Roundup for week of 25 March 2007

The weekend is here and once again here are some links of interest from the MBN and other great personal finance blogs in my travels:

Consumerism Commentary dishes up ten ways to blow your tax refund. The Scrooge McDuck one is key. My 1997 Olds Achieva with 167k on it doesn’t need a new sound system, though; it would probably shake the car apart.
Five Cent Nickel has a favorite reward credit card. The 6% rebate on gas/grocery/drugstore purchases for a year is pretty high. So is the annual $1,000 reward cap. Hmmmmmm……
Free Money Finance is down to the final two posts in this year’s Personal Finance March Madness! So head on over there and decide which one of nickel’s posts you want to win.
All Financial Matters explains how an interest-only mortgage works. It’s a good article with lots of insightful comments. At first glance one might think that mortgages with an interest-only term are sucker plays (lower payment, higher overall cost) but there are other facets like inflation, difference in disposable income, length of stay in the house, etc.
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reminds us of the use tax. I pay it, but I admit it’s a chore to go through and pick out all of my online purchases.
Clever Dude shares three Gmail tips. I use Gmail for the Carnival of Debt Reduction submission e-mail address and it’s powerful. Being able to check it from another e-mail reader is cool!
Debt Hater talks about why she’s not going to throw her whole refund toward paying down her debt. Great points in this article. Life hits you whether you have the cash or not, and it’s better to hold onto cash for big upcoming expenses than to pay interest on them later.
Dimes to Dollars is shocked that her alma mater might cost half a million bucks in 20 years. She’s right — something’s got to give!
Frugal for Life has aggregated 27 posts on how to save money, including one of mine.
Generation X Finance comments on a Boston Globe article outlining the possibility of a lot of unhappy baby boomers who want to sell their homes for retirement.