Carnival of Personal Finance #237

Gather Little by Little presents the Last Carnival of Personal Finance of the Year, Edition #237.

Here are his Editor’s Picks:
Budgets Are Sexy: 3 Simple Steps To Rock Your Finances
Get Rich Slowly: The Basic Law of Frugality
Bargaineering: Automating Your Finances is an Expensive Mistake
My Dollar Plan: Top 10 Financial Stories of the Decade

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured!

We wish you all very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

December 28, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #236

Mighty Bargain Hunter presents the Parts-of-Speech Abuse Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance #236.

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured!

We look forward to next week’s Carnival hosted by Gather Little by Little. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

December 21, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Announcing the Plutus Awards

Starting on Monday, December 21, 2009, nominations will begin for the first annual Plutus Awards.


These awards come in two flavors: Plutus and Plutus 2.0 awards.


The Plutus Awards feature the following categories:

* Best Savings/Money Market Account


The Plutus 2.0 Awards feature the following categories:

* Best New Personal Finance Blog


The winner of each Plutus 2.0 Awards category will receive $20.09 to celebrate the year 2009 – but additional sponsors are welcome to come forward and provide an additional award in any category.

Your participation is eagerly anticipated!

December 15, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #235

Well Heeled presents a new chapter in the fairy tale of Cinderella and her Royal Kingdom in the Carnival of Personal Finance #235.

Here are her Editor’s Picks:
If I Were A Wealthy Girl: Annual Financial Start-Up or Check-Up
Live Real Now: Babies Are Expensive
The Oblivious Investor: Finding Skilled Fund Managers
Steadfast Finances: Giving a Gift Someone Actually Likes or Wants Doubles the Value
Get Rich Slowly: You Can Negotiate Anything

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured!

We look forward to next week’s Carnival hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

December 14, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Frugal or just cheap?

How do you know when you’ve crossed the line from being frugal and pennywise to just plain cheap? When you’re shopping, that is.

Having just ordered a box of business cards for myself, the logical thing to do would be to carry the cards with me. Most business cards in my wallet tend to shift around and rub against one another enough to leave that awful pencil or charcoal rubbed look on the face of the card, though, and that’s not something I want to hand out to a prospective client or employer.

In search of a business card carrying case, I want something that’s good quality. I’m looking for something that’s not flimsy or chintzy/faddish looking, but I’m not willing to pay the prices I’m seeing, for example, on Etsy. There are some excellent cases, sturdy looking and whatnot, but priced at $40 and $50 each. To my mind, that’s way too much. I would only be willing to pay around $10 or less for a card case because that’s the amount I personally value such an item.

That notion stopped me dead in my tracks for a minute, though. Is that the kind of mentality that gives rise to our disposable, consumerist society? We’re not actually willing to pay for quality so what we get are cheap, Made-in-probably-China items that will either fall apart in a year or less?

When are our pricing expectations artificially low? Or does that not matter so long as the market can provide the goods at a certain price? Or am I just making a mountain out of a molehill because people will buy what they want, eventually, so long as the price comes close to their expectations?

[You can find my everyday writing over at A Gai Shan Life.]

December 11, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #234

Welcome to Suburban Dollar’s Weirdest Toy Craze Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance #234.

Here are his Editor’s Picks:
Foreigner’s Finance: Four gripes with Japanese personal finance
The Personal Financier: The dangers of excessive frugality and budgeting
Funny About Money: When Giving Goes Awry
Modern Gal: When Good Debt is Bad

Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your submission was featured!

We look forward to next week’s Carnival hosted by Well Heeled. Please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

December 7, 2009 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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