I’m proud to be hosting this week’s edition of the Festival of Frugality.  Below are some of the best blog posts recently written that deal with frugality and saving money.

This week’s theme is “Spring Is Coming….One Of These Days!”

Right now, here in Michigan, spring doesn’t appear anywhere on the horizon at first glance.  There’s snow on the ground.  In fact, this is shaping up to be one of the top ten snowiest winters ever (the third winter in the last four years that will make this list, in fact).  It’s also been colder than normal, with more nights (and even days) in single digit temperatures than I can remember in quite some time.

But, even though it’s still cold and snowy, there are signs that spring is coming one of these days:

Birds Are Chirping 
(Editors Picks)

We live in a neighborhood that’s only about fifteen years old.  Luckily, the developer (unlike so many these days) left a lot of the mature trees standing, so we get lots and lots of birds.  Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve woken up and heard the sounds of birds chirping in the trees.  I’m sure that if we could understand them, they’d probably be saying something along the lines of: “Whose idea was it to get here so early?”.  In any case, the arrival of the birds is a sure sign that spring has to get here soon!

Since the sounds of birds chirping is one of my favorite parts about spring, I thought it would tie in nicely with my favorite posts in this edition of the festival:

• Tim Chen presents 4 Reasons to Skip the American Express Platinum posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch
•  FMF presents How to Save Money with the Disney Dining Plan posted at Free Money Finance
•  BIFS presents Our Homeowners Insurance | Budgeting In the Fun Stuff posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The Days Are Getting Brighter 
(More Great Articles….In No Particular Order)

When I leave for work in the morning, I can see the sky start to lighten.  That’s the first time in months that my drive in isn’t pitch black.  Also, when we sit down to eat, there is still a little bit of light peeking through.  Plus, I’m pretty sure this upcoming weekend is the ‘Spring Forward’ weekend for those who adjust to daylight savings time, so it’ll be light even longer in the evenings!

• Beth from SmartFrugality presents Spring Cleaning: Reviewing Your Subscriptions posted at Smart Frugality
• Ryan @ CML presents Netflix vs. Blockbuster posted at Cash Money Life
• Michael Pruser presents Family Cell Phone Plans Review posted at The Dough Roller
• Save Few Bucks presents How to Save Money when Buying an iPad posted at Save Few Buck
• My Journey presents It is Okay to Want Things but Don’t Justify that You Deserve It posted at My Journey to Millions.
• Annette Berlin presents 25 Ways To Save On Craft Supplies posted at Craft Stew
• Donna Freedman presents A frugal traveler’s best friend posted at MSN Money Smart Spending
• vh presents How to Make Sustainable, Ecofriendly Household Cleansers posted at Funny about Money

The Sump Pump Is Running 
(The Rest of This Week’s Great Articles)

We live in an area where the water table seems to be pretty high.  Thus, the sump pump goes into overdrive when the snow starts melting each spring.  The other day it was raining, and between the rain and the melting snow, the pump was kicking in every three minutes.  Talk about busy!  That can only mean one thing: Things are melting and spring is on the way!

• RC presents The iPad 2 Release Announcement and How a Frugal Person Buys an iPad posted at Think Your Way to Wealth
• Wenchypoo presents A Madcap Quest for Free Using No Coupons, and Involving No Stores posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket 
• Tom Drake presents Home Computing on a Budget posted at Canadian Finance Blog
• Sun presents Kids Clothes on a Dime posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary
• Jon Elder presents 5 New Ways I Practice Frugality | Free Money Wisdom posted at Free Money Wisdom
• Craig/FFB presents Is It Worthwhile To Move To Save Costs? posted at Free From Broke
• PT presents Start a Business with No Money | Want it Bad Enough? posted at Prime Time Money
• Kristia presents Eleven Tips for Easier Menu Planning posted at Family Balance Sheet
• Suba presents Turbo Tax Discounts & Coupons posted at Wealth Informatics
• Fanny Seto  presents Starbucks Rewards ? Earn Free Perks with a Gift Card posted at Living Richly on a Budget 
  

That’s all for the festival this week.  I hope you enjoyed the many great articles.  For those of you who are not regular readers of Money Beagle, I would hope that you’d take a look around my blog and consider subscribing to my RSS feed.

Next week’s edition of the Festival of Frugality will be hosted at Prarie EcoThrifter.   Click here to submit your posts for consideration in next week’s festival.

Editors Note: There were many great articles that didn’t get included in this weeks festival.  Please don’t take it personally if you didn’t get your post included.  I tried to keep the included posts on topic, meaning that they should deal with saving money, pinching pennies, or however else you look at frugality.  There were many great articles about finance and money, but if it didn’t tie back into frugality, I felt it may be better included in one of the many other finance related carnivals out there (Carnival of Personal Finance, Totally Money Carnival, Carnival of Wealth, and the Carnival of Money Stories, just to name a few).
-

Copyright 2013 Original content authorized only to appear on Money Beagle. Please subscribe via RSS, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or receive e-mail updates. Thank you for reading.