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About Debtor’s Prisons

In the time of Charles Dickens, men were arrested for debt and imprisoned until they could repay what they owed. This was sometimes achieved by the help of family members, but as not everyone had that advantage, the system was somewhat nonsensical especially because living within the prisons required the spending of money with virtually no opportunity to earn it.

“Pray remember ye poor debtors.”

Editor’s Picks

I Pick Up Pennies presents Are we too optimistic?.

Passive Family Income presents Recession in America – Gardening.

Five Cent Nickel presents Debt Reduction vs. Retirement Savings.

Personal Stories

Debt Kid presents Going from Broke to Blessed.

Bible Money Matters presents Don’t Let Unexpected Stress Be An Excuse For Spending.

Man Vs. Debt presents My Debt-Recon And Current Battle Plans.

My Money Minute presents Don’t Laugh, It’s Paid For!.

Daily Saving & Budgeting

PF Credit Cards presents Lower Your Monthly Subscriptions Cost by Calling.

American Consumer News presents What a Difference Control Makes.

The Smarter Wallet presents Money Saving Ideas To Create A Frugal Household Budget.

Greener Pastures presents It’s EPA Fix a Leak Week.

Money Management

My Dollar Plan presents Would You Take a Loan Modification?.

Automatic Finances presents 3 Bank Fees You Should Never Have to Pay.

Free Money Finance presents Review Your Credit Card Bill.

No Credit Needed presents Beware The Dangers Of The Abuse Of Credit.

The Sun’s Financial Diary presents PIN vs. Signature Based Debit Transactions.

Investing

Investing School presents Realized and Unrealized Gains and Losses.

Prime Time Money presents 5 Reasons Not to Borrow from Your 401k.

My Retirement Blog presents Earning $20,000 Equals Half Million Dollar Nest Egg.

Gurus & Books

The Paycheck Chronicles presents A Dollar Saved is Two Dollars Earned.

The Digerati Life presents Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps To Financial Success.

The Dough Roller presents Debt Cures by Kevin Trudeau–Do his “secrets” really work?.

Making Money

Counting My Pennies presents Sell your gold and get rich!.

Destroy Debt presents The Part Time Job Method of Increasing Your Income.

Miss Thrifty presents Making Money From Your House in 2012.

Studenomics presents Successful Business Venture Checklist.

Miscellany

Clever Dude presents Is Hip-Hop Teaching Americans Money Lessons?.

J. Money presents Our church is $125k in debt…and guess what?.

Christian Debt Help presents Video of Peter Schiff predicting the crisis and getting mocked!.

* * *

This concludes the Charles Dickens Debtor’s Prison Edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction. Remember, if you’d like to be included in my next carnival, the 1st Edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights,  submit your best post by April 1st 6PM PST!

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #18
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Giveaways Ending Soon! And Hosting 2 Blog Carnivals Next Week

I know everyone hates hearing these trite statements, but the reason they are so often repeated is because they are true. In fact, they are so basic they should be considered common sense. These principles work for both staying out of (and maybe even getting out of) debt.

The simple solutions to staying out of debt are:

• Spend less than you make
• Don’t waste money
• If your expenses are higher than your income
  • Cut back, and/or
  • Make more money

How to spend less than you make

Before you spend money on any treats for yourself, set aside what you need to pay your regular bills. If you aren’t able to keep from spending that money by only mentally setting it aside, try the following:

• Open a new bank account for your regular expenses (rent, utilities, etc.). Tip: Credit unions offer accounts without fees or minimum balances. Let’s call this account your “Expenses Account.”
• Add up all your bills and expenses at the beginning of each month and transfer that amount from your main account to your Expenses Account.
• If the bank or credit union issues you an ATM card and/or checks for that account, keep them in a safe place at home instead of carrying them in your wallet or purse.
• If you get paid every 2 weeks and your bills are due at the end of the month, try not to spend any money on luxuries with the first paycheck of the month. If your expenses are less than the amount of your paycheck, put all of that amount into your Expenses Account, plus a little extra padding just to be safe (to prevent overdraft charges in case you added wrong).
• After you have set aside all the money necessary to pay your bills, see how much you have left. Put as much into savings as possible, but if you feel like you need to treat yourself to a little something, do so at your own discretion.

How to not waste money

Money wasted is money you will never see again. And money is one of the easiest things to waste and justify (at least at the moment of the wasting). The easiest way to keep from wasting money is to ask yourself the simple, and again oft-repeated, question of “Do I really need to buy this [item]“? It is likely that 60% or more of the time, you will find that you really don’t need it after some thought. But if just asking yourself this question isn’t enough for you, try some or all of the following:

• When tempted with an impulse purchase, leave it and think about it a week later. Don’t go and look at the item, but just think about it. Looking at it might bring the impulse back. After a week, see if you still really want it. Chances are that you will no longer feel as strongly about it as you did before.
• When there is something you really want to buy, make a list of “Reasons why you need this item” and “Reasons why you should not buy this item”. Take a look at your reasons and see if they are good enough reasons to justify the expenditure.
• If you do need to buy something, spend some time to research the quality of what you buy. Many websites have consumer opinions on all sorts of products. If you do spend money, make sure you are spending it on something that will last you a good while. Don’t compromise your desire or need for something by settling for something cheap and of inferior quality that won’t last in usefulness or value.
• Think about the potential of that money. Check out my earlier article Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow and use the savings interest calculator to see how much a few dollars here and there can grow into a sizable nest egg in future years.

How to cut back on spending

If your expenses are higher than your income, then go through all your bills and see which ones you can do without or downgrade. Do you really need lightning speed internet on your personal computer? Do you really need 1000 minutes, internet and 200 text messages on your personal cell phone? Check out these previous articles I have written that deal with lowering expenses.

• Discerning Luxury from Necessity – This is a basic guide to get you started on figuring out what you need and don’t need
• 20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service – This is an article on how I saved some money just by contacting my ISP to ask about lower rates.
• Insurance Matters: The Cost of Complacency – The lesson I learned about assuming that my auto insurance company was still giving me the best rate after I relocated.
  

How to increase your income

There are many ways of increasing your income. It doesn’t have to be a major endeavor, but a little bit of extra money never hurts. Here are a just a few suggestions for what you can do to increase your income. Some are one-time solutions, and others are things that you can do continuously.

• Sell your stuff
  Go through your things and find some things you no longer need but are good enough to pass on. Hold a garage or yard sale, or offer them for sale on one of the many online trading sites. I know someone who always has to have the newest technology – computers, cell phones, MP3 Players, etc. I imagine he must have thousands of dollars’ worth of still good technology just sitting around his house.
• Sell your abilities
  Do you have a skill not possessed by everyone? If you speak a 2nd or 3rd language, play a musical instrument, or have some knowledge of a subject, you can tutor or teach from your home or create an informative website on to earn ad money. If you are good at crafts, fixing electronics, woodworking, minding children, or any other special skill, there are numerous ways to earn a little money here or there and you may even end up being a professional in a field you never considered seriously. Some people do not even know how to install software on their personal computers and will pay to have this common task done for them.
• Open a CafePress Store
  If you have photographic, artistic or graphics ability, open a CafePress shop. All you have to do is upload your images and create products with your artwork on them. Check out our store Mozartini, which we started in December 2007 and has begun to make more money each month. We love CafePress because once the artwork is up and products created, all you have to do is wait for the money to come it. CafePress takes care of customers, prints and ships the orders and sends you a check. I just love waking up in the morning and finding those “You’ve made a sale at CafePress” emails.
• Check out a few other suggestions by my fellow financial blogger, Jonathan from Master Your Card, who recently wrote a guest post for us: Five Ways to Make Some Extra Income on the Side.

Related posts:

• Welcome MSN Money Central Smart Spending Readers!
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Resisting the Urge to Splurge
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Under the Weather – Recommended Reading

Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Hard

This is a credit card add-on for the game of Monopoly wherein players have both cash and credit and may opt to “charge” certain expenses in lieu of paying cash in order to keep the cash flow for investing in property and buildings. For being such a careful money saver in real life, I was surprised at how quickly my “credit card debt” snowballed.

I started out by charging all my expenses because the 10% interest seemed so insignificant, and before I knew it, I was overlimit and paying 20% interest and my debt became more and more unmanageable. I came in second in the end with a credit card debt of $3,600. Madoline won with over $5,000 in cash, and Mabel lost with over $10,000 in credit card debt. :O

Objective

To teach children (and some adults) about buying and owing on the credit system.

Overview

This version of the game uses a credit system wherein players may opt to put purchases and expenses on their credit account instead of paying cash – either because they do not have enough cash available or because they wish to keep their cash to invest in property.

How to Play

• Print out and distribute a copy of the Bank of Monopoly Personal Credit Card Statement (includes rules) to each player. The statement contains 20 tables (representing 20 months/circuits of the game board). If you need more than 20 tables, simply print extra copies of this document.
  Tip: Print 2-Sided to save paper
• Any time during the game, a player may opt to charge expenses such as rent, taxes and miscellaneous fees on his/her “credit card.” in order to save cash for investing in properties and building.
• Property and building purchases may not be charged on a credit card.

How to Use the Personal Credit Card Statement

• A player is allowed 12 credit transactions per month (circuit of the board).
• Each person has a credit limit of $2,000.

1. On the first round of the game, enter $0 under Balance Forward.
2. When making a charge, enter a brief description of the transaction under “Description of Transaction”
3. Enter the amount under “Amount Charged”
4. Total the current balance in the right-hand column under “Balance.”
5. When you pass or land on “Go,” total your balance next to “Total Charges”
6. Pay off your desired debt in cash to bank and enter the figure next to “Amount Paid @ “Go.”
   • You are required to make a minimum payment of 10% of the total charges.
   • If you are not able to make the 10% payment, your interest rate increases to 20% until you are able to make your minimum payment again.
   • You may pay your balance in full and accrue no finance charges, or pay at least the minimum or as much as you are able to or wish to.
7. Subtract the amount paid from the Total Charges and enter the amount next to “Balance Subtotal.”
   If the balance is greater than $0, multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) if you’ve made at least the minimum payment, or 20% (n x .2) if you were not able to make the minimum payment, and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
8. Multiply Balance Subtotal by 10% (n x .1) and enter the figure next to “x 10% Finance Charges.”
9. Add the 10% Finance Charge to your Balance Subtotal and enter the figure next to “Balance Forward.”
10. This is your remaining debt.
11. Move to the next empty table and enter the “Balance Forward” amount at the top right-hand column
12. next to “Balance Forward.”
13. When entering your first charge of new circuit around the board, add the charge to the forwarded amount and repeat.

Click on the image below to view a sample statement

Transactions Between Players

On a transaction wherein a player is to receive money and the payer decides to charge the expense, the receiver withdraws the payment directly out of the bank.

Bank of Monopoly Credit Card Terms

Credit Limit: $2,000
Regular Interest Rate: 10%
Minimum Payment: 10% of balance
Minimum Finance Charge: $10
Insufficient Payment/Overlimit Interest Rate: 20%
Overlimit Fee: $50 per transaction

Note: In the interest of illustrating the snowball effect of debt, we have decided not to cap the game and charges at $2,000, but rather impose a per transaction overlimit fee of $50 and a higher interest rate.

Visit http://pecuniarities.com/Monopoly for more Money Management and Investment Monopoly Expansions!

The Monopoly game is copyrighted by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. All expansions are original creations by Our Fourpence Worth and shared for personal use only. Commercial use of these rules, forms and images is prohibited.

Related posts:

• Monopoly Game Expansion #1: Personal Savings Account
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Monopoly Game Expansion #2: Personal Checking Account
• Monopoly Game Expansion #5: Income Tax Edition
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

Originally posted 2008-06-30 06:00:22.

I received the following comment today from a reader about my earlier post Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt:

“All good advice – sadly, it is harder than it sounds. But then again, the more you make the more you can spend, so figuring out how to live within your means is a lesson we should all learn at an early age!”

Yes, it is harder than it sounds; almost everything is. But what it all boils down to is common sense, self-discipline and keeping your priorities in mind. It is true that it would be ideal to learn such lessons at an early age, but there is no reason why an adult can’t learn to control his spending and live within his means if he truly wants to.

Don’t get me wrong. I am human and I know how hard it can be to resist spending on things you want. For example, here is just a snippet of some of the things I have been coveting for a long time – some for years.

• A laptop computer
• My favorite TV shows on DVD (Friends, X-Files and many more)
• Subscription to cable (which we haven’t had since 2001)
• A cushy armchair for reading in my bedroom
• The complete British and French editions of the Harry Potter books (I collect foreign editions of Harry Potter books)

These are just a few of the things that cross my mind at the moment, but I know there are more. Over the years, I have been tempted more than once to buy some or all of these things, but I know the danger of giving in to the urge to splurge, because spending or getting what you want is addictive. Oftentimes, when you get one thing, you want or need to get more things to go with it.

I know it’s annoying to hear these words because they’re so “self-help-ish” (I myself can’t stand self-helpers and trite inspirational “don’t underestimate the power of the mind” stuff), but -

The tools for fighting the urge to spend are:

• Recognizing your priorities
• Rational thinking (not rationalizing)
• Self-discipline/self-control
• Will power
• Rewarding yourself

Recognizing Your Priorities

For most of us, our main goal is simply to “save money” or “save as much money as possible,” and that works well enough. But maybe for some of us, that goal simply isn’t enough. If you have a strong penchant for spending, you may need more clearcut reasons than “to save money” in order to curb your spending. So you will need to contemplate the following question.

Why do you want or need to save money?

Is it …

• To save for a down payment on a house of your own?
• To save for a replacement car?
• To save for marriage and a family?
• To save for a personal or family emergency?
• To stay out of debt?
• To get out of debt?
• To achieve financial freedom?
• To make sure your loved ones are provided for?
• To make sure you have enough to live on should you lose your job?
• To be able to retire when you want or need to?
• To make sure you have enough to last through your retirement?

Knowing and reminding yourself of your priorities at all times will help make achieving your goals easier.

Rational Thinking

Rational thought is necessary in order to succeed at anything including spending and saving money. When tempted to spend on something you don’t need or can’t really afford -

Try to look at the item in question with objectivity (without emotion) and ask yourself the following questions (The “it” in the following questions can apply to any kind of expenditure. Buying a tangible item, a service, eating out, etc.):

• Do you really need it?
• If yes, why do you need it?
• Are your reasons for needing it valid?
• Can you really afford it?
• What do you already have that can be used instead?
• What will its value be 6 months down the road? 1 year? 5 years?
• If it is a tangible item will you still be using it?
• If it is an intangible or transient item, is it really worth spending money on it that you would otherwise never see again?

Also consider:

• The potential value of the money saved from not spending it and saving or investing it. Use the savings calculator on Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow to see how much a little money saved over time can become.
• If you really think you have enough money saved for your future or financial goals.

Self-Discipline/Self-Control

No one likes hearing about discipline. It implies strictness, lack of freedom, and unpleasant tasks. But without self-discipline, one can never achieve success or financial freedom. So when confronted with a tempting expenditure:

• Plan A: Walk Away
  The best way to exercise your self-discipline when confronted with temptation is to simply walk away – or close the browser window (and clear your browsing history and cache to make it harder to accidentally happen on it again.)
• Plan B: If you can’t walk away, then wait.
  If you have a hard time walking away from the temptation, then at least wait. Convince yourself that you are not flat-out denying yourself what you want, but rather waiting for a sale or a price reduction. You will often find that by the time the price has decreased, so has your desire for the item.

  If it turns out you do still want the item, at least you will be spending less on it. Also, by delaying your expenditure, you can earn a little more interest on the money to be spent.

Will Power

You will find that as you practice self-discipline, your will power will grow. There will come a time when you can see something you really like and simply be able to admire it and move on without a struggle.

Rewarding Yourself

Living a life devoid of treats and denying yourself everything you want is not living. So it is alright to reward yourself on occasion. Only you can decide how often and how much you should treat yourself to, but here are a few suggestions for how to figure out what works for you.

Start by setting a goal for yourself. It is important to make it a reasonable goal. Goals can be measured in time, amount of money, achievement or any other way that suits your lifestyle. When you achieve your goal, reward yourself with a little treat within reason.

Setting a goal

• Time
  Set a timeframe in which you decide you will not make unnecessary expenditures. If you have a regular habit of spending money everyday or every few days, you might want to start with a shorter goal and work your way up to the ideal timeframe.
• Amount of money saved
  Instead of putting all your money in your checking account, open a savings account (if you don’t already have one.) Put all your non-regular-expense money (anything not for necessities such as rent, bills, groceries, gas, etc.) into this savings account. When you have saved up to a certain pre-determined amount – $500, $1,000, etc. – then you can allow yourself a little treat.
• Achievement
  This could be for achievement in any area of your life – career, personal, weight-loss, etc.

As time passes and you achieve your goals you might find the success of achieving your goals to be more rewarding than spending money. In an ideal world, that would probably be enough. But for most of us human beings, it probably isn’t.

So remember, it is important to treat yourself once in a while. It doesn’t have to be a big treat. It could be as little as an ice cream cone, a reasonable item of clothing, a new CD, etc. But if you find yourself treating yourself every other day, something is wrong. I can’t tell you exactly how long and how much your goals should be. It is different for everyone and something you need to figure out for yourself. That’s why it’s called personal finance.

In closing, I will share

How I rational thought my way out of the items on my wish list (mentioned above)

• A laptop computer
  Reason I don’t need it: I already have a desktop computer.
• My favorite TV shows on DVD
  Reason I don’t need it: For now, I can watch what DVDs I have and TV shows online. I know I’ll eventually get them, but what’s the hurry?
• Subscription to cable
  Reason I don’t need it: An occasional DVD purchase is cheaper than subscribing to cable and I’ll end up with an asset instead of just putting money down the drain.
• A cushy armchair for reading in my room
  Reason I don’t need it: I can read on my bed. Someday I will get an armchair when the time is right and when I can afford a nice one.
• The complete British and French editions of the Harry Potter books
  Reason I don’t need it: The fun of book collecting is acquiring each edition book by book over time. If I got all the books at one time, I’d need to find a new hobby.

Treating Myself

On the other hand, I did treat myself to a rather expensive gift last fall. I have been a musician since I was 5 years old, and have wanted to learn to play the violin since I was a teenager. Last fall, I purchased myself a Suzuki Student Violin for $170. Being more expensive than most of our regular purchases, I considered it a late birthday/early Christmas/early next birthday present for myself. My violin is and will be one of my most favored possessions for a long time to come.

Related posts:

• Pecuniary Links ~ July 2009 #2
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Welcome MSN Money Central Smart Spending Readers!
• Pecuniarities (Our Fourpence Worth) 1 Year Anniversary
• Frugality to the Extreme: Would You Eat Out of the Dumpster?

Originally posted 2008-06-27 06:00:38.

Expansions Difficulty/Complexity: Easy

This is a cash-free version of the game wherein all transactions are handled through personal checking accounts and recorded in individual check registers. Each player is responsible for his own account and must record all transactions – payment and receipt of rent, taxes, bribes, etc. in his check register.

Objective

To teach children (and some adults) how to accurately record transactions and balance a check register.

How to Play

• Download and print the Bank of Monopoly Personal Check Register (includes rules)
• Instead of distributing cash at the beginning of the game, players record the opening balance at the top of the check register (in the right-hand column under $ Balance). If playing the original Atlantic City Monopoly game with the distribution of 2 x $500, 2 x $100, 2 x $50, 6 x $20, 5 x $10, 5 x $5 , and 5 x $1 bills, the opening balance is $1,500.
• Instead of using cash, all transactions are recorded in the check register under Deposit (+) and Payment (-), and all money belonging to the player is totaled in the $ Balance column.

Click on the image to view a sample check register

How to Use the Check Register

• For each transaction, begin by recording the date and/or time. Since most games are played within one day, you may opt to record the time of each transaction instead of the date. We suggest placing a clock on the table in a spot easily visible by all players.
• Enter a brief description of the transaction. For example, “Luxury Tax,” “Rent – Board Walk,” “Passed Go.”
• When making a deposit record the amount in the Deposit (+) column, add it to the existing balance and record the new balance in the $ Balance column.
• When making a payment, record the amount in the Payment (-) column and subtract the amount from the existing balance and record the new balance in the $ Balance column.
  • Examples of transactions that belong under Deposit (+):
    Passing “Go,” collecting rent and utilities, Chance and Community Chest bonuses (bank error, dividends, income tax refund, etc.), mortgaging property, selling houses and hotels
  • Examples of transactions that belong under Payment (-):
    Paying rent, utilities, income tax, luxury tax, school tax, poor tax, hospital bill, etc., buying property, building houses and hotels, un-mortgaging property.

Transactions Between Players

When one player must pay another player – rent, Chance or Community Chest, etc. – he debits the amount from his account under Payment (-). The player receiving the funds adds the amount to his account under Deposit (+).

Optional Overdraft and Negative Balance

Instead of declaring bankruptcy and leaving the game when a player’s balance reaches $0, the player can be charged an Overdraft Fee of $25 per transaction that creates or maintains a negative balance. For each round that the balance remains negative (upon landing on or passing “Go”), the player is charged a 10% overdraft penalty. This is a good lesson in the snowball effect of debt.

Optional Personal Checks

To train youngsters how to properly make out checks, personal checks are also included (page 6) for practicing on game transactions.

Click on the image below to view a sample check

Visit OurFourpenceWorth.com/Monopoly for more Money Management and Investment Monopoly Expansions!

Related posts:

• Monopoly Game Expansion #1: Personal Savings Account
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Monopoly Game Expansion #5: Income Tax Edition
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Monopoly Game Expansion #3: Certificate of Deposit

Originally posted 2008-06-20 06:30:05.

As some of you already know, I am the worst of procrastinators. And taxes being so unpleasant, I naturally tend to procrastinate when it comes to filing my taxes every year.

First of all, I do put off filing my tax return for one valid reason: we owe each year so I prefer to wait till April to file and pay in order to earn more interest in  savings. But this also gives me an excuse to put off working on our returns.

This year I was worse than usual, and my procrastination and 2 unforeseen events almost got me in trouble.

My Taxing Experience

• Dec. 31, 2008–April 11, 2009 — Procrastinated
  We have a few different sources of income so there are a lot of elements involved in our tax returns – calculating various types of expenses and almost 20 different forms between the two of us. Needless to say, this takes a lot of preparation, which I just kept putting off.
• April 11 9:30PM — Started to panic
  3 days, 2 hours before April 15th, I finally realized just how little time was left and kicked myself into action.
• April 12–13 — Worked like mad
  Pulled an all-nighter and finished my “first draft” of the PDF forms.
• April 13 11:00PM — Crisis #1: Printer wouldn’t print
  After double- & triple-checking the forms and calculations, I was ready to print and be done with it — only to find that the printer wouldn’t print. I re-filled the ink cartridge but print quality was awful. Thinking the ink needed time to settle and let the air bubbles work their way up, I called it a night.
• April 14 5:45PM — Crisis #2: Power outage
  After more ink re-filling and printer maintenance, it was printing properly again, but half-way through approx. 40 pages, our power went out due to wind storms in the area. the outage was all over town and lasted until 11:00PM, so I didn’t finish compiling and packing everything up till around 1:15AM.
• April 15 — Phew!
  Got to the post office and got everything mailed out. Thoroughly exhausted.

I was extremely lucky that I was still able to get everything done by the 15th. Had I delayed just one more day, I probably wouldn’t have made it. When the power went out on the 14th, I started contemplating all the other things that could possibly go wrong, such as:

• What if my car won’t start when I need to go the Post Office tomorrow?
• What if the wind storm gets worse tomorrow and I can’t drive?

Any number of things could have prevented me from being able to get our returns postmarked on the 15th. The amount we owe is high enough that a penalty and interest charge would be quite unpleasant.

This experience got me thinking about other ways procrastination can set back your financial health. I have been thinking about this for the last 2 days and here are my conclusions.

Other ways procrastination can lead to financial disease (and possible eventual death)

Putting off . . .

• Contacting service providers, insurance companies, etc. to lower your bills
• Canceling services you no longer need
• Minor maintenance and repairs on your home or car until they become major repairs
• Paying off credit card debt by just paying the minimum payment
• Refinancing loans when interest rates are low
  

I have to admit I have been guilty of all but one of the above (I don’t have credit card debt). When I was in college, my fellow students and I often joked about how we procrastinated studying for our exams or writing term papers. The fact is, I’m the type that works better under pressure. Oftentimes, when I sat down to write a paper that wasn’t due for a few more days, I would get writer’s block. But the night before the due date, I would get serious and the ideas would start flowing.

Thus, I have always operated under the premise that this is just how I work so it’s O.K. to procrastinate. But now that I’m a grown-up dealing with grown-up matters where it’s no longer just a grade at stake, I’m beginning to see just how self-destructive this type of behavior can be. While this past week has been torture, I have learned a valuable lesson, so perhaps it was good for me that I had this harrowing experience.

It seems the tax gods were with me this time and let me get by with a lesson learned and no harm done. I shouldn’t expect to be so lucky again and must start getting things done ahead of time. Not only could it save me potential financial penalties, but keep the stress and blood pressure levels to a minimum.

Related posts:

• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #19
• Funny Money Lessons from Fiddler on the Roof: If I Were a Rich Man
• Holidays Should Be Happy: Have a Party-Preparation Party to Reduce Stress
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #20
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #10

Welcome to the 1st Edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights!

I am thrilled to have received such a response from the personal finance blogging community for this first edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Thank you to each of the 68 participants for your submissions; it has been a pleasure to read and include each of your articles.

A little about the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights

For those of you who are just hearing about this new carnival, the purpose of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights is to showcase content of lasting value from the personal finance and frugality blogosphere. There is no restriction as to the age of the posts submitted so bloggers are free to submit their best and favorites from any part of their archives.

As the priority is lasting value, you will not find items with an “expiration date.” This means, no temporary promotions for businesses, shopping deals or credit card offers. Even if you were to happen upon this carnival 6 months from now, the content would all still be relevant.

More information: About • Schedule • Hosting • Submissions

Giveaway Winners

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David from MoneyNing	Momma from Momma’s Blog

Pecuniary Art by Madoline Hatter

In our past year of financial blogging, my sister Madoline Hatter, our resident graphic designer and artist, has produced not a few financially-themed pieces for this blog and our CafePress shop. As we have just concluded 2 giveaways of piggy bank art magnets featuring Madoline’s work to kick-off the launch of this new carnival, I have decided to theme this first edition around more of her pecuniary art.

Shameless plug: All of the images you see below are available on numerous types of products at our shop. They make great gifts for those with an interest in finance or frugality, and most are available with and without captions. Click on an image to see more.

Now, without any further ado, allow me to present the first ever Carnival of Pecuniary Delights: The Madoline Hatter Pecuniary Art Edition.

Editor’s Picks

• FIRE Finance from FIRE Finance presents Early Retirement Case Study – Sandy Aldridge and Dale Lugenbehl.
• Kelly from Almost Frugal presents The ABCs of frugality.
• Frugal Dad from Frugal Dad presents Is Frugality The Anti-Stimulus Plan?.
• Linsey Knerl from Wise Bread presents Beware of pretty things: 4 reasons I’m keeping my old ugly stuff.

Feast On Your Savings

Frugality

• Miss Thrifty from Miss Thrifty presents Make Do And Mend: Vogue for the Credit Crunch Bunch.
• Abigail from I Pick Up Pennies presents Are Americans really learning?.
• Lulugal from How I Save Money presents Frugal Frauds Revealed.
• Mike from Four Pillars presents Changing your mind.

Frugal Home and Garden

• Momma from Momma’s Blog presents 9 No Spend Weekend Ideas.
• David from Personal Finance Blog by MoneyNing presents My Virgin DIY Haircut Experience.
• Kate Kashman from The Paycheck Chronicles presents Seven Reasons Why Clutter is Costing Me Money.
• Heather Levin from The Greenest Dollar presents How To Save Money On Laundry Day.
• Leslie from Spilling Buckets presents It’s that time of year again: Gardening Season.

Frugal Kitchen

• Green Panda from Green Panda Treehouse presents Brownbag Your Lunch and Save Money.
• Jenn from Frugal Upstate presents The Making of a Lunch for Princess-Lunchbox Philosophy and Execution.
• Jim L. from The Switch to Riches presents Saving Even MORE on Groceries.
• Smarty from Growing Money presents How I Cut Down On Food Expenses.

Incontinent spending?

Saving on Spending

• Kimberly Palmer from Alpha Consumer presents My Experiment: Asking for a Better Deal.
• RC from Think Your Way To Wealth presents Negotiating a Deal and Tips on Becoming a Better Negotiator.
• Christina from Northern Cheapskate presents Don’t Let Coupons Clip Into Your Free Time.
• J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents 3 Tips to Putting BLING on That Finger of Hers.
• Laura from No More Spending presents Cold Turkey on Magazines and Confessions.

Money Management

• Jim from Bargaineering presents Your Financial Network Map.
• PT Money from Prime Time Money presents Save More Money: Automate and Separate Your Savings.
• JT Locke from The Frugal Housewife presents How Much Is Too Much?.
• Cindy Morus, The Money Mender from Mend Your Money presents How to Have More Fun With Your Tax Refund in 2009.
• Karen from Living Well on Less presents Time for new tires — or why I’m glad we have an emergency fund.
• Kay Bell from Don’t Mess With Taxes presents When renting is the right choice.
• Money Progress from Money Progress presents How to Save Money and Feel Good About It.

A penny is the first part of a million.

Personal Finance

• Megan from Counting My Pennies presents Support Your Non-Profits.
• BSimple from Simplified Financial Lifestyle presents Financial Planning is EASY as Vacation Planning.
• Jason from My Money Minute presents What We Learn From Tragedy.
• Fred from Very Personal Finance presents Personal Finance Is Personal – Very Personal.
• Patrick from Cash Money Life presents Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.
• Dave from Do You Dave Ramsey? presents Do You Dave Ramsey?

Green Living

• Prune Danish from Frugal Luxury presents More Beauty Products You Could Probably Do Without.
• Alunachic from The Frugal Musician presents The Frugal Musician Makes a Cardboard Mailer.

Debt and Credit

• Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Get Rid Of Your Debt With These Debt Defying Strategies.
• Jeremy M. Simon from Taking Charge presents Phone line makes me popular with debt collectors.
• Greg Keene from Managing Money God’s Way presents Can you cosign this loan for me?.
• Trevor Shipp from Financial Nut presents You’ll Always Have a Car Payment.
• CPF from Christian Debt Help presents Negotiate with credit card companies and Win!
• Baker from Man Vs. Debt presents Declaring War: Cancelling Your Credit Cards.
• Marlon from Penny Scraper presents A fast way to improve the credit score of a family member.

Shining Credit vs. Infernal Credit

Taxes and Economic Stimulus

• Madison from My Dollar Plan presents $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.
• FFB from Free From Broke presents Paying Back The Economic Stimulus Payment – Lots of Tax Confusion!
• Miranda from Yielding Wealth presents Tax Time: Identity Thieves on the Prowl.
• Bruce from Taxguy presents A Little Straight Talk.
• Mr. ToughMoneyLove from Tough Money Love presents Consider this Likely Future Tax Benefit of Early Mortgage Payoff.

Economy

• Rocketc from Rocket Finance presents Financial Fairytale.
• Lisa Spinelli from Greener Pastures presents Is the Time Ripe for the Next Generation of Outliers?
• HIB from Happiness Is Better presents The TED Spread and What It Means to You .
• LAL from Living Almost Large presents Do I get paid too much?

Investing

• Zach Scheidt from Zach Stocks presents Double Your Investment Returns (Too Good to be True?).
• Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents 7 Things To Know About a Roth IRA For 2009.
• Clare Kierans from Money Energy presents Why You Should First Invest in Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).
• Mike from Richer by the Day presents Forever Stamps, A Losing Investment.
• MFD from My Findependence Day presents How Important are the CESG Grants to an RESP?.
• Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Are Vanguard Mutual Funds Getting Expensive? .
• Mr. GoTo from Go To Retirement presents Why I like I-Bonds in My Retirement Portfolio.

Career and Income

• WC from Wisebread presents On Salaries: Knowing What Your Coworkers Make.
• Viviana from The Lean Times presents When the work dries up.
• Peter from Bible Money Matters presents To Succeed Diversify And Create Multiple Streams Of Income.
• The David from Pimp Your Finances presents 20 Questions with J.D. Roth, author of Get Rich Slowly.
• The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents Job Hunting Tips: How To Deal With Losing Your Job.

Practice Maintains Perfect

Miscellany

• Kyle from Suburban Dollar presents Quit Paying for What You Can Get for Free (Open Source software).
• Ishan from Save Few Bucks presents Does it really makes sense to buy a Hybrid Car?.
• Papa Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents Not All Credit Cards Companies are the Same.
  Note: While I usually prefer “positive” stories, I thought this psot could serve as a consumer review of a bank on which I myself have less than stellar opinions through personal experience.

Enchanted Pumpkin Fairy Ship

* * *

This concludes the First Edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Wise Bread, so be sure to get your submissions in by Wednesday April 8th, 6:00 PM PST.

Related posts:

• Pecuniarities is Hosting the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights This Week!
• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights Giveaways: Cute Piggy Bank Magnet Prizes for Hosting and Submissions
• Pecuniary Links ~ July 2009 #2
• Pecuniary Links ~ August 2009 #1

If you haven’t done your taxes yet, enter now for a chance to win 1 of 2 FREE prepaid access codes for TurboTax Premier Online which includes:

• Free Federal
• State Preparation
• Free e-File

The Premier package is valued at $85 and includes investment income, 401-K  Maximizer, rental deductions and other features to help you maximize and expedite your refund. Click here for more information on TurboTax Premier.

Enter by 11:59 PM PST tonight March 28, 2009 for a chance to win!

Pecuniarities is Hosting 2 Carnivals Next Week!

Submit your posts for double carnival exposure:

• Carnival of Debt Reduction on Monday March 30th
  Submit your post by 5:00 PM PST Sunday March 29th to be considered for inclusion
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights on Thursday April 2nd
  Submit your best post – remember there is no restriction as to the age of the post – by 5:00 PM PST Wednesday April 1st to be considered for inclusion

Apply to host and submit an article for the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights by April 1st for chances to win these 2 cute piggy bank magnets by Madoline Hatter:

“Money begets Money” magnet for article submissions, “Feast on your savings” magnet for applying to host.

This Week’s Blog Carnivals

We participated in 2 blog carnivals this week:

• Festival of Frugality #170 – Frugal Living is Timeless was hosted by Money Ning and included my post:
  When “Free” Things Aren’t Free: Beware the Hidden and Indirect Costs
• Learn The Basics of Investing – Edition #197 of Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Four Pillars and included my post:
  It Saves to Be Nice Part 4: How to Save Money by Helping Businesses Keep Operating Costs Down

Related posts:

• Pecuniarities is Hosting the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights This Week!
• Hosting Festival of Frugality and Money Hacks Carnival Next Week
• Web Hosting
• Wall Street Journal Giveaway Winner and Carnivals of the Week
• New Personal Finance and Frugality Blog Carnival: The Carnival of Pecuniary Delights

Bible Money Matters wrote yesterday on how credit card companies act like they’re your friends when they really just want your money. This is true, of course, but frankly it neither surprises nor bothers me. Credit card companies and banks are businesses – just like your health insurance carrier, supermarket and baby sitter.

The Business of Business

No one starts a business for the purpose of making friends. “Making friends” by providing cheerful service and offering “helpful” advice  is merely a means to an end. When a business advertisement says “Your satisfaction is our #1 priority,” the word “satisfaction” is really a metaphor and euphemism for “money.” Otherwise the business’s existence would be pointless.

So when a credit card company offers you “advice” to put all your purchases on your card to maximize your cash back or rewards earnings, they are in fact helping themselves. We all know that. There is nothing you can do about what they say to try to get you to wrack up a large debt. But just because they hope you’ll do it doesn’t mean that you have to.

Everything you have done and continue to do with regard to your credit card has been, and continues to be, 100% up to you.

• Can the credit card company strong-arm you into swiping your card at every store you see or enter?
• Can the credit card company force you to spend beyond your means?
• Can the credit card company make you not pay your balance in full every month?

A Grain of Salt and a Pinch of Brain

Just remember that any “advice” coming from someone whose goal is to make money from you should be taken with a grain of salt. Example —

Car salesman: That car looks great on you.

But neither do you need to be bitter about their attempt to sway you into debt. Laugh it off. Congratulate yourself on your ability to see through their ruse. Then take that grain of salt, add a pinch of noggin and think about how you can benefit from what they do offer.

(Talking points from Money Matters’ post in green with my added 2 cents in normal color.)

1. Use Your Card Wherever You Go
   Only on the things you need — groceries, gas and necessities.
   
2. Make Chase Rewards Plus Your Favorite Place To Shop
   Treat it as you would the mall. Only go there if you need something in particular. If their prices are competitive and you get 10% cash back, you just might save money. But remember to comparison shop.
   
3. Pay Bills Using Your Card
   This is something I actually do whenever I can. Automatic payments charged to the card means I can keep money in my savings longer, then transfer the total amount to checking when it’s time for the credit card payment. We received $75 in Amazon Gift Certificates last month thanks to the 10x points promotion on bills.
4. Add An Authorized User… At No Extra Cost!
   Madoline and I have been sharing credit card accounts for 5 years now because we share all our money. Together, we were able to earn over $500 in cash back on our on our AMEX Blue Cash Credit Card in the last 2 years, something we couldn’t have done with separate accounts because of the $6,500 threshold for the higher cash back percentage. Read more about how we Maximize Cash Back and Interest Earnings by sharing accounts.
5. Feel Secure With Your Upgraded Benefits
   We usually choose our cards for the cash back or other rewards and not for the added benefits. But we actually have saved money by using the rental car insurance from AMEX, and if you think about it, some identity protection, however narrow the policy, is better than none.

Now, I’m not saying everyone should use credit cards. They have their pros and cons. They work for some people but not others. If/when you apply for and use credit cards, be aware of the risks and take responsibility for them and for your actions. If you get ripped off by fine print you didn’t read, you’re not entirely blameless because you could have canceled the card immediately upon receiving and reading the terms. Yes, credit card companies are tricky, but so are many other businesses.

You Control Your Spending, Not the Other Way Around

Psychology aside and whether or not credit cards cause higher spending, it all still boils down to one thing: choice.

• Whether or not you are paying by cash or credit, you are still making an active, conscious choice to spend.
• You are the one in control of how much you spend.
• If you are in control, you can choose not to spend.

If you can’t control your impulse to spend, then you should cut up your credit card and keep your cash in a time-lock vault that releases set amounts of money at set times like those automatic pet feeders that release one compartment of food at a time when pet owners work late or go out of town.

Related posts:

• Introducing Pecuniary Associates & Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #17
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals: Week of Unexpected Delays
• Car Trouble: Watch Out for Those Pesky Wabbits
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

While browsing the WiseBread Forums today, I came across an interesting thread in which a member asks: Is “Simple Living” Just Another Term for “Giving Up”?

Several members responded with various opinions:

• There is a difference between simple living and forced poverty.
• Not everyone enjoys the rat race.
• It’s a choice.
• It’s a form of retirement.
• Some live the frugal life because they have no other choice.
• Frugal does not mean “easy,” but instead takes work and ambition.
• It’s the means to an end.

I thought I’d add my own opinion to this and go more into why we live the way we do – sort of a continuation/elaboration on Our Family Financial History which tells how we came to be where we are today. The answer to this question, as evidenced above, is different for everyone depending on your station in life – age, personal goals and lifestyle preferences.

For us, the last answer, “It’s the means to an end,” is closest to our view of “simple living” or “frugal living.” For me, simple living is not just another terms for “giving up.” I like to think of it as “saving up” and making it possible to “live it up” in future years.

Though, I think this has much to do with where we are agewise in our lives. Madoline and I are in our late twenties and we have many years ahead of us. But for someone at midlife, retirement or late-life, it would probably be different.

Our Reasons for Frugal Living are:

• To pay off our house as soon as possible
• To save up to attend graduate school
• To save up for a replacement car when the time comes
• To make sure we and our pets have enough (or more) to live on in later life
• To be able to live as comfortably and healthily as possible in later life
• To be able to help extended family who may need assistance
• To be able to travel and see the all the places we’ve been wanting to see
• To own a small farm on which to keep horses, sheep and dogs
• To be free of debt and worry
• To be able to have the things we want be they large or small
• To be able to pay our taxes – sad, but true

Frugal Living as a Choice

At this time in our lives, we cannot really afford to not live frugally. Our business is still in its development stages, and we are still considering other career paths. Because we prefer to avoid debt and our business is small, we have been using our cash to invest in sewing machines and materials for the business.

So for us, frugal or simple living is a choice because our present lifestyle is also a choice. At this time, we’d like to have a shot at making our business work because we prefer to work for ourselves and be able to work from home so we can be with our dogs who are our closest family. This is the reason we bought our house where the closest city is 40 miles away. We could move to a large city and get full-time jobs if we really wanted or needed to, but for now, we want to try to make our business work.

Frugal Living as a Means to an End

One of the ways in which we hope to make our fortunes is by investing. This also requires some capital other than regular savings and and emergency fund. So that is another reason we live frugally – to save as much money as possible to invest.

How about you? Do you live frugally? If yes, what are your reasons? And if no, why not?

Related posts:

• August 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• Pecuniary Links ~ August 2009 #1
• Short Term vs. Long Term Savings with Bulk Buying
• Resisting the Urge to Splurge
• No-Air Conditioning Summer Part 2 – How We Stayed Cool Without A/C

This first writing project deals with the circumstances, people and events in our past which have led to our present financial habits. I proposed this topic as the first of our group writing project as I had been planning to write something about our background and why we live the way we do.

We are one of those people who have a somewhat complicated history. In our first 25 years, we had lived in 3 different countries and called approximately 20 different places “home.” After several hours of attempting to put it all in prose, we have finally given up and decided to put our family financial history and relevant events in timeline format (and with authentic pictures), for your sake and ours.

A note before we begin: The time periods used to head each section are names of actual time periods from history; however, they are not all in correct historical order, but rather arranged to fit eras of our lives.

Pre-History

• 1978 July – Oakland, CA
  Mother, an art student from Taiwan, marries a young engineer and flight instructor from Japan whom she feels sorry for because he is poor and alone.

Ancient History

• 1979 March – San Francisco, CA
  Penelope arrives.
• 1980 November – San Francisco, CA
  Madoline arrives.
• 1978-1980
  Father cannot find decent work and receives gifts of money and private airplane (in hopes of stimulating flight instruction business) from our maternal grandmother.
• 1981-1987 – Tokyo, Japan
  Father moves family to Japan for better work opportunities. Father becomes a workaholic and makes a lot of money, buys himself computers and other gadgets but won’t give Mother money for food or clothes. Mother relies on grandparents for help and begins giving English lessons to neighborhood children after learning Japanese.
• 1987-1988 – Taiwan
  Father tells mother to leave and take us with her. Mother files for divorce and we are sent to live with various relatives in Taiwan while Mother works to build up a successful multi-level marketing business in Japan and Taiwan.

The Middle Ages

• 1988 July – Kauai, Hawaii
  Mother marries a spendthrift, workaphobe, and tax evader among other things disguised as a romantic gentleman in a ninja suit.
• 1988-1994 – Several locations on Oahu, Hawaii
  Mother continues to work at multi-level marketing business, Forever Living Products, bringing in as much as $10,000 per month for several years. Stepfather also helps by dressing up in business suits; however, the level and efficacy of his participation is questionable. 

  For the first we few years, we enjoy an idyllic childhood living in nice houses, one with a swimming pool, with a menagerie of pet cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, fish and birds. As we get older, our mother begins to share her worries about our stepfather’s shopaholicism. He goes through one expensive phase after another – chess (during which he buys several costly chess sets and strategy books), golf, motorcycles, guitar, etc. She is also constantly worrying about his tax debt and his refusal to do anything to remedy the situation.

• 1991 – 2000 – Family Business
  Staring around age 12 and 10, Madoline and I become partially responsible for helping to manage the family business, as Mother and Stepfather become the area General Managers and run the warehouse for product inventory. Our duties include helping customers (called distributors) with product purchases, explaining the various purposes of the products, taking orders, retrieving and carrying products to customers’ cars, monthly inventories, compiling and mailing monthly sales summaries to the main office. We continue to help out in this business till around part-way through college, at times running the business solely in Stepfather’s place in later years.
• 1994 December – Hawaii Kai, Hawaii
  Mother is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer with 6 months to live. She begins preparing a will, appoints Stepfather legal guardian, names a trustee to set up our trust funds for the life insurance policy left for our future and education – $100,000 each for our education, $500,000 for the purchase of a permanent residence. Knowing Stepfather’s spendthrift nature, she allots $100,000 for his personal use. One month prior to Mother’s passing, the trustee of Mother’s estate is changed to Stepfather.

Imperialism

The following take place in several more locations on Oahu, Hawaii each successively less expensive than the previous.

• 1995 October
  Mother passes away, Stepfather collects the life insurance and begins spending money immediately. He purchases a new car – on credit so as to retain the cash for investing – and ignores calls from lawyer to set up trust funds.
• 1995 November
  Stepfather meets a man called “Grandpa” who has the investment opportunity of a lifetime; give him $250,000 and he will receive $6 Million in 2 months. Stepfather gives “Grandpa” $250,000 – without our consent, of course.
• 1995 November – Early 1996
  In anticipation of millionairehood, Stepfather spends money as if already a millionaire – takes a party of 10 to the Superbowl (including airfare, hotel and $1,000 tickets), takes entire family of which he is the oldest of nine to Phantom of the Opera, hosts a presidential campaign in Hawaii, etc.

The Great Depression

• 1996 Spring
  “Grandpa” proves by all appearances to be a fraud, though Stepfather continues to hope and chant “Our ship will come in.” All $800,000 is gone, new car is repossessed despite Stepfather’s efforts to hide it a ten-minute walk from house. IRS comes calling for back taxes dating to the 1970’s. All that is left is a modest residual income which would be sufficient for us all to live on if he didn’t spend next month’s check before it arrived.
• 1996 Summer
  Stepfather pushes for me to go to college one year early. When I do not want to do so, he resorts to asking for charity from a classmate’s affluent father. (We are unaware of this until after graduation.)
• 1996 -1997
  Stepfather begins to use the word “frugal” in family discussions, a concept he manages to abide to in theory; in practice, he continues to purchase computers, surfboards, and miscellaneous useless things which are somehow supposed to make him rich.

The Age of Enlightenment

• 1997 May
  I graduate high school and win the Sterling Scholarship for Foreign Language and receive a check for $4,000. Because Stepfather needs money, I endorse the check to him.
• 1997-2002 – Higher Education
  Madoline drops out of high school 2 years early, and does one year of independent study by correspondence in order to save Stepfather $16,000 in tuition, and enrolls in college one year early. We graduate college (with honors ) with the aid of scholarships and the residual income left by our mother. Even though the income is enough to support our very modestly priced education, getting the money from Stepfather to pay our class fees and insurance is like pulling teeth.
• 2001-2002 – My First Job
  I enter the work force after graduating, my first job being a contract 9-month receptionist/secretary for our college’s admissions office. I earn $9.00 an hour and work 30 hours a week. It’s a great first job where I discover I have an affinity for administrative work and enjoy counting how much I make every minute as I work (15 cents per minutes ).

The Great Schism

• 2002 June
  At the time of Madoline’s graduation, we sever ties with Stepfather due to a number of irreconcilable differences. When Madoline graduates and my contract ends, we get full-time jobs together. By sharing a house and all our expenses, we are able to put away about $1,000 a month. After a year at this job, we decide to leave Hawaii and try our luck in California.
• 2002 July – 2003 January
  We hire an attorney to help us deal with Stepfather and manage to transfer Mother’s residual income to us. By this time, the business has dwindled and the income is reduced to about 10% of what it was when our mother was alive and developing the business.
• 2003 February – Tokyo, Japan
  Biological Father now decides he wants daughters again after almost 20 years because he finds himself $80,000 in credit card debt from eating out and buying expensive presents for his girlfriends, and suddenly realizes family is important. Unfortunately for him (and for us), we have long ago stopped considering him as our family. Also, he asks us to help pay his debts which does not sit well with us.

The Age of Discovery

• 2003 May – Our First Apartment
  We decide to try living in the Bay Area, where we had been born. Because we will use up almost all our savings on the move, we look for the most inexpensive place we could find. We find a tiny place on Craigslist – and by tiny I mean 240 sq. ft. – an apartment behind a couple’s garage that will let us arrange the rental over email and let us bring all our pets for $650 a month. (Right: Approx. 1/3 of our First Apartment)
  We pack up our things (3,000 lbs. worth of furniture including our piano which we have had since childhood and couldn’t part with, books and mementos of childhood and our mother) and pets – our 4-year old dog, 16-year old cat, and 22 mice. The apartment is so small that we barely had room left after moving all of our things in.
• 2003 May – Our First Car
  After a couple of scary and extremely uncomfortable experiences walking in our new neighborhood to run errands, we decide we need to buy a car asap. Knowing almost nothing about car shopping and credit, we get tricked into a 24% APR.
• 2003 June – Our First Real Frugal Experience
  Having used up all our savings on the move and down payment on the car, and our monthly check having been delayed, we have $100 in the bank. One night we dig through all of our things, pockets and purses for spare change to buy groceries. Even after our check arrives, we go about setting up our apartment as inexpensively as possible because the amount of the income is unpredictable and unreliable. We begin to find creative alternatives for thing we need.
• 2003 Summer & Fall – Our Second Apartment
  As we are still trying to figure out what we want to do, we temporarily apply for and get jobs as sandwich makers at Togo’s Eatery. After a month, the owners of Togo’s offer us managerial positions at a new upscale pizza shop they are opening in Fremont. The apartment turns out to be in violation of several California building codes, and gets extremely hot, with temperatures above 100 degrees on the hottest days. As we are about to start our new jobs in Fremont, we upgrade to a 400 sq. ft. studio apartment. 

  As limited space continues to be an issue, we go to Lowe’s and bring home a carload of lumber and build ourselves a freestanding 8′ x 6′ loft over our beds with for our computer, cushions and other diminutive furniture. This loft is disassembled for a future move, and later recycled into cabinets, this computer desk (with hand-carved feet shaped like horse hooves), a shipping supply cabinet and beds for our dog.

• 2003 September – Our First U-Haul
  To save money, we rent a 10′ U-Haul for our short distance move from Hayward to Fremont. It’s my first time driving a truck, which is quite scary, but when it’s all done, we can’t help but feel just a little bit proud that we’ve done it all ourselves (except for the piano).
• 2004 March – Our First Credit Cards
  Ever since the car loan fiasco, we have been trying to learn about credit. A regular customer of our pizza shop who works for Bank of America advises us to apply for a credit card. We apply for and get our first credit cards and begin building credit histories. Biological Father wants us to add him as an additional user. We say “no.”
• 2004 Tax Time – Our First Time Filing Self-Employment Tax
  Our first tax season is a disaster. I have no idea about where to start and what forms I need to fill out for the income from our mother’s business. I spend days reading the IRS website and countless forms and instructions. I finally figure it all out and mail out our return on April 15th.
• 2004 June – Our First Loan Paid Off
  We have been saving up to pay off our car loan early (23 months ahead of schedule).

The Dark Ages

• April 2004 – Los Angeles
  Our 16-year old cat is diagnosed with kidney disease in November 2003. He becomes seriously ill in February 2004 and needs constant and costly care. As our pizza shop job does not pay very well due to business problems, we decide to move to Los Angeles for more employment opportunities.
• April 2004 – Our Second U-Haul (Actually Budget Rent-a-Truck)
  Again, to save money, we rent a 15′ Budget Rent-a-Truck for the move from Fremont to Van Nuys. This time the experience has gotten old, and the time constraints to return the truck in 3 days is more than a little stressful. We load the truck and hire a Bay Area piano mover to put the piano in the truck on Day 1, make the 8-hour drive and check into the apartment on Day 2, unload the truck and hire a Los Angeles piano mover to unload the piano on Day 3, and return the truck before 9:00AM on Day 4. We swear then and there as we rub our sore backs that this is the last time we ever U-Haul it.
• 2004 Summer – 2005 Summer – The Lost Year
  Having lost our dog to an accident and our cat to kidney disease in early 2004, we suddenly find ourselves a little aimless. Where we used to be content to stay at home and read or watch DVDs, we now find ourselves restless. For a few months, we wander one shopping mall after another as soon as we get off work (a depressing sales job working for a bald man who shouts a lot), buy more clothes than we need, and are reluctant to go home to an empty apartment. 

  Then we decide to quit our jobs and enroll in some arts classes at the local community college, and re-settle into our frugal habits. We become so frugal that we literally don’t do anything or go anywhere except to the library and to the grocery store. We stop going out except to walk the malls for exercise and window shopping.

The Industrial Revolution

• 2005 July – Franga Designs
  One day, while shopping for a Star Trek Enterprise model for my cousin, I discover eBay. Thus begins Franga Designs, our dog and horse clothing and costuming business named after Mother, which later becomes an online store.
• 2005 October – House Hunting
  Madoline’s designs are an instant hit and we begin to receive many requests for custom designs. Our one-bedroom apartment (638 sq. ft.) is completely covered in fabric, patterns, sewing and photographic supplies that we barely have room to walk. We decide it is time to expand our work and living space, and after all the moving around, that it’s time to buy a house and settle somewhere permanently.
• 2005 November – Homeowners
  We find a charming 3-bedroom house with a nice yard in California City. We make an offer and escrow closes November 22, 2005. To celebrate being homeowners, we go to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (matinee), which to this day remains one of my favorites.

The Modern Era

We are still in the process of settling in our home; with our frugal and DIY mentality, it takes longer to get things done. So far we have replaced all the carpet in our house with our own homemade flooring made from plywood that we sawed into floorboards, built a wall-length and -height shelf for our books and fabrics, and fixed up second hand furniture.

We try to save money wherever we can and build up our savings. Having been privy to our stepfather and our biological father’s mistakes and our mother’s constant stress over finances, we are paranoid about spending and debt.

If you are interested in finding out more about us, please visit the More About Us page.

* * *

About the PF Bloggers Group Writing Project

The Personal Finance Bloggers Network currently consists of 8 active personal finance and frugal living blogs. The Group Writing Project is a monthly project wherein each blog will write a post on a pre-determined topic and publish it on the same day of each month. Be sure to visit the PF Bloggers Group Writing Project page for the others!

Related posts:

• Is “Simple Living” Just Another Term for “Giving Up?”
• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late
• Learning From Our Mistakes: Our First (Auto) Loan
• Closing Your Credit Cards Can Hurt Your FICO Score
• Warm Weather Food Safety Tips

A necessity is an item/service that you simply cannot do without in your everyday life and that is vital to your survival and situation.

A luxury is anything that is not a necessity.

A few examples of necessities (or necessary expenditures) would be:

• Food
• Rent/mortgage
• Auto insurance
• Home insurance
• Health insurance
• Gas
• Auto Maintenance
• Utilities: electricity, gas and phone

Of course these are not the only necessities in the world, and it’s different for everyone, but when you really think about it, true necessities are actually quite few in number, and many things that you think you need are in fact not that necessary.

A few common examples of luxuries would be:

• Entertainment – movies (at the theater, renting, or buying), music and/or books
• Cable or satellite
• Toys and games (video or non-video)
• More than one home phone line
• More than one computer (even one computer could be considered a luxury in dire circumstances)
• High speed internet service

Even in one of the main necessities, food, there are luxuries that aren’t necessary. Necessary foods are foods that are vital for your health and continued existence. These are usually basic foods and staples that fill out your food pyramid and keep you in good health. Any food that is not vital to your health and survival should be regarded as a luxury.

A few examples of luxury foods when grocery shopping would be:

• Chips and other junk food
• Cookies and other sweets
• Gourmet cheeses
• Alcoholic drinks
• Soda and other bottled beverages
• Bakery goods
• Specialty breads i.e. foccacia
• Seasonal and tropical fruits
• Fancy meats (i.e. steaks)
• Pre-prepared and packaged foods (sandwiches, salads, sushi, cut fruit, etc.)

I say “should be regarded as a luxury” because I think it is important to understand and appreciate the difference. I am not saying that your life should be completely stripped of all pleasures and comforts, but when you are purchasing a new DVD or CD, it is important to be aware that what you are purchasing is a luxury item.

So, the first step in trying to figure out how to cut your expenditures is to go through your regular purchases (including services) and distinguish all luxuries from necessities. Luxuries should not be regarded as “forbidden” because it could turn into an obsession (the desirability might be blown out of proportion), but be aware that by choosing not to purchase these items, you are gaining an advantage.

Related posts:

• Pecuniary Links & Pecuniarities Update ~ July 2009 #1
• Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt
• Frugal Christmas: Skipping the Tree and Presents This Year
• Financial Lent: A Frugal Fast to See What You Can Live Without
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights No. 24: Friends Edition

Originally posted 2008-04-25 00:59:12.

Welcome to the 188th Carnival of Personal Finance! Our theme for this week’s edition is Jane Austen, as I am a admirer of both her novels and the films based on her novels, which are graced throughout with witty commentary on society — and in particular, money and marriage.

If this is your first time here, please take a look around and consider subscribing to our feed to have new money saving tips delivered to your feed reader of choice or your email inbox. We are also currently holding our first ever giveaway for a free 6-month print subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Please be sure to stop by the contest page and see how you can enter to win.

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor – which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.

Jane Austen, Letter to Fanny Knight, 13 March 1817 Photo: Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen, Becoming Jane (2007), Miramax

~ Editor’s Picks ~

• Coffee For One presents Paying the Bills
• FruGal presents Joining the gym? Read this first
• Sound Money Matters presents That Makes Me Stabby: Do We Have an Obligation to Spend?
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents Lessons from Flight 1549
• Free From Broke presents Just Enough Is Not Good Enough
• Pimp Your Finances presents 10 Financial Commandments for Your 20s
• Money Ning presents 50 Ways to Budget Travel and Save Money on Vacations

If the loss of what is most valued is so easily to be made up by something else, your resolution, your self-command, are, perhaps, a little less to be wondered at.

Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility Photo: Kate Winslet & Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility, Sony Pictures

~ New Year’s Resolutions ~

• The Passive Dad presents My Latte Factor In 2008. Automatic Millionaire Goals for 2009
• Destroy Debt presents Did You Give Up On Your New Year’s Resolution Already?
• My Money and My Life presents New year, new goals
• Think Your Way To Wealth presents Tips for Making Your Personal Finance Resolutions Stick- Turn Your Resolutions into Habits

Imprudence or thoughtlessness in money matters would be unpardonable in me.

Jane Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Rosamund Pike as Jane, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Frugality ~

• Passive Family Income presents Live Frugal – But in moderation
• Living The Frugal Life presents What Would You Do If You Lost Your Job Today?
• The Paycheck Chronicles presents Space Heaters or Turn Up the Thermostat?
• Getting Rich in Grad School presents 5 reasons why the best financial advice is always free
• The Smarter Wallet presents Buying A Computer? Check Our Computer Shopping Tips First

People always live for ever when there is an annuity to be paid them…. An annuity is a very serious business; it comes over and over every year, and there is no getting rid of it.

Fanny Dashwood (in regards to Mrs Dashwood), Sense and Sensibility Photo: Janet McTeer as Mrs. Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility (2008), BBC Warner

~ Budgeting ~

• Monogamoney presents What’s in my pantry
• Yielding Wealth presents Do You Need a Gatekeeper for Your Personal Finances?
• InsureBlog presents Wallet Biopsy
• About Financial Software Blog presents 8 Tips for Choosing Budgeting Software

And we mean to treat you all, but you must lend us the money, for we have just spent ours at the shop out there.

Lydia Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Brenda Blethyn, Jena Malone & Carey Mulligan, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Consumerism & Spending ~

• Not Made of Money presents How Has the Current Economy Changed Your Wants and Needs?
• Budgets are Sexy presents My tipping rule: Everyone gets 20%! Nice and easy…
• Second Child, Last Born presents What Type of Saver/Spender Am I?
• Making My Own Payday presents The Not So Perfect Gift (Card)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Pride and Prejudice Photo: Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (1996), BBC/A&E

~ Money Management ~

• FIRE Finance presents Advantages of Online Banking
• Dawn’s Evolution presents 6 lessons in personal finance from my mother
• Prime Time Money presents How to Care {Not Worry} About Your Finances
• The Strump – Financial Blog presents How Detailed Should Your Financial Plan Be
• The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Where Did Our Money Go?
• Your Money Relationship presents Do You Still Balance Your Checkbook? I Sure Don’t!

A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable, old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls; but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensbile and pleasant as anybody else….for a very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper.

Emma, Emma Photo: Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, Emma (1996), Miramax

~ Debt ~

• Managing Money God’s Way presents Debt? What debt?
• Shrinkage is Good presents 5 Steps to Combat Holiday Debts and Ward Off Future Relapses
• Personal Finance Ology presents Understanding Good Debt Vs. Bad Debt
• American Consumer News presents Playing the Credit Card Balance Transfer Game
• Done To Zen presents Credit Cards Suck
• Secrets For Money presents How To Shop For A Legitimate Non Profit Credit Counseling Service

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of. It certainly may secure all the myrtle and turkey part of it.

Mary Crawford, Mansfield Park Photo: Alessandro Nivola & Embeth Davidtz, Mansfield Park (1999), Miramax

~ Career ~

• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents Success Finds Hard Work, Talent & Passion
• Greener Pastures presents The Power of Positive Psychology
• Happiness Is Better presents 6 Reasons Why I Joined Toastmasters
• PennyJobs.com presents 6 Options for Students To Consider with Respect to the Economy

Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.

John Knightley, Emma Photo: Jeremy Northem as George Knightley, Emma (1996), Miramax

~ Saving & Investing ~

• My Wealth Builder presents Get Higher Interest for Saving – Up to 6%
• Generation X Finance presents How to Roll Over Your 401(k) When You Leave or Lose Your Job
• Four Pillars presents Can You Invest Your House Down Payment In The Stock Market?
• Lazy Man and Money presents Greed or No Greed
• Cash Money Life presents Increased 401k Contribution Limits in 2009
• Dividends4Life presents Dividend Stocks Role In The Future Recovery
• Military Finance Network presents 2009 Thrift Savings Plan Contribution Limits
• The Personal Financier presents Is the Stock Market a Big Ponzi (Madoff) Scheme?
• Stock Trading To Go presents Beginner’s Guide to Currency ETFs

But there are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them.

Mansfield Park Photo: Bennet family, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

~ Economy ~

• The Digerati Life presents Studying Business Cycles: Economic Graphs of The Current Economic Cycle
• Amateur Asset Allocator presents Unemployment At Highest Level In 15 years: Or Is It Even Worse?
• The Happy Rock presents [Video]The Government’s Money Hole – Recession, Taxes, and Bailout Commentary
• Personal Finance Analyst presents Can You Really Opt Out of a Recession?
• BankAround presents List of Banks that Took TARP Money

Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end, and avarice begin?

Eizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy, Pride and Prejudice (1996), BBC/A&E

~ Taxes ~

• The Financial Blogger presents How To Withdraw Money From Your Holding Without Paying Taxes – The Split Dollar Strategy
• Personal Finance Reviews presents 2009 Income Tax Brackets
• My Journey to Millions presents Did you Forget your RMD this Year? All may not be lost

After all that romancers may say, there is no doing without money.

Isabella Thorpe, Northanger Abbey Photo: Carey Mulligan as Isabella, Northanger Abbey (2007), WGBH Boston

~ Real Estate & Mortgages ~

• Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Running through payback time on a mortgage refinance
• Stumble Forward presents Mortgage Refinance Tips That Could Save You Thousands
• The Credit Toolbox presents Why Would You Choose A Variable Mortgage Rate?
• Funny About Money presents Can’t Sell the House? Try Swapping
• Debt Free Destiny presents How to Get Ready for Your First Home
• Growing Money presents Rental Property Update December 2008

Money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it.

Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility Photo: Kate Winslet as Marianne, Sense & Sensibility (1995), Sony Pictures

~ Reviews ~

• My Dollar Plan presents Have You Checked out Lending Club?
• The Dough Roller presents How to Buy and Sell Loans on Lending Club’s New Trading Platform
• Christian Debt Help presents Sharebuilder promotion and review

And to marry for money I think the wickedest thing in existence.

Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey Photo: Felicty Jones as Catherine, Northanger Abbey (2007), WGBH Boston

~ Other ~

• Money Beagle presents Wasting Money on Poorly Timed Traffic Lights
• LivingAlmostLarge presents A difference between rich and poor
• Centsability to Wealth presents Insurance- The Fortress the Protects Your Financial Army
• Steadfast Finances presents When the Expense of Plastic Surgery is Justifiable
• Free Money Finance presents Four More Uses for Gold Dollar Coins

He is rich, to be sure, and you may have more fine clothes and fine carriages than Jane. But will they make you happy?

Mr. Bennet to Lizzy, Pride and Prejudice Photo: Keira Knightley as Lizzy, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Working Title

* * *

This wraps up the Jane Austen Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and quotes as much as I did putting them together. Again, be sure to enter our giveaway for a free 6-month print subscription to the Wall Street Journal which ends this Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 11:59PM EST! Thanks for stopping by!

A Parting Shot

Photo: Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, Emma (1996), Miramax

Related posts:

• Friday Fun: Calvin and Hobbes Lemonade Stand Economics Lesson & WSJ Giveaway Reminder
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #15
• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Recent Blog Carnivals (February 2009)
• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late

It has been a busy week for us here at Our Fourpence Worth. We partipated in another PF Bloggers Network Group Writing Project, the topic of which was our Personal Experiences with Loans. We wrote about the first time we purchased a car on our own and got in a little trouble by being clueless as to how the credit, loan and auto sales industries work. It was a once in a lifetime mistake that you can be sure we won’t ever be making again – Learning From Our Mistakes: Our First (Auto) Loan.

Check out the PF Bloggers Group Writing Projects page for more, and if you are a personal finance or frugal living blogger, you are invited to join in our Extended Group Writing Project. We also hosted the 16th Edition of the Finance Fiesta, the theme of which was “Devote Your Life to Money!” a cynical poem by David Kessel about the virtues of money.

A quick note before we begin with today’s roundup, we have been doing roundups once a month for the past few months, but plan to begin doing them twice a month. The reason we don’t do weekly roundups as many other bloggers do is simply because of our personal, work and blogging schedule. As you’ve probably noticed, we only manage to publish about 3 original posts a week so weekly roundups would not be a good balance of original and linking posts. OK, now on with the roundup.

PF Bloggers Network Members

• Wide Open Wallet shares her reasons for eating out. $400 a month is quite a lot, but if you enjoy it and can afford it, bon appetit!
• No Debt Plan talks about his “Thing”: Keeping a Bunch of Old Magazines. We have a similar “thing”. My Wall Street Journal pile, for instance, will soon be a WSJ mountain.
• Living Almost Large asks: is spending wrong? As with eating out, it really is all about what you can afford.
  
• Master Your Card gives a guide on How to Balance your Checkbook. In this electronic age, it probably is the norm to not know how to do this. Might I also suggest our Monopoly Game Expansion #2: Personal Checking Account for a fun way to practice this important skill.
• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds offers some car buying advice (something I was planning to do as well to follow up our experience with our car loan): Put On Your Lace Gloves: Get The Car You Want At A Price You Can Afford.

Elsewhere in the Personal Finance Blogosphere

• The Simple Dollar gives us Why Many “Alternative Income” Ideas Aren’t Worth Your Time – And What You Might Do With It Instead.
• I enjoyed Money Ning’s What Motivates You to Make Money? It is important to know and not lose sight of your true motives.
• Living Well on Less explains the beneifts of Life without a microwave. We did this for a while when our 12+ year old microwave died. It was a little inconvenient sometimes, but not at all impossible.
• Saving Advice gives us Ten Money-Saving Reasons to Get Out of Bed Early.
• Taxguy instructs on Items to Bring to Your Individual Tax Preparation Appointment.

Carnival Participation

Lately I’ve been really disorganized and have consistently forgotten to submit to blog carnivals, but I did manage to remember one. We’d like to thank The Personal Financier for including my post on Switching to Paperless Statements in the Carnival of Personal Finance #170 – Famous Last Sentences Edition. This edition features many [entertaining] statements, hopefully fictitious, that have not always resulted in a good end for the money manager or investor who said it. One of my favorites is #20: “It just can’t get any lower than this…”

Head on over for more personal finance reading recommendations.

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Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #2
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• Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes a Man [or Woman] Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

This week’s edition was particularly challenging for me to put together, because to tell the truth, of all the submissions received only 60% made the final cut. Decisions to include and exclude were based on many factors: readability, presentation, relevance, value of information and more. So, a job well done to those who made this week’s edition.

Today’s theme is the poem “Devote Your Life to Money!” by David Kessel. I hope you find it amusing as I did.

Devote Your Life to Money!

Editor’s Picks

• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents How To Include A Baby In Your Financial Plans.
• Brunette on a Budget presents Don’t fall for rebate bait.
• Broke Grad Student presents 10 Stupid Ways College Students Waste Money.
• Master Your Card presents Mega Guide: How to Get Out (and stay out) of Credit Card Debt

Oh, money, the life-giving juice of society!
It brings us its blessings of every variety,
It softens the blows that lifetime delivers,
It favors the brave and it crowns achievers.

Saving Methods

• No Debt Plan presents Sticking Our Toes into the CD Laddering Pool.
• The Smarter Wallet presents Ways To Save on Seasonal Purchases: Time To Shop For Halloween!
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Upromise Survey: Saving For College, Getting Tougher?

It renders us free from oppression by jerks,
From mockings, and putdowns, and scoldings, and smirks.
It lets us buy tickets and travel away
From where we’re not welcome but are forced to just stay.

Debt and Credit

• Money Blue Book presents What Is My Credit Score and How Is My FICO Calculated?
• LAL presents After Debt?
• Ask Mr. Credit Card presents Will Creating A Repayment Plan With Your Credit Card Company Hurt Your Credit Score?

From creditors’ letters and big ugly urbs,
From all that don’t matter, from stuff that disturbs,
To wide sandy beaches and azure blue waters,
Away from the smoke of ten million motors.

Careers

• The Shark Investor presents The Alternatives Of 9 To 5.
• Your Finish Rich Plan presents What To Do If You Think You Can Lose Your Job.

With money it all starts to fall into place-
No longer respect is what you have to chase.
It follows you like an afternoon shadow
Thank money, it makes you a prince from a padow.

Consumerism

• Can I Get Rich on a Salary presents Man Bites Dog — Beats Airline in Dispute Over Canceled Flight!
• Personal Finance Analyst presents Expedia Coupons & Travel Deals.

With money, all people will treat you much better,
As you are no longer society’s debtor.
Sweet smiles on you they will now bestow,
Obsequious looks in their eyes then will glow.

Economics

• The Sun’s Financial Diary presents A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words.
• The Iconoclast Investor presents Fannie, Freddie and America’s Debt.
• Mr. Tough Money Love presents Spenders Get the Gold Mine, Savers Got the Shaft.

And women forgetting your age and your weight,
Your looks and your height and your bald, shining pate,
Will wink and remark how handsome you are
For, in their minds, you are now a star.

Investing

• Sam presents Choosing a Stockbroker.
• Small Business Blog presents Real Estate Investing Startpoints: Negotiation, Legality, and Referrals.
• Green Technology Investor presents Hot Rock – Steady Progress Towards a New Source of Renewable Energy.

Oh, how pathetic society is!
A “Miss” is now where there used to be “Ms.”
For quickly they learned that you’ve got all this dough,
And then they appear from above and below.

Other

• Budgets are Sexy presents Is it bad that i haven’t donated any money in like 5 months?
• The Part-Time Life presents Financial Fitness Group.
• Geezeo presents Money Matters Key to Wedded Bliss? 5 Tips for Happily Ever After.

As long as you’re here on our green Earth,
And want to be living in freedom and mirth,
Devote your existence to dollar and pound
For cash makes the world go smoothly around.

This concludes the 16th Edition of the Finance Fiesta. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter. Visit the Finance Fiesta website for submission guidelines.

Technorati tags: finance fiesta, blog carnival

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• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Hosting the 16th Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #8
• August 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

Please refer to the submission guidelines and submit your posts for consideration using this submission form.

Submission deadline is Wednesday September 17, 2008 5:00PM EST/EDT.

Blog readers, be sure to check back on Thursday for recommended finance related reading!

Related posts:

• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
• Pecuniarities is Hosting the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights This Week!
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• June 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

I can’t believe it’s September already. I woke up today with that feeling of fall in the air, which is really nice. While I learned long ago to never wish life away by wanting a future day hurry up and come, I can’t say that I don’t look forward to the cooler weather and lower electric bills (till winter comes when we have to decide whether we should get our heater fixed or try to go without and save about $1,000 dollars in propane gas bills over the winter.)

Fall also means that Halloween is just around the corner and we’re [hopefully] going to get super busy in our pet clothing and costuming business. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I still haven’t been able to start posting more frequently and we’re still averaging 3 times a week. This is because I am working hard to get our new Franga Designs store up and running as soon as possible for the Halloween sales season. But enough about me and our other sites, lets get on with news about Our Fourpence Worth.

Our Fourpence Worth News

6-Month Anniversary!

First of all, Our Fourpence Worth passed our 6-month anniversary at the end of August. We’ve had 26,879 unique visitors in these 6 months and received a Google page rank of 4, which I am quite happy about. Thank you to all our readers who have been with us since the beginning and joined us along the way. We appreciate each of you and your comments and feedback.

9rules

Next, I am pleased to announce that Our Fourpence Worth has just been accepted today to the 9rules community. For those of you who don’t know what 9rules is, here is an excerpt from their about page:

9rules is a place where members and readers can connect, build relationships, and learn new things. 9rules started in 2003 with a set of 9 rules:

1. Love what you do.
2. Never stop learning.
3. Form works with function.
4. Simple is beautiful.
5. Work hard, play hard.
6. You get what you pay for.
7. When you talk, we listen.
8. Must constantly improve.
9. Respect your inspiration.

This is very exciting for us and we would like to thank Scrivs, Tyme and Mike (The Triad) at 9rules for accepting us. We hope to be able to both contribute and learn from being a part of the 9rules community.

Now on with our roundup for this month.

Personal Finance Roundup and Blog Carnivals

PF Bloggers

• Get Rich or Die Trying opines that Parents Who Don’t Fund The Kids’ College Are Selfish.
• No Debt Plan shares A Six Step Guide to Asking for Fee Forgiveness from his recent experience in making and correcting a simple error in his credit card payment.
• Living Almost Large asks Why Aren’t We Honest when it comes to talking about our finances?
• Wide Open Wallet shares an interesting way of life in A New Car Every Year.
• Master Your Card tells How to use the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to Your Advantage.

Elsewhere in the Personal Finance Blogosphere

• My Dollar Plan gives students (and parents) a heads up on 10 College Money Myths.
• Saving Advice gives us 10 Things Money Can’t Buy.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity warns of The 7 Deadly Sins of Personal Finance.

Festival of Frugality

The 141st Festival of Frugality was hosted by Kelly at Almost Frugal. We would like to thank her for including our Fast and Frugal Recipe: Mediterranean Pizza Toast in this week’s edition. Kelly is an American living in France, so she chose to share some fun frugal French vocabulary in this edition. Ever wondered how to say “miser” in French? Well, head on over to Festival of Frugality No. 141 and find out! Allons-y!

Well, this wraps this month’s very long roundup. I hadn’t planned on it being this long, but I hope you enjoy the links.

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Related posts:

• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers
• Interesting Reads From Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #12
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #2
• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #3
• Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes a Man [or Woman] Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

f this is your first time here, please have a look around and consider subscribing to our RSS feed. Be sure to also check out

Madoline and I have a fondness for history and all things old, so the theme for today’s carnival is “Old Money.” While credit cards, online banking and checks are great modern commodities, they just don’t have the charm of good, old fashioned money – in other words, cash. We hope you enjoy this tour through United States Treasury history and the art to be found in currencies of the past.

1934 $100,000 USD Bill (Woodrow Wilson)

Editor’s Picks

• PT presents 9 Tips For Going To One Income.
• Twenties Money Magazine presents My College Sold Me Out.
• Toni presents Happy with What We Don’t Have.
• The Investor presents How a boring broker will make you richer.
• Karen presents Spending money can save your money.

1918 $10,000 USD Bill (Salmon P. Chase)

Frugality & Saving Money

• FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Freebie Websites!
• Amy Hobbs presents How to turn three slices of turkey into brunch.
• Ryan Suenaga presents Can a GPS Pay for Itself?
• Wilfrid presents Air Leak Detection – Leak Testing – Leak Stopping.
• Grey presents Making the CFL Switch.

1918 $5,000 USD Bill (James Madison)

Shopping

• Pamela Grundy presents Best Buy Coupons, Promotions and Savings.
• mbhunter presents If you love Amazon, you’ll really love Amazon Prime.
• Amy L. presents Getting a Good Deal on Your Car Insurance.
• Tom Tessin presents The Secrets to Cheap Airline Tickets.
• Aryn presents New Strategies for Using Double Coupons.
• APFB presents Four Items to Buy Used.
• Madison presents Free Money From the U.S. Mint.

1928 $1,000 USD Bill (Grover Cleveland)

Money Management

• Ariel Ozick presents 3 Dumb Ways to Waste Your Money.
• Todd presents Budgeting Games (Finance Games #6).
• Curt presents Avoiding the Most Common Financial Mistakes.
• GBlogger presents My Personal Finance One Step, Two Step.
• Nickel presents A Peek Inside Our FNBO Direct Online Savings Account.

1928 $500 USD Bill (William McKinley)

Debt & Credit

• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best Cash Back Credit Cards: Your Rewards For Spending.
• Mr Credit Card presents What to Do When Your Credit Card Debt Has Been Charged Off?
• Andy presents Too expensive to file for bankruptcy.
• CreditAddict presents No Fee 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.
• DMH presents 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers.

1880 $100 USD Bill (Abraham Lincoln)

Economy

• Tejvan presents Why Boom and Busts are common in Housing Markets.
• Livingalmostlarge presents Perfection Guaranteed.
• RC presents Do Government Bailouts and Payouts Mean Higher Taxes in the Future?

1891 $50 USD Bill (Edward Everett)

Career

• Heather Johnson presents Guest Post: When Should You Quit Your Job?
• VH presents A$king and re¢eiving.
• Dorian Wales presents No Salvation from Productivity Improvements: The Failed 35 Hour Work Week Experiment and Work-Life Balance Examined.
• Kevin Surbaugh presents Making 401(k)’s Part of Your Job Hunt.

1905 $20 USD Bill (George Washington)

Investing

• Dividends4Life presents The MMA Rate Mystery Solved.
• Writers Coin presents Adding to the Mock Portfolio.
• Kevin presents Rebalanced My Roth 401k.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents Year-to-Date changes in Dividend Aristocrats’ annual payments to shareholders.
• The Financial Blogger presents Shifting Your Investments According To Your Tax Rate.
• RothIRA presents Roth IRA for Teenagers.
• Sandy Naidu presents Behavioral Finance – Investor Psychology – Behavioral Finance Stock Market Investment.
• FMF presents Using Your Health Savings Account as a “Super Roth” Investment Vehicle.
• Zach Scheidt presents MasterCard Incorporated (MA) – Growth Slowing.

1901 $10 USD Bill (Meriwether Lewis & William Clark)

Book Reviews

• Clare Kierans presents Money is What You Trade Your Life Energy For.
• Jim presents 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart by Roger Albright.

1886 $5 USD Bill (Ulysses S. Grant)

Other

• Steward presents A Frugal Shopping Tip That Leaves Everyone Smiling.
• J. Money presents 3 Things you should always keep in your wallet/purse/clip.
• Raymond presents How To Generate Valid Credit Card Numbers.
• Jamie presents Custom Wallet Giveaway from TheTrendySpot.com.
• Mr. Banker presents ABA Routing Codes to Link Online Accounts Together.

1862 First official $1 Bill of the United States (Salmon P. Chase)

This concludes the 26th Edition of the Money Hacks Carnival. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Money Hacks Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: money hacks carnival, blog carnival.

Related posts:

• Finance Blog Carnivals of Late
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• Hosting Festival of Frugality and Money Hacks Carnival Next Week
• July 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals
• March 2008 Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals

Welcome to the 3rd edition of the Finance Fiesta. I’ve always enjoyed proverbs, and since Spanish is one of my favorite languages, our theme for this week’s fiesta is Spanish Money Proverbs. The following proverbs all come from A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs for anyone who wants to know. Hope you enjoy them.

Related posts:

• Hosting the 3rd Edition of the Finance Fiesta Blog Carnival
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• Finance and Frugality Blog Carnivals: Week of Unexpected Delays

Anyways, here are some great posts by fellow financial bloggers from recent weeks:

PF Bloggers

• Living Almost Large gives us an amusing list of ways in which people justify purchases.
• Seb at Pinching Copper gives his opinion that the penny is worthless. Would you pick up a penny from the sidewalk?
• Kevin from No Debt Plan achieved his goal of going the entire month of May without the air conditioner. Good for you guys!
• Jonathan at Master Your Card gives us 7 Zany Ways to Stop Overspending.
• Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds gave us Things That Piss Me Off: Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices that has stirred up a bit of controversy.
• And for a bit of fun, check out Future Millionaire’s (Start of Work Week) Money Funny – Cost of Pop Culture Icons Today about the Brady Bunch, which I am only a little embarrassed to admit was one of my favorite shows at one time.

Elesewhere in the Financial Blogosphere

• I really appreciated Get Rich Slowly’s Closing the Gap Between Dreams and Reality. It has inspired me to get proactive about my financial goals.
• Find out how No Credit Needed will save/make $20,000 by giving up his soda habit!
• Something that goes nicely in hand with my recent Vacation Preparation Checklist is a post from Gather Little By Little about Low Cost Summer Family Vacation ideas with money saving tips.
• Frugal Dad gives a nice Used Car Buying Guide for Teenagers for parents, but it has some useful tips for us grown-ups too.
• We’ve recently begun thinking about starting some investments, so I was really glad to come across The Simple Dollar’s warning about how The Methods You Use to Deal with Ordinary Life Will Fail You As an Investor.
• I was amused by Spam Sales on the Rise, Common Sense at an All-Time Low. I thought it was funny because I recently bought a can of Spam, not as a substitute for real, nutritious food (well, OK it did end up substituting for real food for a couple of meals), but for my cousin to try because they don’t have Spam in Taiwan. It was probably the first can of Spam I have ever purchased. (I grew up in Hawaii where they have something called a “Spam Musubi” which is a slice of pan-fried spam layered over a block of rice and all wrapped in seaweed. YUMMY!)

New Carnival in Town

Oh, and one last bit of news. Jonathan from Master Your Card has started a new blog carnival called the Finance Fiesta which runs weekly on Thursday starting June 5, 2008. If you have a personal finance related blog, be sure to submit your best article!

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• Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #3