Carnival of Personal Finance #245

J. Money of Budgets are Sexy doodles on dollars for our 245th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance .

J’s favorites were:

Magical Penny: Financial Lessons of a Cheese Pedlar
Mighty Bargain Hunter:Would you out a friend’s spending patterns on Facebook?
Len Penzo dot Com: Taste-Test Experiment: Bottled Waters vs. Filtered Tap
Amateur Asset Allocator: Does Money Prevent Happiness?
Money Beagle: Did The Banks Force You To Sign Your Mortgage?

Your next host is Taking Charge ; please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

February 22, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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Carnival of Personal Finance #244

Len Penzo brings the financial chickens home to roost in his Fiscally Irresponsible TV Characters Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance #244.

Len’s favorites were:

Cheap Healthy Good: Food Money Matters: Why Healthy Eating Doesn’t Have to be Expensive
Pop Economics: What I’ll tell my kids about the Great Recession
Miss Bankrupt.com: Making Up with Chase Bank
Personal Finance Ninja: Roth 401(k) and Roth IRA’s – Why the Roth Is Better for Young People
Ask Mr Credit Card: What The Japanese Taught Me About Defeating Credit Card Debt

Your next host is J. Money of Budgets are Sexy; please be sure to submit your best articles by Sunday, 5 pm EST!

February 15, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

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GCal wishes me a Happy Valentine’s Day….

to ask: Have you paid the DMV?

Valentine’s Day happens to coincide with Chinese New Year this year but that’s not my excuse not to celebrate. I’m not a V-day sort of gal, generally. For me, the Hallmark Day of Love is simply a reminder that it’s time to send some sugar ($$$) to the DMV to renew my car registration. That and some Valentine’s Day cards if I’ve got something fun cooked up.

Sadly, my car registration is one of those few remaining irksome bills I can’t automate. They’ll allow online payments, thanks heavens, but it’s a single mailed statement several months in advance and woe betide those who forget to renew on time! Last year I managed to forget about both “holiday” and due date, and ate a whopping parking/expired tags fine as a result.

Determined not to File and Forget again, I added the bill payment reminder as an event on Google Calendar with an emailed reminder set a week in advance.

This reminds of me a decidedly clueless boyfriend of years past who deliberately scheduled our first date on a numerical date matching that of my birthday. He’d theorized that doubling up on “significant” dates was a surefire tactic to stay out of anniversary trouble.

That was probably the single smartest thing he did in the years we were together!

For those of you who are fond of acknowledging the day, remember that the stores are about to run out of affordably priced flowers, Russell Stover’s chocolates are a glaring red flag that you’d forgotten about it, and truly, a sincere gesture doesn’t have to cost you the rent money. But I’m sure you already knew that.

How is everyone spending their Valentine’s Day? And does anyone else use nationally significant dates as a reminder of something in their personal lives or is that just quirky?

[My name is Revanche and I’m the writer and owner of the personal finance blog A Gai Shan Life. Feel free to come on by, and subscribe if you like what you see. I also help out around here a bit.]

February 14, 2010 by Revanche | Filed Under Carnivals

Carnival of Personal Finance #243

Happy Valen-week! Are you ready? J.D. preps you with this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance #243: Valentine’s Day Edition and intersperses his favorite romantic poems with his favorite finance articles. Ahhh, love.

His double star favorites (think double-plus-good!) are:

Pop Economics: The illusion of control — our compulsion to do something
Dough Roller: One Financial Goal to Rule Them All

His single star favorites are:

Four Pillars: Two Views on the Economics of Dating

Penny Farthing: Is debt okay if it leads to self-improvement?

Studenomics:How My Friend Made $2,100 From Tutoring

Think Your Way to Wealth: Is self-reliance a lost art in this day and age?

Financial Student: How I’m Receiving 30 Hours of College Credit For 15 Dollars

Personal Finance Ninja: 3 Reasons Why the Average Joe is a Bad Investor

Good Financial Cents: How to Choose The Best Financial Advisor/Planner for You

Foreigner’s Finances: Renting 101: What You Should Know Before You Sign

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