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Get Your Money Together: your purr-fect finance workbook

Created by Lillian from Oh My Dollar!

A fun, accessible illustrated workbook for your money - with cats explaining everything from budgeting to retirement.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Passion planner giveaway, Philly/DC meetup, and Amazon reviews!
over 5 years ago – Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 08:29:58 PM

Hello fans of fiscal meownagement!

Everyone has gotten their packages at this point, and I have had so many folks send me pictures of their adorable kitties (and puppies and stuffed otters) with the book and it makes my heart grow so big each time. Please keep em coming!

I hope you like the book, and I have one big favor to ask of you:

Can you please leave an honest review (re-mew?) on Amazon? We're finally live on Amazon! I know that purrsonally reviews on Amazon are my #1 motivation (or dismotivation) to buy a book. It would make my July to see a few reviews up before I head to my conference next week. Especially if they contain kitten pictures. 

Here's the link to the book to leave a review!

Mewt-ups in Washington DC + Philadelphia 

If you're in the DC area, I'm in town next week and we're having a casual book signing and meetup to talk purr-sonal finance at Busboys & Poets (2021 14th St NW location) from 5:30PM to 8:30PM on Friday, July 27th. Please stop by if you can. You can find us by looking for the cat signs! I'll also have books to purr-chase and look at if you were an ebook only backer! (Shoot me an email back if you're planning on joining so I can grab enough seats!)

If you're in the Philadelphia area, I'll be signing books and petting cats at the Kawaii Kitty Cafe from 2PM to 3PM this Sunday, July 22nd.

Giveaway!

A passion planner, a year of rescuetime premium, a copy of the book and more!
A passion planner, a year of rescuetime premium, a copy of the book and more!

If you'd like to get entered to win a sweet "Meownage Your Life" package, you can enter this free giveaway here.It includes the planner I use every single day (not my exact one, that one is filled with cat stickers), a year of rescuetime pro, and more! Or send it to a friend who needs some more life organization. 

If you're going to be at Podcast Movement next week, come find me! I'll be either dressed as Bowie or wearing lots of cat accoutrement. Come say hi!

See mew soon!

Lillian

I shipped 398lbs of cat books around the world - video + stats!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 11:18:08 AM

I've been putting off writing this update for awhile, because it feels so "final" when in fact there's lots left to do. This self-publishing thing is a paw-cess and I have a long list of things yet to do for the book, but 99% of backers have received their books now and I owe you an update!

I spent 38 hours shipping books, and I really enjoyed writing y'all notes and seeing how widespread the purrsonal finance advocats are around the world. Check this out: 

A description of where all the books went
A description of where all the books went

I timelapsed the shipping weekend, and you can see that our Chief Feline Officer, Dora, supervised and tested all the USPS shipping crates for nap-ability.

Even for those as far as Australia and Singapore, tracking numbers have told me that the postal fairies have delivered your books and stickers and cat bowties and zines. It appears I only packed two orders wrong out of 358 shipments, which is a pretty good success rate (and I have corrected both of those orders). No one has yet has reported their goods were damaged in transit - yay - please shoot me an email at [email protected] if there were any issues.

I have absolutely loved seeing you and your kitties with a copy of Get Your Money Together. Please keep the pictures coming!

Thank you to all the kittens who have sent in pictures!
Thank you to all the kittens who have sent in pictures!

Three Easy Things You Can Do to Help Spread the Mews

1. The book should be out on Amazon early next week, anxiously hoping for your honest reviews and cat pictures. (It really helps with other people finding it as Amazon needs 25 reviews before it will rank the book.) I'll send an email as soon as the book is up.

2. If you have a chance, please post a picture of the book on social media with the tag #purrsonalfinance. Kitty helpers are a bonus!

3. Maybe watch this short 401Kittens video if you need a break.  Some adorable adoptable kittens help me explain 401Ks.


I hope you're doing meownificantly! Look forward to hearing about your financial goals and how you've conquered them!

Lillian

P.S. I'll be doing a mini-podcast/cat cafe outing/book signing in Philly + Washington DC the week July 21st - 27th. I'll follow up with details soon!

UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS! 515lbs of books are showing up at my house today!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 18, 2018 at 07:54:40 AM

Hello all! 

After a lovely launch party last night (watch the video feed here for the mini podcast if you like, the podcast starts at 26:47), I woke up to a delight this morning: 515LBS OF BOOKS ARE ARRIVING TODAY! They weren't supposed to arrive until Tuesday of next week, but after a journey from China through Kentucky and Alaska, they have touched down in my city.

If you have moved since you originally filled out the backerkit survey, PLEASE update your address on the Backerkit Reminder email sent out this morning. No action is necessary if you haven't moved in the past 5 months. I start shipping on Sunday afternoon, so I want to make sure your books get to you at the right time!  Updating through the survey is the best way to do it, not sending me a direct email. If you can't find the survey, email me, though!

If you have any gift requests, or want me to write a special note or something on your book, please email me at [email protected] and I'll make sure I get it set up for you!

Thank you all for your help on this journey, and I CANNOT WAIT to have you and your critters receive the book. I really couldn't have done it without mew.

Lillian

BOOKS HAVE LANDED! Launch Purr-ty is tonight - join the livestream!
almost 6 years ago – Thu, May 17, 2018 at 08:15:27 AM

Hello lovers (or reluctant purr-ticipants) of purrsonal finance, 

I HAVE THE MOST EXCITING NEWS! Due to numerous delays with packaging and customs, the first order of books have been over 2 weeks late. BUT AS OF YESTERDAY EVENING, the first two books have finally landed. You can see me open the books yesterday on live video here. Check out that gold foil!

What does this mean for you?

Well, the 515lbs of expediated books have finally cleared customs and have boarded a book plane and currently are set to arrive on Tuesday next week, at which point I will immediately start packaging them up to send to you all! You will receive tracking in-fur-mation for your books and stickers and bowties next week. Books will arrive for most folks by end of the month (except for the Australians, sorry).

Want to see the books right meow? Join us at the launch purr-ty tonight!

Tonight in Portland we're having a little launch purr-ty for the books. You can see the 2 copies that have made it stateside, get some adorable stickers, eat some cat-shaped snacks, and hear a live mini-show. 

The purr-ty will be at Kate Bingaman-Burt's studio, Outlet PDX, where she creates amazing books, zines, and large scale art about her purr-chases. She even paints large canvases replicating her Target receipts! It's a magical space, and I'm so honored she let us join for the party! You can RSVP and get all the details here.

If you're not in Portland, you can still join the launch fun by watching our 15-minute mini-show livestream tonight at 6:15PM Pacific. Click here to join!

Book printing is wrapped! See the stickers!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 01, 2018 at 01:23:08 PM

Printing of the books is finnnnallly complete! 

I just got word from our overseas printer that the book has wrapped up being printed today!! Finally! 325 of the 1,000 books are being packaged up and put on a plane this week from Shenzhen, China to Portland, Oregon. That’s supposed to take about 10 days. Once they hit Portland, I’m bundling them up with your adorable stickers, cat bowties, and Lawcat zines and shipping them out to you. I’ll send out a 72-hour warning to update your address in Backerkit, just in case you move in the next 2 weeks. If you’re in Portland, you can also pick up your book at the launch party on May 17th.

The other 675 books are being put on a literal slow boat from China and will arrive several weeks later. Those books will being going to shops, Pay It Fur-ward recipients, and will be purr-chasable on Amazon. 

Kitty Starbudget Stickers!
Kitty Starbudget Stickers!

Lessons learned with my first print book

I definitely thought I was special and I was going to deliver my first-ever crowdfunded shoestring budget print book exactly on time, not late like nearly every other Kickstarter. Nope, I’m late, because I learned the same lessons many others have learned, including some of these: 

  • Print books are not the same as zines. In my life I have made and helped other people make hundreds of zines. Yes, being a zinester helps with self-publishing a book but books ≠ zines. I can't do another print run later with some white out if I find a mistake. I can't produce a batch of 100 and then do a second edition of 50 later. Books, also, are extremely heavy compared to zines. Heavier = more expensive to ship (I’m spending thousands on shipping the books from the printer to me). 
  • You need a LOT of margins. My old middle school trick of contracting the 1/2 inch required margin to .33 inches to fit more words in a page backfires when you need the page to be readable. Adding margins increases your book length - significantly (we went from 120 pages to 216 pages). 
  • Ideally avoid having the president get involved with a trade war with the country where your book was printed. I don’t really know what to say about this except… yea. that. This made my original locked-in quote go up quite a bit. 
  • Book designers are skilled, smart humans and worth the money. I know how to use InDesign. I am even an okay graphic designer some days. But I am not a book designer - and if I could’ve afforded to hire one, I would in a heartbeat. I spent over 130 hours designing the book after it was done being written and illustrated, and it probably would’ve taken a skilled book designer half that time and looked better.
  • Bribe people for finding typos. We found a lot of typos collectively. You cannot underestimate the power of promised cat stickers and love in finding typos. (And yes I still found more typos after the book went to print). 



Pay it Fur-Ward

Just this month, I have been able to deliver in-person financial literacy workshops to over 80 low-income adults and youth thanks to the generosity of your contributions to the Pay-It-Forward program. Yesterday I spent the evening talking through budgeting, fixing credit scores, cats, and looking for jobs with youth at the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center, a drop-in program for homeless/transitional youth that identify as GLBTQ*. 

Some questions that came up: 

  • How do I keep myself from spending my rent and cell phone and food money instead of spending it on bathhouses and shoes? 
  • Are you a cosplayer? You dress like a cosplayer. 
  • If I am living in a tent right now, but am working to save up for an apartment, how do I prove where I have been living on my rental application? 
  • If I can keep saving $500 a month, will I be able to retire by 50? (This is from a 19 year old making minimum wage- the answer is that you can retire a lot sooner than 50 if you can save that much on that income!)
  • How do I fix my credit after selling my car back for $10,000 less than the loan?
  • If my parents kicked me out, can I still go to college if they won’t fill out the FAFSA? 

Everyone got cat stickers if they wrote down their next financial goal. They were a hit.

Scene from SMYRC
Scene from SMYRC

To wrap up: I am most excited about the books, and can’t wait to get them in your paws. And if you’re in Portland, please join us at the launch party on May 17th!

The stickers sheets included with every print book!
The stickers sheets included with every print book!