Finances & Money

Carnival of Personal Finance #90 Review

The 90th Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge. Mapgirl forms the Carnival this week as if it were a true carnival, including intermissions.

Clever Dudette’s article about Frugal Lunch is in the “Center Ring”. This is the first Carnival of PF where my article wasn’t ALLL the way at the bottom. Thanks Mapgirl!

Here’s some other highlights I found especially interesting:

-Along the theme for frugality and nutrition, Wenchypoo posted some tips for being “kitchen-convenient”. That means things like streamlining your pantry with more nutritious foods and being preparing for power outages and other emergencies.

–Getting Green posted a great review of 14 different online savings accounts. I would have liked to see this in a table format for easier reading, but it’s not overwhelming information. There’s a few banks I hadn’t heard of in the list as well.

–Free Money Finance gives us 2 quick tips for evaluating jobs offers. Personally, long lists bore and overwhelm me, so a 2-tip list is refreshing. FMF describes the financial evaluations, and I’d like to add Tip 3: “Consider the qualitative aspects of the offer: coworkers, location, job duties, etc.”

–The Frugal Law Student highlights 4 quick tips for saving money while eating out. Again, I like short lists, and I practice every one of his tips.

–Get Rich Slowly details the cost of cable versus using Netflix (or Blockbuster) for your entertainment needs, as well as the “No TV” option. If you know me, you know I have a love-hate relationship with TV, especially Tivo. I posted “Get Tivo for Free” and “Can you live without your Tivo?“. I even highlighted how you can use Blockbuster or Netflix to watch your TV series without commercials.

–Buford Twain tells us how we could not have a car payment. I really like his tone, since I’m also a straightforward kind of guy. However, my one weakness is cars, as my wife will attest. However, I’m changing my attitude towards used cars, as well as keeping ours after paying them off.

-Along the line of cars, Personal Finance Advice offers an explanation of “Why newer cars don’t save you money“. Our own Pontiac Grand Am is serving us very well with 125,000 miles, and has been paid off for a few years now.

-And finally, the Simple Guru highlights their effort to merge their finances, which leads to merging their lives. One of my first articles on Clever Dude was “Joint vs. Separate Checking Accounts“, which always sparks lively debates.