Festival of Frugality

Happy Thursday all. It has been a great week and now we are here with a great Festival hosted by our friend Jonny from Finance Wand. Thanks to all that submitted last week. You all are what make the Festival great!

Please come back next week for a great new post by My Personal Finance Journey. As always, don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Welcome to this weeks announcement for the newest Festival of Frugality. This week is hosted by our long time friends at Squirrlers. Thanks so much for the great weather reports. Here is my hometown climate.

Bayfield WI: Located in Northern WI on the shores of Lake Superior, this small town features January average low temperatures of 6 degrees (-14 celsius)! This is a place filled with sadness and cold form November to April…Glad I am not there anymore.

Editors Picks:

KT presents Is Outsourcing Household Chores a Luxury or a Smart Money Move? posted atPersonal Finance Journey. I don’t like cleaning; and I make no secret of that fact. Dust can multiply for months, and I might notice that it is there, but I probably won’t clean it. I do have the basics that I do every day – dishes, and general picking up. I clean the bathrooms and sweep and mop the kitchen floor, so I am not a complete slob, but I hate deep cleaning.

Jeffrey presents 101 Simple Pleasures That Don’t Cost a Dime posted at Saving Advice. There are a lot of simple pleasures out there and many of them cost nothing to very little. Embrace them. Actively seek to find them daily. Enjoy life on the cheap.

Annabelle presents Marilyn Monroe, frugal icon? posted at Shopping Detox. Despite being remembered as an icon of old Hollywood glamour, Marilyn Monroe lived a surprisingly thrifty lifestyle

Come back next week for another great announcement for an even greater Festival. As always, don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

There is no better remedy for cold weather than saving extra funds to afford turning up the heat. Check out this weeks great Festival of Frugality hosted by The Frugal Toad. It is complete with some great picks from the editor as well as blizzard of additional resources (see picks below).

Mrs. SPF presents Why Use Cloth Diapers posted at Sustainable Personal Finance. We have now been using cloth diapers for nearly over 3 months and so far we are really happy about using them. What follows are my thoughts on why cloth is more sustainable, not only for the planet but also for your pocketbook – the reasons why we use cloth diapers.

Sandy presents Learn Website Design for Free Online posted at Yes, I Am Cheap.  There are plenty of online resources that will help you easily develop new skills quickly. Even better, most of these resources are either free or extremely affordable and allow you to learn during your free time at your own pace.

Dannielle presents How To Stop Wasting Money posted at Odd Cents. The post lists some of the ways that we waste money and some great solutions.

Glen presents How to Use Gift Cards Wisely to Maximize Their Value posted at Free From Broke.  So you got some gift cards. Now what? Here are some great tips to use your gift cards wisely and maximize their value. Spent wisely, your card could be more valuable than its face value.

Martin presents The Beauty of Living Below Your Means posted at Studenomics.  What happens when you live below your means.  Makes me want to read this one Martin!

Ski, snowshoe, or sled back here next week for what will be a great new post by our friends at Squirrelers. As always, don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Here we are again for another great Festival. This one is brought to us by Adam from Magical Penny…but are pennies magical? We can never know. Either way, head on over to his site for a great post. Check out his picks for this week for the best of the best.

#1 – Have you ever seen a frugal celebrity? posted atCanadian Personal Finance.

#2 – 4 Reasons You Should Set Unrealistically High Goals posted at Watson Inc.

#3 - Kitchen Gardening, the Accidental Side Gig posted at 101 Centavos

#4 - The basics of charitable contributions posted at Tax on Tax Of

#5 - One Piece of Plywood, into Three Pieces of Furniture at Minting Nickels

You better come back next week for a new Festival hosted by The Frugal Toad. As always, don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Happy New Year and welcome to this weeks Festival! This weeks New Years edition is brought to you by our friends at Funny About Money. Head over there for some great frugal resources and check out the great editors picks below.

My University Money
The Smith Manoeuvre: Make Your Mortgage Tax Deductible
This post is extremely interesting. In Canada, home mortgages are not tax-deductible. Teacher Man describes a strategy to make a mortgage deductible with a roundabout little juggling act, and in the course of advocating it stirs up some controversy.

The Penny Hoarder
Where Should I Sell My Gift Card?
Check this out: a comparison chart of the leading gift card buyback companies! Find out who will pay you the highest amount for your gift card….

Smart Family Finance
A Guide to Common Seller Concessions: Because a Homebuyer Might Ask You to Throw in a Ferarri.
Despite the humorous title, this is actually a serious, thoughtful, and useful discussion of concessions you may be able to extract from a home seller—or offer a potential buyer.

Money Q&A
Have You Been Scammed or Ripped Off? How to Get Help and Get The Problem Resolved.
A useful guide to how to get satisfaction when you think you’ve been handed the short end of the stick.

Darwin’s Money
Here’s What Happens When You Rent to College Kids
Okay, okay, I know: it’s not funny! But it sure is hard to keep from laughing.

101 Centavos
Retiring Abroad – A Few Things to Ponder
Not your usual sanguine daydream about retiring to some far-away seashore!

Free Money Finance
Be Nice to Make and Save Money
Want to save money? Be nice.

Smart Family Finance
Who Spends More UK or US Parents: Average Family Christmas Gift Spending Per Child 2011
Prepare to be astonished as Shaun compares US and UK Christmas spending patterns. Holy cow!

NerdWallet
Donate to Charities, Not Corporations
When you donate via credit card, the charity has to pay a transaction fee of 2% to 3% on the transaction. Jake shows how to get around this or at least minimize the damage.

The Paycheck Chronicles
Five Ways to Prevent “Throw Money at the Problem” Syndrome
Sometimes it is easier to spend money than to plan. If you want to keep your budget together, use these strategies to prevent the need to “throw money at the problem.”

Come back next week for what I am sure will be a great Festival hosted by Magical Penny. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Merry almost Christmas and happy holidays to all the frugal fans of FoF. This week our friend Karen from Help Me to Save has a great post on Enjoying a Frugal Christmas, Being Frugal (All Year Round), and many other great topics. Head on over there and check out all the greatest frugal tips this side of the Mississippi (it does not matter which side you are on though).

It is the holidays so no Festival next week. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Get off your couch and into your desk chair for this weeks Festival. Mama Squirrel from Dewey’s Treehouse has an incredibly interesting post with 9 great principles you can follow to reach your frugal goals. It is inspired by Prairie Eco Thrifter’s post I Exercised at Home for 25 Years and So Can You but she does an amazing job fitting that to the many frugal resources provided this week.

Can’t wait to come back next week for a new Festival hosted by Help Me to Save. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Welcome to December! Lucky for you, with the help of Living Richly on a Budget, we are going to plow a path to all the frugal tips in this weeks Festival. Head on over there for Fanny’s special “19 Days Until Christmas” post. Be sure to check out her top picks of the week right below and in her post.

Lazy Man presents I Finally Ditched My Cable Box and Cable Modem Rental Fees. posted at Lazy Man and Money. For some time I’ve been writing about ending my cable box rental fees, but I haven’t been able to pull the trigger. This week I finally did it.

Roshawn Watson presents Broke People Afford Everything posted at Watson Inc. Your lifestyle is pretty impressive, except for the fact that you’re a financial fake. I just want to know one thing: how do broke people afford EVERYTHING?

Lindy presents Gifts in a Jar posted at Minting Nickels. My favorite kinds of gifts to give are ones in a jar. In this post I share what I gave last year, and provide resources for gifts to give this year.

See y’all next week when we will be here with a brand new festival from Dewey’s Treehouse. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

What a great day for a Festival! After a great Thanksgiving vacation, Fugal Family Life has a very organized post for all of your frugal desires. Go check it out for some great articles from Christmas savings to travel ideas.

Get back over here next week for what will be a great Festival from Living Richly on a Budget. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Holy November! It is already the special 306th Festival of Frugality. What is even more amazing is that you can find the announcement for it right here on the Festival of Frugality main site!!! How great is that?!?

This amazing “Thanksgiving Grocery Price” edition is filled all the giving and sharing needs that are necessarily to have and receive in this Thanksgiving season. Be sure to check out the great picks by this weeks host, My Dollar Plan…no need for top picks in this post, they are all great!

Be sure to check back this week for what is sure to be a great post hosted by Frugal Family Life. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival. Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.