If you’re interested in getting on the waiting list for the ING Direct referrals, pay attention here. By subscribing to our RSS feed with feed-reading software such as Google Reader or aggregators such as My Yahoo, you’ll always be aware of new content here.

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I’ll announce when the waiting list is open once again, and with an RSS subscription, you will be one of the first to know.

Social Media

Twitter is old, it was recently busted, but it is now the hotness. Therefore, please feel free to follow me on Twitter. My updates tend to be somewhat random non sequiturs but occasionally I might write about something pertaining to personal finance. I don’t simply duplicate my RSS feed.

If you’re a member of Facebook, visit the page for Consumerism Commentary and become a “fan.” Also, feel free to view my own profile and add me as a “friend.” You can also find me on StumbleUpon (FlexoCC), Digg (FlexoCC), and del.icio.us (Flexo).

I apologize to any users of Internet Explorer who were unable to access Consumerism Commentary for several hours on Friday. Apparently, something was wrong with some of the web statistics software I (and millions of other webmasters) was using. The service provider, SiteMeter, changed their code and caused presumably thousands of websites to be inaccessible or producing warnings for users who use Windows and Internet Explorer.

I’ve removed the broken service temporarily. While webmasters everywhere are aware of the problem, SiteMeter hasn’t published any information on the issue. For a company so involved with the web, I would have expected better communication about the problem.

Thanks to Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity who was kind enough to send me a text message while I was away from the computer to let me know about the problem.

Here are the most popular articles on Consumerism Commentary during the month of July 2008.

1. The Correct Way to Pay Off Personal Debt: The Debt Avalanche
2. 2007 New Jersey Homestead Rebate: Receive Up to $2,000
3. Just Like Apple’s MobileMe, But Free (by Smithee)
4. Net Worth Competition: Don’t Compare Yourself With Others
5. Four Day Work Week: Is it a Good Idea?
6. Your Opinion: Do Women Find Wealthy Men Attractive?
7. Personal Income Statement, June 2008 (Net Income: $4,364)
8. Personal Balance Sheet, June 2008 ($155,596, -1.5%)
9. Heads Up: E*TRADE Bank Increasing Savings Account Interest Rate Tomorrow
10. More ING Direct Referral Links Needed: Join the Waiting List

Thanks to the following websites that sent the most traffic to Consumerism Commentary during July 2008. RSS readers and search engines are not included in this list.

1. Get Rich Slowly 0
2. The Simple Dollar +5
3. Money Saving Mom new
4. MSN Smart Spending new
5. MoneyBlogNetwork -2
6. AllFinancialMatters -2
7. Five Cent Nickel +1
8. Free Money Finance -2
9. pfblogs.org new
10. Milion Dollar Journey new
11. MyMoneyBlog new
12. No Credit Needed -7

Five years ago today, on July 16, 2003, I began Consumerism Commentary, writing a short post about myself, the purpose of this website, and my first “public” financial update. By that time, I was about a year and a half into a corporate job, a change from my previous non-profit, arts-related life. I had already reformed my spending, controlled my credit card usage to only what I could pay back each month, and reduced my student loan debt.

Since then, I’ve continued to chronicle my financial progress on this website through monthly financial reports, and Consumerism Commentary quickly expanded to cover the latest financial news and my thoughts about a variety of money-related issues.

Rather than patting myself on the back for the apparent success of Consumerism Commentary over the past five years, or providing a year-by-year summary of the site’s progression, I’d like to open the floor to readers. Last year I formulated a reader survey to determine more about this website’s readership in terms of demographics and interests, but this year I’d like to keep things less formal. Please feel free to leave some comments, particularly if you’re a long-time reader, to let me know what you’d like to see here, leave tips, or just wish Consumerism Commentary a happy five year anniversary.

As June comes to a close, I’d like to thank visitors, readers, and commenters who enjoyed or contributed to Consumerism Commentary over the past month. I particularly like to mention the blogs and related websites that helped sustain Consumerism Commentary by linking here and providing paths for visitors to arrive. Here are the websites, not including RSS readers, social media websites, and search engines, that sent the most visitors to Consumerism Commentary over the past 30 days.

1. Get Rich Slowly +2
2. Lifehacker 0
3. MoneyBlogNetwork +3
4. AllFinancialMatters +4
5. No Credit Needed +7
6. Free Money Finance +4
7. The Simple Dollar 0
8. Five Cent Nickel new
9. My Open Wallet new
10. I Will Teach You To Be Rich -7

Here are the most popular articles from the month of June.

1. Getting Ripped Off for New Jersey Gasoline: Inaccurately Calibrated Pumps, Part 2 and Part 3
2. Carnival of Personal Finance #157: Third Anniversary Edition
3. McCain vs. Obama: Your Future Tax Bill
4. How Much the iPhone 3G Really Costs You
5. Passive Income: Real Estate? Blogging? I Don’t Think So
6. Quicken 2009 Beta Open to Volunteers for Testing
7. How I Could Find $10,000 Per Year if Necessary
8. Personal Income Statement, May 2008 (Net Income: $9,943)
9. Obama Proposes Second Economic Stimulus Package
10. Personal Balance Sheet, May 2008 ($158,793, +7.8%)

Perhaps not. But if you do like getting notified whenever there’s a new blog post here, I suggest subscribing to the Consumerism Commentary RSS feed. This way you’ll be able to read entire articles here in the format and method you like. For example, try adding Consumerism Commentary to Google Reader or My Yahoo.

If you prefer receiving notices via email, enter your address on this form, and FeedBlitz will help you subscribe.

Your email address will be used for nothing other than daily updates generated by Consumerism Commentary. I won’t sell your email address to any third party and I won’t send you any junk mail.

Social Media

Follow me on twitter.

If you’re a member of Facebook, visit the page for Consumerism Commentary and become a “fan.” Also, feel free to view my own profile and add me as a “friend.” You can also find me on StumbleUpon (FlexoCC), Digg (FlexoCC), and del.icio.us (Flexo).

At the end of each month, I recognize other websites for sending traffic to Consumerism Commentary during the last thirty days. This was another record month for Consumerism Commentary in terms of visitors, and I hope many of you were convinced to subscribe and return. Here is a list of websites, excluding search engines, RSS readers, and social media websites, that sent the most traffic to Consumerism Commentary over the past month. I’ve also included a number to show each site’s movement on the list since April.

1. MSN MoneyCentral new
2. Lifehacker -1
3. Get Rich Slowly -1
4. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity 0
5. I Will Teach You to be Rich new
6. MoneyBlogNetwork -1
7. The Simple Dollar -4
8. AllFinancialMatters -2
9. Consumerist -2
10. Free Money Finance -3
11. Wise Bread new
12. No Credit Needed -2

Here are the top 10 visited articles from the past month, based on visits to the web site. Readers who view articles in their RSS software but don’t visit the website directly are not included when calculating this list. Once again, the most visited article this month was the Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate Calculator, originally posted in January. That isn’t included in the list below; only articles written in May plus the last few days of April are figured when determining this list. The list below shows that the Economic Stimulus is still foremost on visitors’ minds.

1. Didn’t Receive Your Economic Stimulus Payment Yet?
2. Would You Tell Your Boyfriend You’re Rich?
3. 1,500 Economic Stimulus Payments Sent to the Wrong Accounts
4. If You Had Filing Fees Deducted From Your Tax Refund You Will Receive a Paper Check Rebate
5. What to Do With Your Economic Stimulus Payment (or Any Found Money)
6. The Only 7 Investments You Need
7. Personal Balance Sheet, April 2008 ($151,079, +5.3%)
8. Sallie Mae Reporting Incorrect to Equifax, Dropping FICO Scores
9. Personal Income Statement, April 2008 (Net Income: $717)
10. Chrysler’s $2.99 Gas Guarantee: A Bad Deal

There are no new posts for this morning other than this monthly reminder. By subscribing to our RSS feed with feed-reading software such as Google Reader or aggregators such as My Yahoo, you’ll always be aware of new content here.

If you prefer to have daily updates emailed directly to you, simply enter your address below.

Your email address will be used for nothing other than daily updates generated by Consumerism Commentary. I won’t sell your email address to any third party and I won’t send you any junk mail.

Social Media

If you’re a member of Facebook, visit the page for Consumerism Commentary and become a “fan.” Also, feel free to view my own profile and add me as a “friend.” You can also find me on StumbleUpon (FlexoCC), Digg (FlexoCC), and del.icio.us (Flexo).