I’m starting my link round up early this week – by the time you read this I’ll have been in Vegas for 2 days! If I miss really good posts this week, I’ll round them up next week. In the mean time, enjoy!

This post is from last week, and I have no idea how I missed it. Andrea at So Over Debt (who just redesigned my whole blog, which I love), writes about doing what you love. I’m lucky – I really do enjoy my work. It’s not quite my dream job (that position was eliminated), but it’s pretty darn close. If you really don’t love what you do, are you trying to change?

At American Debt Project, the discussion was about life, debt repayment and motivation. Life is hard – so is debt repayment. ADP recommends three books to help with both.

Corey at 20s Finances asks us Is the Highest Paying job the Best One? Not necessarily, but doing what you love may not be the best option either. Many 9 to 5 jobs become boring and monotonous, and we read with envy about people pursuing their passions. What we don’t see is all the challenging grunt work also associated with making those businesses successful. It’s a balancing act, but sometimes money isn’t the answer.

Clever Dude’s gym got bought out by a big chain, and then the one closest to him closed. His options are not pretty – pay more to upgrade, or find a new gym. He’s not happy, and has realized that as someone who uses the gym, he has little leverage – as opposed to those folks who sign up for a membership and then never go…

Financial Samurai finally lost that last lingering 10 pounds. A personal finance post? Not really, except all the things he used to help him lose that 10 pounds apply to paying off debt too. All I can say is, having lost a pile of weight, I know how hard it is to lose that last ten pounds, so congratulations, Sam!

ee at Musings of an Abstract Aucklander posted a great post about criticism this week (she also wrote a great post about the pain and lack of financial reward in being a writer – she was on fire this week). Criticism is tricky. I like constructive criticism, but if you make it personal, I’m going to ignore everything you say to me and resent you at the same time.

At Yes I Am Cheap, the discussion was the SNAP Challenge – living for one week on the food stamp allotment budget of $33.25 per person. Our normal grocery budget is $600 per month for 4.5 people – so really, we’re living pretty much there now. Some months we go over though – and we have the financial cushion to do so. Living on $33.25 per week per person, and eating healthy, takes some careful planning. Could you do it?

I’ve read several variations on this post in the past, but it bears repeating. Donna Freedman wrote about brown bag lunches this week at Get Rich Slowly. I have been taking my own food to work for years (even though we have a discount staff cafeteria with huge portions for tiny prices – for me it’s a health thing). Lunches out are ridiculous – Bruce and I figured out a few years ago how much it cost us; I should find that email and turn it into a post!

Kathleen at Frugal Portal hit the nail on the head – getting out of debt is boring! She’s hit a plateau, and I sympathize, because I’m there right now too. It’s hard to stay focused sometimes.

There are still so many other good articles, but that’s a wrap for this week!