Tag Archives: carnivals

TGIF Link Round Up: Film Festival Edition

This weekend, Tony and I are getting out of the house. I was able to get free tickets to an independent film festival through my work, so we’re spending the weekend watching movies. Usually this type of thing isn’t my cup of tea, but I knew my movie buff husband would love it, so we picked out some movies that look good to both of us. I’m just excited to get out of the house without spending any money.

At some point between film screenings we’ll have to fit in our regular weekend errands, including groceries, the last of our Christmas shopping, and cleaning. Hopefully we’ll have time to get it all done!

It’s been a great week in my reader. Here are some of my favorite posts to kick off the weekend:

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has 34 do-it-yourself Christmas gifts. There are lots of great ideas here, and the best part is they seem easy enough that anyone could do them.

Trent at the Simple Dollar has a compilation of the 25 best money-saving tactics. This is a great place to start if you’re just getting started with the frugal lifestyle.

Lynnae at Being Frugal shared an interesting guest post from Amy at My Daily Dollars about how blogging helped her save $13,000 without bringing in any direct income. It’s hard to quantify, but I know blogging has helped me save thousands and given me the tools to save thousands more in the future.

Paid Twice shares five concrete ways to pay yourself first. Saving takes a lot of discipline, but these are surprisingly easy ways to stash a few bucks in savings quickly.

Simple Mom cools off house fever with a long term plan. We’re already looking ahead to a house purchase even though it’ll be years before we can do it, and having a solid plan in place makes it easier to wait.

When Emily at Remodeling this Life wants to get away, she looks to her own town for fun tourist activities. Sometimes there’s a lot of frugal fun right under your nose.

Kelly at Almost Frugal shares a guest post from Nicole at Breaking Even about how losing weight can save you money. It’s amazing how much getting healthy can save, not just in food and bad habits but also in health care costs down the road.

Penelope Pince at Pecuniarities writes life is too short to sleep on low thread count sheets. I’m constantly asking myself where I should cut corners and what’s worth a little extra money. I think bedding is one of those things that’s worth a little extra money. Of course, if you shop around and look for a deal, you’ll be surprised at how little you pay for high-quality sheets.

Whew! Lots of great posts to read. I’m off to the movies (after work of course). Happy Friday!

TGIF Link Round Up: Post-Election Edition

What a crazy week! As exciting as Tuesday night was, I’m happy to say buh-bye to all the political ads. To be honest, though, the political junkie and journalist in me kind of misses the excitement leading up to the election. Definitely not the ads, though. :)

In the post-election return to reality, I suddenly feel like the holidays are sneaking up on us. Only three weeks to Thanksgiving! Does anyone else feel like that came out of nowhere?

This weekend I hope to pick up a couple items on our Christmas shopping list, as well as a couple items for our Thanksgiving menu. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it!

And now for my favorites from my reader this week:

BeCentsAble offers some wonderful suggestions for giving thanks by giving back this holiday season.

Patrick at Cash Money Life shares some tips for getting a great deal on holiday travel. Luckily, we’re avoiding air travel this year all together by staying home for Thanksgiving and driving a fuel efficient car to see family for Christmas.

Simple Mom has some great tips for increasing your income when cutting expenses isn’t enough.

Kacie at Sense to Save saved some money by taking advantage of price adjustments. When I worked in retail, I was amazed that more people didn’t take advantage of this.

Free From Broke shares 6 ways eating out less has made his family better. It’s amazing how much money and quality time can go to restaurants.

Christina at Northern Cheapskate collected a fantastic list of repurposed household items from her readers. Lots of great ideas!

Here’s to a great weekend. Happy Friday!

TGIF Link Round Up – Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween! On the right are the pumpkins we carved last weekend. The scared one on the right was mine. Sorry about the crummy quality. I just grabbed the camera and snapped a picture for posterity. :)

Tony and I have a full night of scary movies and popcorn ahead of us tonight! But first a link round up!

I hosted the Festival of Frugality this week, and it has an appropriately spooky theme. If you haven’t had a chance to browse the best of frugal blogging this week, I suggest you check it out. Lots of great ideas!

And here are my favorite posts from my reader this week:

Green Baby Guide has some great tips for simplifying dinnertime when things are stressful.

Lynnae at Being Frugal shares her frugal moving tips. We’re already looking ahead to our next move in a year and a half, and I’ll definitely keep these ideas in mind.

Mercedes at Common Sense with Money crunches the numbers and uncovers the real cost of layaway offers. Yikes! Very timely as many retailers bring this practice back.

Paid Twice offers an interesting perspective about dieting and food costs. I find that one of the number one ways to reduce the food budget is avoiding overeating.

Andrea Dickson at Wise Bread shares three reasons to stop freaking out about socialism. This is something to keep in mind as the election draws so near, especially considering the particularly nasty and misleading turn of the campaign lately.

I hope all of you enjoy your Halloween tonight! Be safe and have fun!

Festival of Frugality #149: Monster Mash Edition!

In honor of Fright Night on Friday, this week’s Festival of Frugality pays homage to famous Halloween monsters. Enjoy!

Editor’s Picks:

Naturally Frugal shares some ideas for saving money by taking proper care of your body, possessions and the environment. It really is true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Finding Financial Peace presents a guide to making after-holiday sales work for you. With a little advanced planning, you can get some great deals on holiday items for next year.

Sound Money Matters shares 7 homemade Christmas gifts that don’t suck. These are great ideas for cutting holiday gift expenses without cutting important people from your list.

Christian Personal Finance tested whether driving slower increases gas mileage. The results are pretty amazing.

Money Ning questions whether buying in bulk really saves money or just ends up costing you more. Definitely an interesting perspective.

Frugal Living

The Part-Time Life conserves water and saves $180 a year by taking advantage of her city’s low-usage rate. Definitely worth checking to see if your city offers a program like this.

Economic Crunch offers tips for cheap eats at work. Lunches out are a drain on your wallet and your health. These are some great tips for avoiding it.

Financial Tales shares a fun story about teaching young people the value of frugality by explaining how much their monthly Starbucks expense could grow if invested.

Higher Education Weblog offers a lengthy list of tips for cutting discretionary expenses. This is a great place to start if you’re just getting into frugality.

Monroe on a Budget shares frugal living tasks you can do while waiting for your kids at dance class. It’s always a good idea to be productive, right?

Miss Thrifty offers a glowing endorsement for Freecycle. I’ve never tried it, but this post certainly makes me want to.

Think Your Way to Wealth shares some great tips for saving money on pet expenses. Pets can definitely be expensive, and these are some practical ideas for cutting the costs.

Frugal Fu passes along a link to the $2 challenge, which asks the question, “Could you eat on $2 a day?”

Saving Advice offers tips on how to live like a “freegan” — someone who only pays for things when he absolutely can’t find a way to get them free. There are tips in here for everyone, even if you’re not that extreme.

FIRE Finance provides a practical guide for generic prescription drugs. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would buy the pricier brand name drugs if there’s a generic available.

Financial Wellness Project writes about 6 lessons from a frugal past. I think we’ve all developed our frugal habits from past experiences, whether they were positive or negative.

Engineer a Debt Free Life finds enough food to make 29 meals just by going through the pantry. Amazing what you’ll find in there once you start organizing.

Nature Mom’s Blog shares a review and thoughts on the book, “America’s Cheapest Family.” I haven’t read the book yet, but it looks like it’s full of helpful tips.

Home

Master Your Card presents the benefits of renting. People are in such a hurry to buy a home, but I agree with this post. There are some great benefits to renting until you can afford to buy a home the right way.

Condo Blues shares a handy tip for making moth repelling lavendar sachets. These natural pest repellants are frugal, easy, and environmentally friendly.

Passive Family Income offers tips for decorating with tropical plants the frugal way. Plants really are an inexpensive way to beautify your home. If only I could keep them alive!

On a Quest to be Debt Free shares some ideas for frugal, easy bedroom makeovers. I could definitely use some help with this myself!

Funny about Money shares tips for winter gardening. I’ve had some bad luck with gardening in the past, but maybe these tips will help me out!

Frugal Pursuit is also thinking gardening. She shares her own frugal tips for autumn gardening.

HowToMe shares a delicious recipe for banana cake “so good it doesn’t even need frosting.” Yum!

Budgeting, Saving, and Investing

Budgets are Sexy asks, “Do you feel guilty for using your emergency fund?” I would definitely be hesitant to move money from my emergency fund, but that’s what it’s there for, right?

Raag Vamdatt shares a guide for auto sweep facility investing for higher-interest savings. Seems like a great way to earn a higher interest on your liquid savings.

Shark Investor offers timeless tips for successful investing even in a down economy.

Career

Free Money Finance discusses the importance of job interview preparation and practice. You can never be too prepared for a job interview, especially in this economy.

Debt

FruGal asks, “Is there such a thing as good debt?” Personally, I think there’s only bad debt (credit cards, etc.) and tolerable debt (such as mortgages). But I’d rather avoid debt all together.

Ask Mr. Credit Card reviews “The Complete Guide to Credit Repair.” Seems like a good read for those in need of help with bad credit.

Miscellaneous Money Matters

Living Almost Large explores the pros and cons of contracts. I agree with this post; as long as both parties understand the terms of the contract, then it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it can certainly be a hassle.

I hope you all enjoyed Festival of Frugality #149! If your post was included, please remember to link back within the next week.

Happy Halloween!

TGIF Link Round Up: Finally Fall Edition

It’s been awhile since I did a round-up! First we were out of town, then celebrating my birthday, and last weekend I was just being lazy. I’ll be hosting next week’s Festival of Frugality (yikes), so I wanted to make sure I was current on my reader and in the loop in the frugal blogosphere!

With the temperature FINALLY cooling off, I’m ready for a weekend of fun fall activities. We’re carving pumpkins, making cider, and celebrating the fact that the air conditioner has finally shut off for good this year. I’m looking forward to seeing our electric bill cut in half for the next few months!

And now on to the round up!

Deal Seeking Mom wrote a great series this week about bringing in extra income. My favorite post in the series was about blogging for income using affiliate sites.

Dana at Not Made of Money shared some great tips for increasing your liquidity during these times of economic stress.

I love the way the Happy Housewife views the drop in gas prices. Instead of spending it, she’s looking for the best way to use the extra money that she’s not spending on gas.

Kelly at Almost Frugal shared some great frugal pet tips. This is a topic close to my heart. I think it’s important for people to recognize that a pet is a big financial commitment, but like all other things in life, there’s definitely a frugal way to do it!

Christina at Northern Cheapskate shared gift ideas that help others save money. I love the idea of giving the gift of savings and spreading frugality to the people you love.

Kacie at Sense to Save wrote a fun post on varying degrees of frugality. I guess it all depends on how extreme you want to be! I usually find myself somewhere in the middle of the scale.

I hope you all enjoy a beautiful fall weekend! Happy Friday!

TGIF Link Round Up: Surviving the economic crisis edition

With everything that’s happened in the economy in the past two weeks, there’s been a lot of buzz in the personal finance blogosphere and the news on the topic. Though the topic of tonight’s presidential debate is officially on foreign policy, the candidates have agreed to spend some time on the economy as well.

In times like these, the question on the minds of most everyday Americans is, “What can I do to protect my own finances?” In my opinion, the best thing you can do for yourself is spend less and start saving more. Today I’m sharing some tips from other personal finance bloggers on simple ways to minimize living expenses and cut back spending.

Paul Michael at Wise Bread writes about separating your needs from your wants to minimize spending. This is the first thing you should do if you’re learning to live on less.

Our Fourpence Worth shares an exhaustive list of 101 ways to save money in everyday life. It’s amazing how “tiny leaks” can add up to a bucket throughout the month. (Check out the fun design on the post, too!)

Not Made of Money shares a great method of organizing your pantry stockpile. Stockpiling is a great way to take advantage of store sales a minimize grocery costs, but organization is key to making the most of this system. A cluttered, disorganized pantry can lead to wasted food and overspending.

Lynnae at Being Frugal challenges herself to plan meals based on her leftover pantry stockpile once a month to clear things out. This is a great method for taking stock of your pantry and ensuring you’re not letting things go to waste. It can also be a good way to cut spending if you’re having a particularly tight budget week.

Paid Twice discusses what to do if your current grocery budget (or other budget) isn’t cutting it, but you don’t have the extra money to increase it. It’s important to make sure your budget is constantly updated to reflect your current needs, but it’s also important to ensure you’re not increasing your budget due to unnecessary overspending.

I’m off to see what the candidates say about the economy. Happy Friday!

TGIF Link Round Up: Getting out of the house edition

Tony and I are homebodies for the most part. The good news is staying home doesn’t cost much. The bad news? It can make things pretty ho-hum. We’ve been spending too many weekends working around the house and running errands.

It’s absolutely beautiful outside tonight, so we’re heading downtown for a stroll.

But first, a round up!

The Personal Financier hosted this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance and included my post on our method for meal planning.

On a Quest to be Debt Free hosted the Money Hacks Carnival this week and my post on how you don’t have to choose between your favorite hobbies and frugality.

My favorite posts from the personal finance blogosphere this week:

Kacie at Sense to Save wrote about working expensive ingredients into your grocery budget. We try to split these purchase up throughout the month to decrease the impact on our weekly budget.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly wrote about how and when to cancel a credit card. Great tips to keep your credit report clean and avoid negative affecting your credit score.

Dana at Not Made of Money shared five grocery items that haven’t increased in price. Incorporate these foods in your meal plan more often to reduce the impact of rising prices on your grocery bill.

Free From Broke shared a simple equation for saving money and staying out of debt. Yes, it really is that simple.

Tiffanie at We Like Money wrote about how she’s saving money on college textbooks. It’s rarely necessary to pay the full sticker price for these expensive books. Luckily, my husband is studying creative writing, so most of his books are novels and short story collections. He’s only had to buy a handful of books so far … he checks most of them out from the library.

Wow, Trent at The Simple Dollar has some productive weekends! He spends his days off making his own beer, wine, compost, and cheese. Pretty impressive!

And now I’m off to start my weekend by enjoying this beautiful weather. You should, too! Happy Friday! :)

TGIF Link Roundup: Another birthday lunch edition

Another birthday lunch in the office, which means I’m eating solo today. But it also means I have time to write a post while enjoying delicious leftover stuffed manicotti courtesy of my husband the master chef. Yum!

I participated in three carnivals this week:

My post on working an unexpected raise into the budget was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Banker Girl.

Frugal Babe hosted this week’s Festival of Frugality and was kind enough to include my post on protecting your freezer stash in a power outage.

And finally, my post on the unexpected expenses of a sort of emergency was included in this week’s Money Hacks Carnival hosted by Living Almost Large.

I have lots of things to share from the personal finance blogosphere this week! All of you have had such great topics lately. Here are the posts I found most inspiring (though I have to tell you, it was rough to pick just a few this week):

Everybody’s been blogging about Amy at MotherLoad‘s list of 35 ways to save on groceries. It really is full of fabulous tips, so check it out if you haven’t already!

Sara at On Simplicity wrote about easy ways to purge your closet. This was particularly helpful for me since I’m on a mission to clear the clutter out of my apartment this month.

Mercedes at Common Sense with Money wrote about the recent trend of smaller packages without a price drop on certain products. Ugh, I hate this! It’s just so sneaky. Our dog food recently dropped from 20 pounds to 18 pounds a bag, but the price stayed the same. That’s two days worth of meals. I think I’d rather pay a little higher price. I’d rather they were upfront about it.

Penelope Pince at Our Fourpence Worth wrote about the benefits of switching to paperless statements. I don’t receive any paper statements anymore, and I love online bill pay. It really does streamline the process of paying the bills, and I can access the statements online for most of my bills anyway. That’s way easier than filing them myself! Safer, too, because it doesn’t leave a paper trail for identity thieves.

Mrs. Micah shared her online couponing method. Great tips here for people like me who can’t get the hang of paper coupons!

Paid Twice wrote about starting the debt snowball even when money seems too tight. It’s important to remember that getting out of debt is a slow process. Every little bit helps!

This weekend I’m committed to making a dent, even if it’s a small one, in my clutter clearing mission. I haven’t decided where to start yet, but my plan is to spend Saturday or Sunday morning every weekend cleaning and organizing until it’s done. I’ll be sure to update on my progress by the end of the weekend.

I’m also looking forward to more hand quilting this weekend. I’m happy to report that I LOVE it a lot more than machine quilting. I hated being stuck behind a sewing machine. Hand quilting isn’t as hard as I expected, and I love that I can do it while relaxing on the couch with my hubby.

Hope you’re all enjoying some nice fall weather this weekend! Forecast says 90 degrees here through next week. Yuck. I don’t know if I can handle another 6 weeks of summer.

Happy Friday!

TGIF Link Round Up: Tropical Storm Edition

We’re expecting the storm to hit sometime late tonight. It’s still a tropical storm, but it’s inching close to Category 1 hurricane status. Hopefully it’ll weaken before it hits us!

I’m relieved that the storm shouldn’t be too intense, and actually looking forward to an excuse to hide in my apartment all weekend. Despite the fact that it only lasted four days, this week has been a particularly long one for me.