I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Archive for the ‘link love’ Category

Over the last two weeks, I had the privilege of participating in the M-Network‘s holiday project, The 12 Days of Christmas, Personal Finance Style.  This is a tradition we started last year, of taking the 12 Days of Christmas list from the popular holiday song, and turning it into 12 Days devoted to personal finance truisms and tips.  I had the honor of kicking it off this year with the first day, and also providing Day 8.  If you missed a day (or more) and want to catch up with the whole series – the list is as follows:

• Day 1 – The First Rule Of Personal Finance @ Paid Twice
• Day 2 – Two Financial Goals – Less Debt, More Income @ Cash Money Life
• Day 3 – 3 New Year’s Worksheets @ Mrs. Micah
• Day 4 – 4 ways to be better prepared for Christmas next year @ Gather Little By Little
• Day 5 – 5 Golden Rules To Follow During The Holiday Season @ My Two Dollars
• Day 6 – 6 Ways To Give @ Moolanomy
• Day 7 – 7 Savings Strategies @ Being Frugal
• Day 8 – Eight Simple Snowflakes @ Paid Twice
• Day 9 – 9 Year-End Money Moves @ Moolanomy
• Day 10 – 10 Personal Finance Essentials @ Cash Money Life
• Day 11 – 11 Ways To Decorate @ Plonkee
• Day 12 – 12 Steps to a Prosperous New Year @ Being Frugal

Also, even though it is already December 16th (so I am a little late!) I wanted to go back and thank my top referrers for November.  Every month, new people find my blog through other blogs linking me or my articles.  I am very grateful for these referrals because it is how the blog grows.  Hopefully you find some inspiration, laughter, or motivation to work on improving your own financial life by watching me attempt to improve my own!  Here are the 12 blogs that sent the most traffic my way in November with a link to one of my favorite and most relevant of their November (or December) posts:

1. Moolanomy:  CD Ladder Explained
2. Simple Mom:  Learn About Investing So You Can Teach Your Kids
3. Cash Money Life:  Big Ticket Items – Is It Better To Rent Or Buy?
4. Remodeling This Life:  It’s Not Savings Unless You Save It
   
5. No Credit Needed:  Ten Steps To Escaping The Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
6. Almost Frugal:  Becoming Frugal Is Like Quitting Smoking
7. Mrs. Micah:  Tips To Hold On To Your Job and Beat Debt In A Recession
8. Being Frugal:  Reusing Storage Bags
9. My Dollar Plan:  Simplify Your Holiday In Three Easy Steps
10. Gather Little By Little:  The Stress Of Two Mortgages
11. Mighty Bargain Hunter:  Investing With a Financial Advisor?  Don’t Go In Cold!
12. Frugal Hacks:  Extending Tithing To What I Already Have  (disclaimer:  I wrote this!  )

Thanks to all the sites that have sent people my way and I hope to get back into the groove of doing periodic roundup posts of the best of the blogosphere and return the favor!

My blogging friend Lynnae at Being Frugal is part of a collection of moms that blog for Walmart, so when she read my post a little bit back about my bad experience at Walmart, she asked if she could share it with her contacts there.  I said sure, and then talked via email to the corporate office, and eventually to my local Walmart’s store manager.  He was very receptive to my concerns and gave me a $20 Walmart gift card for my trouble.  So we’ll see what happens.  He even said they will take my internet-printed coupons. 

While I scour the internet for coupons I might be able to use at Walmart, here are some of the posts I found interesting this past week:

• My Two Dollars:  Comment From AIG Blog Relations (seriously, hilarious)
• Plonkee Money:  7 Ideas For Maximising Your Career (note the cute British spelling )
• No Credit Needed:  Online Calculator Calculates How Much It Costs To Drive
• My Money Blog:  Does The Stock Market Always Go Up?
• Five Cent Nickel:  Recovering From a Stock Market Decline
• Thrifty Florida Mama:  Tips To Set Aside Money For Christmas
• Chief Family Officer:  Continuing Dilemma – Public School Vs Private School
• My Super-Charged Life:  Debt-Free Is The Path To Financial Success

We are off to the zoo for the last time this year!  Have an enjoyable weekend!

Not anything that’s been going on in the news, just that our Sunday newspaper subscription started today.  Hurrah!  The paper was waiting on my porch for me this morning.    Not any hugely interesting (to me) coupons this week, but that was okay.  The paper also had a number of circulars I have never seen in the version I buy in the store – I don’t know if this is a special circular week or if there are stores that just put their circulars in the subscription version.  None of them were stores I shop at or anything but it was just interesting to me.

While I peruse my Sunday paper and make plans for my grocery shopping this week, check out these interesting posts from around the personal finance blogosphere this week:

• No Credit Needed:  How I Live Without Borrowing Money
• Cash Money Life:  The 2008 Financial Crisis – Causes and Effects
• Being Frugal:  Before You Sign That Rental Agreement
• Gather Little By Little:  Real Estate Investing 101
• Moolanomy:  How To Save Your Home From Foreclosure
• My Two Dollars:  A New Economic Agenda I Can 99% Agree With
• Quest For Four Pillars:  Buy Low Sell High
• Dough Roller:  Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Of 2008
• Frugal Hacks:  Cheerful Frugality Faces Financial Meltdown

And I did manage to submit to three carnivals this past week:

• The Carnival of Personal Finance was at DebtKid, where I was an editor’s pick.  Thanks DebtKid!
• The Carnival of Debt Reduction was at On A Quest To Be Debt Free
• The Festival of Frugality was at Value for Your Life.

I need to get organized and beat the 5pm deadline to submit again this week!   Have a nice Sunday!

As always, some great discussions on the blog this week, including the economy, frugality, and even some deals.  Here are some posts from around the blogosphere (a word I saw in a mainstream newspaper this week even!) that made me think or were awesome tips I wanted to spread around:

• All Things Being Equal – via Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge (what a simple and great analysis that cuts right to the chase of why we want and why we don’t need)
• Identity: The Problem Money Can’t Solve – via Frugal in the Fruitlands (and I still am not sure I’ve found my answer)
• Frugal Clothing and Laundry Strategies – via Thrifty Florida Mama (I do the clothes inventory with my kids and it has saved me countless pointless shopping trips!)
• Coupons Make You Buy Things You Normally Wouldn’t – via Tales From The Road Less Traveled (and yay for that!)
• Perk Up Store Brand Coffee – via My Daily Dollars (you know I am working on frugal yet tasty coffee!)
• Frugality vs Self Sufficiency – via Brip Blap (great food for thought)
• In Times Like These, Separate The Want From The Need – via Wisebread’s Paul Michael (and more great food for thought)
• Best Certificate of Deposit Rates  – via Blueprint for Financial Prosperity (in case you need somewhere for your money that’s short term and stable)
• From Pennies One Million Dollars Grows – via Our Fourpence Worth (I love the small steps, big things)
• A Little Something Learned About Apartment Living – via Master Your Card (yikes!)

I also entered some carnivals last week, including:

• Carnival of Debt Reduction at No Debt Plan
• Carnival of Personal Finance at Sound Money Matters
•  Festival of Frugality at My Two Dollars

Check those out for some more great reading!   I need to get off my figurative duff and enter some of next week’s carnivals before the clock ticks to zero…

I may author a personal finance blog, but it is more focused on the personal part of personal finance.  I’m no expert, and I am as befuddled by the recent economic goings-ons as many of you are.  Some of you, I am sure, know more than I do.    So this morning, among other things, I gathered together some links from around the personal finance blogosphere that have more insight than I do:

• AIG Crisis is hitting close to home – via Moolanomy
• Fed Bailout could cost $1 trillion of your dollars – via My Two Dollars
• Inside the Economic Rescue Plan:  One Giant Bailout – via Five Cent Nickel
• Weathering the current financial storms – via Plonkee Money

And here are some other articles I enjoyed this week as well:

• I am NCN, Lord Of The Idiots – via No Credit Needed, and no he’s not an idiot
• How to make an accumulation a collection – via Mighty Bargain Hunter
• Why not budgeting is more frightening than budgeting – via Mrs Micah
• Are You Really Ready To Buy A Home – via Single Guy Money
• How To Draft A Basic Financial Savings Plan – via Blueprint For Financial Prosperity
• How to sell a used car – via Gather Little By Little
• Beyond CarFax – Tips For Buying Used Cars – via Cash Money Life

And I haven’t been participating in carnivals lately, but I am trying to get back into the groove.  This week I have articles in the following Carnivals:

• The Carnival of Debt Reduction at Mighty Bargain Hunter
• The Carnival Of Personal Finance at The Personal Financier
• The Festival of Frugality at Living Almost Large

so check them out for some great personal finance and frugality reading!