Welcome to another week of the Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays roundup. I started this series after months of debate because I wasn’t certain I wanted to up the ante and commit to publishing three posts a week. However, now that I’ve started sharing these posts, I’m so glad I started.

There are so many fabulous women writing about personal finance online, and yet there is still a perception that women aren’t good with money, don’t care about money, or don’t understand it on a granular level beyond perhaps knowing how to coupon and score a good shopping deal. These roundups are my way of doing a small part to change that perception. There are no shortage of women online doing their part to make it clear that they DO understand money, and these posts are meant to amplify that fact.

The hardest part of this post every week always is narrowing it down to my favorites, because there is just so much good content out there. If you’re ever interested in what else I’m reading, I share quite a few other posts on Twitter (and that’s also where I read most of the content to begin with these days).

Our Women’s Personal Finance Facebook group also has a sharing thread on Fridays, and that’s the place to read all the blog posts written by members over the previous week. If you’re looking for more articles written by women, that’s a great place to continue reading (plus we have plenty of great discussions on finances the rest of the week as well!).

If you don’t have the time or inclination to go searching down myriad posts, though, I will be continuing this series every week to showcase some of the best of the new content I read. If you ever read a post you think I absolutely need to consider for this roundup, please let me know! I am always open to reading new blogs (and posts of blogs I do know, because I miss some).

Women’s Personal Finance Wednesdays – Week 41

1. Mindfulness Vs. Goals That Frugal Pharmacist

Do we ever get to just live for a day, as adults?

This question really hit me when she asked it. As adults, even on a day when there is “nothing to do,” there really is always something. Some errand to run, some appointment to make, some part of the house to clean.

What would our goals look like if we really had the time and space to explore them? I’ve considered taking a week off work before just to do nothing and be present, but there’s always something pressing to use those days for instead. Perhaps not everyone feels this as strongly as I do, but as much the idea of spending a full day laying out in the sunny grass reading a book appeals to me, I just don’t see it happening. But maybe I need to make space for a day or a few to really just do nothing.

There’s a lot more substance to this post than just this question of mindfully living in your day, but it’s the one that really stuck out to me. For it’s something I certainly don’t do.

2. Why FI? Because YOLO Chief Mom Officer

I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Liz had written this post. For those who don’t know, her husband went in for a routine surgery that landed him in the ICU and almost killed him. And then he spent months recovering from there while Liz tried to couple together childcare for their young sons, mounting medical bills, and the need to work for all but the first week and a half of that experience.

In a way that most of us don’t really know, her family understands the fragility of life and how quickly and drastically things can change. Instead of then living it up to their last dollar once life calmed down, they understood that financial freedom is really the way to best go though life. You only live once, and that stability gives you so many more opportunities than living paycheck to paycheck.

3. I Don’t Shave My Legs — The Hairy Topic of Beauty Financial Mechanic

Spoiler alert: I still do shave my legs, though not nearly as often as I did as a teenager. Back then, I was horrified to leave the house with bare legs that even hinted at hair. Now, I head to important work meetings with more of a stubble.

For me, the pushback against beauty standards started more seriously from my clothes buying ban. I had mostly given up wearing make up at that point, but still brought it out when I had something important to “look good for.”

By living comfortably in the clothes I already owned though and being hyper aware of not bringing any new ones into my home, I started to look at makeup the same way. Unintentionally, I’ve not worn makeup now in over two years. Not to important work meetings, not in my new headshot, and not even to a wedding I was in.

And you know what? No one has ever even noticed.

I hope you enjoy the posts this week as much as I did. I read a ton of content and it was hard to narrow down my favorites. I’m looking forward to sharing some new ones with you again next week!

As always, if you’re looking for a categorized list of self identified women writing and speaking about personal finance, here is my comprehensive guide to the Women of the Financial Independence Community.