#AwesomeBloggerAward – Bella Wanana

Thanks for dropping by and reading my #AwesomeBloggerAward submission! First of all, a huge shout-out to Kathryn from Cash for Kat, who nominated me for the #AwesomeBloggerAward last week. I highly recommend that you check out her blog. Not sure where to begin? Start with her most popular post, “How to Make $100 in a Day“. You may also want to complement your reading with my very own, Easy Steps to Save $100, Today!

Here are the 5 questions about personal finance/blogging:

What excites you the most about blogging?

What excites me the most about blogging is the ability to share and exchange information with the rest of the world. As stated in my About Me page, my mission for the blog is to share with the world my understanding of personal finance, one blog post at a time. I am also excited to meet like-minded people on platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. The amount of support I have received from these platforms has been unbelievable. Had it not been for Twitter, I wouldn’t have been writing this post!

What is your favourite post on your site and why?

It is quite difficult to pick only one so can I cheat and pick three?

  • How to Pay for College: Tuition Hack 101: Education is important, but tuition is really expensive nowadays! In this article, I provided some great tips and tricks that I have personally used to help me spend less out-of-pocket for my tuition. I love this article because the tips are very practical, and I can’t wait for you guys to try them!
  • When Life Gives you Free Candy, Take it!: This is a cute piece of mine that I love. It is somewhat related to personal finance because it focuses on the free things that life gives you, but deep down, it is more about gratitude. Life is made up of moments of happiness, and I love every single one of the snippets of life in this article that fill my heart with joy.
  • How to Save Money as a Book Lover: I love books! As a matter of fact, one of my lifetime goals is to have my own library at home – a room that contains only soaring book shelves, and a place where I can get lost in the smell of the print and the stories. However, as a financial-savvy book lover, I definitely have to watch out for my book budget. This article details ten different ways you can strategically save on books.

What is the best advice you ever received?

Be happy about other people’s successes.

I don’t remember exactly whom I got this piece of advice from, but it stuck with me. It has really helped me let go of jealousy and be genuinely happy about others’ achievements.

What personal finance advice would you give to someone starting on their journey?

Start tracking your expenses. This was how I started with my personal finance journey, and what a revelation it provided me! I recommend that it be your first step because it is super easy to start (all you need is a spreadsheet), and there is no pressure whatsoever. You are simply an observer to your personal finance habits.

If you need a monthly tracker to start, check out my FREE personal monthly expense tracker! You also get a bonus FREE net worth tracker on the side. What’s not to love about it?

What is your favourite personal finance book?

This question speaks to my heart’s desire. In fact, I find that there are so many personal finance books worth reading that I wrote a whole blog post, Ultimate Personal Finance Book List, about them! This list of books is carefully curated by me, and it only contains books that I have personally read and loved. What’s even better about the post? I will be constantly updating the list! So make sure that you bookmark it and check back periodically for updates!


The next set of questions are about me:

What is your favourite quote?

I am going to deviate from motivational quotes, and place a simple but profoundly lovely paragraph from Les Misérables:

All at once, at the very moment when Marius fancied her asleep forever, she slowly opened her eyes in which appeared the sombre profundity of death, and said to him in a tone whose sweetness seemed already to proceed from another world:—

“And by the way, Monsieur Marius, I believe that I was a little bit in love with you.”

Eponine from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

What would you do with 1 million dollars?

Oh boy what a fantastic dream! Plain and simple, I would pay off all my and my parents’ debts/mortgages, and use the remaining to buy a house (or at least part of a house).

If you are also on the journey towards a debt-free life, you may be interested in checking out some strategies that actually work!

How do you de-stress after a long day at work?

I like to listen to music. My favourite YouTube channel is alexrainbirdMusic. The channel showcases some of the most amazing independent pop, folk and rock music. I highly recommend that you check it out!

What is your guilty pleasure?

It is probably going through old birthday cards that I have received over the years. They take me down the memory lane.

If you could live anywhere, where would you live and why?

Anywhere warm with beach, sunshine and palm trees.

Bella Wanana’s Awesome Blogger Award nominations:

I would love to nominate the following five lovely bloggers from the personal finance community:

Let me know when you finish the post so I can add the links to your articles to my post here!

Here are the rules:

Here are my questions for you!

Have fun guys 🙂

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