Very patriotic, indeed

Mighty Bargain Hunter hosted this week's Carnival of Personal Finance: American Flag Edition! I have to say, I really like the history included in the Carnival this week. The themes are always fun, but as an American history buff, I was delighted to see all the flags.

My post on going cashless was included. As usual, here are some articles that caught my eye.

Surviving on a Single Income - Great tips for any families considering going to a single income.

Debit Card Fraud Much More Damaging than Credit Card Fraud - I have presented this view many times when explaining the reasons that I prefer credit cards to debit cards.

Career vs. Family - I know this is a struggle for a lot of young female professionals right now. It's not something I'm facing right now, but I'm sure that it's something I will be facing in the future.

Don't Gamble Your Safety Net - My retirement accounts have taken a sizeable hit in recent weeks, and I find myself wanting to pull out, but I just don't know what else I would invest in. Plus I have no plans to retire anytime soon, so I plan to just stay the course.

June Top Referrals

Just a shout out to the top five referrers to my site. Thanks for the link!

• Beachgirl's Budget Blog
• Always the Planner...
• Budgets are Sexy.
• Consumerism Commentary
• Out of Debt Again

I'm hoping to get my first blogging check this month (!!!) so expect a shiny new domain name for this site in the next month or so.

Three years!

This week, Flexo is hosting the third anniversary edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but here are some of the standout posts for me. But be sure to check it out for yourself!

• My Top 5 Personal Finance Blunders - We all make mistakes, and we can all learn something from the mistakes of others.
• My Personal Finance Tipping Point - I always enjoy Chief Family Officer's posts.
• Direct Sales - Good Way to Make Extra Money or Fast Way to Lose Friends? - While I can't speak to the earning money part, as I've never participated in direct sales, I can say that some of my friends selling things like Avon or Pampered Chef have driven me CRAZY. Others were perfectly lovely about it.
• Our Financial Progress Over the Last 10 Years - I wonder where I'll be in 10 years. Hopefully well on my way to retirement!
• $150K Got Me Nowhere - We can all learn something from this post. Best of luck to Dog Ate My Finances!
• Saving for Retirement vs. Living Your Life - I truly believe that you can't just live for tomorrow. You have to live for today AND plan for tomorrow.
• The Emergency Fund - Where Should I Keep It and Why? - Some good points when considering an emergency fund.
• A Refreshing New Idea - I like the idea of a sunny day fund. I have a "wishlist fund."

A Musical Carnival

Carnival of Personal Finance is up. I really like this week's theme. I now have Cruel Summer running through my head.

Some links I enjoyed:

• A Tale of Two Budgets - A comparison between a French budget and an American budget.
• One PB&J a day bring a home within reach? - Interesting discussion. (Also, I love PB&J)
• Reward Credit Cards: Ripoff or Real Deal? - We all know I love my rewards card.
• Is your car an asset or a liability? - I don't include my car value in my net worth.
• A Prosper Loan that has gone bad - It's things like this that make me lean away from using Prosper.
• Subscription Math - I have a tendency to sign up for magazine subscriptions because "It's only $12 for the year!" I'm deciding what subscriptions to not renew when that year is up. Just because it's cheap doesn't make it worth it.

I'm still reading posts, so this is by no means a complete list. Check it out yourself!

Festival of Frugality #128 Highlights

This week's Festival of Frugality is being hosted by No Debt Plan. Lots of posts here, so it took me a while to get through the list. Great stuff though, as always.

• Preparing for a Disaster - Sometimes, some very simple steps can help a lot.
• Wash and reuse plastic baggies - I never knew this was a super frugal tip. I just thought it was what people did. Note that propping the bags open over the kitchen sink faucet works great for drying them out.
• First Frugal Grocery Shopping Trip - I really need to start a price book.
• Eating Healthy While Clipping Coupons - Great advice for me, since I'm working on getting better at couponing.
• Coupons - Making Them Work For You - Even more great advice.

Carnival is up!

My post on Continuing to Simplify is included in this week's Carnival of Personal Finance. Lots of great posts included, as always, so be sure to check it out.

Here are some that caught my eye:

• Stop Complaining About Gas Prices - It's true, there's not a lot we can do about it except work on tightening the budget to pay for the added expense.
• Five Things Indiana Jones Can Teach Us About Personal Finance - I love Indiana Jones. I love personal finance. Win.
• 26 Ways to Make Extra Money - I can't say I agree with all of these suggestions, but there are a few good ideas in here.
• I am a phantom power ninja - I admit, I live in an apartment building where electricity, gas, and water are included in my rent. So I'm not as good as I should be about watching for power wasting. Even though it won't save me money, I still should attempt to better conserve for environmental reasons.
• Still Hungry With Food Stamps - Looking at my food budget, I think that $280 would cover me and a child for the month here in the D.C. area, but I'm also good about watching for sales and using coupons. Not everyone has the time for that, nor does everyone always buy the most economical things. It's especially hard with kids, who can be picky about what they eat.
• What Do You Think of Bankruptcy? - An interesting look at bankruptcy.
• Certificates of Deposit - Don't Bother Unless... - I do think that putting a chunk of your emergency fund into CDs isn't a bad plan, especially if you use a short, 6 month CD. The point of an emergency fund is that you shouldn't need to use it unless a big emergency happens, and if you put it in a CD that's easy enough to redeem early (I use ING Direct), you're only really risking a loss of a few dollars and the odds are good you won't need the emergency fund at all.
• Wants vs. Needs - Most of the time, I'm pretty good about this. I have a big list of "wants" that I continually add to, and often find that things that I wanted a month ago are things I don't really want anymore.
• $300 Monthly Passive Income by Year End - I've never thought of making a passive income goal or even a "side" income goal (because I don't know that things like surveys and mystery shopping can really be considered "passive"). Maybe something I should look into!
• When do parents hold the financial hammer? - I have mixed feelings about this. As a kid, I had a bank account, but needed my parents to access it, because this was in the days of bank books and pre-ATM. To this day, my mom's name is still on one of my accounts, though it's an account that sits dormant for the most part. But a friend of mine had his bank account drained by his father in order to save the family business (that was failing due to his father's awful bookkeeping), and suddenly, he had no college fund whatsoever. Interesting discussion.

May Top Referrers

Thanks to everyone who has linked to me this month! May's top referrers are:

1. Beachgirl's Budget Blog
2. Always the Planner
3. Budgets are Sexy
   
4. Fantastic Sarcastic
5. Change Can Be a Good Thing

And congrats to J. Savings over at Budgets are Sexy on his recent marriage!

Festival's up!

The 125th Edition of the Festival of Frugality is up, and my article on Couponing is included. If you don't visit the festivals and carnivals that go through the blogging world every week, you really should, and you should also really consider submitting. It's a great way to find new blogs and to bring new readers to your site as well.

And here are some of the articles that I enjoyed:

• Frugal or Cheap - Here's a Test - I got 22. I'm happy with that, but I think I could be more frugal... I do love my cable though!
• When are you a brand name shopper? - If it's a consumable, I'm more willing to try a generic brand, on the theory that if it's not great, I'll just use it up and buy a different brand the next time. Except, like Kyle, with beer. And perhaps a few other things.
• Why I Like Being Frugal - I really like this idea. Living a simple, grounded life is a good feeling. And it's nice to have that chunk of cash set aside thanks to your frugal ways, so if you decide to take a less than frugal vacation, for example, you can do that. At least in my opinion.
• Jump Start Your Frugality - Good ideas here. Little things add up!
• Renters Insurance Basics - It amazes me how many people don't have renter's insurance. Also, for condo owners - do you have extra insurance for your possessions? Don't just rely on the insurance on the building - frequently that's just the building structure, not always even including interior walls.
• Top 5 Ways to Trim Our Grocery Bills - I am constantly amazed with how much I spend on groceries, and I don't feel like I buy a lot of splurge items. Once I'm back from vacation, I'm going to really try to step up the savings.

Carnival #152 is up!

This week's Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by Money Under 30. My post on disaster readiness was featured as an Editor's Pick. Thanks!

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye:

• The Personal Financier writes on accounting for cash expenses. I sort of do a combination of his first three steps. I have a budget category called "cash," and it is a very small category, and is most often used for drinks out with friends and purchases at the Farmer's Market.
• Can I Get Rich on a Salary puts together a lot of generalizations about Generation Y's financial habits. It's an interesting read, regardless of whether or not you're in Gen Y.
• Christian Finances writes about minimalist living. I spent some time this weekend going through my closet and getting rid of a chunk of clothes that either didn't fit or that I never wore. It's silly to hang on to a shirt for the memories.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter points out the great food selections on Amazon. I think it's no secret that I love Amazon.
• Feminist Finance writes a great post about marrying into debt. Yet another reminder that you should probably talk exact numbers before getting hitched, just so everyone's got all the facts.
• Chief Family Officer talks some more about the drugstore game. That reminds me that I need to hit up CVS for a few things.

Check out the post for many many more great links.

Sunday Link Roundup

Just a few posts from around the blogosphere that caught my eye over the past few days.

• Networth and Sidebar Updates - I really like that asgreen has put together a number of different funds with goal amounts for each. I'm considering doing the same. I like the idea of a travel fund!
  
• Time to stock up on those Forever Stamps - As J. Savings points out, stamp prices are going up again, so if you're looking to buy stamps, it makes sense to get the Forever Stamps before May 12. Personally, I use so few stamps that I'm not going to bother. I mail birthday cards and the occasional letter. Were I making a trip to the post office or even walking near one, I'd probably pop in and grab a booklet of 20, but I'm not sure it's worth it to me to go significantly out of my way for a savings of 20 cents at this point. I still don't get why people are stocking up SO much. I suppose if you use a lot of stamps, but really? Is it worth it?
  
• Cheap, Green, and Clean Tips - Great ways to clean with just vinegar, baking soda, and water. I'm always looking for healthier ways to clean my home, and I already use vinegar in a lot of ways, but I think that once I use up some of the supplies I have, I might see if I can switch over to vinegar, baking soda, and water.
• Making and Maintaining a Master Information Document - This is really something that I need to do. I hate to think about the "just in case" possibilities, but the reality is, it's best to be prepared.
  

April Referrals

Thanks to everyone who has linked here over the past month. The top referrers for April are:

1. BeachGirl's Budget Blog
2. Consumerism Commentary
3. Budgets Are Sexy
4. WiseBread
5. Paid Twice

A Quick Link

Punny Money is always good for a laugh, but this recent entry about how people will spend their tax refund made me laugh out loud.

More festival links

It's been such a crazy week that I have yet to post about this week's Festival of Frugality! I'm still surfing through all the links, but the below are just some of my favorites.

• Recession Proofing Your Diet - These are some great ideas for saving money while grocery shopping
• Thoughts on Clutter: How to Get Rid and Move On - Great ideas for decluttering. I need to do more of this.
• Why We Are Committed to Living Debt Free - I hope to live debt free (except for mortgage debt) the rest of my life as well.

Link roundup

Here are a couple of interesting posts I've come across in the last few days.

• Where does my money go? - Personally, I don't think I want to graph this out. I have a feeling I would be very disappointed in myself.


• You ask: How do you do it? - The Budgeting Babe manages to sock away $1000 a month. She's got some great tips, and she makes me want to move to a cheaper apartment!


• The Credit Card Holy Wars: There Is No Right Answer, But Here's My Take - Trent and I share the same opinion about credit cards: if you're a responsible spender and pay off your credit card each month, why not go for a rewards card?


• New $5 Bill Starts Circulating Today - Given that I work for the government in D.C., you'd think I would have known about this.

And of course, don't forget to check out The Finwikian!

Websites that increase your productivity

There are so many great websites out there that can help you save time and money. I have a number of favorites, including del.icio.us for bookmarks and Google Reader for following feeds, and of course, Blogger for creating this website, but below are some of my more recent finds.

Posted this morning on Wise Bread, I just started using Sandy, a site that bills itself as your free personal e-mail assistant. I'm always looking for a new way to manage my to-do list, and this seems like a great option. I recommend checking the site out for yourself, but the basics are that you send the site an e-mail, and it manages that information for you. It tracks lists and bookmarks, stores information such as addresses and phone numbers, and saves reminders and to-do lists. You can get daily e-mails as well as reminders before an event. For example, I want to remember to update Microsoft Money when I get home tonight, so I asked Sandy to remind me to update MS Money at 8:00. And I will get an e-mail around 7:45 reminding me to perform the update. This seems like an exceptionally useful tool for someone who has regular e-mail access but does not want to surf the web at work or is dealing with blocked websites. You just send an e-mail to Sandy, and the site takes care of the rest. It's a great way to track a grocery list to make sure you don't forget things or buy too much, and it also might be a good way to track when you have to pay your bills.

I recently discovered Netvibes. Netvibes is like an RSS feeder with major bonuses. You can create your own Netvibes page with multiple tabs. On these tabs, you can track your RSS feeds just like any other feed reader, but there are a number of other modules available. For example, my Netvibes start page currently shows me the weather, my Twitter account, Gmail, two del.icio.us accounts, a Facebook feed, and a MSNBC graphic feed tracking the primary elections. I have other tabs for various RSS feeds, broken down by categories, such as "finance" and "entertainment." It's a great way to keep everything in one place without having to check multiple websites.

Trent over at The Simple Dollar (thanks Carrie!) linked to SuperCook earlier this week. SuperCook is a recipe search engine, but the great thing is that you can search based on what you have in your kitchen. I am doing my best to limit my grocery spending, so this is a great website for me. You enter what you have and SuperCook provides recipes based on the food in your house and also suggests things you can make if you just go buy one or two additional things. I used it the other night and made some breaded chicken breasts that were absolutely delicious and easy as well!

This is just a brief list. What are some of your fave sites?