Mighty Bargain Hunter

Roundup for week of 2 December 2007: Christmas pageant edition

December 10th, 2007 | by mbhunter |

Lots of “choir stuff” activity this weekend at our church.  We sang a short selection at an assisted living facility.  The residents’ faces lit up when the children came out in costume.  They “stole the show.”

Christmas pageants at your local church are are an inexpensive event that you and your family can attend this holiday season.  The amount of work that can go into preparation for these events is significant, and the message is priceless.

Here are links of interest from the MBN and other great blogs in my reader:

• Consumerism Commentary encourages us to power through some of the math to help us really understand our finances.
• Five Cent Nickel scored compact fluorescent bulbs for about a dollar each.  (Costco’s regular price wasn’t quite this good as this sale price, but it was better than the non-sale price at Lowe’s where Nickel got his.  Ikea also has dollar sales on CF bulbs, but theirs are sometimes a little big to fit in some fixtures.)
• No Credit Needed comments on the mortgage mess.  (Indeed, debt can be a great servant used properly, but it’s a cruel master.)
• Get Rich Slowly briefly discusses some issues with giving personal finance books as gifts, then lists some good ones for a number of age groups.
• Free Money Finance gingerly approaches the topic of politics and taxes.
• All Financial Matters outlines a calculation to determine how much mortgage you can afford.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity explains some of the ins and outs of deducting capital losses.  (Did you know that stocks that become worthless are treated as if they were sold on the last day of the year?  I didn’t.)
• Money Smart Life is selling on eBay without a whole lot of work.  (If you can get monster deals on product, this can be a good way to go.)
• Money, Matter, and More Musings turns debt advice on its head and takes the heat off of debt itself, placing it squarely on the shoulders of the debtor.
• The Digerati Life gives six tips on lighting the neighborhood fantastic for less money this holiday season.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary discusses the pricing and prices of gold coins.
• Generation X Finance talks about the alternative minimum tax.
• Lazy Man and Money doesn’t like Monster.com.  The gears are turning on a post idea, but I need to oil them a little.

Cash Money Life had his work cut out for him this week.  He hosted the two carnivals I participated in this past week:

• The brand-new Carnival of Financial Goals with my post on my 2008 financial goal
• The Carnival of Personal Finance that featured my learn-things-of-value post as an Editor’s Pick (thanks Patrick!)

Have a great week!

Questions tagged savings at Cash Commons:

• Automated Savings
• Should I pay down my debt of try to build an emergency fund in savings?
• What's the purpose of a mortgage offset account?