As Deb and I have dabbled in the world of blogging, particularly in the personal finance niche, we’ve continuously been surprised with what a unique culture it is.  There is a real sense of community amongst the bloggers, and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know many of them and interacting with them.  We were surprised not long ago when we were notified by a fellow personal finance blogger known as Mr. FI (as in “Financial Independence”), that he had nominated us for the Liebster Award!  (Mr. FI blogs over at FI Under the Big Sky, he and his wife are also serious about saving their crumbs.)

Wow!  We were SO HONORED!  Someone thought us worthy of an award even though we only started this blog three months ago?  Huzzah!  Except…uhh…what’s a Liebster Award?!

So What’s a Liebster Award?

Is it a scam?  Or a hoax?  Or some cruel joke on us newbie bloggers?

Fortunately it isn’t any of those things.  The Liebster Award isn’t exactly an “award” where you get a trophy or a prize, but it is rather a type of “pass-it-forward” blogging chain idea to help new blogs get noticed.  The award comes with a little ceremony, for which the rules are as follows:

  1. Answer a few questions that your nominator asked during your nomination ceremony.  (You can read ours here.)
  2. Spread the prestige and nominate three other newer/smaller blogs. The exact definition of newer and smaller varies, but typically blogs with fewer than 200 followers.  Ask a few questions for them to answer as you had to do.

Pretty neat idea, right?  Great way for you readers to get a bit better acquainted with us and also with some other up-and-coming blogs out in the blogosphere.

Our Acceptance Speech

1. Why did you start blogging? Has it turned out to be what you expected?

We’re one of those weird couples that enjoy talking over dinner about our budget and the interest rates on our various financial accounts.  In the few years that we’ve been married, we realized that we’ve developed a lot of strategies on saving money and philosophies toward personal finance.  We started wishing that somehow we could remember all of these things in case they ever became useful in the future.  Then it hit us.  Wouldn’t it be great for us to write about it on a blog for a record but also perhaps to help other people along the way too?  Besides, we’ve heard that for some people, blogging can even bring in a little bit of side income.  Doesn’t hurt to try, right?

So far, blogging has been a lot of fun.  We’ve been pleasantly surprised at the response from the readers, even in the short time that we’ve been online.  It’s great to know that this little hobby of ours is actually helping people get a better grasp of their financial situation.  (The jury’s still out on the income side of things, though. 🙂 )

2. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self?

Al:  “Don’t play video games.”

Deb: “Marry Mr. Crumb Saver SOONER!”

Al:  “Uh…right, I meant to say, ask Mrs. Crumb Saver to marry you SOONER!” [Nervous chuckle…] (But don’t play video games either.)

3. (Let’s keep this question going) What is your favorite type of cheese?

This is a tough one.  We try not to eat dairy, but that’s not what makes this question hard.  We were thinking of saying Daiya Cheese, but in keeping with the crumb-saving value of cooking at home, we have to give the edge to the homemade vegan nacho cheese from Vegan Yumminess.

Our Nominees

  1. Messy Money – May writes about her life and its intersection with personal finance.  As the name of her blog suggests, she keeps it real and you’ll find some real insights on personal finance from her (sometimes unfiltered) real-life experiences.
  2. Destination Financial Wisdom – Wade and his wife have 3 kids, and he writes on a wide range of personal finance topics.  His blog is all about avoiding debt, living simply, accumulating savings, and retiring early.  Sounds like we have a few things in common.
  3. Two Strange Cookies – Jake and Emily are a young couple that save over 75% of their income.  Yeah, and you thought we were a little weird.  Two strange cookies indeed!

Questions for the Nominees

  1. Why did you start blogging? Has it turned out to be what you expected?
  2. What has been your favorite blog post you’ve written so far?
  3. How did you decide on the name of your blog?
  4. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
  5. What is your favorite type of cheese? (Yes, I can’t help continuing this one.)

One More Announcement…

I also want to mention that a few days ago we had a guest post featured on the Phroogal Blog.  The guys behind Phroogal have a vision of creating a free, easy-to-use, high quality, crowd-sourced reference for all personal finance questions.  They believe that by increasing the financial literacy of the population, it will benefit everyone.  An admirable idea.  While you’re poking around Phroogal, you can also check out the post we wrote there: How Your Wedding Can Make You Rich.

So special thanks to Mr. FI for the Liebster Award nomination, the nominees for sharing their thoughts with us, Phroogal for sharing our guest post, and all you Crumb Saving readers out there who give us a reason to keep on blogging.