Welcome to the 101st Carnival of Debt Reduction!

August 20th, 2007

And welcome to the new and improved location of my blog at www.paidtwice.com! I took the plunge last week and got my own domain after blogging for the past several months on a wordpress.com blog. My regular readers will notice the theme got an update, my spouse and I have been working behind the scenes to tweak the blog’s look and unveiled it just last night. Thanks for visiting and if this is your first time here, you can learn more about me here, and feel free to subscribe to my RSS Feed and the aggregated M-Network feed as well!

On to the carnival! There were many high quality submissions this week. I learned so much reading all of them! There were many great and inspiring on-topic submissions as well as a number of off-topic but well-written entries, I have included the off-topic ones at the end in the “Beyond Debt” category. It is good to think about what could be in the future even when struggling with the present.

The 6 editor’s picks this week for required Carnival of Debt Reduction Reading are:

My favorite article this week was from Teaspoon, with Do You Have an Emergency Fund? - If Cash is King, Then Don’t Neglect His Good Looking Brother, the Prince of Credit! posted at Teaspoon Finance . Honestly, I loved this article, despite the fact that I don’t agree with the whole basic concept presented in it. It is a well-written, very well-thought out discussion and drew me in despite the fact that it is contrary to my opinion. Enjoy!

My next editor’s pick is Matt at One Million and beyond who presents The Emotional Impact of Debt. I could relate to much of this article. Debt can be such an emotional as well as financial weight on your whole being.

My next editor’s pick is at Personal Finance Blog Articles and is How To Start Saving Money. If we don’t save we’ll never be prepared to be debt free. This article was a great read for me.

My next two editor’s picks are about the same topic but slightly different perspectives, and both great plans for action. How do you get out of debt? Looking at these two plans will probably help! First up is glblguy with Key Steps You Can Take Now To Get Out of Debt posted at Gather Little By Little. Another list of steps to take to get out of debt is at Moolanomy, presenting presents 10 Baby Steps to Financial Recovery. Both these articles can teach anyone at least one new consideration in debt reduction.

My final editor’s pick comes from Lynnae, who writes about The Power of Advertising, as Demonstrated by My Son at Being Frugal. It may be that I have a 3 year old that constantly chants “Blue Clue! Blue Clue!”, but this really resonated with me. Teach our children well.

I organized the rest of the carnival by general topic: Debt Stories, Dealing with Debt, Consequences of Debt (or don’t get in debt at all), and finally, Beyond Debt (the finance related but not quite debt related posts). Enjoy!

Debt Stories:

The Financial Blogger presents Paid off car: one more step to financial freedom! posted at The Financial Blogger. Finishing paying any particular debt is such an achievement!

NCN presents Dave Ramsey Rocks! (Even IF He Is Bad At Math) posted at No Credit Needed. NCN was the first personal finance blogger I ever read and he is a testament to the fact that Dave Ramsey’s method does indeed work.

Dealing with Debt (the largest category!):

David at My Two Dollars brings the next installment of his excellent “Get out of Credit Card Debt” Series, The Start Digging Out Of Credit Card Debt Challenge - Week Five. I am a participant in his challenge and I have successfully gotten Capital One to lower my interest rate following his plan. I’m a believer.

A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog presents 100k In Credit Card Debt Is No Reason To Go Bankrupt. Bankruptcy is a very serious step, think about what else could come first.

Nine Circles presents Tithing and Debt posted at Nine Circles of Debt. I’d never read this blog before and I added it to my RSS feed. Thanks!

I don’t know much about debt consolidation, but there were two submissions about it this week if you want to learn more about it. Mortgage Blog presents Debt Settlement for Reducing Debt. And Abdulrasool presents How to Create a Debt Consolidation Plan posted at Debt Consolidation Loans.

Prince of Thrift gives a visual presentation with Top 24 Ways To Destroy Your Credit Cards posted at Becoming & Staying Debt Free. I love the list.

Saving Advice Blog presents 51 Ways to Save Thousands on the Costs of Borrowing Money. If you need to borrow this is where to look first.

Consequences of Debt:

FMF presents Your Bad Credit Could Cost You $1 Million posted at Free Money Finance. Your bad credit could be costing you a fortune! Be informed!

My Debt Relief Blog presents Consumer Debt Is A Financial Killer. Lots of information about consumer debt and why you want no part of it.

Grit in my Teeth presents Don’t be a slave to debt. Just don’t get in debt at all.

Beyond Debt:

Aaron Wakling presents Protecting Your Credit Card Information Online posted at The Credit & Credit Card Blog.

Eric Hudin presents Protecting Your Finances and Assets Offshore posted at My Estate Planning Career Blog.

Allen Taylor presents Good Stock Investments - How To Spot The Best Stocks For Your Portfolio posted at Investing World Today.

Thomas Humes presents Value Creation Creates Wealth posted at Wealth Building World. I am so fond of this idea.

Bryan C. Fleming presents Buying into a Down Stock Market posted at Bryan C. Fleming.