A Walk Around the Blogs: Welcome to 2013

Welcome to ErinShanendoah.com’s first blog round up of the year. We’re going to change things up a little bit this year in that, while I will do a round up each week, and it will include blogs from both Personal Finance and Pets, I’m not posting it on both sites each week. Instead, it will go back and forth between Life By Pets and Dog Ate My Wallet.

Everyone will still get the link love, but it saves me a few minutes of time, and I’ll be honest, I like my time.

Currently, we’re all about it being 2013 and a new start to a new year and more.

Sam at Financial Samurai posts his predictions (always and good read) and goals for 2013. I’d wish him luck, but Sam is one of those guys that makes his own luck, and I have no doubt he’ll continue his success in the new year.

Money Beagle shares his family’s financial goals for 2013. I love them because they include honest appraisals of what is going to happen in the next year- like cash savings reduced by 11%, because they need a new roof. Being honest with yourself is the best way to set yourself up for success.

The always inspiring Jenniemarie at Another Housewife has decided that this year, this year she will actually dedicate time to taking care of herself. As the mom of four, that’s a big challenge, but one I know she can meet. I’m also really excited to see the memoir she’s been talking about writing since we first met.

Over at American Debt Project, she decided that for 2013, she was going to keep it simple, have fun, and grow. Then on Jan 1, her boyfriend proposed and she said yes! I think she’s already keeping to that plan. Congratulations to you both!

Mel of No Dog About It Blog has been doing some introspection of her own. For her, it’s not just about the new year, but about making new, life altering decisions about what is next. I don’t know where she will end up exactly, but I think anyone who’s ever “met” Mel knows, there will be dogs by her side and a passion for helping animals that will never leave her.

At Bringing Up Bella, Leslie is participating in Follow Up Friday, except that in it, she’s also starting something new. She’s joining the 30/30 Challenge for walking a30 minutes a day for 30 days. While Bella can’t participate fully right now, it’s still a great challenge, and I wish them luck in completing it.

Cindy Lu’s Muse has started the New Year off with a celebration- LA Barkworks closes. Now especially my personal finance readers may wonder what this is and why we’d be celebrating the close of a business. Barkworks was a pet store that sold puppy mill puppies and is currently being sued for defrauding customers by selling them sick dogs. The key to getting rid of puppy mills is getting rid of the places that give puppy mills their money. So this is definitely good news.

Apparently, though, people still want purebred puppies, and if they can’t get them from pet stores and they don’t want to purchase from a responsible breeder, they’ll just steal your dog. Maybe not quite, but according to my friends at The Poodle (and dog) Blog, the AKC is reporting that dognapping is up by 70%. My guess is that it’s not actually up by that much but that more people are reporting it, and the new technology we have to track our dogs makes it much easier to determine that a dog was dognapped versus just ran away. And it comes with a message I will never tire of repeating- MICROCHIP YOUR PETS. And keep that information up to date. If your dog disappears, the absolute best way to get is back is via microchip. Take advantage.

And now on to our new to me blogs, the first new blogs I’m having the privilege of discovering this year. (By the end of the year, I will have discovered 104 new blogs- please don’t be mad if they all don’t make it onto my Blog Rolls…)

From the Yakezie boards, it’s Games from Everywhere. It’s a blog that appears to be written just for people like me and Average Joe- games and humor. I mean, just check out their guide to winning every game of chess in 3 easy steps.

And found via the Wordless Wednesday blog hop, it’s Hearts in Fur Coats. They started the year in the absolute best way possible- by welcoming a new member to their pack! Congrats on the new family member. He is adorable!

And that’s the walk around the blogs for this week. Make sure to join me again next week and I’ll be posting what I’m reading over at The Dog Ate My Wallet.