Thanks for visiting!  Here are this week’s debt-reduction related posts:

• Steadfast Finances runs through several thought-provoking quotes on debt and paying interest.
• Debt Eagle show how to do debt settlement yourself.
• Silicon Valley Blogger warns about refund anticipation loans.
• The Smarter Wallet discusses the Dave Ramsey cash-only diet.
• Do You Dave Ramsey? does the emergency fund baby step.
• Ask Mr. Credit Card shows how to use credit cards for a debt repayment plan.

Thanks!  If you have debt-reduction related questions (or any other money questions, for that matter!) ask them over at Cash Commons.

Have a great week!

Got money questions? Ask them at Cash Commons

Happy Middle Name Pride Day, everyone!  There seems to be a bit of inconsistency as to what the proper day to celebrate MNPD is – Holiday Insights says that it’s “always March 10th” whereas the Wikipedia article says it’s on the Friday of the first full week of March as one of a number of festive days of Celebrate Your Name Week.

But no matter.  In the spirit of Middle Name Pride Day, whether on time or two days early, I will reveal my middle name to (hopefully) at least three people who don’t know it already.  I’ll also share some tweets from some followers who gave their take on their middle names.

Here are the submitted posts for this week’s Money Hacks Carnival!

My picks for this carnival:

• Darwin’s Finance runs down 401(k) loan rules and discusses the pros and cons.
• PT Money describes how credit card numbers are generated.  (Very interesting!)
• Balance Junkie relates financial literacy to green eggs and ham.  (Thank you!  Thank you, impressed-I-am.)
• ABCs of Investing explains in detail how to convert to a Roth IRA.
• My Dollar Plan runs down three tax deductions to help the unemployed.

@EverydayFinance mine’s “whatchoo talkin ’bout Willis”. I was mocked relentlessly as a kid but now I can laugh about it.

@thefrugallawyer Middle name is Starr. It was supposed to be my first name but wasn’t a good Christian name, so it went to the middle.

@centsiblelife middle name:Liann. Named after a cousin and the first syl. is both a repeat from my 1st name+ my Dad’s name.

@The_Weakonomist my middle name is “the”

• Live Frugally or Die Broke keeps a keen eye on #1: paying yourself first.
• Wench Wisdom quotes Prudent Bear on the disincentive to save.
• Rabbit Funds hops on an interview with the founder of MoneyDesktop.com.
• Dividends Value lists 18 stocks that are raising their dividend yield on cost.
• Free Family Finance reports a late-breaking story on politicians getting a fiscal clue.  (I can’t believe it myself, but you be the judge.)
• Green Sherpa suggests asking for directions if you’ve lost your financial way.
• Money Help for Christians explains the tax implications of Roth IRAs vs traditional IRAs.
• Good Financial Cents goes through how to make quarterly estimated tax payments.
• Consumer Boomer asks: “How much retirement income should you withdraw?”
• Provident Plan outlines how to create a budget and stick to it.
• Studenomics runs down some favorite time management tips.
• Wealth Pilgrim explains how to regain your mojo.
• Canadian Finance Blog has ten tips for going green and saving money.
• Money Ning suggests that investing in physical gold can cost you.
• Dough Roller lists credit cards that you can transfer balances at zero percent for a year.  (They do still exist, apparently!)
• Personal Finance Playbook explains effective yield.
• Steadfast Finances comments on investor psychology and losing out on profits.
• Stumble Forward reveals a scam.
• Len Penzo warns that fees can erode your savings account returns.
• Live Real Now has a February 30-day project.  (He can put two extra days in the month if he wants; it’s his blog!)

My middle name is Burnett.  It was my grandfather’s first name, and I carry it proudly.

Have a great rest of the week!

Got money questions? Ask them at Cash Commons

(Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. After you check out the posts for this week, I invite you to check out my Back to Basics series.  I’d also love for you to subscribe to my feed or follow me on Twitter.)

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance, Parts-of-Speech Abuse Edition.  What is parts-of-speech abuse, you might ask?  Well, it means taking a word with a perfectly good part of speech (as most words have) and changing it to a completely different, less well-known, possibly buzzwordy part of speech.  I’ve scattered four five examples of this kind of language jaywalking throughout the carnival submissions.

Budgeting, Career, and the Economy

• Christian Personal Finance tells how he escaped the rat race.
• Life Tuner proclaims cash king.
• Penny Jobs says that only capitalism can save us.
• The Smarter Wallet runs through some tips on how to save money on groceries.
• Parenting Family Money says that if you have a family, you should have a budget.
• The Suburban Dollar looks for the line between looking for a career and taking a job.

leverage (v.) – to use as a springboard; use as leverage.  Example: “The new project should leverage as much of our current technology as it can.”  One example of a long, bulleted list of bureaucratese developed explicitly to hide intelligent thought.

Credit, Debt, and Finance

• Len Penzo explains how to get out of paying a mandatory gratuity for bad service.
• Insureblog plugs Cartopia.
• Taking Charge recommends payment cards for keeping spending habits in check.
• Foreigner’s Finance serves up something a little different: seven countries’ credit card stats, side-by-side.
• Digerati Life talks about frequent-flyer credit cards.
• PT Money runs through Charge Cards 101.
• Simple Financial Lifestyle nicely explains the power of one.
• Personal Finance Analyst recommends doing your own mortgage acceleration.
• One Money Design shares some common traits of people who successfully got out of debt.
• Debt Free Adventure has a how-to handbook for credit card debt reduction.

awesome (n.) — an otherwise indescribable great thing; something awesome.  Examples:  Stackoverflow Careers’ invitation to “amplify your awesome” or Sheetz’ call to “wake up and taste the awesome.”  This always leaves me asking: “My awesome what?“
Frugality

• Pragmatic Environmentalism shares some tips for getting more mileage out of your laptop batteries.
• Tiny Money was taken on a trip to Bait and Switch, Inc., by the mall Santa.
• You Have More Than You Think (great title!) lists the five questions you should ask yourself before buying anything.
• Rainy Day Saver talks extreme frugality.
• Quest for Four Pillars dishes out some last-minute cheap gift ideas.
• Free From Broke really enjoys saving at the supermarket.
• Live Real, Now flogs his inner impulse shopper.
• Bible Money Matters suggests ways to give more and spend less this Christmas.
• A Gai Shan Life reminisces about the holidays.
• Money Crashers lists five last-minute Christmas gifts that don’t suck.
• Think Your Way To Wealth explains how to save money with Bing Cashback.
• Eliminate the Muda wonders what the ROI is on an iPhone.

fly (adj.) — stylishly cool; bangin’; sweet; tight. Examples in song: “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” by The Offspring; “Pretty Fly For A Rabbi” by Weird Al Yankovic; “Feelin’ So Fly” by TobyMac. (Let’s just say I’m in touch enough to know that I’m not even the slightest bit fly.  Just ask J. Money.)
Investing

• Narrow Bridge Adventures talks about using microfinance to invest in someone’s future.
• Dividends Value lists the 2010 Dividend Aristocrats.
• The Dividend Guy reviews The Investor’s Manifesto.
• Good Financial Cents warns that the 80% rule might not be enough to retire on.
• Dividend Growth Investor suggests using dividend stocks to combat inflation.

friend (v.) — to add someone to your online social network (e.g. Facebook).  Example: “Thanks for friending me.”  As it is possible to friend someone, it is also possible to unfriend someone.  Or is it defriend?  Disfriend?  Antifriend?  Who knows …

Money Management & Saving

• Fiscal Geek reviews budgeting software You Need A Budget 3.0.
• Free Family Finance makes a case for why your income isn’t your greatest wealth-building tool.
• Don’t Quit Your Day Job (another great blog title!) explains how to control your giving.
• Free Money Finance discusses the net worths of the members of the US House of Representatives.
• Science and Money gives a run-down of the financial aftermath of a car accident.
• Well-Heeled with a Mission has a super-simple net worth calculation.
• Budgets Are Sexy’s brother put on his reflection pants and swam in the lake of him.
• Gen Y Wealth suggests a savings goal for 2010.
• Get Rich Slowly states that no one cares more about your money than you do.
• Studenomics asks: “How do people get rich?”
• Bargaineering rates checking accounts and selects the best on a number of criteria.
• My Wealth Builder recommends giving saving priority over spending.
• Money Smart Life has a tip for Christmas shopping deals on name-brand goods.
• A Modern Gal discusses the confession of financial sins.
• No Debt Plan has a way to change your financial life radically in four steps.

fail (n.) — a spectacular non-success; a flamboyant failure.  The example here is pretty obvious.  Not only a parts-of-speech abuse, but lots and lots of spawned noun pairs!  A total fail in standard written English!
Taxes

• Oblivious Investor discusses tax planning in retirement.
• Darwin’s Finance has some year-end tax tips.
• Stumble Forward explains in what way the rich don’t pay taxes.

Other

• Provident Planning gives a summary of tithing in the Bible.
• M is for Money discusses holiday tipping.

That is it!  Stay tuned as Gather Little By Little carnivals next week.

(Photos: fireflythegreat, jpctalbot, happysweetmama, jaycross, Beverly & Pack)

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Welcome to the Carnival of Money Stories. Among this week’s posts I’ve included great money questions asked over at Cash Commons.  Enjoy!

Business

• Free Money Finance talks about taking risks for an improved career.
• Christian Personal Finance describes how he handles being owed money.
• The Smarter Wallet says that free chicken can turn fowl.
• Great Question: How much can an employee earn before I need to take taxes out?

Credit and Debt

• Bible Money Matters publishes a worst-case scenario handbook on handling the financial slip-up.
• Money Ning wonders if 0% balance transfers for life are possible.
• Great Question: Should I pay down my debt, or try to build an emergency fund in savings?

Housing

• Get Rich Slowly talks about Madoff-prison-cell-sized houses.
• M is for Money recounts the story of a house that’s a money pit.
• Gather Little By Little discusses homeschool finance.
• Great Question: Is having a Walmart a few hundred feet from a property a good or bad idea?

Investing

• OneMint discusses how to develop a long-term approach to investing.
• ETFdb talks about investing in the yuan.
• Canadian Personal Finance Blog chats about risks in life and in investing.
• Trading Stocks discusses investing money online.
• Great Question: How to go about calculating a realistic rate of return for the stock market?
• Darwin’s Finance lists a gazillion ETFs.
• Dguoh Rloler syas taht you don’t need to be pfercet wtih yuor fnniaecs.
• Sun’s Financial Diary harnesses the power of Google to track investments in real time.
• My Dollar Plan tells us what to expect when talking to a financial planner.
• Great Question: What is the underlying reason for stock market supercycles?

Net Worth and Shopping

• Free From Broke relates personal finance to running the NYC Marathon.
• Breathe-Smile weighs options to talk about opportunity cost.
• Great Question: Are you spending more, or less for the holidays this year?
• Lazy Man and Money questions swapping CDs for an iPod with the same CDs.

Budgeting and Personal Finance

• Peak Personal Finance serves up five financial rules for women.
• Prosper and Be In Health describes how to make a budget that works.
• The Digerati Life discusses the almighty allowance.
• Great Question: What do you do to save money daily, and do you think it is important?
• Bargaineering gives a how-to on canceling your cable TV service.

Other

• Frugally Green really wants you to get yourself the right tools for the job.
• Spend On Life reviews SmartyPig.
• Good Financial Cents really likes In-N-Out Burger.  Find out why.
• Great Question: What things are necessary to do before accepting donations online?
• Personal Finance By the Book tells how to prosper by celebrating your marital differences.
• Budgets Are Sexy handles a reader’s question on receiving a gift.
• Great Question: Is there a standard equation for how much life insurance a person should have?
• PT Money starts down the long road to life insurance.
• True Adventures in Money Hacking describes the fine art of couchsurfing.
• Canadian Finance Blog expects to save money this Christmas with LED holiday lights.

Have a great week!  And if you have some great money questions of your own to ask, be sure to head over to Cash Commons!

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Howdy!  Here are the on-topic submissions for this week’s carnival:

• Bargaineering hosts a guest post on how to sue debt collectors.
• The Smarter Wallet shares some first-hand experience with debt collection practices.
• The Digerati Life runs through options for debt consolidation loans for people with good credit.
• Studenomics asks if student loan consolidation is right for you.
• Ask Mr. Credit Card has a radio interview with Lending Club, with an emphasis on debt consolidation.
• Budgets Are Sexy wouldn’t mind moving back in with the ‘rents to pay down debt.

Thanks!

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Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction! I’m very pleased that more of the submissions are on-topic. This is a very good thing, and I know it will benefit everyone concerned, from readers to submitters to hosts, to have a more on-target carnival each week.

Here are this week’s debt reduction posts, with the personal debt reduction stories up top:

• The Good Life on a Budget has paid off a car loan eight months early! Congrats!
• Man vs. Debt has a post from a reader on how they paid off their $15,000 debt by selling their stuff on eBay.
• Digerati Life has a post from a guest contributor that reduced debt with a loan modification.
• Reduce Debt Faster outlines three good ways to lower your credit card payments.  (Hint:  It never hurts to ask!)
• PT Money has an interesting question from a reader with a bit of debt problem that isn’t really her own overspending.
• Damon Day shares a sad story of a woman hit with a debt settlement nightmare.
• Christian Personal Finance gives four ways on how to pay off your mortgage early.
• Bargaineering has a post from Kyle from Suburban Dollar on telling the difference between first- and third-party debt collectors.
• Cash Money Life suggests this question as a wake-up call:  “Do you know how much interest you are paying each month?”
• Clear Choice Credit Cards posts a debt elimination guide.
• Your Money Relationship stirs up the good debt vs. bad debt question, with an anecdote on student loan debt.
• Eliminate the Muda has an interesting take on debt consolidation.

Again, thanks everyone for the on-topic posts.

One last thing:  If you’ve got debt questions, head over to Cash Commons and ask them!  They can even be as specific as this one.

Have a great week!

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Happy Columbus Day, everyone!  Here are the articles for this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction.  At the top are the posts by people who discuss areas of their personal debt reduction, which is what the carnival is all about:

• Modern Tightwad is deprioritizing her debt payoff in pursuit of some other goals.

And other posts closely tied to debt reduction:

• Free Money Finance lists a couple of suggestions for deciding when to pay off your mortgage.
• Bargaineering shares a guest post on debt validation, which is a lender’s response to a debt collection dispute letter.
• Man vs. Debt has taken the plunge and told credit card companies exactly what they can do with their rewards.
• The Digerati Life discusses the pros and cons of debt settlement companies.
• Financial Methods asks a simple question: What would you give up to get out of debt?

Thanks for checking out the articles this week.  Also, if you have a debt reduction question, you can ask it over at Cash Commons!

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Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction. There were more good articles submitted this week than are shown below, but only a small number of them dealt directly with (a) personal debt reduction stories or (b) how to reduce consumer debt:

• No Credit Needed dispenses with a lengthy introduction and jumps right in with a six-step process for eliminating credit card debt.
• Free Money Finance recounts a story of how one couple paid off their mortgage.
• Financial Methods confesses that there’s no such thing as the debt fairy.
• Clear Choice Credit Cards runs through seven tips for reducing credit card debt.

I’ll include some of the other articles in a roundup later this week, but if your post wasn’t included, please revisit the submission rules and rest assured that it’s absolutely nothing personal.

Have a great week!

Got tweet? I do!

(This post is a bit off-topic but I want to get the word out quickly on this.)

I’ll take time now to thank Debt Sucks for hosting this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction and also for his next post on why he’s never, ever hosting a blog carnival again.

I’ve been watching as hosting carnivals has gotten to be more and more work for very little reward.  There were thirty submissions to Jake’s carnival this past week, and he included only four of them.  He deemed the rest to be spam, off-topic, or astray of the rules that I had set up.

And I applaud him for holding a high standard like that.  Carnivals have gotten out of hand with the volume of submissions, and if these things are to remain useful and viable, the rules have to change.

BlogCarnival.com has done a lot to make the blog carnival popular.  There’s a flip side to that popularity though:  blog carnivals are easy one-way links for the submitter.  Intentionally or otherwise, it’s become too easy for people to submit to carnivals there.  There is no limit to how many times a particular URL can be submitted at BlogCarnival.com.  What’s more, I know of services that will submit one link per week to between ten and fifteen carnivals through BlogCarnival.com, for only $25 per month!  This is possible because there is standalone software that automates the submission process.

So, starting as of about 25 minutes ago, I’ve deactivated the submission form over at BlogCarnival.  The only way to submit to the Carnival of Debt Reduction is now through this submission form on the carnival’s website.

I’ll also be encouraging hosts to be more selective about what posts they include.  Free Money Finance has a good thing going with the Best of Money Carnival.  It was a breeze to host that one.

What I’m hoping this will do is reduce the number of submissions from search-engine optimization companies on behalf of paying clients.  They’ll still be able to do it if they really want to, but now they can’t just click a button to submit a post to the Carnival of Debt Reduction.  They have to come over to the form on the website and do it all themselves.

I’m hoping that’s too much work for them.  I’m also hoping that it’s not too much work for people from whom I actually welcome submissions.

(If you already submitted your post for next week’s Carnival over at BlogCarnival.com, don’t worry, it got through.)

OK, back to regular content.

Got tweet? I do!

I’ve hosted a number of blog carnivals over the years, and I really like the way FMF has set up the Best of Money Carnival.  It’s been very enjoyable, and easy, to host this one.  The Best of Money Carnival, as the name implies, highlights the best personal finance posts from the past two weeks in a top-ten-countdown fashion.  This week, vis-a-vis KC & the Sunshine Band, I’ll introduce the posts, and tell you why I liked them.

Number 10: Confessions of an online poker player, posted by an anonymous professional poker player over at Budgets are Sexy.

Why I liked it: I had read this post before I knew it was submitted to the carnival, and it was fascinating reading.  First, it’s a business that has to be learned.  Second, it’s work, just like any other profession.  Third, knowledge is power, just like everything else.  “Poker is the hardest way to make an easy living,” J. Money of Budgets are Sexy wrote in his submission.  Anyway, a neat read.

Number 9: Carnival of Debt Reduction:  The Federal Debt and Deficit Problem Issue, posted over at Ask Mr. Credit Card.

Why I liked it: Seriously, it’s not for self-serving reasons – yes, I do manage the Carnival of Debt Reduction! – but beyond that it’s an involved post even without all of the debt reduction links.  Lots of data for your perusal.  (No, Mr. Credit Card, you weren’t hallucinating.  It was a good post!)

Number 8:  Can you benefit from energy efficient rebates? posted at Frugally Green.

Why I liked it: It’s a nice outline of which energy-efficient upgrades are eligible for the rebate.  Though when somebody gives me something like a tax break I have to ask why, there’s little reason not to take it if it doesn’t make sense all around.  The last paragraph of the post gets back to the real message though:  “Even without the incentives being offered to us, we should carefully consider the cost savings and benefits that we can realize by purchasing more efficient products.”

Number 7:  The Labors of Labor by Wench Wisdom.

Why I liked it: This post comes after the recent minimum wage increase in the United States, and calls people to action to improve their own lot rather than fight for higher minimum wages:  “The answer to these maladies doesn’t lie in unionization, but rather a trip to the mirror—the fate of your continued employment and rate of pay depends on you …”

Number 6: How much money do you need to retire? by Redeeming Riches.

Why I liked it: The conversation at the beginning of the post is good.  It reinforces the rest of the post.  The main point:  “The short answer to the question, ‘How much money do I need to retire?’ is ‘It depends’.  Because every person and situation is different there are just no hard and fast rules to help determine what’s appropriate.”

Number 5: Searching for an inexpensive new couch by Two Pennies Earned.

Why I liked it: Straightforward, complete illustration of all the nooks and crannies they looked for their new couch, plain and simple.  Lots of lessons learned!

Number 4: Have You Ever Had A DEBT FREE Christmas, And Will You Accept My Challenge? posted over at Enemy of Debt.

Why I liked it: Perfect timing on this post!  Who knows how early retailers will start thinking about Christmas this year?  This post beats the “Holiday Merchandising Season” to the punch.  I also like the call to action distilled to a fill-in-the-blank checklist.

Number 3: Make money writing for Hubpages, posted by Christian Personal Finance.

Why I liked it: ChristianPF followed through on something I dabbled in a couple of years ago.  Anyway, the tradeoff between writing, and maintaining, your own content and posting content to a ready-made audience is interesting.  Seeing how the latter works was a bit different than I expected.

Number 2: My jobs, I get my dream job, posted by Free Money Finance.

Why I liked it: I’ve been blogging almost as long as FMF and I know for a fact how hard the guy works.  He posts a lot and stays squarely on the pulse of personal finance.  The frequent links to the mainstream articles are great, but his real gems have been his original posts.  This is one of them.

Number 1: Faith-Based or Socially Responsible Investing – Delusions of Righteousness, posted by Provident Planning.

Why I liked this one the best: Socially-responsible investing is not immune to marketing.  What makes marketing this kind of investment very touchy is that it needs to address people’s faith.  This post takes a very clear stand on which common claims are reasonable and which aren’t.  I’m not sure I agree with all of what he says, but I agree with some, and in any case Paul Williams sticks his neck out far enough to earn this week’s Best of the Best title.

Well, there you are!  Thanks to everyone who submitted posts this week.  I had lots of fun with this Carnival!  Enjoy the rest of your week.  If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to subscribe to my feed or follow me on Twitter.  Peace!

(Photos:  *Vintage Fairytale* and faeryboots)

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