The Friday Feast ~ the 8th of January

The personal finance community is filled with so many talented writers and inspiring families in search of something better out of life than the traditional society-approved plan of buying lots of stuff and retiring in your 60s, if you're lucky.

Here is a look at the best of this week's personal finance blogs.

In this episode of Friday Feast: Our Next Life, Debt Discipline, Financial Samurai, RetireBy29, Bare Budget Guy, Enwealthen, The Resume Gap, Debt Roundup and Budgets Are Sexy.

Welcome back to reality! The holidays are over and most of us are probably back in the office, struggling to re-focus on whatever we brazenly put off in December. But hey, at least you have a blazing fast Internet connection on which to read a bunch of killer blogs.

A new blog is released!

Before we get into the blogs, a quick note about a new blog that I will be officially releasing tomorrow, but because you good folks are reading my Friday Feast, you get to see it a day early. It's a blog about life and lifestyles, finances, tips and tricks to level up your life the fun way. It's called The Power of 10. Take a look - official release, description and blog post about it mañana.

Now, onto the blogs!

First, I am always super stoked when I read about how a couple controlled their finances well enough last year to consider moving up their retirement date. That's what happened with Our Next Life and they wrote about it in a post about setting their sights higher. Love it!

Next, Brian over at Debt Discipline penned a timely article about battling the pain of having to deal with all that caution you threw towards the wind last month during the holiday season. The bills. The eating. The stuff. Now what?

My favorite post of the week

My favorite post this week comes from Financial Samurai where he wrote about the importance of perception in our everyday lives and shedding any delusional impressions that you may have about yourself.

The keys to successfully managing your perception? Think and act confidently and like you belong, but don't be arrogant. Keep a level head and conduct yourself consistently and thoughtfully, even if you're bummed. Be honest and follow through with your promises, and develop a giving mentality.

More from the personal finance community

RetireBy29 talked about what Jesus would do if he were laboriously working a 9 to 5 job. And God said, “Always contribute at least enough to your 401k to get your employer match. It’s like free money!”

Mark the Bare Budget Guy gives us some insight into when and why paying for a CPA might actually be money well spent.

Enwealthen thinks that coupons are for suckers! Okay, maybe not all the time, but hear him out!

Honorable mentions: The Resume Gap had enough of all this frugality nonsense in 2015, Debt Roundup published 20 financial quotes to motivate and inspire, and lastly, Budgets Are Sexy asked where is your Ferrari?

Photo of the week

I made this photograph of a cruise ship docked at Mallory Square in Key West, FL right before official sunset during our family vacation in late December. Check out our Key West article over on our companion blog, FullTimeExplorers.com!

Coming up in the week ahead on ThinkSaveRetire: Let's talk money management! On Monday, I will detail exactly how we use the Personal Capital web site to gain a full and complete view into our financial situation and our net worth - for free. And on Wednesday, I'm going to dive into how, despite an unstable market and general stock weirdness, we were able to increase our net worth by well over $100k.

Also, stay tuned in February for a look at someone who chose a very, very cold place to take a vacation, and what motivated her to do it.

Thanks for reading, and cheers to another financially productive week ahead!