Festival of Frugality #224

Good Morning, and welcome to the 224th Festival of Frugality.  I’m happy to take part in and host such a fantastic weekly institution in the Personal Finance Blogosphere.

For those of you not familiar with the Festival-each week a different blogger takes a turn hosting an online “carnival” of frugality related links.  It’s a great way to see some of the best posts out there each week on Frugal Living.

If you are new to Frugal Upstate-then an extra special welcome to you!   Frugal Upstate concentrates on practical tips, tricks and techniques that anyone can use to live a great life, on a budget!

Now on to the Festival.  Some folks do such clever things when they host-they have a unifying theme to tie it all together with cute pictures or phrases.  I admit it-I’ve got nothing.  I’m just not clever that way when it comes to hosting carnivals.  What I do have is the down and dirty on all the accepted links that were submitted-along with my personal take on each.  I’m sure you’ll find plenty of great reading to enjoy.

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Editor’s Picks:

Frugal Frolic presents Make Your Own Soil Amendment with Egg Shells posted at Frugal Frolic. I have always composted my egg shells, but maybe I’ll try this instead.

Wise Bread presents Five Money Ratios to Live By posted at Wisebread. Want some practical guidelines for your financial life? These ratios might fit the bill!

Penny Saver presents Clothing Kids Close to Free | The Saved Quarter posted at The Saved Quarter. Fantastic tips for anyone purchasing clothing for kids on a budget. . . I did the same for my kids. Now that Princess is 9 and has fashion “opinions”. . . well, it’s not quite as easy

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The rest of the entries in this weeks festival:

Tim Chen presents What is the Best Gas Credit Card? (We Compare 26 of them) posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch. Just like he says-it’s a comparison of gas cards.  Maybe you can find one that will save you a little money.

Abigail presents A bankruptcy story — redux posted at I Pick Up Pennies. an interesting dissection of another blogger’s post about their bankruptcy process.

Craig Ford presents When Should You Increase Insurance Deductibles? posted at Money Help For Christians. Of course no one wants to pay more than they have to for insurance-but you don’t want to get socked with a sky high deductible when you have a claim either.

Wealth Pilgrim presents Just Because It’s Deductible Doesn’t Make It Smart posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stress Management, & Resources. Learn how to weight the true benefit of a tax deduction in a couple of situations.

Joe Plemon presents Four Ways to Cope With Rising Gasoline Prices posted at Personal Finance By The Book. Gas prices don’t look to be going down any time soon, so we all should be thinking of how to save in this area.

Kristia presents The $500 Challenge – Where Are We Going To Find This Money? posted at Family Balance Sheet. She tells us where she plans to “find” an extra $500 this month to put toward her savings goal.

Kris presents Roommate Living: Your Food, Kitchen, and Sanity posted at Cheap Healthy Good. Sure, having a roommate can save you money-but you need to be able to make it work. here are some tips!

Silicon Valley Blogger presents High Yield CD & Online Savings Products From Sallie Mae posted at The Digerati Life. Has your frugal living given you some leeway to invest some money? Learn about a new short term option.

Jeff Rose, CFP presents Simple Ways to Improve Your Debt Management Skills posted at Jeff Rose. This is a great basic primer to get you started!

Consumer Boomer presents Using Credit Cards: When Should You or Shouldn’t You? posted at Consumer Boomer. It’s true, credit cards aren’t necessarily evil!

FMF presents A Simple Trick to Stop Spending posted at Free Money Finance. This is a great way to look at your spending, one I try to adhere to myself!

Manshu presents Car buying tips posted at OneMint.  Buying a car is expensive-here are some great ways to research getting it cheaper!

The Wise Squirrel presents Squirreling Gone Wild posted at Squirrelers. What do you think? Is this frugality, or just plain cheap?

Billeater.com presents How To Save Cash on Summer Camp posted at Billeater. Great ideas to check into for anyone sending their kids off to camp this summer.

Jim presents Find and Plug Your Money Leaks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Little leaks can add up to big cash flow problems! Do you have any of these leaks?

FIRE Finance presents Retirement – 401(k) – Where Did All The Money Go? Looted! posted at FIRE Finance. The idea of your 401k disappearing is scary-make sure you know what you can do to protect yourself.

J. Money presents Time For a Financial Intervention! posted at Budgets Are Sexy. Reading this story will make you feel much better about the state of your own finances…

vh presents Money Happens: Planning ahead through 2011 posted at Funny about Money. Wow, one blogger gives you the financial rundown on how her budget is working out. Here’s a hint-she’s in the black!

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Starting a Vegetable Garden posted at Canadian Finance Blog. Vegetable gardening is so rewarding-both monetarily and mentally! I hope Tom has the best of luck with his experiments this year.

TSW Blog presents My African Safari Tour: Travel Africa On A Budget posted at The Smarter Wallet. It’s easy to overspend while traveling-although this tip is for Africa, I can see where it might be useful in other countries as well.

Jason presents ROI for Life posted at Live Real, Now. ROI=Return on Investment. Which is worth more to you, your money or your time?

LeanLifeCoach presents Undercover Boss posted at Eliminate The Muda!. What financial lesson can you take away from the reality show “undercover boss”?

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Interested in participating in next weeks festival, or in volunteering to host?  Check out the Hosting Guidelines and Submission Guidelines at the Festival of Frugality Homepage.

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