The Tuesday After Vacation Monday Linklet

We drove back from the mountains of North Carolina yesterday, and I’m not even going to pretend I’m sorry this is posted late.

The Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance and included my post How Much Energy Does That Appliance Use?.

Be sure to check these great posts:

• The Financial Blogger from The Financial Blogger wrote a no-BS article about How To Find A Good Financial Advisor. It was Part 1, and I can’t wait to read more in the series.
• Jesse from You Need a Budget, teaches his son, Porter, some hard money lessons in A Four-Year Old, a Light Saber, and an Invaluable Lesson in Personal Finance.

The Carnival of Life at Mixed Metaphor.net included my post Prevent Drowning – Water Safety Tips for Parents.

Don’t miss:

• Laura Scarborough’s recollection of a conversation overheard in white trash wedding at Adventures in Juggling. Oh my!
• Jane at Kidzarama shares A Quick Lesson in Fursing, something I am very good at myself, dadgummit!

The Carnival of Money Stories Edition #66 was hosted at My Good Cents this week. My article The New World Of Airline Travel was included and awarded a 🙂 – their version of an Editor’s Pick. Thanks!

Many great reads this week. Check out:

• Martinique at Queercents shares her story Asking The Hospital To Forgive Your Debt. This is a great post and has inspired me to write about other ways to save on your medical and hospital bills. Look for it soon!!!
• RC at Think Your Way to Wealth wrote 10 Money and Life Lessons I Learned from My Father. Not only is it excellent advice, it’s poignant because it reminds me of my own childhood.

The Festival of Frugality was hosted at Budgets Are Sexy this week and included my article You Know What I Did This Summer – Save Money!.

Also check out:

• What I pay for health care by Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme is a really fascinating look at someone who sees prevention as the answer. Can’t say I disagree. Of course my old boss did the same things and dropped dead of a heart attack at 58, but still…
• Fun and Frugal in Western North Carolina by Stephanie at Stop the Ride!. She writes about her recent frugal vacation to Western North Carolina (where I am now). I adore Asheville, and it’s our #1 choice of new hometowns. Just wish there were more jobs…

The Money Hacks Carnival was hosted at Sound Money Matters this week and and also included the article You Know What I Did This Summer – Save Money! (Whoops, didn’t realize I submitted the same article to two carnivals!).

Still worth checking out, especially these two posts:

• Greener Pastures at Greener Pastures offers a humorous look at the difficulties of frugality in My Dog Ate My Coupons.
• Ask Mr. Credit Card at Ask Mr. Credit Card talks about how making the smart financial choice may hurt your credit score in Finances vs. Credit Part 1 of 4: Smart Financial Decisions That Hurt Your Credit Score. I can’t wait to read the next three installments!

Special thanks to Funny About Money for mentioning my post You Know What I Did This Summer – Save Money! in her article Moments of Fame.

Also thanks to Alison at This Wasn’t In The Plan for mentioning my article To Explore the New World of Airline Travel You Need More Than a Map in her post Friday Night Link Love: Fireworks Edition.

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Monday Escape to Magic Mountain Linklet

We’re on vacation in North Carolina and having a super-dee-duper time. Enjoy this week’s roundup!

The Carnival of Personal Finance #158 : Vampire Slaying Edition was hosted at Mrs. Micah, who chosed my post My Personal Finance Confession Project: Credit Card Rates as an Editor’s pick! Thanks Mrs. Micah!.

Also check out:

• Passive Family Income posted Is it Frugal or Stealing? at Passive Family Income. A great, thought-provoking look at different people’s sense of right and wrong.
• Rock at Happy Rock‘s post The Vending Machine 2 for 1 – Is It Frugality or Stealing is along the same lines. I found the comments very revealing!

My article Your Economic Stimulus Check Didn’t Include Money For Your Kids? You’re Getting Another Check! was in the Carnival of Money Stories hosted at The Dividend Guy Blog .

Other good reads:

• Mrs. Accountability at Out of Debt Again wrote about My Mom’s $6480 Washing Machine. b The numbers for rentals like these are staggering! Oy.
• Frugal Babe has a great article about thrift store shopping in her article 99 Cent Mondays posted at Frugal Babe. I really wish there were Savers stores in my state!

Special thanks to PaidTwice at I’ve Paid for This Twice Already for mentioning my article My Personal Finance Confession Project: Credit Card Rates in her Sunday Morning Link Love – The Colonoscopy Edition, and for writing her own – My Personal Finance Confession: Retirement Funds. Thanks, too to Anna at To Be Debt Free for mentioning that same article in their Carnival of Personal finance Roundup and for participating by writing Personal Finance Confession.

Extra special thanks to everyone who shared their confessions and/or wrote their own articles! You rock!

Monday Night Link Love – New England Edition

I’m in Connecticut this week (who decided how to spell Connecticut???), so here’s some long distance link love…

Carnivals I was in last week:

• The The Eight Little Pigs – Festival of Frugality #130 was hosted by Out of Debt Again this week and included my post Free Isn’t Really Free. A Story Of Mendacious Marketers.
• The Carnival of Money Stories was hosted at Money Ning this week and my post Fine Literature at the Great Price was included.
• The Kids and Money carnival was hosted by Money Hacks this week and my post At What Price was included.
• The  Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Consumerism Commentary this week and my post  Saving You Money So You Can Buy More Toys was included.
• The Carnival of Family Life: Father’s Day Edition was hosted by On the Horizon this week and my post Fine Literature at the Great Price was included.

My post Free Isn’t Really Free. A Story Of Mendacious Marketers made appearances in two round-ups this week.  Special thanks to The Digerati Life for mentioning  it in their article Celebrating the Diva Cup, Emergency Funds and the Carnival of Personal Finance and to Living the Cheap Life for the link love in Blog carnivals and link roundup – 6/18.

I’m out of town this week so I’m not going to give you my picks.  Check out the carnivals for terrific stories!

The May-as-Well-Name-it-Tuesday Monday Links

I completely forgot to do the post this week. Can’t understand why, with everything going on…

The Carnival of Personal Finance: Songs of Summer was held at Prime Time Money this week and included my post Hospital Income Policy A Terrific Buy For My Family – How About Yours?.

My faves:

• Blunt Money makes procrastination a good thing in her article Procrastinate your way to spending less. Way to justify! I do this sometimes. I thought I was being lazy…
• The Q Family Adventure wrote a terrific and timely post featuring 13 Fun (Free) Things to do This Summer. We’ll definitely be partaking in some of those!

The Carnival of Money Stories #63 – Gather Round the Campfire! was hosted at Bible Money Matters and included my post Protect Your Privacy and Your Identity with a Free Second Phone Number.

Other great posts:

• The Perfect Home is a Financial Nightmare – Don’t Get Caught Up In the Costly Race by The Personal Financier is a much-needed wakeup call, and something I’ll keep in mind as I’m shopping for my new house.
• The very interesting Paying Cash Saved Us Over $1,000 posted at The Happy Rock. It’s harder to let go of cash when it’s, um, CASH.

The Carnival of Family Life: Father’s Day Edition was hosted at On the Horizon and included my post Fine Literature at a Great Price.

Also check out:

• Remodeling This Life’s terrific slice of life post Big Moments. Going for ice cream in the summer is one of my favorite childhood memories, and I’m making sure we give Son some of those, too.
• Have No Estate Plan? Try This Guide to Wills and Trusts published at The Digerati Life. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this lately, and what we have in place may not be adequate. More in a post of my own to come…

Great job to all the hosts! Thank you!

The Finally On Time Monday Linklets

The Carnival of Money Stories was hosted at Finance Gets Personal and included my post Lottery Tickets Are a Complete Waste of Money. Unless You Win.

I also liked:

• I am a phantom power ninja over at Bumblefucked. Okay, I admit it. I love that blog name. But her article reminds us to unplug things that we’re not using to save money on electricity.
• Teaching Kids About Money at LivingAlmostLarge is thought provoking. Should schools or parents teach about personal finance and financial responsibility. Personally I think both, with the parents doing the lions share.

No Debt Plan hosted Festival of Frugality this week and included my post Great Deals Lose Value When they Sit. And Sit. And Sit.

Also worth reading:

• Funny About Money’s post What’s a Thing Worth? It’s a great perspective on the non-monetary cost of things.
• Frugal Tips I Can’t (or Won’t) Do at My Dollar Plan. There’s things I won’t do to save a buck, either. And I was frankly appalled by Brring. Egads.

The Money Hacks Carnival was ably hosted by Broke Grad Student this weekand included my post Security Alert: Lock Bumping.

Also interesting:

• I can be as forgiving of the grocery stores as Blueprint for Financial Prosperity in the article Shrinking Products Mean Inaccurate Unit Prices. At least for a little while. Grocery stores need to catch up. Thanks for the heads up – I hadn’t noticed!
• Sound Money Matters has a great post on How to Rescue Old Fruit. I already knew the banana one, as I often make my World Famous Banana Bread. And did you know you could freeze those mushy bananas until you’re ready to use them? Yup!

Thanks, too, to Think Your Way to Wealth for including my post Great Deals Lose Value When they Sit. And Sit. And Sit in his (her?) Weekend Roundup-Bring On the Heat Edition. Thanks, too, to Amanda at Value For Your Life for including that same post in her Festival of Frugality Weekly Picks. I’m so glad you like it!

Thanks again to all the hosts for their hard work. See you next week!!!!

Monday Link Love – The Finished the Post But Forgot to Publish It Edition

The Carnival of Personal Finance #154 was hosted at Canadian Dream: Free at 45 this week. My post Time and Effort are More Valuable Than Money was chosen as an Editor’s Pick, so thank you very much!

Also clickworthy:

• Single Guy Money writes a great post about his Twelve Year Car Loan.
• After reading Do you recognize this bag at first glance? No?…. You’re just like me, I am just as baffled as Fabulously Broke is.

The Carnival of Family Life was hosted at Colloquium and included my post The Sunscreen Controversy.

Also check out:

• Always a source of amusement, All Rileyed Up posts about tooth-brushing in Look at Them Pearly Whites.
• Like Happy Crazy Mom talks about in Confessions of a Non-Soccer Mom, I think I’m going to be the odd woman out at certain activities.

The Festival of Frugality was hosted by Funny About Money this week. My article I Don’t Wanna Work! was included.

I also really liked:

• Sound Money Matters‘ post 9 Nearly Free Ways to Entertain at Home. These are great ideas to spend time with people you like without having t o break the bank!
• Saving Advice’s The Benefits of Saving Habits That Make You Look Poor actually made me chuckle a bit as I thought of people giving me things out of charity because of my frugal ways. I haven’t noticed anyone doing that – yet.

The Carnival of Money Stories Edition #61 was hosted at piggybankblues and included my post A Frugal Girl’s Decidedly Not Frugal Wedding.

As usual, everyone’s stories were great. Check out:

• Switching roles with your spouse when paying the bills at Money and Fitness Blog. Both spouses should know what to do…
• Frugal Tool Chest Tip #2: The Dynamics of Finding the Item You Want Cheaper by The Happy Rock shows how to find what you want cheaper. I don’t usually do this much work, but they got quite a savings!

The Money Hacks Carnival was hosted at Prime Time Money and included my article Paying for Peace of Mind.

Other good reads:

• Erica.biz wrote Save Thousands of Dollars In Five Minutes or Less With My “Secret” Coupon Hacks. She has some great tips in there. I’m still going to use my under $1 coupons, though!
• Bible Money Matters has a very interesting article called Drive Free Cars and Retire Rich!. I’ve never read Dave Ramsey, but apparently have been kind-of doing this anyway. We’ve paid cash for our last two cars and plan to for our next ones. I just have to start investing the money we’re saving…

I had entered the Carnival of Everything Finance quite awhile ago and it was finally time for publishing. It was hosted at Everything Finance Blog and included my article Competitive Credit.

Of interest:

• I found the article Open Houses – Did You Know? timely, as we are about to put our house on the market. Most of the real estate agents I’ve spoken to have told me these are a waste of time – that mostly all you get are neighbors and looky-lous. I can see that they are a lot of work, too. Still, I’m going to insist on one.
• Her Home Blog’s post 3 Things That Appear On Your Credit Report was also timely. It’s always good to understand your credit report better.

A very special thanks to PaidTwice at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… who was as affected as I was by the news story I wrote about in Does Anyone Ever Get Over Being Bullied? to mention it in her Monday Morning Link Love. She also mentioned I Don’t Wanna Work in that same post. Good to know I’m not alone, not that I thought I was.

Special thanks also to My Good Cents who included my post I Don’t Wanna Work! as one of her favorites in this week’s Festival of Frugality.

Special thanks to CAN I GET RICH ON A SALARY for mentioning my post Time and Effort are More Valuable Than Money… in the post Four Blog Carnivals of the Apocalypse!.

Thanks again to all the hosts!!  Carnivals are a ton of work!

Monday Linkfest, Memorial Day Edition

The Festival Of Frugality – If I Had A Car Edition was hosted at The Financial Blogger this week. My post A Little Something is Poison to Emotional Spenders was included.

Also check out:

• Teaching a Spender to Save at at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…. A battle, but winnable!
  
• Break Bad Habits to Build Your Frugal Fu at Frugal Fu. As she says, these tips work for any bad habit.

My article My Economic Stimulus Check Didn’t Include Money for My Kids! was in the Money Hacks Carnival this week, along with several other articles on the Economic Stimulus check.

Also of note:

• Some People Think We Are Bad Parents… at Mrs Nespy’s World. I agree that the best gift we can give our son is to not have to rely on him financially in our retirement. My in-laws purchased a pre-paid tuition program for Son and we pre-paid the fees, but Son will be responsible for most of the rest.
• Avoid getting cheated! at moneylandmarket.com is worth the read just for the last paragraph. Something that never occurred to me…

The All About Celebrities Blog Carnival was hosted at Fashion Trendz and included my article Brushes With Fame.

• If you’re headed to Branson, MO this summer, you might find Six – Best New Shows In Branson posted at Branson Travel Attractions worth a read.
• Silveral talks about the life coach trend in How Celebrities Achieve Their Life’ Goals With Life Coaching posted at Celebrity News, and Gossip.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #153: the Q & A edition was hosted at Money and Values this week. My article Your Safe Deposit Box Isn’t As Safe As You Think It Is was included, and seems to have creeped out quite a few people.

Must reads:

• Our Allowance System: New and Improved is a terrific allowance program that is nearly identical to the system I was creating in my mind for Son. Thanks to fivecentnickel for being my own personal test market!
• Personal Finance Lessons Learned from Yard Sales at SavingAdvice talks about why things end up at yard sales and how we often overprice to try to make up for our bad buying decisions. Um, yeah. I’ve done that.

The Carnival of Money Stories was hosted at College of Cash and included my articleThe Best Financial Move I Made in College.

Other articles I liked:

• If you know me then you’d have guessed Should you buy presents early to save money on your holiday shopping? was bound to make my roundup. This great article over at MoneyandFitnessBlog talks about some of the same pits I have fallen into while pre-shopping. Now I’m more organized about it, and it’s working pretty well!
• Life Lessons of a Military Life talks about a new website with Quizzle – No Straight A’s for Me!. Sounds really interesting. I’m going to go get my scores!

Special thanks to FireFinance for mentioning my post Your Safe Deposit Box Isn’t As Safe As You Think It Is in Sunday Review #21 – From Safety of a Safe Deposit Box to America’s Wake up Call with High Gas Prices.

Also thanks to Moolanomy for including my post A Frugal Girl’s Decidedly Not Frugal Wedding in hisThe Best Wedding Tips and Stories Giveaway.

Another Late Linklet

I’m late on the linklets again this week. So much to do…

The Carnival of Family Life was hosted at Write from Karen and included my post Do I Have to Pay to Appreciate Them?.

Other good posts:

• Amy Vernon at ice cream is not for breakfast submitted The zero-second rule. She talks about other food myths. Good to know!
• I had to read this one just based on the title: The Icky Gooey List of Disgusting Things Only Parents Would Do… posted at Parenting Squad

The Carnival of Money Stories was hosted at Money Walks this week. It included my post How I saved $10 in Gas.

Also check out:

• Frugal Dad talks about his epiphany in A Personal Finance Wakeup Call.
• Dough Roller presents How to Turn Mistakes into Opportunities.

The Festival of Frugality was hosted at Quest for Four Pillars and included my post 10 Free or Almost-Free Last Minute Mother’s Day Gift Ideas.

Two more good ones:

• I like Pinyo’s frugal or cheap test. Sometimes it’s more frugal not to be cheap.

• Pro Bargain Hunter is thinking of buying an electric bike, and so are we.

Also, thanks to Fathersez who mentioned my article Do I Have to Pay to Appreciate Them? in his Roundup post. And more thanks for agreeing with me.

Thanks again to all of the hosts for the great effort!

Monday Links-A-Lot

The Festival of Frugality was hosted at Frugal For Life this week. It included my article Stamp Prices Are Going Up, Even if You Don’t Care.

More terrific articles to read:

• I enjoyed The Ethics And Economics Of Used Baby Clothes by Kelly at My $mall C€nts. I have also sold at garage sales, but you get much less there than on consignment or on Ebay. I’m very excited that I just finally found a kids’ consignment store near me. Yay!!! If items were handed down to us I offer them back to the person who gave them, but if they decline I feel no remorse for selling them. I give away many of Son’s clothes, too.
• Cash Money Life‘s Save Money with Refurbished Electronics is very informative. Now I ‘ll actually consider buying a refurbished product!

The Carnival of Money Stories was hosted at Free From Broke this week. My article My Economic Stimulus Check Didn’t Arrive When Promised!, my most popular article ever, was included. Apparently lots of people didn’t get their checks!

Great posts include:

• Fire Finance’s $6000! Save Your Hard Earned Money! . The little things really add up!
• PaidTwice’s post Healthcare Feel Like Throwing Money Down A Drain? Good, Sometimes. I feel for ya. I have one of those coming up, too. Do we know how to have fun or what?

The Money Hacks Carnival was hosted at Save and Conquer and included my article Bank Fee Phobia. I’ll try not to be insulted that he thought it only “somewhat humorous”.

I also liked:

• Single Guy Money talks about Reasons to Join A Credit Union. I was in one in college and joined one after I bought my last car to get a really good extended warranty for a really good price. They’re not nearly as hard to get into anymore, either. The one I joined has a branch in my local WalMart!
• Dough Roller wrote a great roundup of Tax Rebate Deals–Supersize Your Economic Stimulus Payment. I’m not going to be using any of them, but I keep checking back to see if Costco or Publix appears on the list!

I’d also like to thank Quest for Four Pillars for including a link to my post I am a Stay at Home Mom. Here’s How I Finagled My Finances to Make It Happen. in their post Everyman’s Guide to Decreasing Expenses.

I’d also like to thank Donna at MSN MoneyBlog for including Stamp Prices Are Going Up, Even if You Don’t Care in her post Snail-mail bargain: Time to buy forever stamps.

Another great week. Thanks to all the hosts for their hard work, and to all the bloggers for great material!

Edited to add:

I mistakenly left the wonderful Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week at the Alpha Consumer Blog at US News and World Report, off of this week’s links.  Mea  culpa.

They did, though, include my post Why Life Insurance for Kids Isn’t Always a Bad Idea along with a ton of other great articles!

Thank you~

Monday Linklet – I’m Feeling the Love!

The Festival of Frugality was hosted over at Sound Money Matters this week. I’m honored that they chose my post Bigger Packages Are Not Always A Better Value as an Editor’s pick. Thanks!

Other clickworthy articles:

• Buxr wrote Understanding “refurbished” — practical shopping tips. I’ve always been wary of buying refurbished items, but these tips make me think I may can get a good, safe buy.
• Funny About Money‘s article My Most Cost-Effective Renovation Projects shares her great reasons for the choices she made.

Lazyman and Money hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance this week and read all 114 entries. I can forgive him not putting my actual blog name or the actual title of the post, as he did include Why I Don’t Let My Mortgage Company Pay My Insurance and Taxes.

I admit I didn’t read all of the included articles, but these two caught my eye:

• I loved, loved, loved How to benefit even more from your Flexible Savings Account. Melissa at Finessing My Financials thought of something I didn’t. I’m not sure I can do it since my FSA is automatic debit, but I’m going to find out!
• Chica at One Snarky Chica with Issues lives up to her blog title and writes an almost painful to read article called Watching Others Be Financially Retarded. We all know people we’d like to shake, don’t we?

The Carnival of Money Stories included my post Husband Had a Date With Another Woman, And I’m Worried.

The stories this week were great!

• I nodded along with Becky at Family and Finances when I read her article How NOT to Handle an Inheritance. She wants to shake people, too.

• Happy Rock wrote Breakdown – Is Triple A(AAA) Worth The Money?, and for me the answer is a resounding yes! First, my Dad still pays for this and I’m not even embarrassed. Family plans are cheaper, and he likes knowing we’re safe. Who am I to argue? Second, I’d buy it anyway because of the other discounts I get (did you know about the 10% off at Payless Shoes?). Most importantly, if I break down on the side of the road I like the peace of mind of not having to figure out whom to call.

The Carnival of Family Life was hosted at Diary of 1 this week, and included my post Love Uncluttered.

• I was chastened reading Debbie at Destroy Debt’s article Paying Attention to the “Fill Line” Will Save You Money. I do not pay attention to the fill line. I don’t even use the cap – I just depress the pump until I think I’ve poured enough. How embarrassing.
• I got a laugh out of Tipper’s article Lightning Strikes & Granny at Blind Pig and the Acorn.

There were lots and lots of non-carnival mentions this week, which are super-flattering:

• Thanks to Emily at Remodeling This Life for including my post Free Yourself in her Weekend Roundup – The Happiness Edition.
• More special thanks to PaidTwice for including Am I Getting Smaller or is the Furniture Getting Bigger? in her Carnival Fun From Around the Web.
• Even more to Mrs. Micah for including How I Use My Bank Accounts to Manage My Bills and Save, Save, Save in her 6 Word Autobiography Roundup.
• Many thanks to Funny About Money who mentioned Why I Don’t Let My Mortgage Company Pay My Insurance and Taxes in her Moments of Fame roundup.
• My Daily Round, a blog I’d not visited before, mentioned I am a Stay at Home Mom. Here’s How I Finagled My Finances to Make it Happen in her post Living A Decent Lifestyle.
• Frugal Babe, another new-to-me blog, also mentioned that same article in her post Carnivals and Festivals.
• Alison at This Wasn’t In The Plan included Wish I Had Some Pretend Money in her Link Love post. Thanks, Alison!
• Another great Personal Finance blog, Can I Get Rich on a Salary, mentioned My Husband Had a Date With Another Woman in their Blogorama—Weekly Carnival Round-Up.
• A post I wrote that didn’t get nearly much attention as I thought it would, Is Your Decision Not to Vaccinate Your Child More Important Than the Population’s Health at Large?, was mentioned at Wife, Mommy, Writer, Etc. in her post Dodging the Shots. I’m glad you liked it!
• I was inspired to write Why Life Insurance for Kids Isn’t Always a Bad Idea as a counterpoint to a post Mom wrote at Wide Open Wallet. She was kind enough to link back to it. Thanks, Mom!

Whew! That’s a lot of link love! Thanks so much!