Can you feel the excitement??? All of that black ink just waiting to be put on the ledgers??

Nah, I can’t either.

Here are some interesting links from my feed reader:

• The Simple Dollar discusses the 40/30/30 rule (as opposed to the 80/20 rule, or the Rule of 72).
• Consumerism Commentary recommends putting some of your finance on cruise control.
• Five Cent Nickel asks: “Are coupons a waste?”
• Generation X Finance suggests embracing your inner secret shopper.
• Bargaineering lists a who’s who of career web sites.
• The Digerati Life reveals why lottery winners go broke.
• A Gai Shan Life has a number of ways you can support your public library.
• The Frugal Lawyer recounts some lessons about credit cards from her previous life as a card issuer.
• Studenomics warns that if you want to make money fast, you might just get what you ask for!

A special thanks to Living With Common Cents for participating in Cash Commons for the first time this week!

Enjoy the weekend!

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My wife got Wii Fit Plus earlier this week and it makes you think on some of the games.  Nice build-on to Wii Fit.  Besides, what other game can I flap my arms and fly around in a giant bird suit?

Here are some links of interest from my feed reader:

• Bible Money Matters comes through with a huge list of budgeting tools, finance software, and iPhone money applications.
• Tough Money Love wonders if Las Vegas deserves a recovery.
• Frugal For Life discusses the secondhand shopping be-attitudes.
• Being Frugal shares her inexpensive photo Christmas card trick.
• All Financial Matters shows how to use the rate function in Excel.
• The Digerati Life has a number of good ways to invest small amounts of money.

Also a big thank-you to these bloggers who’ve participated for the first time this past week at Cash Commons:

• Tough Money Love
• Steadfast Finances
• Damon Day
• The Wisdom Journal

Have a great weekend!

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Here are some posts of interest from my feed reader:

• Generation X Finance shows how to get your cheap books and movies.
• Free Money Finance tells us what not to aspire to:  being at the bottom of the financial barrel.
• Wise Bread hones the fine art of haggling for a great deal on a used car.
• The Simple Dollar discusses stress and overspending.
• Get Rich Slowly alerts us to the pitfalls of buying in bulk.

And a special thank you to”Dr. Dean” The Millionaire Nurse for participating over at Cash Commons!

Hot hot hot money questions at Cash Commons

We’re ditching our wall-to-wall carpet in much of our house in favor of some laminate flooring.  Our dogs don’t quite know what to do with the new hard surfaces.

Anyway, some links of interest for you:

• Wise Bread serves up a guest post on seventeen resources for improving your small business.
• Five Cent Nickel writer Matt Jabs discusses financial peace through planning.
• Generation X Finance runs down the best deals for the fall season.
• Squawkfox posts on how to save heirloom tomato seeds.  (Note:  I hadn’t heard of heirloom tomatoes until this past week, when I saw my wife cutting up a yellowish tomato.  Now I hear about it again!  Weird.)
• The Simple Dollar discusses ethical frugality and hotel stays.

Three more money bloggers stopped over to participate at Cash Commons.  Thanks for coming by!

• A Gai Shan Life
• Bucksome Boomer
• Money Crush (the blogger formerly known as Blunt Money)

Got money questions?  Got money answers?  Check out what Cash Commons is all about!

Have a great weekend!

Hot hot hot money questions at Cash Commons

Here are some posts this week that made my happy day:

• Free Money Finance asks if you missed the ride up.  (Yes I did, but I also missed part of the ride down that immediately preceded it.)
• Get Rich Slowly chats about Dow 10,000 and other nonsense.
• Five Cent Nickel (with a fresh design overhaul!) talks about FSAs under attack.
• Bargaineering, the closet cent lover, posts on the most valuable modern US coin.
• Consumerism Commentary shares 10 things to do with $1,000.

I mentioned this over at my on-again, off-again weight loss blog, but No Credit Needed and I are pushing one another along as we try for the umpteenth time to shed pounds.  If you can sympathize or offer words of wisdom (or a kick in the butt), we both would welcome it.

Also, a thank-you to some personal finance bloggers who posted over at Cash Commons through this week:

• The Frugal Lawyer
• Consumerism Commentary
• Canadian Finance Blog
• Budgets Are Sexy
• Fiscal Geek
• Suburban Dollar

Love to get some more discussion over there!  Bloggers, if you want a link like this, as well as some other goodies, then just check out this link.  And, of course, anyone can just ask a money question over there!

Hot hot hot money questions at Cash Commons

A few weeks ago, the Recaptcha at one site I visited was “Fiscals Friday.”  So, I switched the order of the words, and there you are.

Here are a few links of interest for your viewing pleasure:

• Damon Day & Associates has some general advice for finding someone you can trust for debt help.
• Debt Free Adventure discusses how to handle an allowance.  (He even has taxes as a part of the allowance!)
• Get Rich Slowly staff writer Adam Baker (of Man vs. Debt) wonders whether debit cards are evil.
• Christian Personal Finance talks about how to track expenses.
• Consumerism Commentary has had it up to here with the new US coin designs.

If you have a chance, head over to Canadian Financial Blog and congratulate Tom on his new baby boy!

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For the next few weeks I’m going to highlight the other personal finance bloggers who are taking the Man Vs. Debt PF Bloggers Weight Loss Challenge.  My team (Delta Team) is in last place at the moment, but that’s all right.  It’s a good thing to just get started again on some (largely) derailed goals.  Getting up again is more important than getting knocked down, right?

This week, I present links from Alpha Team:

• Enemy of Debt shares five links that will contribute to a less stressful budgeting experience.  (Especially good if you don’t want to eat Alpo for dinner!)
• Do You Dave Ramsey? has a list of five things he hates about personal finance.  (It’s not always an easy transition towards responsibility.)
• Green Panda Treehouse interviews Baker from Man Vs. Debt, the grueling personal finance exercise taskmaster behind the challenge.
• I Pick Up Pennies asks, “How much mad money do you allow?“
• Linsey Knerl @ Wise Bread shares five signs you’ve committed a frugality fail.  (I can sympathize with the dandelion wine thing.  I tried to make beer from a kit I got at a yard sale.  The kit was fine, but I used the wrong kind of yeast, and I ended up making several gallons of what tasted like really bad hard cider.  I powered down that stuff, but man, I probably won’t try that again!)

I also thank Greener Pastures and Funny About Money for including my submissions in recent Carnivals of Personal Finance (and for the recent Editor’s Pick!)

Have a great week everyone!

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I think that I remember that Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that people procrastinate the most on (along with Christmas and Mother’s Day).  Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and guys, if you were planning to buy flowers or some other Valentine-y gift, it will probably cost more.  (My wife already understands this, and would probably shake her head at me if I bought flowers tomorrow at twice the price.)

Tomorrow night we’ll be going out with a bunch of other couples from our church.  We’ll be splitting the cost of a sitter with some of the other couples. 

Here are a few posts from blogs in my reader that share Valentine’s Day stories and tips.  You may even be able to implement a few of them!

• Money Ning has six good things to wish for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day
• Lazy Man and Money shares seventeen tips for saving money this Valentine’s Day
• How I Save Money tells what she’ll be doing for Valentine’s Day
• The Financial Blogger reveals his Valentine’s Day dream dates
• Both Wise Bread and The Wisdom Journal latched onto the same deal that I did with Restaurant.com and FTD
• Get Rich Slowly comes up with a way to avoid depression and make some recession romance
• Generation X Finance was thinking the same thing
• Consumerism Commentary shares seven frugal Valentine’s Day tips
• Think Your Way to Wealth has twenty thoughtful Valentine’s Day gift ideas that won’t break the bank
• Money Crashers has six of his own tips for saving money on Valentine’s Day
• Paid Twice has seven low- or no-cost ways to show your Valentine that you care

So Happy Valentine’s Day!  (Or, if you’d prefer not to be reminded that it’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, Happy Ferris Wheel Day and Happy National Organ Donor Day!)

(Photo: Frenkieb)

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A week ago I was able to get twenty-three $2 bills at our credit union.  They had been in my wallet but I asked my wife if she wanted one.  Once she found out that I had 23 of them, she wanted them for tips.  Then she noticed that I gave her the most beat-up one of the bunch.  I relented, and said fine, I’ll take that one in for my coffee club dues.

And if you’re not completely bored to tears by that little exchange, here are some links of interest from the personal finance blogosphere:

• Consumerism Commentary questions whether it’s time for another gas tax.  (Yahoo, let’s drag the economy even more.)
• Tough Money Love asks a probing question: “What would you use as currency if hyperinflation hit?“  (Toilet paper, coffee, food, and other things probably.)
• Get Rich Slowly reminds us that we are not our money.  (This is tough to do, but he’s right.)
• No Credit Needed announced that the NCN Network is accepting new members again.  (You won’t find a more supportive debt reduction coach.)
• Being Frugal gets back to basics: “What is frugality?“  (”That which we will all be forced to do in the coming years.”)
• Christian Personal Finance discusses tithing while you get out of debt.
• Free Money Finance shows how to pay off $30k in debt.  (One dollar at a time!)
• Five Cent Nickel keeps watch on mortgage rates and opportunities to refinance.  (Wow, 30-year’s under 5%?  Madness!)

And some carnivalage:

• Clever Dude included my state quarters post in the Carnival of Personal Finance.
• Dough Roller included my kiddie-clothes post in the Festival of Frugality.

Happy day all!

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Happy New Year everyone! Here are a few links to round out this year:

• Money Smart Life collected a number of posts from other bloggers in a “best money posts of 2008” list. (My post on easily-confused money terms is at the top not necessarily because it was best but because I was up late at night when the call for posts came up. )
• Dave Barry has his year in review with some of the clearest statements on the economy that you’ll read. It’s a treat.
• The Simple Dollar posts his best of 2008.
• Clever Dude carnivalizes himself.
• Smart Spending has three frugal resolutions for 2009.
• Get Rich Slowly has his year in review.
• Being Frugal reviews her year; so did Free From Broke here.
• No Credit Needed reviews his year in finance and in health.

For these final days of 2008 Mighty Bargain Hunter had posts in several Carnivals:

• Fraud Files Blog included by give-the-gift-of-cash post in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.
• Ask Mr. Credit Card included my derailed-retirement-plans post in this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction.
• The Well Runs Dry chose my decade-of-frugality post as an Editor’s Pick for this week’s Festival of Frugality.
• Cash Money Life included my free gift cards post in this week’s Carnival of Money Hacks.

Keep on top of your finances; this coming year will be rougher. May God bless you richly in 2009 and thanks for reading in 2008!

Hot hot hot money questions at Cash Commons