Queercents

We’re taking a pause over the long holiday weekend, so check back on Monday! In the meantime, the Queercents family hopes you’ll stay free from debt and carry on the path towards financial independence! Happy July 4th to our readers in the US. And to the rest, feel free to browse our archives – we have written 2,200 posts over the last few years.

My recent favorites (three excellent series) are listed here:

Financial Implosion
Alex Taylor has documented the path to bankruptcy and foreclosure (and back!) and provides readers with the lessons learned from personal financial disasters. “Climbing out of the dual financial pits of foreclosure and bankruptcy wasn’t just a matter of luck. Getting out of the pit required a combination of better decision making and planning.” Taylor hopes that by sharing this story, others will be able to make better decisions for themselves.

To date, there are 28 installments in this series – be sure and start from the beginning! It’s a fascinating story with many lessons shared.

Your Gay Best Friend Who’s Good With Money
Clint Osterholz started this video series to help Gen X and Y get their finances in order. Clint said he was tired of seeing his friends struggle to pay their bills. “I feel that a lot of people my age are terrible at personal finance. Young gays are even worse at managing money. While straight friends are building nest eggs to start a family or buy a house, many of my gay friends are blowing their paychecks on partying, clubbing, dancing, and drinking. I think it’s good to develop the sugar daddy within. Rather than having life plans that involve getting discovered, striking it rich or dating a wealthy older person; I feel my viewers benefit from practical ideas-presented from a tone that isn’t judgmental and accepts that we all make mistakes.” Read the rest of this entry »

Clint, our resident vlogger is moving on. We enjoyed his series and trust that viewers did too, but this means there’s a gap to fill. We need video!

Does anyone want to contribute to Queercents by vlogging about money? These spots can be professional and informative like Clint’s version or less professional and with more skin like Davey did in his Ten Money Questions interview. They can even be street interviews in the vein of The Daily Show. We’re not picky; although they do need to say something about money and personal finance.

If you’re interested, send an email to: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and tell me why.

Photo credit: stock.xchng.

Last week I put out a call for a travel writer and voila, a travel writer appeared. Eric Olson is excited to be joining the Queercents family as he will be providing commentary and insight on frugal traveling. Eric prides himself on creating itineraries highlighting LGBT owned and friendly businesses. He is currently a travel columnist for Just Out newsmagazine based in Portland, Oregon.

In his pitch, Eric provided ten reasons why he should get the travel slot. Here are 3 that prove his passport is always on stand-by.

1. Quite honestly, I believe Guinness beer should only be consumed in Ireland, and key lime pie should only be eaten in Key West, Florida… and yes, you can do it on a budget, and I can tell you how!

2. I strongly believe that there is more to queer travel than traveling to the White Party or staying in a four-star hotel that has been heavily marketed to the “upscale queer traveler.”

3. My next trip this summer will be a RSVP Cruise to Alaska (my partner made me do it). Think of the blogging opportunities… an entry titled, “The frugality of a gay cruise; does it exist?

If it does exist, I’m sure Eric will tell us about it. Please welcome him to Queercents.

The IGLTA often reports on how much money gays and lesbians spend on travel. Well, we’re on the cusp of summer vacations and still looking for a travel writer for Queercents. We are ready to log some miles and need a guide! We need someone to write about deals and destinations.

If you’re well versed in taking trips on a budget and willing to share your tricks of the trade, then send an e-mail to: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and explain why this slot should have your name on it.

Keep in mind all contributors are volunteers (sorry, no travel stipend!). That said, we’re gaining visibility with our weekly press releases and we’d be happy to create some buzz about you. That’s the best we can offer… consider the assignment a summer fling. Aren’t most people are up for some short lived love?

By the way, we’re not too demanding, but it helps if you’re familiar with WordPress blogging software… we’re all about self-sufficiency and uploading your own content makes it easier on moi!

Of course, if you want to write, but travel isn’t your thing, we’re always looking for additional contributors. Just tell me what moves you about money and you’re likely to be asked to come aboard.

Photo credit: stock.xchng.

Our contributing writers were recently in the news with this nice plug from another gay site:

I think what I may have found most impressive of all, however, is the most-apparent cooperative spirit that emanates from this compassionate but still hard-hitting and very relevant site. This blog is a healthy and very productive read, complete with the most mature and incisive looks at every cranny - and some surprising ones! - of our everyday lives. The list of contributors is impressive but their advice is even more so. The fact that it is given so freely testifies to a pretty remarkable community-oriented and rather selfless success. This is a highly recommendable blog.

With these kinds of endorsements, professionals are even willing to write for us. One such writer is Alex Davidson and it’s wonderful to welcome him to the team.

Alex is a freelance writer living in New York City. He most recently worked for Forbes magazine, where he covered finance, education and the environment. Before that, he worked for Dow Jones Newswires and regularly wrote for both the ticker and The Wall Street Journal. He also blogs for the progressive Web site change.org. Read the rest of this entry »

You might have noticed lately that we’re light on content written by men. Of course, we’re forever grateful for the many new female writers (Helen, Holly, Lynn, Regan and Yasmin) that recently joined our fold. That said, there is still something about having a balance and a gay male perspective at Queercents. So we’re pleased to announce a new writer.

Mat Alexander (aka as moneysavingmat.com) resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with hubby, Thomas, his mom and 4 cats. He recently graduated with a degree in Sociology and likes to write about debt reduction, frugal living, couponing and finding great deals. He’s focused on saving in order to pay down his student loans and buy their first home. Mat is on the right with Thomas on the left.

We look forward to his perspective and posts coming soon. Keep in mind; we continue to be on the lookout for more testosterone here, so if you want to write, please drop me an email at: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and let me know your idea – writing a short multi-part series is a great way to start by putting your toe in the blogging waters. Or you can dive right into the deep end where the rest of us are treading water.

We’ve succumbed to the latest social networking trend. That’s right, ya’ll - Queercents is on Twitter. If you tweet, be sure to follow us at https://twitter.com/Queercents.

You can tweet your favorite posts by clicking on the “Share and Enjoy” buttons at the bottom of each article.

Don’t forget we’re also on Facebook. You can join our facebook group and socialize with other Queercents regulars.

Alright . . . back to your regularly scheduled weekend shenanigans.

The thing I like most about Queercents is our readers. I posted last week about needing a new frugal writer and immediately received two emails. I quickly discovered that both writers were equally interesting yet different in their approaches with money.

Regan McClure lives in Toronto, Canada with her wife and kids. She’s an environmentalist, and focus on the ‘reduce’ part of the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra. She writes, “To me, being frugal isn’t about being cheap, it’s about not buying useless shit. I do a fair amount of introspection involved in figuring out what qualifies as ‘useless shit’ and what is ‘fabulous shit’ since some of life’s sparkly temptations are hard to categorize at times.” She learned frugal principles as a child and has always been fascinated by the value of money. Read Regan’s bio by clicking here.

Lynn Casper lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is an activist and community organizer who co-started the Be Yr Own Hero collective, and later with her partner, started Be Yr Own Queero. She writes, “My ideas of living frugally may be a little more radical compared to the norm. I am an activist who believes that the DIY ethos of living is best so a lot of my frugality stems from wanting to live a self-sustaining lifestyle, free from capitalism and corporate consumerism.” Learn more about Lynn by clicking here.

We have another writer joining and while I can’t yet comment on her frugality, I know based on her posts at The Bilerico Project that she’s radical in her own way. Yasmin Nair is an academic, activist, and writer from Chicago. She will begin with 3 posts that provide an economic spin on immigration policy. She happens to be a colorful writer (proof: take a quick read of her bio!) and will undoubtedly push the limits when arguing that the central problem facing us today is that of economic inequality. I can’t wait to see what she writes after tackling immigration!

Please welcome all three to the Queercents community… a place where we’re only as good as our readers and writers! There’s excellent new content coming our way! Stay tuned… they will begin posting next week.

Giveaway Alert: See below for your chance to win an iTunes gift card (value: $50)

Queercents is launching its Professional Directory (note the links and details - above left hand corner of this page). The Professional Directory is a place to browse for LGBT and LGBT-friendly professionals. We all know from our day-to-day experiences and those shared at Queercents that the issues faced by LGBT people take on a unique spin. This is why it is often important to work with professionals who know how to deal with the financial issues of our lives.

What sets the Queercents Professional Directory apart from other listings on the Internet is the ability to view an extended profile and get to know the person through their articles and blog posts published on the Directory site. Click on the sample profile here to see for yourself.

We need beta testers - so we’re enlisting the help of our readers. If you know professionals in your personal network, please ask them to join the Directory (e.g. financial advisors, accountants, attorneys, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, professional coaches, etc). They can sign up here.

In return for being a beta tester, Queercents will waive the $150 annual fee for the first year. After they complete the registration process, they just need to email: nina [at] queercents [dot] com with their user name and we’ll override the fee (do not pay via the Paypal prompt. Repeat: do not pay via the Paypal prompt). Their listing will then go live after they upload their profile and then they can start blogging on the Directory site. Going forward, we’ll highlight a Directory member listing on the Queercents home page once a week. Read the rest of this entry »

Our resident frugalista has opted to post less frequent at Queercents. This means there’s room for another writer to be our homespun voice of thrifty; offering readers prudent and pennywise ideas to save money and live a more simplified life. It’s a primo slot [Monday mornings] and one where we’d be looking for a weekly commitment to post.

If you gaze over to the categories listed (right hand column), you’ll see that Frugality has garnered the most posts. As of today (279) is the current count so if you take parsimony to the extreme and enjoy writing about it, then send an e-mail to: nina [at] queercents [dot] com and explain why this tightwad slot should have your name on it!

The posting requirements from a travel writer are less stringent (consider the commitment to be more like a summer fling!) and with summer just around the corner, Queercents readers have travel on their minds. If you’re well versed in how to take trips on a budget and willing to share your tricks of travel, then let me know. Staycations were so last year: we are ready to log some miles and need a guide.

Um, keep in mind these writing slots are volunteer. That said, we’re gaining visibility with our weekly press releases and we’d be happy to create some buzz about you! That’s the best we can offer. By the way, we’re not too demanding, but it helps if you’re proficient with WordPress blogging software… we’re all about being self-sufficient queers and uploading your own content makes this babysitting gig a heck of a lot easier for moi!

Photo credit: stock.xchng.