Her Editor’s Picks:

Control Your Cash: Our Appearance on the Suze Orman Show!

Living Richly on a Budget: 7 Easy Menu Planning Ideas

Million Ways to Save: Five FREE Gifts for Valentine’s Day

Thanks to all the contributors who made a great Carnival and to the Jenny Pincher for hosting.

Submit your best posts to next week’s Carnival when One Cent at a Time hosts.

Editor’s Picks:

ChristianPF: Get Your Financial Life on One Page

Watson Inc: Do You Have the Courage to be Wealthy?

Thanks to all the contributors and to Matt for hosting!

Please submit your best posts to next week’s Carnival by Sunday afternoon when The Jenny Pincher hosts.

Her Editor’s Picks:

Matt About Money: The Purpose of Money

Intelligent Speculator: The Biggest Investing Mistake I’ve Made…

One Cent at a Time: Consumer is King, Believe It or Not. Now Act Like One

Watson Inc.:  Goals are NEVER Enough: 3 Reasons You MUST Cultivate Your Desires.

Thanks to the many participants and our host for putting together this Carnival!

If you’ve got a great post to share, Matt About Money will be hosting next week, be sure to submit by Sunday afternoon EST.

His Editor’s Picks:

Free Money Finance: What If I Lost My Career? Envision, then Act

Financial Highway: 50 Home Business Ideas

Penny Pinching Professional: Career Fairs Part (II)

Be sure to link back to the posts that you enjoyed, and submit your best posts to next week’s Carnival, hosted by Diva In Debt.

The following blogs will be hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance in early 2012.

For any bloggers who might like to host, please remember you must be an active Carnival participant before hosting. Being a participant also includes linking back to every edition of the carnival in which your article is included.

Hosting guidelines can be found here. The selection process is not based on size of the blog or readership; both big and small blogs alike can benefit from hosting. The schedule is based on variety and flow, and if you’ve successfully and creatively hosted any carnival or round-up in the past, you’d be a strong contender for hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance.

If you would like to be considered for hosting a future edition in March or later in the year, complete this very short request form.

Here is the schedule of upcoming hosts.

His Editor’s Picks:

Sustainable Personal Finance: 5 Tips to Help You Grow Your Business

Darwin’s Money: 2012 Social Security Tax Deal Explained

Your Life, Their Life:  The Timeline of an Entrepreneur

Personal Finance Success: The Truth About Extreme Couponing

Financial Highway: 50 Home Business Ideas

Thanks to all the participants and to Daniel for hosting.

Next week will be hosted by Wealth Pilgrim; make sure to submit your best posts before Sunday afternoon!  If you’re interested in hosting, submit your application for consideration.

His Editor’s Picks:

1. Afford Anything: Investing 100 Percent of her 2012 Income


2. Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance: HOW TO LIVE WELL WHEN YOUR PASSION DOESN’T PAY WELL (part 2); How to Live Well if You Work in a Low Paying Field


3. Thousandaire: College Kids Need Skills, Not Good Grades

Next week, Sweating The Big Stuff will be hosting so be sure to submit your best posts by Sunday afternoon!

Her Editor’s Picks:

Money Talks Coaching: Holiday Gift Card Promos

humble savers: Five Ways To Save Money – In Your First Job

101 Centavos: Caffe Break: Walk-away Negotiating

Funancials: I Only Listen to Techno – crats

Shopping Detox: French Women Don’t Get Debt

Thanks to LaTisha for hosting and all our participants for this hearty carnival.

Join us next month when Money Cactus hosts; be sure to submit your posts by Sunday afternoon!

Some of my previous managers always made it a point to give a nice or thoughtful (sometimes both!) Christmas gift to the staff and I always appreciated that extra little bit of effort. Normally the gifts were officially from the office which allowed for a greater budget and nicer treats, so I especially enjoyed it, of course, when the gift was extravagant beyond my personal means to treat myself!

Even though my present organization doesn’t fund this endeavor, I felt it was a good one to continue, even if it’s out of my own pocket. Now, execution gets interesting. The staff is diverse and is composed of nearly twenty people on the immediate team.

What budget-friendly gifts say “thank you for a good year”, don’t foist a Christmas theme on the non-Christians, and can be delicious treats for everyone including the diet-restricted (vegans or the lactose-intolerant)?

Some things I’ve considered (or given) depending on the overall budget and size of the team:

$20 or less
A nice bottle of wine or even moderately priced champagne
An Amazon gift certificate
A local coffee shop or chocolate shop gift certificate (I have coffee connoisseurs)

$15 or less
Pair of movie tickets (purchase from Costco)
A decent bottle of wine/six-pack of microbrewery beer

$10 or less
Free pair of gelato/sorbet at a local Gelateria
GC to Coldstone from Costco (though, I don’t think they have vegan-friendly or lactose-intolerant options)

If I had the time and freedom to personalize the gifts, I would have gotten much more creative and ventured over to ThinkGeek, GeekSoap, REI, bookstores and a few other specialty places, but since that increases the pressure a hundred fold to get the perfect gift, I have to stick to things that are more generic and aim for practical but enjoyable.

What would you suggest giving? What would you want to receive if you were receiving a $10 gift?

Her Editor’s Picks:

1. The Jenny Pincher: How to be rich.


2. Squirrelers:  Survival of the fittest in the workplace and myths about fairness.


3. Wealth Pilgrim:Cost of raising a child.

These articles were featured as Editor’s Picks:

• Peter at Bible Money Matters was nearly trampled at Walmart on Black Friday.
• Craig from Money Help for Christians actually wrote a good list of frugal date ideas.
• Chris from Stumble Forward warns us about Facebook and Twitter identity-stealing scams.

Next Monday’s Carnival of Personal Finance will be hosted at 20 and Engaged. If you are a blogger who has written about personal finance in the last week and is interested in being featured, please submit an article here. I am still looking for bloggers interested in participating in a greater role: becoming a host. If you’re up for the challenge and interested in the benefits, apply to host here.

• Should the less attractive receive additional benefits? from Don’t Quit Your Day Job.
• Income disparity is actually good. Here’s why. This was published on Darwin’s Money.
• Broke people afford everything from Watson Inc.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s carnival. The first edition of December 2011 will be hosted by AffordAnything.org. to participate, bloggers must submit an article before Sunday evening in order to be considered for the latest edition.

Patrick’s Editor’s Picks:

Accumulating Money:  Occupy the Past: How Past Financial Uprisings have Affected the United States.

Dividend Growth Stocks: 11 Dividend Stocks with 50+ Years of Dividend Increases

Free Money Finance:  The Need to Save Money is Life or Death

Money Q&A: How to Tell Your Children Santa is Broke

Your Life, Their Life: The Golden Handcuffs- Why Can’t I Leave My Job?

Thanks to our host and all the participants here.  Be sure to submit your best posts for next week’s Carnival when My Personal Finance Journey hosts.

Editor’s Picks: 

Thousandaire: Should I Get a Prenup? Yes!

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff: Truly Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Dividend Growth Investor: Stock Spin-Offs – What Should Dividend Investors do?

Watson Inc: Your Do over Guide: What Would You Do Differently?

Oblivious Investor: Vanguard’s New International Bond Funds

My Broken Coin: Herman Cain’s Peculiar 999 Plan

Tune in next week for the Carnival when Compounding Returns takes on the hosting challenge.

Be sure to submit your best posts this week before the Sunday deadline!

Editor’s Picks

Savings Accounts HQ: How Dads Can Teach Children About Saving Money

Watson Inc: Too Frugal For Your Own Good

Wealth Informatics: Supermarket Tour : Save money on groceries

Jon the Saver from Free Money Wisdom presents How I Got Screwed by My Lack of Patience

Step Away from the Mall: Does how you cook predict your financial future?  

Financial Uproar: Financial Uproar’s 4 Step Guild To Launching Your E-Product

Thanks to all the contributors and SPF for hosting!

Stay tuned, Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance will be hosting the Carnival next week.

Editor’s Choices:

• Hope to Prosper: Money Fail: Ignoring Unpaid Bills


• 20′s Finances: Finding the Right Property Manager


• Good Financial Cents: How I Make Over $250,000 a Year In Real Investing (And I’m Only 29)


• PT Money Personal Finance: It’s Okay to Spend Your Money on Things You Really Want


• Christian Personal Finance: Does Buying A House Make You Happy?

Editor’s Picks: 

• Afford Anything: Stop Crying That There Are No Jobs. Create One. 


• Nicole and Maggie: Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured: Getting an additional job to pay off debt is actually worth more than the salary… 


• Free From Broke: The New American Family: Flexibility and Unconventional Lifestyles to Make Ends Meet


• Retire By 40: Is Lifestyle Inflation Unavoidable?

Editor’s Picks:

Darwin’s Money: My Kid Flooded Our Home. What’s the Worst (Most Expensive) Mistake Your Kids Have Made?
Bible Money Matters: Three Ways to Curb Consumerism in Your Children This Christmas
Pinch that Penny!: The Indianapolis Colts and your Finances

I never really thought about why the Canadian Thanksgiving was so much earlier than the American Thanksgiving, but as it turns out, it seems like it should have been obvious.  The harvest season ends much earlier!   It’s started my turkey cravings right up already.

Have a browse around and link back to your favorites!

Next week will be hosted by Squirrelers; submit your best posts by Sunday!

Editor’s Picks:

• Don’t Quit Your Day Job:  Home Price Affordability Calculator


• The Dividend Guy Blog:  6 Reasons Why You Should Panic and 1 Reason Why You Should Keep Investing


• Net Worth Journey:  Repairing Your Credit Yourself


• Passive Income Now:  How to Set Up an Online Store


• Watson Inc.:  Should You Pay-off The House?

This week’s Editor’s Picks:

Matt About Money: Navigating the Mixed Messages of Our Consumer Culture

Squirrelers: Your Will: Give Equally to Kids or Not?

Totally Money: Does it pay to become a vegetarian?

Thanks to our host and participants for a full carnival, be sure to share and link back.

Next week, Hope to Prosper will be hosting – submit your best articles!

Her Editor’s Picks:

Don’t Quit Your Day Job…: Athletes are Underpaid…
Gen Y Capitalist: The Cost of Frugality – When Savings Attempts Cost You Money
The Dividend Guy Blog: Why You Should Not Care About The US Government’s Debt Problems
Your Life, Their Life: You are now a Consultant
Darwin’s Money: Older Americans Are Going to Wreck Your Life – Here’s Why

Thank you for hosting, Kaye, and thanks to our participants for the submissions!

Come back for more next week when Wealth Informatics hosts; be sure to submit your best posts!

His Editor’s Picks:

BARBARA FRIEDBERG PERSONAL FINANCE: Wealth & Economics; Community vs. Country Club

Yes, I Am Cheap: I Make Money Online: Virtual Assistant

Canadian Finance Blog: The Basics On Balance Sheets

My University Money: What Classes Do I Sign Up For If I Don’t Know What To Do?

Intelligent Speculator: It Could Be A Lot Worse, We Could Be In Europe

Thanks to everyone who submitted and congrats to our Editor’s Picks. Be sure to link back and share your favorites.

Next week, Mrs Nespy’s World will be hosting so submit your best articles!

Editor’s Picks:

1. ChristianPF: How To Raise Your Children to be Generous


2. Money Cactus: Get what you want, when you want it


3. Hope to Prosper: 3 Reasons to Stop Living in the Past

Tune in next week, and submit your favorite posts, when Canadian Dream: Free at 45 hosts.

Editor’s Picks:

Money Cactus: The Worlds Simplest Retirement Plan

Money Thinking: Think a Stock Market Crash doesn’t Affect You? Think Again!

Credit Donkey: How to Dispute Credit Card Charges

Consumerism Commentary: How to Hedge Against Gasoline Price Increases

PT Money Personal Finance: Benefits of a 15 Year Mortgage

Money Q&A: My Next Home Is Going To Be A Hotel & Save Money,

Thanks to all our participants, please be sure to link back and share your favorites.

Tune in next week, and submit your favorite posts, when Invest It Wisely hosts.