Weekly Roundup
You know, I can’t believe it’s already March 1st! This year is flying by and I have exactly 21 days until my friend gets married. While I’m certainly happy for her, I’m not exactly happy with the way my posterior looks in the bride’s maid dress. So, leg lift hell is where I’ll be over the next few weeks. Yay!
Moving on to this week’s pick of the litter. As usual, the fabulous folks in the personal finance world have a lot of great material. Be sure to visit and subscribe to their feeds if you like their style! And, be sure to check out our new open topic thread here at MYC!
I also want to give a big thanks to Nicole @ Breaking Even for interviewing me on her Wednesday Writer Spotlight!
- Kelly @ Almost Frugal talks about making room for storage. I’ll definitely be giving these tips a go because my apartment is designed with an extra balcony as opposed to a storage closet. I don’t want to rent a storage unit from them unless I absolutely have to. Kelly’s tips are great!
- Patrick @ Cash Money Life breaks down the “Making Work Pay Credit.” Starting in April, we’ll all see a little extra in our paychecks. Patrick talks about turning that into our own stimulus check by paying yourself first. P.S. He’s got a great new design, so be sure to check it out!
- Joseph @ Debit vs. Credit gave some good reasons on when to use debit and when to use credit.
- The Digerati Life gives us some ideas on recession dining for under $10. Some of these recipes sound really good and are simple to make. I think I might have to give this a go!
- Lazy Man and Money has a guest post that talks about sacrificing the little things for early retirement. The problem in America is that we want it all, right now. Well, the time of instant gratification is coming to a close, because the reality is that you can’t always have everything right now. Set priorities and make the choices. Read LM’s post!
- Living Almost Large talks about compromising on frugality. As with any good relationship, it is all about compromise, and frugality is not different. LAL gives a great personal example of how this works.
- FB @ Fabulously Broke in the City asks readers what happens to the housewife’s resume when she takes time off to raise kids. As the “nurturers” of a family, women often find it difficult to return to the workforce after having kids. Their skills become obsolete and they now have to start all over again. Why is that? Doesn’t really happen the other way around, does it? If a man stays home to raise the kids, are his skills obsolete? Curious…very curious.
- J. Money @ Budgets are Sexy asks if two people taking a shower really saves money. Ok, first of all, this post had me laughing my you-know-what-off. It’s not really that funny of a topic, but J’s spin is what cracks me up the most. So do check it out. But, I agree with his stance on the matter. I really don’t think taking showers together is for saving water. Fun yes, saving water no.
- nickel @ fivecentnickel talks about some alternatives to high yield savings accounts. Just as an FYI, though. You local bank and credit union may only be marginally better in rates – we’re dealing with the economy too, just like everyone else – so, if your relationship with your bank is good, don’t throw it away chasing a half percent better rate.
- Debt Destroyer @ The Happy Rock gives advice on stretching your grocery dollar by using the deep freeze. I wish this were an option for me; however, apartment living isn’t conducive to deep freezers. Nevertheless, I do try to maximize the space available in my freezer so that I can stretch the dollar.
- Frugal Dad tells us how to recession proof our debt snowballs. Not being a big fan of Dave Ramsey and his debt snowball method in the first place, I’m not 100% on board with FD here. However, I’m not blind to the fact that people do like DR and so might find this approach practical during a recession. If it works for you, then fine. I still don’t like it, lol!
- BeingFrugal.net talks about the perceived value of an item versus the actual value. This post is a great example of why some people fall into debt, they perceive that an item which cost an arm and a leg is of a better quality than a cheaper product. In some cases this is certainly true. The adage ‘you get what you pay for’ didn’t come from nothing. However, as BeingFrugal explains it, the $500 Coach bag is probably of the same value as the $25 Target bag – assuming the same care and use is applied to both bags. People pay more for the Coach bag because it’s a status symbol. Whatever floats their boats…I’ll stick to the $25 Target bags.
- Pimp Your Finances has a fantastic post on money lessons learned from Super Mario Brothers. Any of you who actually played these games will find the post funny and a bit nostalgic; however, the money lessons are valid nonetheless. I wonder if I can do the same thing with some of my favorite cartoons from the 80s? Hmmm.
- Ginger @ Girls Just Wanna Have Funds talks about 10 unpopular opinions on personal finance. Be sure to check out the comments, too!
There you have it, guys! Have a great weekend!
Happy Reading!
Related posts:
- Weekly Roundup
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- The Weekly Roundup
- Kristy’s Weekly Roundup: The Birthday Edition
- Weekly Roundup
thanks for the mention!
Thanks for mentioning my article. Like you, there are elements of the plan even I don’t completely like, but it worked for us. The math side of me cringes at the thought of letting even more interest accumulate, but the practical side of me likes the idea of increasing our average on-hand savings. Different strokes, I guess.
Thanks for the link love! I’m glad you liked the Mario article…it seemed like a good way to find some common ground everyone can relate with.
@ LAL – You’re welcome! Thanks for the great posts!
@ Frugal Dad – Yes, we all have a different way of looking at things. I’m glad the method worked for you and that you’re sharing it with others. I understand that these methods work for people, so I’m happy to share them.
@ David – I like that one and the one about ‘What would Bilbo do,’ but I liked Super Mario brothers a tad more than LOTR, so I went with this post. Actually, I like how you take popular movies and characters in general and relate them to finance. I’m seriously going to attempt this with the Care Bears, but we’ll see how that turns out! LOL.
Thanks for the link to DD’s article.
We are in a 900sqft condo, so no deep freezing for us either.
@ Happy Rock – My pleasure! So glad I’m not alone in this…still, great tips for those who do have the deep freeze. Not sure about that breast milk dessert, though! ;)
Thank you so much for the mention. That is a good point I didn’t think about – do men lose any ground if they’re out of work?
I’m inclined to say: Yes.
Aww yeahhhh glad you enjoyed ;) happy snow week!
Great links and thanks much for the link!
@ FB – I don’t think a man’s skills depreciate in value as much as a woman’s though – particularly in your field. But, I could be wrong. Thanks for writing a fabulous article!
@ J – Of course I liked it! LOL. Kind of a no-brainer seeing as you wrote it and most of your stuff makes me laugh. But, whilst you’re enjoying the snow, I’ll stick to my 80 degrees here in Texas…hehehe.
@ Joseph – You’re most welcome and thanks for the great articles you write!
Wohoo! Thanks for the link, I’ve always wanted to make your weekly roundup! :^)
@ Nicole – You’re welcome! I wish I could include everyone in the roundups, but the blog list I read is long! LOL. Even I have trouble keeping up! But your site is fabulous just the same!