February 2026 Receipts

On Friday, we sent out the 200th edition of The Purse! It was a big milestone that I forgot to even mention. That’s the thing about running your own business: It’s hard to find time to stop and celebrate.

When people ask me how to build a successful newsletter, I always tell them that the most important thing is consistency. You need to decide how frequently you want to publish and then show up every week or month without fail. Someone told me that readers won’t notice if you don’t send a newsletter every week at the same time, but I beg to differ. When Ann Friedman’s newsletter doesn’t land in my inbox on Friday afternoon, I wonder what’s up.

Of course, consistency isn’t the only thing you need for success. Alicia and I are pouring our hearts into The Purse. I work all the time, in part because there is always so much to do, but mostly because I love it so much. I said to my mom this month that it’s getting a little dangerous. It’s so easy to open my laptop on a Saturday afternoon to do one small thing and then lose a couple of hours just managing all the different tasks that go into building a media company.

The Purse has evolved so much since I sent out the first edition in June 2023 to 200 friends, family members, and former colleagues. When I started, it was mostly a personal, blog-y type newsletter where I mused about life and spent too much time agonizing over leaving my corporate media job.

I moved The Purse from Beehiiv to Substack in January 2024, which was a game-changing decision and marked a period of explosive growth. I went from fewer than 1,000 subscribers at the start of 2024 to close to 12,000 as we rang in 2025. I also got more serious about the types of stories I published on The Purse, launching Home Economics and Division of Labor. Having these go-to franchises on my editorial calendar has made it easier for me to be consistent each week. I never struggle to come up with an idea for a newsletter topic.

When Alicia joined in the fall of last year, everything changed again. This is no longer a one-woman show, and The Purse is so much the better for it. We started publishing a weekly roundup newsletter, which allows us to tackle more timely topics, and we rolled out new franchises, including 30-Something and Work History.

In January, The Purse moved again from Substack to Ghost and got a really fancy redesign. Elsa Ienna of Palette Studio is responsible for the look, color palette, and logo, and Alicia’s husband, Chris Skinner, creates 90% of our opener images and social images. We’re so grateful to have him on our team. He’s kind enough to put up with me asking for last-minute opener requests on Saturday afternoons. (Alicia handles the other 10%. I’ve retired from my Canva asset-making days!)

This week, I was in the backend of Ghost, upgrading this week’s Home Ec writer’s account so he would get the complimentary six-month paid subscription we give all the participants. He already has an annual subscription, and now his subscription won’t expire until July 2027. Honestly, it freaked me out a little to think about what The Purse will be like a year and a half from now. But that’s maybe my second biggest takeaway from two and half years and 200 newsletters: Times flies when you’re having fun. July 2027 might seem a million years from now, but the last two and half have gone in a blink of an eye. Hell, even the first two months of 2026 flew by. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at what we published this month.

February 2026 on The Purse

We started publishing stories every weekday this month, so I’m changing how I do these monthly recaps a bit.

In February, we published 20 stories! Here are the highlights:

Most underrated:

Every Monday, Alicia and I are taking turns posing questions to our audience. Mid-month, Alicia asked: What’s your clothing budget? The two of us love talking about clothes and fashion, but I think we were both a little disappointed that more Purse readers didn’t want to join us in this conversation. ICYMI, it’s not too late to join! And of course, you don’t have to share hard numbers!

Most controversial:

If you had asked me at the start of the month which post would generate the most buzz, I would have said the family of five in Chicago who have an annual income of $475k but also have a lot of debt. In the end, though, it was our second Work History, featuring a 51-year-old publishing sales analyst who talked about how she prioritized her family over her career. As I shared on LinkedIn, there’s a whole Reddit thread accusing us of rage-baiting, which was never our intention! But the response makes me want to dig in more to the tension women feel about their own ambition as they juggle work and motherhood.

Most popular:

Far and away the most popular post of this month was Home Economics No. 46, featuring the aforementioned family in Chicago. The paid Home Economics, which was our first written by a man, who was also a high-earner, was also very popular and brought in more than 50 new paid subscribers.

Most helpful:

Now that we’re publishing every weekday, we’re rolling out more how-to stories, and we want to answer your questions. Alicia kicked things off by tackling the classic question: How do you roll over your old 401(k)?

Do you have a personal finance question you don’t want to ask ChatGPT? Email questions [at] thepurse [dot] co. No question is too basic! (Note: These how-to posts are for paid subscribers—we think this advice, which we carefully source from experts, is worth paying for! We hope you agree!)

Best comment section:

Alicia wrote about the white-collar job apocalypse and whether it’s real or just AI industry hype. The comment section on this post is so good.

Speaking of comment sections, what was your favorite post in February?

The highlight of the month for me came at the very beginning of February, when so many of our friends and family gathered at Beverly’s in Chinatown to celebrate the relaunch of The Purse. It was such a fun night, and I’m so grateful to everyone who came out to party! And a big thank-you to Greenlight for sponsoring the event!
The Purse has teamed up with Babylist to expand their coverage of families and money, especially on the topic of 530A accounts (aka Trump Accounts). We launched a spiffy new landing page, and you can sign up for their new money newsletter. You can also find me regularly sharing my thoughts and advice on their Instagram feed.
It was really, really cold in New York City this month, and it felt to me like the whole city was hibernating. I escaped to Florida for a few days to visit family, and I’m so grateful I got a little break and enjoyed some warm weather before we got hit by the blizzard. I’m also thrilled to be watching the Red Sox play spring training games. Spring will be here before we know it!

Our launch party was possible thanks to Stephanie Cook and Greenlight! Photo by Marissa Alper.

Coming up in March

It’s my least favorite month of the year: Women’s History Month. Please don’t bother pitching us your Women’s History Month–themed stories. We cover women on The Purse 365 days a year! (Also, shoutout to the dad in line at ice skating today who, when asked by his daughter which month is Women’s History Month, replied, “Every month”)
I’m going to SXSW this year! Realtor.com invited me to join its panel on one of my very favorite topics: The Rising Power of the Female Homebuyer. The Realtor.com Open House is free and open to anyone, even if you don’t have a SXSW badge. My panel is on Saturday, March 14, at 2:30 p.m. And if you’re going to be in Austin for SXSW, drop me a note! I’d love to meet up!
We’re still looking for people to participate in Home Economics and Division of Labor for March. We’re also new submissions to Work History, our travel guides, and our new meal-planning series. The Purse is better with diverse voices, so please share yours! And if you have any questions, just drop us a line at hello [at] thepurse [dot co]. (Don’t forget we pay contributors for the travel guides and meal plans.)

Support an independent women-run media company!