I have never posted anything on the blogs before, but I’ve been reading your postings daily for the last six months. I’ve been watching your show for years, but I didn’t think to look for your website until recently.

My husband and I had a small – yet lingering amount of consumer debt for the last five years. Usually to do with home renovations that we’d get close to paying off then rack up the line of credit to do more renovations. Although I understood the concepts from the show, I found it wasn’t until I read the article about “Four Piles of Money” that I really went “A-HA!” We had our long-term savings, and money set aside for the money bills, then the variable expense – but never “planned spending” for the larger, out of the ordinary expenses that happen throughout the year, and that’s where we got stuck on our hamster wheel of debt.

That’s just a LONG way of saying, the “MUST READ” articles for us “newbies” should be more prominent, as I didn’t discover this article until I read a blog where you referred to it.

I find the case studies interesting, but should be in a section all its own. Success posts are great, and I’m determined to post mine this winter. A goal of mine – keeps me motivated to stay on track then share with the world. Its inspiring to read about other’s accomplishments as well.

There could possible be something on “personal development” as we all need to grow as people and learn how to nourish our souls as you say. We need to pick up the pieces, not just financially, but if we have holes in our souls, maybe resources can be listed to help people do that. Some of the “relationship rescue” activities have been fantastic, could be hightlighted more on the website.

Good luck with the redesign! I’m looking forward to seeing it come together!

Any budgeting ideas for a set amount of savings and no income, how do you budget that.

I laugh when I think about how many people would pay a lot of money to buy the jars if they were available. The jars aren’t magical it’s how you use them.

I use little plant pots from my craft box. Didn’t spend a dime, (well at least not recently…)

Please please please don’t muck it up like some other websites with eight boxes of different articles on one page and blinking lights and different fonts. Simple is good, it’s the content that keeps us coming back. Having said that, there are websites out there that have modest, legitimate advertising on the right-hand margin that might offset your costs without turning off your loyal readers. Especially if you have relevant advertisers.

Content-wise I like some of the previous suggestions:
- the one about giving readers a challenge (like a short article about estate planning and then, ‘Hey everybody go update your will’) and then people can comment on their experiences if they already have a will or comment or ask questions of the community as they go through the process. Comments would show up in ‘Recent comments’ so that would keep people coming back.
- the discussion about money ethics (maybe a “What would you, the readers, do?” sort of thing – like a case study but in how to deal with people and money rather than the dollars and cents) Like the ride to the airport issue or like, how do I tell my mom I’m not coming for Christmas because I’m trying to pay off debt. Comments would show up in ‘Recent comments’ so that would keep people coming back.

Continue with your frequent dollars and cents case studies. Always interesting. Love the monthly Q&A but only catch up on it every couple of months or so when I remember it’s there. I don’t generally hit the other features because by the time I read the blog (always first!) and some of the comments, I run out of time and forget they are there.

I like the recent posts on the right-hand side of the page as they are now.

As an experiment, I went to try to find the interactive budget worksheet and gave up after 5mins. This should be much more prominent. I’ve always wondered what your budget binder pages look like. Also, I’ve often heard others describe spreadsheets and other tools they use to track their money so it would be nice to be able to post and swap them, as long as they are not proprietary.

Layout :
I envision a sidebar on the left with headings. This could be available on every page so you can jump around more easily. Content takes up the majority of the page, almost as you see it now. You may want a few other buttons (eg, home, back, top).

So the sidebar would have a list of headings/links (see descriptions below) that look something like this, with the bulleted items being drop-downs:

Home (blog)
Recent Comments
Ask Gail (Q&As)

How to Budget
How to pay off Credit cards
Why you need Insurance
Why you need an Emergency Fund
Why payday loans are from the devil

More Information
– subheading 1 (debt repayment)
– subheading 2 (caregiving)
– suheadings 3 (divorce, splitzville)
– subheading …and so on
Community
– Gail groups
– Your Story
– Success Posts
– What would you do? (aka Money Ethics)
– Your next Challenge
Tools
– Interactive Budget Worksheet
– Budget Binder pages
– share your budgeting tools
Links
– TDDUP
– The new Princess show
– Slice or whatever
– TV interview/newspaper articles
Buy Gail’s stuff
Upcoming Appearances/About Gail V-O

Home – today’s blog and comments, almost in the same format as current. Or the past five days worth in the exact format your blog page is now.

Recent Comments – same as you have it now or on the left in a sidebar

Ask Gail – for those monthly Q&As. Include a link to how to ask a Q and what info to include for this feature. Not a commenting section.

How to Budget, How to pay off Credit cards, Why you need Insurance, etc – very basic articles that are good for new people but good refreshers for people who are still working on it. I wouldn’t recommend a “Read this First” link because no one ever does.

Community could encapsulate content for us daily readers, especially the regular commenters and die-hard fans. For Success Posts, What Would You Do and Your Challenge, these could be kicked off with a blog by Gail and then would probably self-perpetuate as long as new comments and questions show up in ‘Recent Comments’. (Not as much work for Gail, I mean). I personally would much prefer topic-based groups rather than regional ones. This is the internet, after all.

Topics includes all of the rest of your categories of articles and blogs. You may want to re-sort them but I think the categories you have are pretty good. This is an awesome resource and, I think, the backbone of this website.

Tools, Links,Upcoming Appearances are self-explanatory. Could also include links to blogs you like to read (financial news or stories from a reputable source?) or other resources but not necessary.

Buy Gail’s stuff, obvious. How about selling T-shirts like the ones you sometimes made your couples wear? (‘Ask me what negative equity is?’). Defeats the purpose of your website, I know – I’m always shopping in my mind. I had better stop there.

This layout would be somewhat simple and continue to reinforce your message.

@Maureen,
I agree with you – this is one of the most uncluttered and easy to read blogs. If you ever visited other blogs – they can be jammed up with ads, so much so that you it gives you a headache just trying to read the article(s). I liked your ‘ethics’ question. First off, when I hitch a ride with someone, I almost always give the driver gas money (even family members) regardless. Gas ain’t cheap and if I don’t use my vehicle then I happy to cover gas. I don’t think you were wrong in the least. Firstly, I’d get ticked that someone that I was helping (doing a favour), couldn’t have been on time (pet peeve of mine) in the first place. Good thing she made her flight – guess it would have been your problem/fault if she missed her flight. If she won’t cover the cost, just don’t offer (or agree to help) the next time this person needs to get to the airport.

The home page could probably be organized a bit better, either with drop-down menus / tab across the top so that you can just click a tab heading or a ‘back’ / ‘forward’ button. Also, under the success posts / your story – maybe just a monthly archives tab. I don’t check that every time I’m on Gail’s website, but a quick drop down button would mean I could just click “Aug 09” and read only those entries, for example.

You are doing a wonderful job Gail and I hope that it doesn’t burn you out to keep on going.

I love everything that I have read that you have written Gail. I only wish I had more time to read it all. I love the way you blend a financial site with a life site. I find the interaction in the comments section to be fun and fascinating. Never bland. Love all the ideas and posters – especially the crazy ones since just because you colour outside the lines doesn’t mean you can’t have something very valid to contribute.

One thing that I would like to see is a discussion about money ethics. Not just the big complex things but the little personal things as well. I can best explain this by example:

Big Stuff: CITI Bank in the states took a 45 billion dollar bail out which has yet to be repaid and are now using 4.5 million to send lobbyists to Washington to fight the new credit card protection laws. They say this 4.5 million does not come out of the bailout money but refuse to say where it comes from. Some members of my family are CITI Bank credit card holders whose interest rates went up so I am furious and feel impotent since I know that writing another nasty letter to them is pointless. Apparently what they are doing is not legally wrong but is what they are doing ethically wrong and what can we the consumers do that will really help protect ourselves?

Small Stuff: A friend asks you to drive her to the airport to avoid the taxi fare or the long term parking fees. You arrive on time at her house but she is not ready so you actually leave 50 minutes late. Traffic is bad now so you are even later and as you approach the terminal she is panicking, sees an empty spot in front and yells “just pull in right here and let me out or I will miss my flight.” So you pull in. She takes off and just as you are ready to pull out a policeman taps on your window and says – you ran a stop sign. You say where? and he points it out. It is right behind you but hidden by a large bus. You get a $50 ticket which you fight but are denied. When your friend returns you tell her what happened and ask her to pay half the ticket. She gets really snotty and says that isn’t fair since you were the driver so it was your fault. Should you have asked?

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I would REALLY love to see a blog or section or something for small business owners who don’t have a business degree and need to learn how to manage cash flow. This is something I struggle with at times.

I think my fav post is out-of-work-stress…although I wasn’t out of work – I WAS out of money! And I needed a kick in the you-know-what to get me off my pity pot and do something about it, and noone out there was going to help me-but me!
My favorite thing about you is your no nonsense approach to money – but your whole-hearted approach to life and family.

I haven’t really read the success posts in a while – I find I only really rely on the blog once I got things “sorted out” but the whole site was helpful starting out esp the questions you answer…I still haven’t seen mine answered yet…

But I look forward to anything new you have to offer – and you are making such a big difference in many people’s worlds (mine included) so don’t change too much! *hugs*

To Catherine, good luck with the computer stuff! Wish I could help!

I would love to see a post on switching car insurance (or insurance info in general). I just moved provinces from a public insurance system (MPI) to AB with private insurance. I had NO IDEA how much it would cost! It has worked out to four times what I thought it would be and my original estimate was based on ALOT of research! I suspect others would be in the same boat.

Also what about guest blogs, for example a lawyer blogging about the basics of wills?

What about Q&A days once a month? You always mention how many letters you get and you do a great job of answering the questions but maybe something a little more regular?

*definition of “Thoil”….I use it all the time!!!! I LOVE this word!

*defending people who may be perceived as cheap…I LOVE this quote below….I live by it…thanks Gail…Love your site + show!!!

With money comes choices. The more choice you want to have, the more money you need to save. That, by the way, is the purpose of building wealth: to create more choices. It isn’t to have the biggest house, the fastest car, or the most pairs of shoes. Wealth is all about having enough money to tell whomever to Peeezze Offffff.