Afternoon Links: More Difficult than I Thought Edition

Last week, I had mentioned that I planned to post a little more and link to some other great reads that I’ve neglected sharing in the past. My idea is that I’d write about some short story, lyric from a song, or a money quote that made me recently think. It sounds pretty easy. It turns out it is easy — too easy. I started writing and my first two ideas turned out to be enough material for a free-standing article. I didn’t feel that fitting for an intro to the links and that they should be the real focus. So here you go:

• Brip Blap is quickly becoming one of my favorite regular reads so it’s fitting that he gets the first link in this series. His article about seven things to consider before you buy stuff is great. I can’t say that I consider all those things, but I should and it’s something that I’m working on.
• Boston Gal’s Open Wallet says that nobody really wants to listen to her advice. I run into this problem nearly once a week it seems. I try to catch myself before I annoy other too much. I don’t think Boston Gal should get down about it though. I bet her web site statistics tell a completely different story.
• David at My Two Dollars writes that he’s getting rid of clutter. I have the “I paid for this” syndrome, but it’s much stronger than I ever imagined. I can’t seem to come to terms with the loss of money, even if I put it on Craigslist or Ebay and get a portion of the money back. Perhaps I should donate through FreeCycle and pick up something else that I can use from there to take it’s place. Or maybe I just need to read that first article from Brip Blap again.