The end of summer is one of the saddest times of the year.  No more beach.  No more barbeques.  No more wearing shorts.  It all sucks!

But not so fast, because football comes along and saves the day.

This weekend marked the first week of the NFL returning for the season.  We had the lockout drama, but was there really any doubt that they’d all be back to play?  Not with the amount of money at stake!

I’m happy to be hosting this week’s edition of the Totally Money Carnival.  Lots of great week as we head into fall and what’s sure to be a great season.

Go Lions!  (First time I can say that in quite a few years and not be laughed at…gotta love that!_

Editor’s Choices

Jill presents 5 Reasons to Get Out of Debt posted at My Dollar Plan.

Miranda @ Financial Highway presents 45 Ways to Save Money posted at Financial Highway.

Kyle Taylor presents 14 Year Old Gets Rich Selling His Man Candle posted at The Penny Hoarder

Kevin presents Five Personal Finance, Economic and Life Lessons Learned from “The Lion King” posted at Invest It Wisely

Frugality

Corey presents Saving Money with Every Pedal | 20′s Finances posted at 20′s Finances

Jon Elder presents How to Save Money by Renting College Textbooks posted at Free Money Wisdom

Miss Thrifty presents How to keep your runner beans fresher for longer posted at Miss Thrifty

Pam presents Sex and the City: Great Girls Night for Minimal Money posted at Wallet Watcher

Abby Nelson presents 10 Real Coupon Sites That Don’t Cut Corners posted at Nanny Classifieds

Joe Morgan presents Stop Acting Rich! Introducing The Frugal Rich. posted at Simple Debt-Free Finance

Melissa Batai presents How to Save Money on Halloween Costumes posted at Mom’s Plans

Roger, the Amateur Financier presents Frugal Friday – Video Games, Movies, and Songs posted at The Amateur Financier

Sustainable PF presents Save Gas – The Financial and Health Benefits of Walking or Biking to Work posted at Sustainable Personal Finance.

Suba presents How to get a deal on group hotel reservations posted at Broke Professionals.

Careers

J.B. presents Gold and Market Bubbles posted at My University Money

SB presents Non Financial and emotional aspects of early Retirement posted at One Cent at a Time.

Credit

Tim Chen presents Capital One Secured MasterCard: A Good Choice for Bad Credit posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch

Linda Rodriguez presents What is the credit score? posted at Credit Cards for Fair Credit

Eric J. Nisall presents An Open Letter To The Credit Industry posted at DollarVersity

Nathan Richardson presents Credit Score Needed To Buy a House (and get a Mortgage) in 2011 posted at Deals & Tips

Debt

Mike Collins presents Do You Need A Credit Counseling Service? posted at Saving Money Today

Jason Price presents Pay Down Debt with These 10 Tips posted at One Money Design

Sandy presents Help! I Need Money posted at Yes, I Am Cheap.

Crystal presents How to Get Out of Debt posted at Stupid Cents.

Finance

Robert @ The College Investor presents You Can Get Deals Like Buffett posted at The College Investor

Alexander presents Using Income Funds for Diversity and Revenue posted at Dividend Stocks

Philip Taylor presents How to Make Money on Fiverr posted at PT Money Personal Finance.

Investing

Everything Finance presents How to Budget for Future Investments posted at Everything Finance

Neal Frankle presents Old 401k? Your Best Tactic Now posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources

Cash Flow Mantra presents My Thoughts on Investing in Gold and Silver posted at Cash Flow Mantra.

Paula @ AffordAnything.org presents Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? posted at AffordAnything.org.

Suba presents Financial Planning for middle calss posted at Wealth informatics.

Kevin Mulligan presents How to Hold Real Estate in Your Roth IRA posted at RothIRA.com’s Retirement Planning Blog.

Ryan presents Target Date Funds: Will Your Funds Hit Their Target? posted at Outlaw Finance.

Money Management

Lauren diaz presents 10 Differences Between Cheap Services and Discounted Services posted at Cheapest Service

My Journey presents Who Runs Your Financial Household? Is it a One Captain or Two Captain Ship? posted at My Journey to Millions

Matt presents The Seven Day Stamina Challenge posted at Living In Financial Excellence

Marie presents Ways to Prepare Yourself for Loss of Job and Income posted at Money Spending Mommy

FMF presents All About Home Safes posted at Free Money Finance.

Jim Yih presents Developing financial routines for financial success posted at Retire Happy Blog.  

Bob presents How to have a budget wedding – 5 ways to save posted at Christian Personal Finance.

Jonathan presents Mint.com Review: The Ultimate Budgeting Software posted at Deliver Away Debt.

Saving

The Family Wallet presents 7 Tips For Reducing Child Care Costs posted at The Family Wallet

Paul Vachon presents How to Save Money on College Texts posted at The Frugal Toad.

Echo presents Tips For Students To Save Money In University posted at Boomer & Echo.

Dr. Dean presents Saving Money: Painlessly! posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog.

Shawanda Greene presents How Two Minutes Saved Me $72.98 posted at You Have More Than You Think.

Spending

Tim Fraticelli presents 12 Items You Shouldn’t Skimp On posted at Faith and Finance

Crystal presents Bowling Leagues are Dang Expensive! posted at Budgeting In The Fun Stuff.

Alan presents How Brand Loyal Are You? posted at Canadian Finance Blog.

Real Estate

Marie@familymoneyvalues.com presents Tax Lien Certificate Sale Day posted at FamilyMoneyValues

Corey presents Using Rental Properties as Retirement Income posted at 20′s Finances.

Everything Else

Alyssa robert presents 25 Incredibly Useful iPad Apps for Project Managers posted at Masters in Project Management

Jason@LiveRealNow presents The Happy Butt | Live Real, Now posted at Live Real, Now

Barb Friedberg presents QUICK PERSONAL FINANCE TIP; Fast & Easy Customer Service posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance.

Buck Inspire presents Bus Routes, Life: Do You Have a Plan C? posted at Buck Inspire

Squirrelers presents Can Long Hours of Work be Deadly? posted at Squirrelers.

MoneyforCollegePro presents Why the Financial Aid office is Slower Than the DMV posted at Money for College Project.

Glen Craig presents 9 Things to Do When You Retire posted at Free From Broke .

John presents Hurricane Recovery Tax Benefits Explained posted at Wallet Blog.

That’s all for this week’s edition of the Totally Money Carnival.  Click here to get your submissions in for next weeks carnival.

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.

Welcome to the July 15, 2011 Edition #193 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

The Carnival of Financial Planning takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. We focus on efficient and sustainable personal financial planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial security.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently. Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting and Economics

David Leeman presents Personal Budget Planning, The Benefits of Living on a Budget posted at Financial Freedom Advantage, saying, “Personal budget planning is essential for helping you control spending and reach your financial freedom goals. Learning how to budget money is easy and can be very rewarding.”

Kelly presents Dog-onomics: The True Cost of Owning a Dog posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, “Before you even get into the planning phases of dog ownership- what breed, what age, buying versus adopting, supplies needed, etc.- you ought to determine the costs first and foremost. According to the Bankwest Social Indicator Series’ “Family Pooch Index,” families spend, on average, $2,395 per year on their dogs. In order to determine how much your four-legged friend will cost you, the following list details a breakdown in both the initial and ongoing costs over the average lifespan of your canine.”

Financial Planning

Sustainable PF presents Our Sustainable Personal Financial Plan: The Future posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, “We have come up with what we consider to be a sustainable personal financial plan. We decided to share it with everyone.”

Jacob presents What Motivates You To Be Financially Responsible? posted at My Personal Finance Journey, saying, “There are two things that keep me motivated to be fiscally responsible beyond all else – 1) keeping aligned with my Purpose Focused Financial Plan and 2) Updating my net worth and asset allocation each month. This article describes each of these in detail.”

Tom Drake presents Saving on Life Insurance Premiums posted at Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “Everyone happy with life insurance premiums? Of course not. So here’s a list of concrete examples you can use to ensure you’re paying the lowest premiums.”

Jim Yih presents Use caution before putting your kids on title of your principal residence posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, “There are 5 reasons why is is not a good idea to put your kids as joint owners of your personal residence.”

Glen Craig presents Where to Change Your Name After Marriage posted at Free From Broke, saying, “If you change your name after you get married you have to make sure you update important documents and accounts. See where you should change your name.”

Frank Knight presents Investment Asset Allocation posted at Retirement Planning Software, saying, “When you are already there and invested in an asset class, you are following a passive asset allocation strategy. Tactical asset allocation strategy advocates suggest that you can anticipate the crowd, but flow-of-funds studies show that almost all tactical asset allocation fund flows are late money flows that chase performance after valuations have already moved.”

Financing a Home

Evan presents The American Dream Now Rents posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, “The long-held notion of the American Dream has always included owning a home with the proverbial white picket fence. Today, that dream has become unpractical for many Americans. The unstable job economy paired with the recent bust of the housing market has put home ownership out of reach for many families. Once you look past the dream, however, there are some real benefits to renting a home rather than owning it yourself.”

Income

DGB presents How To Build a 6 Figure Income Dividend Portfolio with $600 per month posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “Let’s start building the dividend portfolio.”

FMF presents How to Earn More than $3 Million in 20 years posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “MBAs from top-ranked schools can propel your career and generate substantial incremental income over the course of a couple decades.”

Miranda presents 35 Ways to Make More Money posted at Financial Highway, saying, “Even the best of times, one of the most common questions asked is, “How do I make more money?” While an increase in income can ease the way things work in your personal economy, it won’t necessarily solve all your problems.”

Kyle Taylor presents 2012 Elections: How to Profit from Them posted at The Penny Hoarder, saying, “Whatever you’re feeling on politics is, there are plenty of ways to profit from the circus.”

The Financial Blogger presents June Monthly Blog Income Report posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “A look at the income that came in during June.”

Investing

The Financial Blogger presents TSX EX-Dividend Date and Dividend Yield posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “Some important stock dates.”

Intelligent Speculator presents The “Hidden” Trading Costs posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “Stock trading costs to watch out for.”

Maxim Kazawy presents Highest Paying Dividend Stocks in Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Sector posted at Highest Dividend Paying Stocks, saying, “Investors should allocate a portion of their portfolios to real estate by investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS). Real estate investment trusts own different types of real estate, from residential buildings & apartment complexes to commercial office space including malls, office buildings, retail shops, parking lots, etc.”

Maxim Kazawy presents Stocks that are Raising Dividends – July 2011 Edition posted at Best Dividend Stocks, saying, “Most retirees & Income investors know the value of stocks that are raising their dividends gradually over time. Dividend growth can make low yielding dividend stocks in to high yield dividend stocks over time because of the growth of dividends.”

Mike @ Green Panda presents Start Building Your Banking Relationship posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, “How you can build a relationship with your bank.”

Dividends4Life presents Companies Creating Real Wealth With Higher Cash Dividends posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, “A stock dividend, also known as a “scrip dividend”, is a dividend payment made with stock instead of cash. Sometimes when companies are tight on cash, they will declare and pay a stock dividend in lieu of a cash dividend. Most shareholders feel like they are getting something. But are they really?”

Managing Credit and Debt

Joe Plemon presents Debt Consolidation and Debt Settlement: Know the Difference posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “These two have some similarities, but, in reality, are quite different.”

Tim Chen presents Applied Bank: Tricks and Traps for Unwary Cardholders posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch, saying, “There are four Applied Bank credit cards, and each one has its own quirks that can end up costing unwary consumers a lot of money.”

Miscellaneous

Mike @ Green Panda presents Get the Best Deal with Your Car Insurance posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, “Saving money on car insurance.”

Moneyedup presents Paying for Insurance posted at MoneyedUP, saying, “One of the realities of life is that the unexpected happens. You never know when an accident will total your car, or when you’ll get sick enough to go to the hospital.”

The Skilled Investor presents Market Timing Does Not Work posted at Personal Financial Management, saying, “Always stay invested to earn risk premiums. You must have your money invested and at risk to get risk premium returns. Jumping out and in or “timing the markets” doesn’t work.”

Retirement Planning

FMF presents Using an HSA as a Super Retirement Account posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “If managed correctly, an HSA can super-charge your retirement savings.”

Crystal presents When Can I Retire? posted at Stupid Cents, saying, “Do you think to yourself, when can I retire? If you want to be able to retire permanently, here are things to consider so you know when you can retire.”

Outlaw presents Can You Contribute to a Roth IRA and a 401K? posted at Outlaw Finance, saying, “Shares my experience of simultaneously contributing to a Roth IRA and 401K, as well as the requirements you’ll need to meet in order to do the same.”

Savings

Money Cone presents Focus on Recurring Expenses to Improve Savings posted at Money Cone, saying, “To improve your savings, start by focusing on your expenses, especially those that are recurring in nature. These are the ones that slowly chip away at your savings. Even if they are small, they add up over time. Address these leaks first.”

Kevin presents Savings=Freedom posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, “Being out of debt is good, but the only way we really improve our lot in life is by saving and investing for the future! This is true both individually, and of us as a whole. These people have it rough, but they are doing great compared to people a hundred years ago. They are able to indirectly benefit from the accumulated savings and investment of other people which has led to all of the things in society which we enjoy.”

Taxes

Mike Piper presents What’s My Cost Basis for Inherited Property? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “For purposes of calculating capital gains/losses, what is your cost basis for inherited property?”

Financial Freedom presents Roth Contributions, posted at Retirement Spreadsheet , saying, “The Roth tax optimization puzzle for asset conversions, as well as for annual Roth contributions during working years, is one of the most complex decisions that the ridiculously complex US taxation and retirement planning system forces upon individuals.”

Eric J. Nisall presents Withholding Too Much From Your Pay Is A Waste posted at DollarVersity, saying, “Some people think that big tax refund is a good thing, but if you take a step back and look at it logically and objectively, you will see it’s a big mistake.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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.

Welcome to the 17th edition of the Totally Money Carnival.  I’m proud to have been selected as this week’s host.  I’ve been submitting to this relatively new carnival since it was started a few months ago, and I can tell that it’s really grown in popularity.

This week, take a look outside.  If it’s spring and everything is turning green, smile.  Spring is a great time that celebrates re-birth and happy things.  What’s not to love about that?  And if you’ve been managing your money (aka your ‘green’) well, then smile about that, too.  If you have improvements to make, there’s no better time then this no season.

With that, onto the carnival.

Editor’s Choices

Financial Uproar presents How Investing Is Like Fantasy Baseball posted at Financial Uproar. I love fantasy baseball (middle of the pack right now) so this rang true for me.

Melissa presents My Experiment: Is It Worth the Gas to Shop Multiple Grocery Stores? posted at Mom’s Plans. I think this was a great analysis that many people should consider when deciding how many stores to shop at for groceries.

Glen presents Inexpensive (Cheap) Date Night Ideas for Parents posted at Parenting Family Money. A great read for any parent or any parent-to-be.

Career

Kathryn @ Financial Highway presents 30 Most Common Interview Questions and How to Answer Them posted at Financial Highway.

Neal Frankle presents Landing a Great Job During A Recession Made Easy posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources.

Saving

Adam presents Avoid Hitting the Rocks of Financial Ruin posted at Magical Penny.

Dana presents 7 Tricks to Increase Your Savings Without Decreasing Your Lifestyle posted at Not Made Of Money.

Money Reasons presents Be Green and Save | Money Reasons posted at Money Reasons.

Credit

Dr. Dean presents Despair: Time To Consider Credit Counseling! posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog.

Glen presents American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card – Review posted at Free From Broke.

Jeff Weber presents New Chase Sapphire 5 Times the Points Promotion posted at Smart Balance Transfers.

Evan presents How Does a Balance Transfer Work? posted at My Journey to Millions.

Investing

Outlaw presents Top 5 Common Investment Mistakes posted at Outlaw Finance.

Robert @ The College Investor presents The Most Popular Investment Strategies posted at The College Investor.

Spending

Jeffrey Trull presents Top Five Wasters of Time AND Money posted at Money Spruce.

South County Girl presents An update on my sisters “offer” posted at South County Girl.

Boomer presents Some Great Things That I’ve Bought posted at Boomer & Echo.

Frugality

Crystal presents How Much Are You Really Paying For That New Car? | Budgeting In the Fun Stuff posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff.

Fanny presents Extreme Couponing Fraud posted at Living Richly on a Budget.

Suba presents How to watch TV for free posted at Wealth Informatics.

Anna presents What is a Double Coupon? posted at Think ‘n Save.

FruGal presents Would you buy a second hand wedding dress? – FruGal posted at TotallyMoney.

Money Management

Philip presents How to Prepare Your Finances for a Disaster posted at PT Money: Personal Finance.

JT McGee presents Screw the Emergency Fund, Buy a Home posted at MoneyMamba.

Squirrelers presents Squirreling Gone Wild #25: Grandma’s Side Hustle posted at Squirrelers.

FMF presents Income Statement Affluent Versus Balance Sheet Affluent posted at Free Money Finance.

Mike Piper presents Social Security Strategies for Married Couples posted at Oblivious Investor.

Everything Else

The Amateur Financier presents PlayStation Network Hacked! How to Protect Your Identity posted at The Amateur Financier.

Tom presents 12 Methods of Passive Income posted at StupidCents.

Jim Yih presents Should you write your own Will? posted at Retire Happy Blog.

Katie Sorene presents 10 Sunny Places to Escape the Tax Man posted at Tripbase.

Tom Drake presents The new breed of financial bloggers: Young, frugal and vocal posted at Canadian Finance Blog.

Buck Inspire presents Have An Awesome Day! posted at Buck Inspire.

TheCollegeHelper presents Your Parent’s Boss Might Pay for College | TheCollegeHelper.com posted at TheCollegeHelper.com.

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey presents Financial Goals April 2011 Update – Short Term, Mid-Term, and Long Term posted at My Personal Finance Journey – Personal Finance, Intelligent Investing, And Frugal Living Tips.

That’s all for the carnival this week.  If you’re a blogger that would like to contribute to this awesome carnival, use this handy submission form for your entry.  Next week’s edition will be hosted by Prarie Eco-Thrifter.

Now, go out and enjoy some green!
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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.

Welcome to the 302nd edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, a weekly roundup of the best personal finance blog articles on the web.  If this is your first time visiting Money Beagle, please take a look around and consider subscribing to my feed so that you can read my everyday observations and thoughts on money and more.

I’m honored to have been chosen to host, and have decided to make the theme ‘Opening Day‘ in honor of  the start of baseball season, which starts this week!  Did you know that they moved it earlier than normal this year so that the World Series will actually finish in October?  As it rightly should!

No matter whether the temperatures are still cold or have been warm for awhile, spring truly starts the first time that umpire yells “Play ball!”

With that said, here are some words that the late, great Ernie Harwell used to say during his first broadcast every year.  I can think of no better words to signify the joy that the beginning of the baseball season (and spring) signifies.

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”

With that, I leave you this weeks carnival!

• Mrs. Nespy’s World outlines ‘Newton’s First Law of Personal Finance‘.  If you want to see things improve in your financial life, you have to accept that things have to change.  But that’s not always easy, is it?  This is a great post that I believe could be the catalyst for someone out there who’s looking for help in getting their financial life headed in the right direction.  Is that someone you?
• Millionaire Nurse Blog has an interesting perspective that leads to some great advise in ‘5 Tips (plus a bonus) On Saving Money:Today!‘.  I loved the reminder that even though there are a lot of things that affect our finances that are outside of our control, we still have choices that we can make in trying to save money.
• Generation X Finance has some pointers on ‘How to Negotiate Medical Bills‘.  According to this post, around 60% of personal bankruptcies are directly related to high medical bills.  Knowing that there are options and how to go about getting providers to work with you could make a huge difference for those who might find themselves in this situation.

• PT Money has ‘20 Tips for a More Affordable Auto Insurance Policy‘
• Passive Family Income has some ideas on  ‘Splurge or Save? When to Buy Generic and When to Buy the Best‘
• Live Real Now presents ‘Saving Money: The Warranty Fund‘
• The Budgeting Babe walks through ‘A Healthy and Cheap Day of Eating’
• Nicole and Maggie:  Grumpy Rumblings gives us their version of ‘The Do You Watch TV Post‘
• Money Is The Root is not impressed in ‘5 Reasons I’m Not Crazy About Costco‘

• Yes, I Am Cheap wonders ‘Will Credit Card Debt Be Held Against You In A Court of Law?‘
• The Financial Student observes ‘Consumer Credit Card Debt Decreases. Just Kidding‘
• Free Money Finance ponders ‘What’s the Best Way to Pay Off Credit Card Debt?‘

• Christian Personal Finance recommends ‘Do What Works Well, Not Necessarily What’s Best
• Budgeting the Fun Stuff has ideas for ‘Hobbies On A Budget‘
• Her Every Cent Counts sadly notes that ‘At 27, I Purchased My First Anti-Wrinkle Cream‘
• Prairie Eco-Thrifter asks ‘How Much Money Can You Live Off Of?‘
• Outlaw Money puts together some ideas on ‘How To Save Money On A Low Income‘
• Coupon Sherpa does some price comparison in ‘Cheaper or Spiraling Upwards? A Look at Prices for 15 Consumer Products‘

• Bucksome Boomer advises ‘Why Co-Signing a Loan is a Bad Idea‘
• Good Financial Cents wonders ‘Can a Better Credit Score Save You Money‘
• Couple Money offers advice on ‘How to Choose the Right Credit Card for You’
• Wealth Pilgrim looks at ‘7 Proven Credit Builders‘

• Dividend Growth Investor presents ‘Six Dividend Paying Sin Stocks to Consider‘
• Buy Like Buffet thinks they know some of the ‘Best Stocks For Dividend Investing‘
• Moneyedup gives the ins and outs on the ‘401k Maximum Contribution‘
• Dividends Value advises you to buy and then ‘Don’t Touch These 5 Dividend Stocks!‘
• Oblivious Investor gives a few ideas on ‘Where Should You Open Your First IRA?‘
• Consumer Boomer presents ‘Roth IRA Qualifications‘
• Free From Broke believes that ‘Brokers Should be Legally Liable to Act in the Best Interest of Their Customers‘
• The Financial Blogger has thoughts on ‘Two Ways For Making Money Online Compared‘
• Dividend Guy Blog has ‘6 Tricks To Manage a Dividend Portfolio With Less Than $10,000‘

• Gen Y Wealth discusses ‘Price Anchoring | One More Behavior Finance Trap That Fools Me Every Time‘
• Canadian Personal Finance Blog recommends thinking about ‘On Line Banking Security‘
• Funny About Money goes into some of the benefits of ‘Using Net Worth as a Personal Finance Benchmark‘
• One Money Design has thoughts about the ‘Best Money Management Software for Mac‘
• The Dough Roller reminds us that ‘Living Longer Means the Need for More Money’
• Money Ning thinks about ‘What Financial Documents Do You Need in a Disaster?‘
• Modern Gal has ideas for ‘Coping With Irregular Income’
• The Sun’s Financial Diary thinks you should ‘Rollover 401(K) Account to A IRA Account After Leaving Your Job‘
• Moolanomy asks ‘Can your wallet handle $5 ATM fees?’
• Well Heeled Blog reveals ‘The Bag Lady Syndrome‘
• Intelligent Speculator wonders ‘How will you become rich?‘

• Spruce Up Your Finances lists a few ‘Tax Breaks For Homeowners Selling Their Homes‘
• My Dollar Plan asks ‘Are You an Innocent Spouse?‘
• Stupid Cents has ‘5 Wise Ways To Spend Your Tax Refund‘
• Mighty Bargain Hunter wonders ‘Under the gun?  Filing extensions in each state‘

Savings, Career, and Everything Else

• Money Help for Christians helps sort out ‘How to Choose a Charity to Help Japan‘
• Networth Journey provides ‘An Easy to Understand Introduction to US Saving Bonds‘
• Consumerism Commentary answers ‘Why Airlines Continue to Add Fees‘
• Money Thinking outlines ‘The Plague of the Pre-existing Condition‘
• Studenomics gives some information on ‘What Are The Different Types of Insurance?‘
• Stumble Forward would like you to consider ‘How Cash Value Life Insurance Can Be Cheaper Over The Long Run‘
• Green Panda Treehouse advises ‘How to Start Your First Business‘
• Thousandaire challenges ‘How Much Would You Pay to Find Love?‘
• FruGal thinks you should ‘Get the most out of your holiday‘
• Money Smart Life teaches ‘Pet Insurance 101‘

That’s all for this week.  There were lots of great articles submitted and I had a great time reading them and picking the selections.  I hope you enjoy reading them, too.  Don’t forget to submit your articles for next weeks edition, which will be hosted by one of my favorites, Funny About Money, and remember, it’s a great day to be alive!

Image from Wikipedia Commons.
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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.

No roundup this week.  Instead I’ll shamelessly promote that I’m going to be hosting the upcoming edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.  This is the premier roundup where the best personal finance articles of the past week are featured, and I’m honored to be hosting.

The carnival will be up on Monday.  If you have written a great personal finance article this week and would like to see it included, please go here to submit it for consideration and make sure to get it in on Sunday, by 5pm Eastern time, to make it in my edition.

Have a great weekend!
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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.

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).
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