Festival of Frugality

The 245th Festival of Frugality is hosted by none other than Tom Drake of Canadian Finance Blog and takes on a somewhat creepy feel. Why is it creepy? It’s the Exorcist Edition! The Exorcist remake is out in theaters (and #1) and Tom has it on the brain, so that’s why it plays as our theme for the week’s festival.

Here are this week’s editor’s picks:

• J. Money presents Tips From a Vegas Virgin posted at Budgets Are Sexy.
• MoneyNing presents Money Mistakes That (Mostly) Women Make posted at Money Ning.
• June Tree presents 6 Ways To Save Money At The Movies posted at The Digerati Life.
• PT presents Is Lasik Surgery Worth It? My Story posted at PT Money.

• Jim presents Is A Balance Transfer Worth It? posted at Bargaineering.

Next week the Festival moves to Sweating The Big Stuff, you can submit your entries here.

Dawn at Frugal for Life takes us down memory lane with a special 244th Festival of Frugality. Dawn has been our host more times than I can count and I always love what she does with the Festival. This time, she lists the posts in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest), making Bargaineering feel very old!

Here were a few of her gems:

• Squirrelers – Shameless Frugality or Just Plain Weird?
• ShopGala Blog – 16 Unbelievable Shopping Disasters Caught on Tape
• Wanderlust Journey – Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Shareholder Benefits
• Dough Roller – Comcast Has Lost My Business Forever
• Free Money Finance – Where You Buy Something Makes a Big Difference in Cost

Next week the festival pops on over to Canadian Finance, so please get your entries in!

One of the best ways to save money on an online purchase is to do a quick search for coupons or coupon codes right before you checkout. Unlike in a store where you’d have to have the coupon with you before you checkout, shopping online means you can abandon your cart for a while to search for a coupon. Fortunately it only takes a few minutes to do some searches to find if there are any active, valid, and available coupon codes for your purchase.

Whenever I do this, my first stop is to RetailMeNot.com. In minutes you can find out whether a coupon code is available for your store, of which they cover 65,000. One of the nice features of RetailMeNot is that visitors can vote as to whether or not a coupon is still valid, so that feedback can be important to know whether or not you should pursue a particular code. The last thing you want is to spend 30 minutes finding another dollar to spend (perhaps for a $10 off $100 code) only to learn the coupon is invalid.

If RetailMeNot comes up empty, do a search with Google. That will yield a treasure trove of coupon sites that might have a valid code you can use. Even if you don’t think a code exists, try looking it up because you never know. Even traditional brick and mortar stores offer coupons, for example Home Depot offers a ton of Home Depot coupons entirely online for free shipping, dollar off, free haul away, etc. I bet you didn’t know they even HAD coupons!

Finally, if you’ve searched half a dozen sites, tried RetailMeNot, and are still not able to find one… it’s possible one doesn’t exist. At this point you need to decide – buy it now or wait for a coupon? If you can wait, it often pays to wait for a sale or some other promotion. If you can’t, it’s time to pull the trigger.

SimplyForties is our host for the 243rd Festival of Frugality and it takes on a cruising theme as she’s about to embark (literally) on a weeklong cruise next week! We’re huge fans of cruises, which you can get for a song these days during the recession, and we hope she has a great time!

She didn’t select any editor’s picks so i’ll pull a few I thought were gems from the week with her commentary:

• Over at Dewey’s Treehouse they’re making plans for Christmas gifts. That’s good thinking. The sooner you get started, the more time you have to make good, frugal choices. I’m working on mine too!
• Wonderlust Journey is sharing how quick and easy it is to get points with the Hilton HHonors American Express card. Tempting!
• In a very timely post, the Coupon Shoebox has some tips for frugal back-to-school shopping.
• The Digerati Life has some great tips for saving money on weddings. Anyone planning a wedding should take heed!

Frugal For Life hosts next week’s carnivals so get your entries in ASAP!

Richly Reasonable is our host for the 242nd Festival of Frugality and its most appropriate Poor Richard edition.

I think Richly Reasonable explained it best:

Poor Richard’s Almanack was published from 1732 to 1758 and offered various forms of entertainment including arbitrary weather predictions (weather was very amusing in 1732) and, more importantly, sound financial advice in the form of sayings and poems. This week enjoy some of our frugal heritage!

Here are the editor’s picks:

• BWL presents Frugal Home Repairs: Do It Yourself Or Call A Professional?
• Squirrelers presents How Saving $1 Can Really Save You Over $10
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Budget Management Software Options

Next week the Festival heads over to Simply Forties so please get your entries in! Remember, the Blog Carnival submission page has changed so bookmark the new one.

Yes, I Am Cheap is our host this week for the 241st Festival of Frugality with a Midsummer’s Night Dream edition. It’s almost mid-summer and unfortunately for Sandy, her garden has taken a beating from the 100 degree days. Our own garden, down here in Maryland, has been fighting through the insane temperatures and humidities but is looking a little sadder and sadder each day.

This week’s editor’s picks aren’t sad though, they are:

• I like all the people trying to build their own garden’s so I had to give some kudos to Kristia who presents Freeze Your Garden Produce Now and You’ll Be Thanking Yourself Later posted at Family Balance Sheet.
• Just because I like the crazy, I also chose Kaye’s submission on 8 Uses for a Rubber Band posted at Mrs. Nespy’s Frugal World.
• Finally, since I firmly believe in bargaining, I selected the submission from FMF on How to Ask for a Discount When You’re Embarrassed to Ask posted at Free Money Finance. I did this a few years back at P.C. Richards when we needed a new washer. My BF was embarrassed and thought that I was crazy, but he appreciated the extra $50 in his pocket when I was finished.

Get your submissions in because the Festival is headed to Richly Reasonable next week.

Wealth Informatics has presented the 240th Festival of Frugality in one of the slickest ways I’ve seen in quite some time (perhaps ever?). It’s been put in a magazine theme that, especially when you read it full screen, looks absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend checking it out.

There were three editor’s picks this week:

• FMF presents Hit the Links for Less: Some Obvious and Not So Obvious Ways to Save on Golf posted at Free Money Finance.
• MoneyNing presents Remodel Your Home Without Remodeling Your Bank Account posted at Money Ning.
• Roshawn Watson presents Will The Dow Really Drop By 90%? posted at Watson Inc.

Next week’s host is Yes, I Am Cheap and submissions are accepted here.

Many thanks for a.b. (aka Mrs. Modern Tightwad) for doing a fine and clever job of the 239th Festival of Frugality by putting it to a commandments theme. I assume the 1st is the best and the title of that commandment goes to:

Cherish Thy Budget:
Moneyed Blogger presents How To Make A Budget And Stick To It posted at MoneyedUP. You can’t save money if you don’t know where you’re spending it.

This week the festival will head over to Wealth Informatics!

Wealth Junkies comes to us with a vengeance with the 238th Festival of Frugality with no huss, no fuss, they get right into it. The headline articles are the type of posts I like seeing – saving money on things that matter, like AC, water, and vacations:

It’s easy to spend more money watering your garden during these hot summer months, but Family Balance Sheet suggests these 6 ways to conserve water and save money can help you save both gallons and dollars.

As the heat of summer sets in, our utility bills can heat up when we use our air conditioners to keep cool. Here are 9 tips on staying cool without an air conditioner from Realm of Prosperity.

Summertime often means home improvement projects. Everyone needs tools, but you don’t have to always buy new ones. Next time you need a tool for your project that seems way overpriced at your local hardware store, consider other options. Home Tool Review offers best places to buy used tools.

Summer also means vacations. But you don’t necessarily need to go far far away to have a vacation. Help Me Travel Cheap submits 10 tips for saving money by going on a staycation.

Next week the Festival heads over to Modern Tightwad so don’t dawdle, submit your entries!

Funny About Money hosts an Independence Day theme for the 237th Festival of Frugality and VH does a great job tying the two together. Her editor’s choices were Neal Frankle’s How Much Can I Afford for a House? A Checklist, Christian Treitler’s How to Really Save Money When You Spend It, Wanderlust Journey’s Checked Baggage Fees list, Modern Tightwad’s Can’t No-Poo? Try Alterna-poo: Aloe Vera, and Donna Freedman’s Don’t Hate the Payer, Hate the Game.

Next week, Wealth Junkies hosts the festival so get your entries in!