Setting Goals, Debt Sins and a Million Dollar Song @ The Roundup

Free Money Finance’s annual March Madness blog post competition went off to a great start! It’s a contest that allows readers to vote for their favorite personal finance post amongst all other submitted posts of the previous year, and it appears that my entry (about the cheapest family in the nation) made it to the Sweet 16 Round. What’s great about this contest is that the top three winners will have contributions made in their behalf to their chosen charities, care of Free Money Finance of course! So if you have some time, I’d like to encourage you to show your love and vote for your favorite blogger (or blog post!) at this competition?

Also in the coming weeks, I’m going to be changing my weekly roundup and carnival posts and reorganize my link ups somewhat differently. Why? Because there are changes afoot with The Money Writers (the personal finance network I belong to), which has been accepting new members. More talk on that later!

For now, some great links from the ever growing personal finance community!

Personal Finance Reads

• The Simple Dollar: By quitting his job, Trent saves $8,000. I’ve already left my old job and have noticed increased savings as well, although a new expense for us includes buying health insurance for the family. This, I’ll discuss further sometime in the future!
• Lazy Man and Money: Personal finance isn’t too dry for me, so I guess I’m also weird (ala Lazy Man). In the mood to sing or do you just want to have a million dollars?
• Money Smart Life: Think about setting goals to make those big changes.
• Gen X Finance: This guest post discusses how to treat your creditors. Remember that you hold the cards!
• The Sun’s Financial Diary: Gold broke a $1000 an ounce last Thursday. Turns out that Sun called it right!
• Free Money Finance: Good question here: who should pay for a date?
• Mighty Bargain Hunter: I haven’t figured out yet what to do with our rebate, but chances are, it’s going to go towards immediate expenses.
• No Credit Needed: Insomnia can make you poor. This is not what NCN’s message really is, but you get the picture: those late night infomercials and shopping channels can be enticing. They appear late at night for a reason!
• Five Cent Nickel: Religious references aside, you may want to check if you’re committing any of these sins that lead to debt.

Additional Readings

• Our Faucet Isn’t The Only Thing That DRIPs @ Blunt Money
• Bonus! And How to Spend It… @ My Open Wallet
• The Fed Is Losing It @ The Finance Buff
• Being Logical and Never Buy a House @ MoneyNing
• Thoughts on Paying Down Debt @ Debt Reduction Formula
• Gas Prices are Still (Relatively) Cheap @ Frugal Dad
• The Unplanned Expense That I Should Have Planned For @ Not The Plan

Recent Carnivals

• Hot Finance Carnivals!
• Money Hacks Carnival #3: What is a Hack? 12
• The Festival of Stocks
• Carnival of Financial Planning
• Cavalcade of Risk
• The Carnival of Real Estate
• All Women Blogging Carnival
• Carnival of Family Life: Extreme Homemaker Edition

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