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 94

1. Teacher Talk: It’s Time Swap Your Cape for a Parachute She Picks Up Pennies

“Teaching is a noble profession. Maybe the noblest. For many of us in the classroom, it’s more than a career–it’s a calling. It’s an identity. It’s a way of life.

But there are times when teachers need to learn to put down their cape and put on a parachute instead. The back-to-school moment in the midst of the uncontrolled COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the first time I’ve had this thought. I’m also sure it won’t be the last.”

The fact that this post even needs to be written now is a tragedy, and a preventable one. But our country clearly has not taken this pandemic in a serious way – and somehow basic common sense is political – so this is where we are at. This is some great advice for teachers, but it’s also as much or more for those who aren’t. This is why we all need to speak up so our nation’s teachers aren’t forced to make these impossible decisions.

Also, if you don’t live in the United States, I might be a wee bit jealous right now, and you probably don’t need to read this post other than to understand the horrible no-win choices we’ve ended up with.

2. Is it Time for an Austerity Budget? A Dime Saved

“I had to put the tissues back. I was checking out at the grocery store and slowly watching the numbers go up and up. Unfortunately, the tissues were above my budget. I reluctantly took them off and paid for the rest of the stuff. Bread, cucumbers, milk. That was it….

Walking home from the store with tissues [a few months later] was one of the best experiences in my life. I felt so happy, so joyful, so free! It was like winning the lottery. I don’t get so excited every time I buy a package of tissues anymore. I have gotten used to it. It has since been relegated as a “need” again.

But every so often I like to stop while I am checking out at the store and remind myself that this wasn’t always possible. That this isn’t possible for so many people. Feeding your family without having to go into debt is a huge privilege and blessing. Living on an austerity budget is not a choice for many. It is their reality.”

With times as stressful and difficult as they are right now, purposefully adapting an austerity budget for even a week or two might seem like extra stress, and if it is, perhaps this isn’t the right time for you. But it also might be the perfect time: to stash away a few extra funds and to remind yourself that things maybe aren’t quite as tight as they feel.

And if an austerity budget is your life right now, know you are very much not alone.

3. Tell Me — What’s the Hourly Wage at Which Someone Deserves Nice Things? Miranda Marquit

“Part of the issue is that our society equates an hourly wage or net worth with just desserts. We assume that a high salary/net worth/whatever measure of monetary wealth correlates with hard work. Because our social construct values hard work and financial success pretty highly, we assume that hard work = financial success.”

I honestly don’t know how many times this type of post needs to be written until people *get it*, but we certainly haven’t hit they magic spot yet. Perhaps throwing flowers into the mix will help it click for some folks. I’m not sure what made it click for me, but it wasn’t something I understood immediately. Monetary success = hard work / deserving of nice things is something that is so ingrained in our society that it takes a lot to undue that knee jerk reaction. But maybe someday we will get there.

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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