Festival of Frugality

Girls Just Wanna Have Funds is our host for the 236th edition of the Festival of Frugality, this time with a True Blood Happy Hour theme. It’s, as you’d expect, got a bit of a vampire kick with Vampire King picks and Fangbanger’s Delight’s. The festival was a little lighter this week but was not without valuable posts to help you save money on almost anything.

Vampire picks:

• Finance 101: Introduction to Bonds Lesson 1
• Stay Cool When Saving Money on the Electric Bill
• How to Save Money on Your Summer Vacation

Finally, be sure to review the checked baggage fees list the next time you book a flight, you can save yourself the nasty surprise of a $25 checked bag fee!

The festival moves to Funny About Money next week and you can enter your submissions here.

The Summer Edition of the 235th Festival of Frugality is now available at Where’s My Rolling Pin where our host, Debbie, has put together a great theme. Here were Debbie’s top three picks:

• Whether you’re buying or selling, Jason at Live Real, Now reminds us of the importance of staying safe while selling online, in Selling on Craigslist. Top Pick! Top Pick! These practical tips may save your life!
• MoneyNing reminds us that it is possible to (gasp) fix shoes! Instead of replacing them! in Is Our Drive for Higher Income Ruining Our Culture? This is another Top Pick! Someone has to come out and say it…
• Home Tool Review presents a similar notion – you don’t have to own every type of power tool. Read Tools To Borrow, Tools To Buy to get an idea of what you want to own and what you can borrow. Also, how to frugally put together your toolbox.

Next week, the festival heads over to Girls Just Wanna Have Funds so get your entries in!

Have you been watching the World Cup? Did you see the goal England let in against the United States last Saturday? A tie is a tie is a tie, but c’mon that was an easy save and he botched under pressure. Regardless, I’m finding that I’m enjoying soccer a lot more now that I’ve given it a chance. Games may be low scoring but there’s plenty of action throughout, especially at this level, and it’s a treat to watch the footwork of these players. It’s no surprised that Tim at Nerdwallet decided to go with a World Cup theme for this week’s festival!

Here were Tim’s top picks:

Jim presents Start with frugal spirits, then graduate to premium ones posted at Scotch Addict. Because few things warm the soul better than cheap booze.

Ace presents Tax yourself posted at Ace of Wealth. A novel approach to socking some away for a rainy day – stop think of it as optional and start taxing yourself.

Jeff Rose, CFP presents Save Money By Not Eating Out For an Entire Month posted at Jeff Rose. A bold move to save money, with an added health kicker – you’re a better man than I, Jeff.

Gina presents Free & Low-Cost Summer Movies for Kids posted at Moneywise Moms. A family-friendly tip for those of you who will be in the theaters while the rest of us are glued to ESPN.

Kelly presents 27. Toilet Train Your Cats posted at 1000 Ways to Save A Buck. Good luck with that!

Next week, the festival moves to Where’s My Rolling Pin? and you can enter your submission here.

Learn Save Invest is our host for the 233rd Festival of Frugality. In this no-frills edition, LSI simply lists of the posts for your consumption and lets you decide which ones you think are the best. My personal favorites are:

• How to Save Money Booking Cruises posted at Wanderlust Journey.
• Degrees of Frugality: 7 Tips for the College-Bound posted at Wise Bread.
• Don’t Count on World Points to Save You Any Money posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch.

Coincidentally, Tim at NerdWallet is our host for next week! Get your submissions in!

It’s been a while since we’ve had an Anniversary Edition of the Festival of Frugality but this week our host, Paul, celebrates his first wedding anniversary! Congratulations to Paul and Michelle!

Our picks this week are:

• BWL presents 10 Creative Ways To Give posted at Christian Personal Finance. This was actually a guest post by Craig Ford. I really liked the ideas he gave for creative ways to give.
• vh presents How to Rescue a Scorched Pan—Easy! posted at Funny about Money. I’m including this as one of my picks because it’s such a great way to clean a scorched pan. The results were excellent (with pictures).
• Donna Freedman presents Why you need a nap. posted at Surviving and Thriving. She makes some good points as to why rest is important for frugality.
• Christine Talley presents The Folly of Buying Things Twice posted at Chicago: cheap!. Christine reminds us that quality is very often more important than price.

Next week our host is Learn Save Invest so get your submissions in!

If you’re here looking for the 281th issue of the Festival of Frugality, you’re at the wrong place! It’s over at Remodeling This Life! Emily’s treatment of the 231st Festival of Frugality is top-notch, which is impressive considering she held a garage sale last weekend!

Here were her picks for the best of the best:

• My piggy banking daughter must’ve read this article from Free From Broke, It’s a Drop in the Bucket.
• J Money at Budgets Are Sexy says Just Because It’s Expensive Doesn’t Mean It’s Good.
• Ryan at Cash Money Life tells us How To Sell Your Car on Craigslist. A great guide I’ll be putting to use very soon.
• Donna Freedman shares in an excellently written article her views on wedding gifting in The Wedding Gift as Price of Admission.
• Squirrlers posts about frugality gone too far in Starlight, Starbright.

Get your submissions in because next week the festival makes its way over to Provident Plan.

Our host this week is Penniless Parenting and our 230th Edition of the Festival of Frugality takes on a theme that is best described in her words – “Last minute people like myself often get caught off guard when once again, surprise expenses sneak up on them, expenses that could have been avoided, or at least reduced with just a bit of forethought.” Penny is totally right.

Here were her three Top Picks:

• Frugal Babe shares her 6 favorite ways to keep expenses to a minimum. This Frugal Babe definitely knows what she’s talking about- after all, she has the same basic ideas as I do.
• Paul at Provident Plan compares food to a stage performance in a witty analogy, giving very good information about how prevalent different items should be on our menus.
• PT Money shares timely advice on how to fight the urge to spend money, helping you keep those few extra dollars for what really matters to you.

The next edition will be traveling to Remodeling This Life and you can get your submissions in here.

Prairie Eco-Thrifter acts as host of our fair carnival for its 229th edition. There’s no theme for the week, just straight and to the point, so in keeping with that theme here are this week’s editor’s picks:

• Disposable vs Non Disposable Diapers- Why choosing the hybrid approach makes the most sense.
• How To Ensure You Will Never Be A Millionaire- Follow these steps to make sure wealth doesn’t sneak up on you.
• Using the Psychology of Poverty to Save Money Has Gone Too Far- Financial mind games can  increase your savings.
• How To Teach Your Young Children How To Budget- The chip system is a sure key to success.

Next week, the festival moves to Penniless Parenting, you can submit your entry here.

Live Real, Now is our host this week for the Festival of Frugality #228 – Pure Peer Pressure Edition. They did a fantastic job and I loved this quote:

“Peer pressure is not a monolithic force that presses adolescents into the same mold. . . . Adolescents generally choose friend whose values, attitudes, tastes, and families are similar to their own. In short, good kids rarely go bad because of their friends.” – Laurence Steinberg

Here were this week’s editor’s picks:

• Dinks Finance shows us a few ways to negotiate your mortgage fees. Take a few minutes to read this post before you get a mortgage.
• Money Ning reminds us that everyone needs a crappy job early in their working life.
• Personal Finance by the Book is leading the fight against the 100,000 mile mindset.
• Free Money Finance shows several ways to have fun dates on the cheap. My secret is to make it look “creative” and “unique” instead of “cheap”. You don’t have to cave to the pressure of “expensive” to have a good time.

Next week’s host is Prairie Eco-Thrifter and you can submit your entries here.

Wondering where this week’s Festival is? Wonder no more! Money Obedience is our host for the 227th Festival of Frugality and he has selected the following as headlines:

• A couple decides to live a frugal life-style abroad. Risks you’d take to live your dream.
• Paul shares his unique experience of Raising a Cow for Beef: Month 8.
• Start a large appliance co-op. How to Get a Big Appliance for Half Price (or Less!).
• JoePLemon speculates that you can Stretch the Life of Your Mower by Giving Him a Name.
• Tom compiles a list that lets you save money and also have fun. 14 FREE Ways to Spend a Friday Night (FUN Included!).
• Ryan talks about reusable car filters, air filters, and coffee filters. Reusable Filters – Save Time, Money, and Resources.

Live Real, Now is our host for next week, you can submit your entries here.