There are several stories surrounding the creation of the Buffalo chicken wing, but one thing almost all of them agree on is that the origin of the wings was the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York (hence the ‘Buffalo’) moniker. Buffalo chicken wings first became popular in the early 1980′s and gained real prominence during the early 90s following the Buffalo Bills 4 consecutive Superbowl appearances (1990-1993).

I first received this recipe in 1990 and was told that it was the Original Buffalo chicken wing recipe from the Anchor Bar. I have no idea whether or not that is true, but I can tell you that these wings have wow’ed friends and family of mine for 22 years. Give them a try and let me know if they WOW you as well.

Original Buffalo Chicken Wings
(makes 10 lbs)

• 10 lbs chicken wings (drums and middle wing)
• 1 bottle oil for frying (peanut oil is best)
• 1 bottle (12oz) Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (You can use other hot sauces. I’ve used Crystal Hot Sauce with good results)
• 1 stick margarine (Do not substitute butter. The flavor and consistency of the sauce will be different and not as good.)
• 4 TBS white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
• 6-8 tsp Tabasco

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until the margarine is melted and combined with the hot sauce.
2. Meanwhile fry the chicken wings in oil (375°F) until golden brown (about 10 minutes – wings will float when done).
3. Drain wings on paper towels.
4. I season my wings at this point lightly with garlic powder, onion salt and pepper.
5. Once all of the wings are fried place them in a large bowl and add about half of the hot sauce and toss to coat.
6. If you don’t mind losing some of the crispiness you can then add the rest of the sauce, toss to coat and serve.
7. If you are looking for wings that are more crispy place them on a baking sheet with sides and place into a pre-heated 425°F oven. After 5 minutes (the wings will start to ‘fry’ in the oven) take the wings out, flip them and use a spoon to coat each wing with more sauce. Place the wings back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so and you are ready to go.
8. Serve with celery and carrot sticks and blue cheese and ranch dressing.

Total prep time works out to be about an hour although that depends on the size of your fryer. The more wings you can fry at the same time the shorter the prep time will be. I have had great success with these wings over the past 2+ decades and I’ll bet you will too. I should tell you that the wing sauce as I’ve given it to you is what I would consider mild (although I eat Thai food on a daily basis and am pretty used to spicy food). If you are looking to kick up the heat simply add more of your favorite chile powder. We use ground Thai bird chiles, but any ground chiles would work as well. I don’t recommend using your favorite hot sauce though as it will change the flavor of the sauce since the hot sauce has other ingredients besides the chile.

Go ahead and test the Original Buffalo chicken wing recipe at your Superbowl party this year and let me know what you and your guests thought. Be warned though that you may be called on to make these for every party you attend from this point forward.

• Win the lottery (problem is you gotta play to win and that could COST you a fortune)
• Family inheritance (do you have a rich old uncle who loves you? Nope, neither do I)
• Rob a bank (seriously I don’t condone any illegal or immoral behavior)
• Head to the roulette wheel and put it all on 17 (I also don’t condone gambling)
• Create the next Microsoft, Facebook or Google (less likely than winning the lottery and also a LOT of work involved)

Ok, so maybe it isn’t as easy as we would like to get rich quick. However if you are willing to have just a bit of patience it IS possible to get rich more quickly than most people, including all the spammers promising you “$153 per hour guaranteed”.

What is Rich?

According to the Spectrem Report the number of millionaires in the U.S. grew to 7.8 million in 2009 (net worth not including their primary residence). That may seem like a lot of millionaires, but it is only 2.5% of the estimated 307 million people in the U.S. in 2009 (U.S. Census Bureau). Based on that I would say if you make it to $1 million in net worth you are rich compared to the vast majority of Americans.

Guaranteed Path to Riches (the not-so-quick method)

I call it the not-so-quick method, but when you consider that 97.5% of Americans will never be millionaires it really is pretty darn quick comparatively speaking. So do you want the secret to getting rich? Can you handle it?

That’s it. Seems simple and really it is. Now obviously the more you make the faster you will get to $1 million, but nearly anyone can use this strategy to become rich. I can’t give you details based on your own situation (I don’t know your details), but we can make assumptions based on averages.

Assumption #1 – You have a median household income of $49,777 (2009 Census Bureau)
Assumption #2 – You contribute the full $17,000 allowed for 2012 into your 401(k)
Assumption #3 – You invest in an index fund returning 9% annually (the 20 year average for the Dow is 9.4%)

Using those 3 assumptions it would take you just over 15 years to become a millionaire. I know that isn’t what you might consider get rich quick, but I think it is get rich quick enough. Those just out of college could theoretically be millionaires by the time they are 37 or 38 years old.

I’m sure many of you have issues with my 3 assumptions. Let’s address some possible questions and concerns:

What if I don’t have access to a 401(k) plan? You can contribute up to $5000 to an IRA. So can your spouse for a total of $10,000 per year. If you have a side business (which you should) you can create a SEP IRA or a Self Employed 401(k) and you would be eligible to contribute up to $50,000 per year (2012 law) to either.

What if I can’t afford to contribute the maximum $17,000 to my 401(k)? There could be a variety of reasons that you can’t max out your 401(k) and I can’t address all of them, but the usual suspect is a lack of discretionary income. In cases where this is due to excessive debt or over spending the answer is simple; pay down your debt and cut your expenses. There are many ways to cut expenses and free up cash. Look to your budget and see where your money is going and I’m sure you will be able to find at least a few extra hundred dollars a month. Another option is to get a second job or create a side business of your own.

What if my income is below the median household income? See above. Try getting a second job or even better look into creating a side business to generate extra income.

What if I can’t get a 9% return on my investment? No one can guarantee investment returns, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average has returned 9.4% per year on average over the past 20 years. This is no guarantee of future returns, but it is fairly accurate in the long term. In fact, the return over the past 100 years is also 9.4%. On the other hand the return over the past 5 years has been a paltry 2.3%. Remember this isn’t get rich quick as much as it is get rich quick enough.

Getting rich quick is a nice dream and for almost everyone out there that is all it is…a dream. You can get rich quick enough though by following a conservative and consistent savings and investment strategy. Remember that only 2.5% of the U.S. population are millionaires so anyone who has reached that level of wealth has gotten rich quick enough (i.e. before they’ve died). So what are you guys and gals doing to get rich quick enough?

The Government Loves Spenders

At least in America the engine of growth over the past few decades (minus the past 5 years) has been consumer spending. Never mind that a good deal of that spending was on credit rather than in cash, the American consumers freewheeling ways have enabled corporations to amass huge war chests and have paid for the continued growth of the GDP and expansion of government.

As long as Americans continue to increase their savings rate they will not be spending and this will hamper any increase in the economic recovery…or so we would be led to believe.

Stop Spending and Start Saving like Your Grandparents

I found this interesting chart over at All Financial Matters which leads me to believe that consumer spending as a percentage of GDP needs to come down even more before a full recovery can take place. As you can see during the great depression consumer spending was a much bigger part of GDP than during any other time in the past 100 years. It wasn’t until WWII came along that consumer spending dropped and after the war came back in at much more reasonable levels. Coincidentally, this was also one of the greatest growth periods of the US.

Putting aside all macroeconomic discussions it is simply good common sense to live more frugally and to save a good portion of what you currently earn. If the past 5 years taught us nothing else it should have made it glaringly clear that growth is not forever and that your jobs are not as secure as you may have once thought. And even if you do manage to stay employed for you entire adult life what will you do when it is time to retire? Life spans are increasing and those living in developed Western countries may easily expect to live for 20 years after their retirement.

I know how easy it is to give in to instant gratification and to think that there will always be time to save, but the truth is that the best time to save is now. You might be surprised at how little you miss just 5-10% of your income when it is automatically deposited into an account separate from your spending money. And I have no doubt you will also be surprised to see how quickly that money can grow if invested wisely.

Take a lesson from your grandparents and learn how to save for a rainy day. Ultimately you should strive to save 30% of your income if you really want to put your money worries behind you. I know that sounds like a huge amount, but you don’t have to jump right up to 30%. Start with 5% and get comfortable with that. See if you can push it to 10%. Start using more coupons and shopping only when necessary to replace needed items. Haggle and buy used or at least wait for sales to come along before you buy. Add the extra money to your savings. Cut back on eating out and expensive habits and hobbies and add that money to your savings too. There are a multitude of ways to save money if you really start to examine your spending, here are 25 from KrantCents to get you started.

I’m personally nowhere near the 30% guideline (more like 10%), but I am looking for ways each month to increase my savings and so should you. Fortunately I don’t have to go it completely alone as there are many great folks writing about how to make a dollar stretch further. Maybe you can help by letting me know about some of the imaginative things you do to save more money each month?

As usual I am late to the party, but that doesn’t mean I won’t still have fun.

Yakezie is actually comprised of two parts for PF bloggers; the Yakezie Challenge and the Yakezie Network. As stated on the Yakezie website “The Yakezie Network is a list of some of the finest personal finance and lifestyle blogs in the world”. And looking through the list of the member sites the statement is 100% accurate. However, to be admitted into the exalted ranks of the Yakezie Network one must first complete the Yakezie Challenge. The duration of the challenge is 6 months and new members are invited to join the Yakezie Network in Jan/Feb and again in July/Aug. I hope to be in the Jul/Aug group of new members.

THE YAKEZIE ALEXA RANKING CHALLENGE

1) Install the Alexa toolbar if not already and comment what your current Alexa ranking is, so we can keep track.
2) Write consistently 2-4 times a week for 6 months.
3) Install the Yakezie badge with pride.
4) Announce on your blog that you have joined the challenge.
5) Selflessly promote others.

I have already completed 1 and 3 and this post serves as completion of #4. As of this writing my Alexa rank is 1,154,272 so as you can see I have some way to go, but since the Challenge is meant to last 6 months I think cracking 200,000 is doable. I have also begun to selflessly promote, primarily through Twitter and Facebook and I will be reaching out to Yakezie members in other ways over the next 6 months (and beyond).

Wish me luck as I embark on this selfless journey of discovery and success!

Once You Realize Your Dreams, Then What?

This is a question many of us don’t contemplate during the daily struggle to make our dreams reality. Whether you are looking to have a $1 million net worth, to rid yourself of your reliance on a corporate job, to finally pay off your mortgage or just to finally have a cash cushion saved you should consider what will happen once these goals are reached. Especially in the case of big dreams the fulfillment can lead to a gaping void in your life and if you aren’t prepared for this you could be left aimless and wondering what went wrong.

I’m Living My Dream, So What Went Wrong

Back in May 2011 everything was looking up. Flight tickets were booked, belongings were sold off, notice was given to my employer and as you might imagine I was on top of the world. I was on the cusp of realizing two dreams that had driven me to work literally 7 days a week for the past 5 years and it felt like nothing could stop me…I was a god!
We arrived in Thailand on June 7th, 2011 and almost immediately began looking for a place to live and a job for my wife. We felt no need to sightsee, I had been to Thailand on over a dozen occasions and my wife grew up there plus we would be living here so there would be plenty of time to see the sights.

My wife found a job within a week and we found our apartment the following week. By June 24th we were settled into our new home. Now what?

Well the first couple months were devoted to finding our way around, learning where to buy certain products that weren’t readily available and just generally getting settled in. We were busy and after my long 5 years of 7 day work weeks I was happy to take a break.

By September I was getting antsy though. Culture shock had begun to set in, making me volatile over the smallest things at times. Added to that was the fact that I was for the first time in my life (at the age of 44) a stay at home dad. I loved being with my daughter, but it did begin to wear on me by November. I was beginning to feel as if I had no real purpose and that bothered the heck out of me.

In December I finally caught on to what my real problem was; a lack of meaningful work. I had been so focused on attaining the twin dreams of self employment and the move to Thailand that I had neglected to consider what I would do after. In fact, I was so focused that it took me 6 months to even realize why there was a void in my life. I’ve never claimed to be very bright though.

Dreaming the BIG Dream Again

The very first thing we did once I finally came to grips with my dilemma was to hire a nanny to help with my daughter. I know it may not sound very frugal (I’ve said before I have issues with frugality), but considering the low cost we feel it is very much worth it. The nanny works 6 hours a day, Monday-Friday all for the princely sum of THB7000. At the current exchange rate that works out to be $225/mo.

Once I had some free time again I began to think about what I would like to accomplish.

Much as we love Thailand my wife and I also love travel and currently we are not able to do much of that other than within Thailand. We both have dreams of seeing the world from Mexico to Argentina and from Russia to India. So the new dream revolves around increasing our freedom, mostly by creating additional income streams and most importantly passive income.

Really this is just an expansion of the original dream which was to create a location independent income sufficient to enable us to make the move to Thailand. With that in place I see that I didn’t dream big enough in the first place. Location independence should be exactly that, the ability to move freely to any location in the world.
It feels good to have a concrete purpose again and to be working towards a goal. Being able to dream big dreams and create stepping stone goals along the way is important to us as people. It is through the striving to realize these dreams that we improve not only our own lives, but frequently the lives of those around us as well.

What are your dreams and how close are you to realizing them? Do you dream big enough?

2012 Financial Goals

To be honest, 2011 was a bit of a drain on our finances. The move to Thailand was a bit more expensive than we thought it would be (mostly startup costs) and it has taken us some time to come to grips with our budget here. Added to that has been my own struggles with the new culture and being a stay at home dad trying to get work done. Needless to say it has been a bit of a rough transition.

I believe all of that is now behind us though. We have a pretty good budget, although it could use some improvement it is at least accurate and one we can stick to. I have come to grips with how to work from home while also caring for my young daughter. Perhaps most importantly I have begun to set goals for myself. After completing the two goals of quitting my job and moving to Thailand there was a bit of a vacuum in the goals department and I have been a bit aimless the past 6 months.

Income Goal
I am not a frugal type blogger. While I do believe that expenses should be kept in check, I also believe in treating myself and my family once in awhile. I try to balance our frivolous wants with our income So, if we find that our expenses are creeping up and we feel that the items on our budget are acceptable “luxuries” I will look for ways to increase our income to meet our increased expenses. While our expenses are currently in line with our income it looks as if 2012 will see an increase in outflows making it necessary to increase our inflows. In simple terms, I need to make more money.

The over riding goal over the next year is to complete the 30k challenge. While I don’t meet the official requirements to join in the challenge, I will be taking it upon myself to participate. In 2011 I made roughly $15k from my blogging efforts so in the spirit of the challenge I will be aiming for $45k in 2012. One small change I will be making though is to include my freelancing income to my totals.

I typically work much better by breaking my goals down into smaller chunks too, so I am challenging myself to generate $135/day in income which actually works out to be a bit more than $45k, but only if I work every single day this year. I can be a bit of a workhorse at times, but not to THAT extent. Wish me luck.

Expenses Goal
As I mentioned earlier, our expenses have taken a while to nail down and bring into line, but I feel we are almost there. Our rent is quite high and we are thinking of the possibility of moving when the lease expires in June, but that would also mean a much longer commute for my wife and we are not sure it is a sacrifice we want to make yet. Travel time is already quite long for her due to the extreme traffic in Bangkok. Our food expenses have also been quite high the first few months here, but thanks to decreased cravings for Western food our food expenses are more palatable now. I feel that between these two areas we could cut $300-500 per month from our expenses, but I am still on the fence trying to decide if this is truly necessary. If I meet the income goal it probably won’t be, although it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

The other area of our expenses that I’ve been looking into is our personal expenses. Both my wife and I receive an “allowance” of THB9000/mo (roughly US$300). I’m trying to decide if this is really necessary. I think in my wife’s case it is, mostly due to her travel expenses commuting to and from work. The allowance is also for personal purchases such as clothing, grooming, accessories and treats. Since she spends roughly THB2500 on commuting costs I’m guessing I could cut that amount from my monthly “allowance” without much suffering. That money would then be directed towards either savings or investments.

On the downside (financially) is our plans to buy a car within the next few months. This will increase both our debt and our expenses as well as lowering our savings fund, but we feel it is a fair tradeoff for the added convenience. Traveling using public transport is fine for a single person or couple here, but it has been quite difficult with a small child in tow. Having a car will enable us to get out of Bangkok more often and will also increase our options when it comes time to decide on where we are going to live come June. In the long run, the savings from being able to move outside central Bangkok should offset the cost of the car.

Savings/Investments Goal
I lump these two together because we don’t have the typical emergency savings fund. We have about $1000 in cash for real emergencies, but other than that we don’t have the 3 or 6 or 12 month emergency fund. The reason for this is that we are actually living about 12 months in advance of our expenses already. What I mean by that is I transfer 12 months of living expenses from the U.S. to my account in Thailand and then over the next year I replenish the U.S. based funds to make the next years transfer. So in reality we have a minimum 12 month buffer at all times.

Regarding investments, this is a big opportunity for us in 2012. We currently have very few investments and the plan is to ramp up investment savings dramatically over the course of the next 12 months. We plan on investing both in the U.S. and in Thailand, where there are some very nice dividend bearing stocks. Investments will depend on my ability to hit the income goal, but I would like to see $500 a month going into U.S. dividend bearing stocks, focusing on the Dividend Aristocrats and an additional THB15,000 (US$500) going into a Thai brokerage account to invest in both growth and dividend stocks. Currently we have THB20,000 to invest here (I need to get the brokerage account opened) and US$1000 to invest in the States (also need to get an account opened there…perhaps through Sharebuilder).

I also need to get a custodial account opened for my daughter here in Thailand and would like to invest THB3000/mo for her. She currently has THB45000 in her savings. Since she is only 19 months old this should provide a nice starter for her college expenses and even more if she chooses to stay in Thailand for university.

Debt Goals
We currently have about US$12000 in debt split equally between one credit card and a personal line of credit. We also have about $US10000 in student loan debt. I am going to ignore the student loan debt for 2012 and just make minimum payments. The interest rates are so low (and tax deductible) that I feel it makes better sense to use our cash for investments. If I can’t beat the 3.15% in interest on these loans with investments I am not meant to be investing! Contrary to most popular advice I am also not going to focus heavily on paying down the other debt, preferring to increase our investment funds this year. If I can lower the LOC and credit card debt to US$8000 I will be happy.

So here are the financial goals for our family for 2012 in a nutshell:

• Income – generate $135/day from all sources
• Expenses – cut a minimum of $100/mo from our food bill. Cut a total of THB4000 from our “allowances”.
• Savings/Investments – Open brokerage accounts in both Thailand and the U.S. and invest a total of US$1000/mo combined.
• Debt – Lower LOC and credit card debt from $12k to $8k

Personal Goals

On a personal note there are also some goals I want to share with you. These relate primarily to family and health and even though I am not going into as much detail as for the financial goals, these are more important in my mind than any money based goals.

Work/Career Goals
Even though I am now self employed it doesn’t mean I can’t have career goals. In fact, I think it may be more important now, since there is no boss to push me when I get lazy.

Get organized and start growing my business. See above for my 30k challenge commitment. In addition, make my day more structured by setting aside specific time for work. Specifically, get up and start work at 6am. Work until noon and then spend time with my daughter in the afternoon. Work again at night, possibly 5pm-8pm…this is still a bit up in the air.

Family/Relationship Goals
Spend more quality time with my spouse. Because of her work schedule we don’t get much time to talk. Plan for 30-60 minutes each day when we can talk together without interruption. This will almost certainly have to be after our daughter goes to bed., although it could also be in the morning before she leaves for work.

Start cooking again. I enjoyed doing it in the States, but haven’t been cooking much since we arrived in Thailand. I think making Sunday “Daddy’s day to cook” could be fun and will also help share the household responsibilities more. Plus it will keep our daughter exposed to foods other than Thai.

Health Goals
While I did lose about 20 lbs when we moved to Thailand I could definitely stand to lose another 15 lbs or so. Get started with an exercise plan that will help me accomplish this. Gyms are quite expensive in Bangkok so I am thinking of something like the 100 pushup challenge combined with sit ups and using our wonderful pool to rediscover swimming.

Quit smoking. Stupid habit. Nuff said I think.

So there you have the Money Infant goals for 2012. I’ll be printing these out and referring to them throughout the year and we’ll see how I did in December. Until then I hope you all have created a list of goals for yourself to encourage improvement and growth in all the areas of your life. I would be very interested to hear about what everyone else is striving to accomplish in 2012 so leave me a comment and let me know what your goals are.

• Trent at The Simple Dollar is doing a series of posts about his 2012 goals. The first one is 2012 Resolution #1: Get Fit the Right Way
• Evan at My Journey to Millions has a detailed post regarding his Goals and Objectives for 2012
• Elle at Couple Money has posted focusing on her families top 3 2012 Financial Goals
• Suzanne at Enemy of Debt will be Changing My Money Mind in 2012
• Paula at Afford Anything claims I’m Investing 100 Percent of My 2012 Income. Follow along in 2012 and see how she does.
• Jon at Free Money Wisdom wants you to Start Thinking Like a Millionaire in 2012
• Krystal at Give Me Back My 5 Bucks shares her ambitious 2012 Goals
• Miranda at Personal Dividends shares her 2012 money goal and asks you What’s Your Biggest Money Goal for 2012?
• Kris at Everyday Tips and Thoughts takes a more light hearted view of New Year resolutions with her Frivolous Goals For 2012
• Joe at Retire by 40 gives us little RB40′s and his own 2012 Goals and Resolutions
• Teacher Man at My University Money gives us a a detailed account the SMART way of My Goals For 2012
• NCN at No Credit Needed is Making Plans For An Awesome 2012
• Matt at Matt About Money teaches us about focus with To Go Big In 2012, Think Small
• Miranda at Smart on Money is focusing on others in 2012: New Year’s Resolution: Giving More
• Melissa at Passive Family Income believes In the New Year, Be Willing to Set Audacious Goals
• Kaye at Mrs. Nespy’s World has Plans for a Better Financial Year in 2012
• Her Every Cent Counts shares her 2012 Self Operating Plan to save $50k for $200k Networth
• Kylie at Kylie Ofiu dot com gives us the 9 points of her 2012 Financial Plan
• Andy at Tight Fisted Miser has 3 simple Resolutions for 2012
• Niki at Debt Free by 30 has Twelve in 2012 and a very cool way to share them with us. Check it out!
• LaTisha at Financial Success for Young Adults asks What Are Your Goals for 2012? and then shares hers with us.
• Ashley at Money Talks finally gets to share New Years Resolutions 2012
• Money Cactus tells us about 10 Things To Live By For 2012
• Charles at Money Green Life Sets Goals for 2012
• Denise at The Single Saver is coming at the new year with 2012 SMART Goals!
• Laura at Move to Portugal gives us 12 simple goals – My 2012 Goals
• Thomas at The Six Figure Diploma Payoff does some serious 2012 Goal Setting
• American Debt Project shares 15 Goals and Resolutions for 2012

If you’ve written a post about your 2012 resolutions and I haven’t included it in the list above please leave me a comment below. Take care and best wishes to all for a healthy, happy and prosperous 2012!

Goal #1: I quit my 9-5 job on May 23rd.
Goal #2: We moved to Thailand on June 7th

Unfortunately after meeting these two goals I became a bit unfocused for the remainder of the year. In my defense these were long term goals (5 years) and moving to a new country can be a bit disorienting. Added to that was my becoming a stay at home dad for our (now) 19 month old daughter and it’s no wonder I lost track for a bit. I promise myself (and you dear readers) that 2012 will be much more goal oriented and productive, but more on that in a couple days.

Right now, in lieu of my own reflections and reckoning of my progress towards meeting goals and resolutions from 2011, I bring you the reviews and reflections of dozens of other personal finance bloggers. As I said, making resolutions and setting goals is popular at this time of year and it’s almost as popular to look back at the previous years resolutions to see where we’ve made progress and where we need to be more conscientious.

Looking back at 2011 Goals

• Flexo at Consumerism Commentary Reflecting on his 2011 Goals
• Trent at The Simple Dollar Reviewing his 2011 Resolutions
• Sam at Financial Samurai with his Top 5 Hits and Misses for 2011
• Evan at My Journey to Millions with a Review of How He Did on His 2011 Goals and Objectives
• Elle at Couple Money with a Year End Review 2011: What We Did Right and What We Could’ve Improved
• Ashley at Enemy of Debt with her New Year’s Annual Review
• Daniel at Sweating the Big Stuff with Reflecting Back on 2011
• Mike at The Financial Blogger with 2011 Financial Goals Reviewed, When Things Happen But Not The Way You Think
• Jackie at Money Crush with Goals and Other Updates
• Joe at Retire by 40 with 2011 New Year’s Resolutions – Winter Update
• SB at One Cent at a Time with A Look Back On the Year 2011
• Melissa at Mom’s Plans with September, October, November and December 2011 Financial Goals Update
• Krantcents with 2011 Goals Update
• The Finance Buff with 2011 State of the Blog Report and Resolutions for 2012
• Little House in the Valley with Budget Year End Summary
• Money Beagle with 2011 Financial Year In Review
• Amber at Blonde and Balanced with 2011 Goals in Review
• Amanda at Frugal Confessions with The Big Reveal: Did We Meet our Goal of Saving 50% of Our Take Home Pay in 2011?
• Kaye at Mrs. Nespy’s World with 2011 – A Year in Review as well as 2011 – What We DID Accomplish
• Kylie at Kylie Ofiu with 11 Things I learned in 2011
• Justin at Money is the Root with 2011 Statistics & 2012 Blog Goals
• Jeffrey at Money Spruce with 2011 Goals: What Worked, and What Didn’t in the Year of New Ideas
• Laura at Move to Portugal with A Look Back at the Last 12 Months
• Finally Frugal with End of Year Wrap Up and 2012 Goals
• Nick from Step Away From the Mall with 6 Financial Lessons of 2011
• ND Chic’s Cents with 2011 in Review

2011 Top Posts Roundups

• Kerry at Squawkfox shares the Top 10 Squawks from 2011
• Miranda at Financial Highway with a Huge Dollar Matters 2011 Roundup
• G.E. Miller at 20 Something Finance with his Top Posts of 2011 (by month)
• Fitz at Ready to Be Rich with his Top 10 Blog Posts of 2011
• Elle at Couple Money with The Best of Couple Money (2011 Edition)
• Len at Len Penzo dot Com with 100 Words On: My 10 Most Popular 100-Word Posts of 2011
• Jim at Retire Happy Blog with My Articles Around the Web in 2011
• Money Beagle with Money Beagle’s 2011 In Review
• FIRE Finance with 2011′s Best of FIRE Finance
• Family Balance Sheet with Top 10 FBS Posts of 2011
• Fanny from Living Richly on a Budget with Top 10 Posts of 2011
• Aaron (and Charlie and Eddie) at Three Thrifty Guys with Our Top Posts of 2011
• Larry at Rich Christian Poor Christian with My Personal Top 10 Favorite Blog Posts in 2011
• Keith and Dawn from Ironclad Finances with 2011 In Review

If I’ve missed any personal finance blogs who have posted a review of their progress towards 2011′s goals or a roundup of their top posts from 2011 please leave me a note in the comments. Thanks and congratulations to all on a great 2011!

- May 23: I quit my job
- June 1: My baby girl turns 1
- June 7: We leave the U.S. and move to Thailand
- June 24: New apartment and start to settle in
- July through November: Just getting acclimated to the new surroundings and culture. First 2 months many frustrations, by October things have settled down. By November I am getting bored and ready to dive into some work. Created travelpizza.com and then realized it’s not really what I want to do.
- December: After considering several options, decided that the writing I did here was some of the most interesting and compelling (for me anyway) that I have done. Decision made to rededicate myself to helping others avoid my mistakes. Plus it will be helpful for me since I have slid back into some old habits that are better left in the past.

I suppose the beginning of a new year is a cliched time for starting or restarting a blog, or anything really. Somehow the timing just worked out that way for me. I’m gearing up with a new look for the site, a real editorial calendar for 2012 and a burning desire to get myself back on track, share my experiences and help others realize a more fulfilling life, both financially and otherwise.

Because I am now working as a freelancer the site updates may be sporadic. I certainly can’t promise updates everyday since my client work needs to take precedence over my personal projects. I can assure though that when I do post it will be only my best work. So you might only hear from me twice a week, but when you do it will be gold.

Other ideas in the works are a section devoted to free travel, where to find contests and sweepstakes, how to maximize reward programs and how to stretch your dollars when traveling. I love to travel, but with the high expense associated with it don’t get the chance to do so nearly as much as I would like. I think many of you may be in the same situation, so as I look for cheap (or free) ways to travel, I’ll pass the good news along to you.

I must say it’s good to be back and I look forward to connecting with many new readers and friends. If you have any questions at all please feel free to send me a message, I love to connect with my readers and try to respond to each and every message I receive.

This week I joined up at two different carnivals, The Tax Carnival #67 – A Pot of Tax Gold; where I was fortunate enough to lead the carnival off with my discussion of our love/hate relationship with taxes – The Tax Man Cometh. Read over the post and then let me know how you feel about April 15th. And thanks to Kay Bell for inviting me to the party.

The second carnival I was part of is The Carnival of Money Stories XLV – The Sex, Lies and Videotape Edition where my post Watch Out For Auto Bill Payments was featured as part of a Len Penzo storyline/game. Thanks for letting me play Len!

So, it’s been pretty much fun here the last couple days and the infant/kid in me has enjoyed the carnival atmosphere so much that I believe I’ll be visiting again next week. Until then, please feel free to visit this week’s carnivals yourself and come back to see where my carnival fun takes me next week.