Am I the only one who feels like October sneaked up on us a bit? But I’m not complaining. October is my absolute favorite month.

It’s also the month I feel most homesick for the Midwest. The weather in North Carolina is beautiful right now — finally. It’s been in the 70s and sunny every day, and the humidity has finally left the air, but I miss the October chill in Indiana. I used to work at an apple orchard in the fall when I was in high school, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing warm cider on a chilly fall day.

The leaves do turn colors here at the end of November, but it’s brief compared to the several weeks when the leaves are golden in Indiana.

But I’m enjoying the cooler temperatures here, and I’m just happy to have the humidity out of my life!

Now for some good reads:

• Three ways to curb impulse spending – Not Made of Money
• Can you survive with one car in suburbia? – Wise Bread
• Lifestyle inflation is about more than you – Money Ning
• Green and frugal lessons from Mom – simple mom
• Easy green products that really work – On Simplicity

Now I’m off to enjoy the weekend. Happy Friday!

This weekend we’re celebrating my wonderful husband’s 26th birthday! I have a lot of great, frugal activities planned for the weekend (including free admission to the local art museum for Museum Day). I’ll be sure to share some pictures with you on Sunday from the festivities!

Just have to get through one last work day. But first, some great reads from around the Web:

• Credit CARD Act changes coming sooner? – Cash Money Life
• Making the rounds at the area thrift stores – Sense to Save
• 7 steps to improve your credit score – Bargaineering
• Should bank overdrafts be legal? – Mrs. Micah
• Six ways an iPhone can save you money – Wise Bread
• Best online savings account rates – Money Under 30

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and an even better weekend! See you Sunday!

I’d like to get some cleaning and organizing done around the house, but the weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend. So we’ll see what actually gets done. :)

I’ve been in an organizing mood, though. I just did some cleaning up in my Google Reader, and deleted blogs that aren’t updated anymore or that I haven’t been reading. Now I’m in the market for some new reading.

What blogs do you read? I’m looking for personal finance, simplicity, organization, and lifestyle blogs. I can’t wait to read your suggestions!If you write a blog, let me know, and if I don’t read it already, I’ll add you!

And now for some links from some of the blogs I already read:

• My Simple, Organized, Clutter-Free Desktop at Simple.Organized.Life.
• 12 Clever Substitutions That Save Money (Nearly) Effortlessly at The Simple Dollar
• A Lived in Home is a Beautiful Home at Remodeling This Life
• Living Simply is the True Test of Confidence at On Simplicity
• 9 Things Stress Can Prevent You from Accomplishing at Free From Broke

Happy Friday! Don’t forget to leave a blog suggestion in the comments!

I’m so grateful for all of the kind words of support on yesterday’s post. I was incredibly nervous about posting it — so nervous that I actually woke up in the middle of the night, changed my mind, and canceled it. But when I woke up in the morning and read over it again, I decided it was important for me to be honest if only to prove that there’s nothing shameful about my decision to try medication. I’m SO glad I decided to run it. Thank you so much for being so supportive. I have the best readers. :)

And now on to something a little more upbeat! It’s Friday, which means I’ll be treating myself to a 32 oz. fountain Diet Coke this afternoon. Back in my pre-budget days, Friday night was date night. I looked forward to going out to dinner and maybe seeing a movie. But even though we’re cooking at home every night and enjoying quiet weekends at home now, I still crave a fun treat for Friday afternoon. So I run to the convenience store on my lunch break and pick up a HUGE Diet Coke for $1. It’s the only time of the week when I drink soda, and it’s also my way of kicking off the weekend. I tell ya, I am WILD. :)

But here’s my question for you: How do you kick off the weekend? Do you have a weekly tradition? I’d love to hear how you treat yourself!

And now for some links:

• On Simplicity asks what makes your house a home? Hint: It’s not a bunch of expensive furnishings.
• Grad-Student Girlfriend, a great new blog I’ve been reading, is facing one of the many challenges of working in an office: expensive lunches.
• Free From Broke warns of debt traps for college students. I wish someone had warned me!
• Almost Frugal offers 12 5-minute money saving tips for those of us who want to slash the budget even though we’re short on time.
• The Happy Housewife has some great ideas for frugal gifts.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Photo by ginnerobot

I can’t thank all of you enough for the support and encouragement on my post about homesickness. I’ve found so much support in the blogging community for the past two years, and I know that all of this would be so much harder if I didn’t have such wonderful readers and bloggers to help me through it. To all of you in the same boat: we can get through this! We just have to stick together. :)

At the advice of the wise Kacie at Sense to Save, I’ve decided to try harder to find an in real life support group here in North Carolina. I’m searching for a book club to join for the next 16 months until we move. I’ll let you know how it goes. Those of you who commented to say you’re in the same situation, how have you reached out to meet people? If you haven’t, let’s all try! Let me know how it works for you!

The past three weeks have been CRAZY. Between the Paul McCartney concert in DC and our trip to Indiana last week, we haven’t had any time to just relax. I can’t wait to get home, park myself on the couch, and try to move as little as possible for the next 48 hours.

As always, there are errands to run and laundry to do and house cleaning, but other than that, I mean it! Laaazy weekend. We’ll see, though. :)

Now for my first round up in way too long:

From the Pecuniary Associates:

• Counting My Pennies hosted this week’s Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Also check out her post on Kiva loans. It’s a cool concept for a great cause.
• Pecuniarities shares what she learned from a summer without air conditioning. Even if you can’t turn off your AC completely, you’ll definitely be able to lower your bill with some of her tips for staying cool.

And from the rest of the blogosphere:

• Bargaineering explains how to cash out your IRA without a penalty. I don’t recommend doing this unless you have a really good reason, but if you’ve already cashed one out, check and see if you qualify for these tax exemptions. Tony and I cashed out his IRA for tuition, and we would have paid the 10% penalty of an accountant hadn’t told us we qualify for the higher education exemption.
• The Happy Housewife is sharing some great tips for menu planning. Check out her series if you’re just getting started or looking to improve your skills.
• If you’re like me, then you’re probably starting to get tired of the heat and humidity of summer. On Simplicity has some great ideas for summer activities you can enjoy as the season winds down.
• My Two Dollars shows you how social networks can save you money.

That’s all from me for the week. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Thank you so much for being so supportive about yesterday’s announcement! I am so excited for this slight change in direction, and I can’t wait to get started.

Now it’s time for me to come clean. This week, I did something very unfrugal.

We bought some concert tickets. They were only $30 a ticket, which isn’t bad. But the unfrugal thing is the concert is in Washington D.C. six hours away, which means we’ll also need a hotel for a night, and we’ll have to board the dog.

Just as we’re coming up on the last month of our no spend summer, I spent. And the only explanation I have is that it’s Paul McCartney. THE Paul McCartney. 1/4 of the Beatles!

But seriously. As unfrugal as it is, this kind of thing is reason we save. We can afford this. We really want to do it. We don’t need to do it. This money would be better off in savings. But after a summer of scrimping and saving, I think we deserve it. I would rather spend $200 on an amazing experience together than let it slip away penny by penny in daily spending that I don’t even remember.

This is what mindful spending is all about. We thought long and hard about it, and we decided that we want to do this. Because we’re frugal, we have the money, so we’re not getting ourselves into debt.

The important thing is, it doesn’t negate all of our hard work. Because we lived so frugally this summer, we saved $1500 more than we would have saved on our regular budget, even if we do spend $200 on some concert tickets. So that’s that.

And I’M GOING TO SEE PAUL MCCARTNEY NEXT WEEKEND!!! :)

There have been a ton of great posts this week, so let’s get to it!

From around the blogosphere:

• Bargaineering shares the list of the cheapest cars to insure. If you’re thinking of taking advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, these are the cars to consider.
• Small Notebook has some great ideas for how to get healthier and save money by drinking more water.
• Simple Mom suggests 10 ways to prevent overspending.
• Sense to Save hates to use her credit card because it feels like paying for purchases twice. It’s an interesting perspective that might make it easier for you to avoid charging!

And from the Pecuniary Associates:

• Budgets are Sexy hosted this week’s Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Check it out for some great posts!
• Counting My Pennies discusses the meaning of value — both financial value and enjoyment value.
• Pecuniarities shares why she lives without air conditioning in the summer. Yikes! I’m not that strong, but I sure do respect anyone who can do it!

That’s all from me this week! I’m going to get started on some brainstorming for new ideas, and I might even start on a redesign this weekend. :) Happy Friday!

I’m so looking forward to this weekend. We had a lot of fun last weekend taking a short trip out of town, but I’m looking forward to some good old fashioned relaxation. The forecast is calling for rain, so I’m happy to take a cue from the weather and spend the weekend at home.

I’ve let my house get a little messier in its dark corners than I like. It usually looks pretty tidy on the outside, but I need to spend some time dusting and vacuuming under furniture. I hope to get some of that done, but I can’t make any promises. :)

I also need to catch up on my reading. It never seems like I have enough time throughout the week to read as much as I’d like.

And now onto my favorite posts from this week:

• Northern Cheapskate shares a list of 5 things you should buy used.
• Almost Frugal compares budgeting in America and budgeting in France. Very interesting if you’ve ever considered moving (or taking an extended vacation) abroad.
• My Two Dollars offers a step by step plan for dealing with debt.

And from the Pecuniary Associates:

• Pecuniarities recommends some free shows with money-saving advice on Hulu.
• Counting My Pennies explores pricing psychology and asks, “What sounds better? $500 or $495?”
• Financial Nut takes a look at the next economic problem we may face: hyperinflation.

That’s all from me for the week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!

I’m so excited it’s finally the weekend! We’re spending the weekend seeing some live music. Tonight a Michael Jackson cover band is playing for free in our city, so we’re heading downtown to watch. This same band used to play in my college town, and it was always a great time.

Tomorrow we’re driving about an hour to see a Wallflowers concert. I bought the tickets two months ago for $15 each, so we’ve already paid for them, and they won’t affect our summer budget. The challenge will be avoiding spending extra money. I’m sure we’ll be tempted by overpriced food and drinks at the show, so we’ll have to be on our best behavior to ensure that this fun event doesn’t mess up our budget for the month. Wish us luck!

Here are some good reads from around the frugal blogosphere:

• Bargaineering shares 5 things to do when you start your first real job. I wish I had started this stuff right away instead of wasting two years of my career overspending and not saving enough.
• Small Notebook, the mastermind behind the no spend month, just finished her first no spend week of this summer. Her family’s commitment is inspiring!
• Northern Cheapskate found a cool tool for sharing recipes online.

And from the Pecuniary Associates:

• Pecuniarities saves money on clothing by shopping in the juniors section. Great method if the clothes fit!
• Counting My Pennies has some advice for retirement saving.

That’s all from me for the week! Enjoy the weekend!