Festival of Frugality

Happy Tuesday! This weeks Festival is hosted by our friend Benin of the very frugal Rock Bottom T-Shirts Blog.

Check out his top three picks of the week:

Everything Finance presents Throw a Frugal and Trendy Baby Shower posted atEverything Finance.  We thought this one hit the nail on the head because when it comes to baby showers, it’s often the little things that tend to add up really quickly and we thought that Ashley did a great job addressing the details.

Darrow Kirkpatrick presents Recurring Expenses: Why “A Dollar a Day” is Really $9,000 posted at Can I Retire Yet? This one is really interesting because it challenges the notion as to whether those small recurring fees that we all tend to accumulate over time are really small or not.  After reading this you’ll be hard pressed not to go through your bank statement with a fine tooth comb.

Mr. Money presents Do You Really Need Coupons to Be Frugal? posted at Smart on Money.  The thing that caught our attention about this post is the fact that often when we think of saving money coupons are the first thing that cross our mind.  Essentially, what Miranda does in this post is challenges the notion of whether deep bargains really save us as much as we think.

Next weeks Festival will be hosted by Credit Karma Blog. Until then, send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival (don’t make me contact you). Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Hey Frugal Friends! I am happy to direct you over to Budgeting with the Bushmans for this weeks Festival.

Thank you Bobbie for your special Extreme Festival this week.

Next weeks host will be an interesting one from Rock Bottom T-Shirts Blog. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival (don’t make me contact you). Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

Head on over to Eco Joe’s for this weeks amazing Festival where they did a great job compiling the best of the best submissions this week.

Come back next week for a post by Budgeting with the Bushmans. Don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival (don’t make me contact you). 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 savings Batman! This weeks Festival is all about Superheros! Niki has some of the most interesting and entertaining organization in this weeks edition.

Check out Debt Free by Thirty‘s “Super Picks”

Smart Family Finance has pretty convincing financial reasons to get rid of your junk. There are so may reasons to get rid of your “junk”. It’s nice to have one that will put cash in your wallet too.

Annabelle from Shopping Detox gives her city a frugal audit.  This really has me thinking about my own town.

A. Blinkin from Funancials entertains us as usual with how do you judge value?

Now come back next week for a new post by Eco Joes. Obviously, don’t forget to send your entries and be sure to contact me if you are interested in hosting a future festival (don’t make me contact you). Open dates can be found on the schedule and you can use the contact page if there is a date you are interested in.

I am pleased to announce another great Festival from our friend Penny of Penniless Parenting. This “Life Stages Edition” is all about saving money no matter what your situation may be. Please check out her favorite submissions below:

Life Changes That Have Saved Us Money by BudgetingWithTheBushmans.com, one of my favorite ultra frugal blogs.
Boomer, from BoomerandEcho.com disses my “Frugal Hero” in this post where he mentions that he Thinks The Tightwad’s Gazette’s Amy Dacyczyn is Off Her Rocker. Ha, I guess he won’t be liking my blog much, as I’ve been called the Amy Dacyczyn of the 21st century… OrBudgetingWithTheBushmans.com, for thatmatter. But thats ok, I like this post for the creative ideas of hers that he shares, even if he thinks they’re bad ideas.
Collaborative Consumption to Save Money on BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance.com talks about how communal consumption, sharing on a large scale, can save you lots of money, and is the wave of the future. I don’t know about the future, but that is one of the benefits of my community- that things are like that now here, which saves me so much money, because we aren’t all buying 10 versions of the same thing- things get passed around from family to family to use as needed.
Making Money Out of Molehills from SeeDebtRun.com is a post by a new blogger who decided to tackle her debt, and she offers some pretty good ideas, even for those of us not so new to this frugal game.

Next weeks host is Debt Free by Thirty so be sure to check out their site for all the newest frugal article. 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 the announcement for the newest Festival of Frugality! This week is brought to you by Paid Twice. Check out the great editors picks:

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I love movies. Jim presents Rent Redbox Movies for Free: Referral Programs, Promotion Codes posted at Bargaineering.

Don’t Jeffrey presents Four Important Reasons to Harp on Small Expensesposted at Saving Advice.

Darwin presents Your President Is Lying About a ‘Strong Dollar Policy’ – Why Dollar Weakness Matters posted at Darwin’s Money. Summary: I couldn’t help but notice today that Pfizer started the trend we’ll see from every multinational today blaming lower 2012 forecasts on a stronger dollar CNBC.

The bare necessities? Nelson Smith presents How Many Of Your Needs Are Actual Needs? posted at Canadian Finance Blog.

Erika presents Traveling vs. Saving posted at Newlyweds on a Budget. Summary: Erika asks “Is it okay to travel when you’re paying down debt and saving money?”

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Come back next week for a great post by Penniless Parenting. 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.

This weeks Festival is hosted by our friends over at My Personal Finance Journey. Please check out the top three editors picks and check out the post for even more great frugal resources.

1.  Squirrelers presents Hara Hachi Bu and Money: The 80% Solution posted at Squirrelers.
In this post, Squirrelers proposes the idea of applying an Okinawan approach to regularly eating until a person is 80% full, called Hara Hachi Bu, to personal finance (saving/spending in particular). Specifically, it is proposed that a person can start getting much further ahead in their personal finances by examining their current level of expenses, and trying to spend only 80% of the current expense level going forward.

Personally, I really liked this idea/approach. It gives people somewhat of a concrete methodology and goal to use to start saving more – rather than just recommending to “save more.” I think I’ll put this on my list of things to analyze for own personal finances as well and see if I can cut 20% in any areas.

2. Mr. Money presents Do You Save Your Pocket Change? For One Indiana Man, It Adds Up To a New Car Every 10-15 Years posted at Smart on Money.
In this post, Smart on Money shares the somewhat amazing story of an Indiana man who has purchased not just one, but several, cars using only spare change that he has accumulated throughout his lifetime.

I found this to be a very cool story! I didn’t know people were saving up to buy whole cars with spare change. I keep all of my spare change that I generate in a jar and usually cash it in and deposit to mysavings account once it gets full, but probably do not spend enough cash to accumulate the level of change needed to buy a car.

3. Annabelle presents Which are most frugal: cats, dogs, or babies? posted at Shopping Detox.
This post shares some concrete estimated total costs (along with some awesome pictures!) for cats, dogs, and babies in order to determine which saves the most money over their lifetime.

I would agree with the conclusion that cats are probably the most frugal as well – mainly because they require fairly little interaction, eat less, and can be left alone for longer periods of time than dogs and babies.

Come back next week for a great new post by Paid Twice. 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 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.