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 60

1. It’s Official: I’m Quitting My Job In 10 Months. Here’s The Plan! A Purple Life

Purple has been on a long term plan to save up $500,000 and then retire at age 30. Well, she just turned 30 last month, and she’s on the final stretch before she puts in her notice and leaves her career.

While it looks like she might be a bit short of her her savings goal, she’s still going ahead with that plan to leave her job. At first, I was pretty nervous for her – I tend to err on the side of very, very conservative – but she also doesn’t feel the same connection to her work than I do (okay, she doesn’t like her job. Or any job she’s had). Following along with her plan though, and her reasons for quitting this year, I have to say I think she’s making the right choice for her life. Go give it a read, and tell me if you think you agree.

2. How to go zero waste for FREE FullbyLes

“There are all these pretty pictures of stainless steel containers, beautiful reusable water bottles, cabinets filled with bulk food nicely labeled. It can be so easy to feel like in order to feel apart of the team you have to BUY. Of course everyone has to buy something eventually but not for- just because.”

I am fully with this concept that zero waste / sustainability should first be about NOT buying. Like everything else, though, it’s become a buzz word that has plenty of new pretty consumer items to go with it. Just click on the “zero waste” or “plastic free” hashtag on Instagram, and half the accounts you scroll through will be selling you something.

We can’t buy our way into sustainability or zero waste though, which is also a really good thing when it comes to frugality. So much advertising tells us now that to be sustainable you need a new metal straw, a new reusable bamboo set, an expensive new water bottle. But that is simply not true. I love her concept of BYOI in this post – and the reality that those items don’t need to be new.

3. Slowing down: making room to be intentional Matilda & Jo

Being busy as a coping mechanism is one I know so, so well. I’ve shared a little on social media, but not here yet, that I started on an anxiety medicine last month. It is helping – I can say that for sure now – and I find myself slowing down some as well. While I still love being with people and being busy, I’m enjoying slower days in a way I haven’t for a long time.

As she says so well, “slowing down doesn’t mean that I’m sitting around every night binge-watching Netflix…Slowing down isn’t a lack of movement or progress. For me it has meant that I’m more intentional with my time and focusing on what’s most important to me right now.“

While her coping mechanisms to help with the slow down look somewhat different than mine (running and exercising more, reading novels, and putting my phone away), it’s the mindfulness of being active in our choices that is extremely similar. Katie, I’m so glad you wrote this one out. It’s like you pulled words out of my head and put them down on paper. We don’t always relate so closely to what someone else has said, but with this one, I absolutely do.

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.

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