If you have a blog or run a website, stop reading this now and back up your files! I wrote a post couple days ago indicating that my site has been running very slowly. I’ve noticed it for awhile but the load speed was still tolerable so I kind of shrugged it off. Then one day, it was just annoyingly slow. I made some google searches looking for some answers. The only common solutions I discovered were related to caching your webpages so they’ll load after the initial caching. I tried it but did not improve the speed. Then I resolved to just wait it out and hope it would just fix itself.

It didn’t fix itself and it just became slower and slower. Average load time was about 10-15 seconds per page. One page took 1 full minute before it finally decided to load. I took action and contacted my web host provider, Lunarpages. I informed them of my situation, basically telling them that my site has been running extra slow. After providing them with Traceroute of my url from my computer, they quickly diagnosed the slow loading speed to a malfunction in one of their server that holds all of my MYSQL database. The solution they offered was to transfer the entire account to a new server. I agreed and told them to go ahead with the transfer transition.

Then it occurred to me that I should back up all of my files just in case the transition doesn’t go so smoothly. I quickly logged on to filezilla and proceeded to copy all of my files to a secure drive in my computer. One thing was missing though. My database that houses all of my posts and comments. Without them, I have no blog. I haven’t backed up my blog since I started and had no way of retrieving it because I didn’t have access to my previous server’s control panel.

I called my web host provider again and they were able to give me a link to the old server. I quickly exported my database and copied it to my desktop computer. I then proceeded to upload it back to the new server. Everything went smoothly. A clear lesson learned here is to back up all of your information and files and database periodically. If you’re not careful and have a well-thought out plan, then you could lose everything in a split second.

When I first started my blog Money Green Life, the direction of the blog I was hoping was to write articles about saving energy and saving money at the same time. Since I have extensive knowledge about saving energy, I figured it was a good match. I still have visions of carrying out such hope as I will continue writing about the topic. However, I also have been having visions of expanding and writing about other topics that I am passionate about. I love the topic of energy, I’m always in the lookout for money saving/making opportunities, and I love playing poker. If these topics were to be combined together, you get a single common denominator in personal finance.

In this new direction of the blog, I plan to write about tips, advice, and reviews of products that help save energy thus saving money as I have been doing currently. In addition, I will also write about poker strategies that I have learned over the course of a few years I have been playing. With the money saved and money earned from saving energy and playing poker respectively, personal finance will come into play and I will write about tips and strategies that help to optimize money savings.

I am very excited with this new direction of this blog. I hope that you will find it useful.