Category — Carnivals

Try to check out the entries for this week’s Festival of Frugality at Stop the Ride.  There are a couple of pretty good submissions this week.  Here are a few that I enjoyed:

• 11 Things Buffy Taught Me About Frugality And Simplicity
  by Living Behind The Curve.  A post that combines tips on frugality and pop culture.  What else could i ask for?
• My Old Man: Frugal, Cheap, or Just Strange? by Rather-Be-Shopping.com Blog.  This is a funny post about this blogger’s Dad who is very frugal.  He sounds adorable.
• Budget: Wedding Gift by That’s Swell.  This looks like a great idea.  I may try doing this for the next wedding shower I go to.  But I think if I tried to give this as a wedding gift, my friends would likely stick up their noses and never invite me to a party again. They can’t help it … they are middle class.
• How to Buy a Refurbished iPhone by The Dough Roller.  If you have to have one ASAP this is a good alternative to selling your plasma to afford one.

HappyRock has just posted the 88th Festival of Frugality. There are too many bloggers participating now to give them all their props so check out the full list at HappyRock.  But here are some honorable mentions with some good tips and ideas.

simplyus talked about how she is slightly obsessed with coupon clipping. But damn, look at all of the stuff she got for free! I am pretty good about using my local newspaper’s coupons for certain things but I don’t get this kind of savings. I already signed up for the llnoe.com forum like she suggested.

frugalunderground posted Ten interest-saving tips your credit card company doesn’t want you to know. The frugal person who keeps track of credit card spending closely or even better, doesn’t have one probably already knows some of the things she posted about. But I didn’t know that you should be careful to write very clearly. Your check may also be passed around for five days if your handwriting is difficult to decipher. That could mean a big late fee if you were cutting it close to your deadline.

Savingwithme had a really good post also called, HOWTO: Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Deconstructed. Unfortunately my job doesn’t offer FSAs but if they did I would have one. For anyone that sees a doctor on a regular basis this is a great money saving idea. Check out his site for the basics on what is covered and what the benefits are.

FrugalForLife hosted the 87th edition of the Festival of Frugality. These were some of the best posts I have read on savings. I am still going through all of them but here were just a few that I noted:

• cheaphealthygood has some really good ideas of how to cook for picky eaters when entertaining. Cooking for a family gathering is a challenge for me! I grew up a vegetarian and when I reached an age where I could make my own eating choices I started eating poultry (no fish, or red meat though). The rest of my family has gone their own way as well. Two of us are no longer vegetarians. My mother will eat poultry and fish, no red meat. And one sister is still a vegetarian, as well as very particular about how much of her food is processed. It makes it difficult to plan a menu when inviting everyone over.
• moneyandsuch wrote The Real Price of Cheap Books. This was a really good article about patronizing your local mom & pop shops.
• creditcardlowdown wrote Penny Pincher Extensions: 20 Essential Firefox Add-ons for Frugal Web Shoppers. The name says it all. I am totally going to try some of these. Oooh, I like this Ultimate Pricechecker. Is it true that a lot of people are buying groceries online now? Doesn’t that cost a lot in shipping?
• thedigeratilife wrote Radical Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding. This is a pretty popular topic. Everyone wants to invite two hundred people to a party and pay as little as possible. But I am really posting this because they had a link for renting a wedding cake??!! Pretending the cake on the table is real but it is styrofoam? I have written about having a mini cake out for show and serving a sheet cake but this is a little weird.

I participated in the Festival of Frugality this week, hosted by frugallawstudent. I’m always open to finding good ways on living like a movie star on a burger flipper’s budget. Here are a few posts that I enjoyed. Check out the rest of them here.

• MoneyDummy wrote My Seven Deadly Couponing Sins.  Similar to a post I wrote about being smart with coupons, she gives more helpful tips for saving money. She warned of stockpiling foods, brands, or varieties that you have never tried before. Just because it just came out on the market doesn’t mean you are going to love it. And if you hate it you didn’t save money - you just wasted it. She also mentioned some great websites for sharing deals and gave tips about keeping track of your mail-in rebates. It actually reminded me that I should be receiving a rebate from Sprint!
• thesimpledollar wrote Fifteen more free things to do during a money-free weekend.  I have had a hard time having a completely money-free weekend but they had some pretty good ideas for free things to do.  I liked the idea of a local  walking tour while taking photographs or having a film festival with friends.  I actually may try that one.
• gradmoneymatters wrote Now Frugal, Now Not.  It is a post they wrote on how their spending habits go from bordering “on being miserly” to being a  “contemptible spend thrift”.  I think they were writing about me.  They mention how they stay wary of their spending trends, with guilt out of the equation, so they can respond to the warning signs when they have reached the “high” threshold.  That usually comes too late for me … like, um, when my bank account hits $0.

This week I participated in the 108th Carnival of Finance hosted by Broke Ass Student.   Since this was the first time I submitted I was really excited to read what other bloggers had to say.  Here were a few of the ones that I enjoyed reading:

My Money and My Life wrote Food, Money, and Love, a post about her and her husband’s grocery trip that ended up being more costly than expected.  It was a really sweet story and made me chuckle a little because when my boyfriend and first started dating that was the scene for most of our arguments - especially the meat department (get your mind out of the gutter people).

How I Save Money wrote Top 25 Tips On How To Save Money.  He reminds you that it’s all the little ways that you can save which add up.  I am going to try and remember that the next time I feel like I will never have enough money.

Suite 101 Personal Budgeting wrote Cheap-chic Wedding Dresses for Bridal Gown Savings. This was a pretty good article but the highlight is that she has the lists the retailers with new affordable wedding dresses, like the Targe’s line from Isaac Mizrahi.

The Money Well wrote The Iphone and the ‘I Want It Now’ Society.  I am glad that I am not the only one that thinks the the way people are drooling over a cell phone is ridiculous.  It is a great example of our out of control spending habits in this country. OK, OK, I have a Treo 755 and it is a little more complex than the average “free” phone you are offered but I didn’t buy it off ebay for twice as much as it is worth.  And it does a hell of a lot more than just play MP3s.

Millionaire Mommy Next Door wrote Create Your Treasure Map to Riches.  Now this one I thought was a little silly.  I guess that is why I am making note of it, maybe someone will refute me.  Maybe this is why I am not rich.  But literally cut and pasting your dreams on the wall seems like it would be a constant reminder of what you want.  When would you reflect on the things you already have or have accomplished.  That’s the important part.