After hemming and hawing, putting it off, and just generally being lazy, I decided enough was enough. I got several quotes for a custom WordPress design for Llama Money. The least expensive quote was for over $1,400! That’s all well and good for a site that’s bringing in thousands of dollars per month – but not quite what I’m looking for here. I can’t very well justify spending that kind of money on a theme for a personal finance blog, now can I?

So, I went the cheap route. Rather than paying a designer, I stripped down my old theme, kept the parts I liked, changed some, and added some more. What I ended up with is what you see today – a much cleaner, more modern design. Gone are the dark colors ( except the huge footer, I love that! ) I took out a bunch of fluff at the top, which moved all the content up the page quite a bit. I updated my Emergency Fund indicator, and added a tag cloud down at the bottom. Under each post is a new Social Networking section, so you can easily submit any Llama Money post to your favorite network. I also ( finally ) added related posts! The footer, of course, is all new and bold.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. It’s far from a professional job – I’m not a designer. But I think I did well, and more important, stayed under budget. Total spent on the new look? $0. Now that’s what personal finance is all about.