submitted can be seen — along with the rest of the selections (including some from bloggers with much higher profiles than mine, like Free Money Finance and I’ve Paid for This Twice Already) and B.G.S.’s comments on each — at the Carnival Roundup.
It was definitely a fun first carnival for me and I can assure you it won’t be my last. Thanks to the Broke Grad Student for giving my post such high praise and for doing a great job with the hosting! I’m certainly looking forward to next week’s carnival at DebtFREE-Revolution (submit your own articles here).
Technorati Tags: Carnival of Debt Reduction, personal finance, debt, blog carnival, college, budgeting, graduation
Popularity: 29% [?]
The top 10 viewed posts for the month of January 2008 were:
- 10 Commonly-Overlooked Tax Deductions for Recent College Grad [January 12]
- Juggle Your Way to Slimmer Hips & Thighs… [January 21]
- 9 Tips for Acing Your Next Interview [January 18]
- How to Use the Internet During Your Job Search [January 27]
- What Should You Claim for Withholding on You W-4 [January 14]
- Using Mint.com to Manage Your Personal Finances [January 13]
- Earn a Little Money (Back) With the DeBeers Diamond Class-Action Law Suit [January 16]
- www.realworldreally.com/about
- Bad News for Sallie Mae Spells Bad News for Students [January 12]
- Discount Coupon Sites From Your Local Media a Great Way to Save Money [January 14]
Don’t miss another Real World Really post - subscribe to the RSS feed!
And please, if you enjoy what you read here, don’t forget to Stumble it!
Popularity: 26% [?]
Just a quick note to toot my own horn a bit. For those who don’t know, I have a little side project (an experiment, really) going at www.sponsormyloans.com where I am offering companies a month’s worth of advertising on the site (it’s chock-full of ad space) for $200/month. But the point is that I’m using that $200/month to directly pay off my student loans - so really the money the company would spend is more of a donation than anything else; they just get something (advertising) in return.
Anyway, financial publishing mega-site TheStreet.com sent me an email today alerting me to the fact that they’ve written a piece about Sponsormyloans.com and it’s now live on their site. You can view their story here.
Please check out the article on TheStreet.com, then check out my site, too (and feel free to throw some much appreciated ad money my way). Cheers!
Popularity: 29% [?]
On a complete side-note: I finally caved today and joined Twitter. I still don’t know too much about it, but if you want to be my friend (or whatever it’s called) or follow me – does that sound a little creepy to anyone else, or is it just me? – my tweet feed is www.twitter.com/livingstonmedia.
I decided to join after reading the Problogger.net post “Why Twitter isn’t a waste of time” (which I must admit, I previously thought it might be).
Anyway, feel free to start following my tweets and, if you have a stream of your own, leave it in the comments so we can be friends.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Well, you’re not alone. That very same scenario is what the vast majority of recent grads go through and it’s exactly what happened to me. So I decided to launch www.realworldreally.com to pass along the knowledge I’ve gained – for what its worth – on my journeys through the post-graduation “real world” of applying for and securing a job, moving into an apartment with my girlfriend, buying a new car, getting a cat, supplementing my minimal income and attacking my mountain of debt. Sound familiar? Well than good, you’ve come to the right place.
What’s to Come?
As the site grows, look for a user forum where readers can connect with one another for everything from sharing their own advice to finding a roommate or an apartment. You can also expect some guest bloggers to show up because I’m sure you’re already sick of me (and it’s helpful to have a girlfriend who works in Human Resources because they don’t teach you anything about “corporate” at hoity-toity liberal arts college). And maybe, maybe some video blogging or something; who knows?
More About Me:
My name is Luke Livingston; I’m twenty-three years old and I graduated from Clark University – a small liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts – in May of 2007. Since then I have been fumbling my way through this thing they call the “real world” – working full-time in advertising sales in Portland, Maine; a mid-sized, very twenty-something-friendly city (about 45 minutes from the town I grew up in, for the record) that I am proud to call home.
In my spare time, when I’m not writing for www.realworldreally.com or www.blogaboutbeer.com, I brew my own beer; play Ultimate Frisbee in the summer and snowboard in the winter; juggle; watch the Boston Red Sox and obsess over baseball; study entrepreneurship, technology and the Internet; camp, hike and generally enjoy the great outdoors and all this wonderful state of mine has to offer. For even more about me, check me out on Facebook here, or on MySpace here. Cheers.
(image by The New Yorker)
Popularity: 16% [?]
