So I participated in five blog carnivals this week… and was awarded an editor’s choice in two of them! Hooray!

My Carnival Submissions

Carnival of Debt Reduction #138 - hosted by Rocket Finance and featuring my post So what are you doing with your economic stimulus check?

Carnival of Money Stories #58 - hosted by Free From Broke and featuring my post The economics of biking, which was honored with an editor’s choice. Neat!

Carnival of Personal Finance #151 - hosted by Alpha Consumer and featuring my post Gen Xers, Ys: Are we a bunch of spendthrifts? The post was honored with an editor’s choice. Hey, that’s pretty cool!

Festival of Frugality #124 - hosted by Frugal For Life and featuring my post Stuff I won’t buy cheap.

Money Hacks Carnival #11 - hosted by Save and Conquer and featuring my post Why I’ve stopped paying bills by mail.

My Favorite Posts

…that are from these carnivals but are not by yours truly.

Frugal Tips: How to make 10 ordinary things last longer - Some original tips here. From The Digerati Life (via the Carnival of Debt Reduction).

Free time or more money - which is it? - “When I was just out of college, all I wanted was money,” says Lisa. “Now, pushing fifty, all I want is time.” From Greener Pastures (via the Carnival of Money Stories).

Proposed: a month of extreme frugality - I totally support this line of thinking. This kind of brainstorming is what you have to do to master the art of cheapness. I don’t agree with all the rationale presented here, but the post is thought-provoking. From Funny About Money (via the Carnival of Personal Finance).

The ultimate guide to understanding the food crisis - This is a thorough and fascinating post. The only way it could really be better is if it magically transformed into an economic trend and forced those blasted food prices down. From Cheap Healthy Good (via the Festival of Frugality).

“Secret” eBay and Craigslist hacks that will save you thousands of dollars online - These tips could indeed save you thousands of dollars on big-ticket items. From Erica.biz (also via the Festival of Frugality).

How to save by making credit card payments more real and tangible - I totally support some of these tips but others I’ve disobeyed, like, 1000 times over. For example, I’ve exceeded the number of credit cards Dorian recommends (one) by exactly thirteen (I think I’ll post in the future about the reason why I do this). I see myself as a financially responsible person, so you might guess that I’m not in total agreement with all these tips. I’m recommending this post because it is well-thought out and provides a contrast to some of my own views. For instance, see my recent post about why Dave Ramsey has the credit card thing all wrong. From The Personal Financier (via the Money Hacks Carnival).

Other Links

How I Spent My Stimulus - A very clever and amusing experiment. This a blog where a bunch of people post about what they did with their economic stimulus checks, offering a really neat glimpse into other people’s lives. So far I’ve only seen one entry from a guy who tossed the check into an IRA.

Free Road Atlas - DHL will send you a free road atlas if you answer a couple questions and agree to receive marketing emails. I signed up. I hope this isn’t a chintzy little pamphlet - it looks like it’s a nice full-size atlas.

Okay - so I didn’t stumble across the free road atlas offer all by myself. For a while I’ve been reading this neat blog called Be Thrifty Like Us, which is pretty bare-bones but which always features useful info about coupons and freebies. In this recent post, they highlighted the atlas freebie offer. Due to the influence of this blog and Money Saving Mom, I think I just might get sucked in to couponing. Men are allowed to use coupons too, right?

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to my RSS feed or subscribing by email!