Totally Money Carnival: Scared Straight Edition

Image by epSos.de via FlickrWelcome to Totally Money's Carnival. Today, little whippersnappers will be running around the neighborhood in costumes ranging from scary to funny, to amazing to inappropriate. People seem to want to be scared one day a year, but no one wants to be scared when it comes to their money. Unfortunately, many of us had to get scared to get our finances in order. Hopefully some of these posts can scare you down the right path.


Editor's Choice

• D. J. presents Advice on How to Gain Financial Self-Control posted at The Family Wallet.
• Kelsey presents Frugal First-Aid posted at Money Mum.
• Darwin presents Is Working Overtime Worth It? posted at Darwin's Money.
• Suba presents This little piggy wants to retire posted at Wealth Informatics.

Frugality

• Roger, the Amateur Financier presents Frugal Friday – Giving to Charity (Without Giving Money) posted at The Amateur Financier.
• Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey presents 10 Tips to Save Energy and Money This Winter posted at My Personal Finance Journey - Personal Finance, Intelligent Investing, And Frugal Living Tips.
• Pam presents Affordable Art: 3 Ways to Decorate for Less posted at Frugal Living.
• Mike Holman presents Long Distance Voice Plan vs Skype With Roaming Data Planposted at Money Smarts Blog
• Karen Bryan presents Are Average Miles Per Gallon For Real? posted at Help Me To Save.
• Jeri Ford presents 2 Simple Steps to Go from Zero Miles to a Free Business Class Ticket to Europe posted at Help Me Travel Cheap.
• Everything Finance presents 4 Tips to Help You Save Your Budget this Christmas posted at Everything Finance.

Credit

• Marjorie presents The Best Credit Cards for Every Stage of Life posted at CardHub.com.
• John presents Why Haven’t Credit Card Membership Fees Risen? posted at Wallet Blog.
• FMF presents The Case for the Mileage Based Credit Card posted at Free Money Finance.
• Crystal presents My Confession About Being in Credit Card Debt | Budgeting In the Fun Stuff posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff.
• Marie presents Don't Suffer Because Of A Poor Credit Score! Take Charge With These Simple Steps. posted at Money Spending Mommy.

Banking

• Philip presents Free Online Checking Accounts posted at PT Money Personal Finance.
• Justin presents Advantages of Credit Unions posted at Money Is The Root.
• Beating Broke presents Back to a Cash Economy? - Beating Broke | Beating Broke posted at Beating Broke.
• Jeremy Vohwinkle presents How to Change Banks posted at Generation X Finance.
• Tim Chen presents NerdWallet’s Best Checking Accounts and Debit Cards, Fall 2011 Edition posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch.

Business

• Eric J. Nisall presents Try This Technique To Get People Talking About Your Business posted at DollarVersity.
• Financial Uproar presents Blogging Is The Worst Business In The World » Financial Uproar posted at Financial Uproar.

Employment

• SB presents 20 things to do before being laid off posted at One Cent at a Time.
• Money Beagle presents Worst Hallmark Card Ever posted at Money Beagle.
• Kevin presents Getting Laid Off for the First Time: What I Learned from the Experience posted at Invest It Wisely.

Taxes

• Daniel presents Social Security Taxes May Increase in 2012 posted at Sweating The Big Stuff.
• Alexander Peter presents 4 Things You Should Know About Your Self Assessment Tax Return 2011 posted at TaxFix.

Housing/Real Estate

• Tim @ Faith and Finance presents Should I Rent or Buy a Home? posted at Faith and Finance.
• Jon the Saver presents Getting that Security Deposit Back! posted at Free Money Wisdom.
• Kyle Taylor presents How to Buy Plots of Land for $100 or Less posted at The Penny Hoarder.
• Jason presents Winning the Mortgage Game | Live Real, Now posted at Live Real, Now.
• Dave presents Can I Buy A House With Dividend Stocks? Part II posted at Dividends For The Long Run .

Investments/Retirement

• Marie presents Should I start a family investment club? posted at Broke Professionals.
• Bob presents 2 Important Questions To Ask Your Financial Advisor posted at Christian Personal Finance.
• Neal Frankle presents Do You Need A Financial Planner or A Money Manager? posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources.
• YFS presents 10 Common Characteristics of Millionaires You Can Follow posted at YourFinancesSimplified.
• Money Cone presents HOWTO Do A 401K Rollover Correctly posted at Money Cone.
• Corey presents What Should Your First Investment Be? posted at 20's Finances.

College Corner

• Teacher Man presents The Monopoly On Education posted at My University Money.
• Squirrelers presents Unlimited Food plus College Students = Financial Mess posted at Squirrelers.
• N.W. Journey presents College Savings 529 Plans posted at Networth Journey.

Miscellaneous

• Mr. Money presents 4 Crucial Tips To Help You Save For Your Next Car Purchase posted at Smart On Money.
• Sustainable PF presents Help Raise Money for Charities Selling Your Old CDs posted at Sustainable Personal Finance.
• Evan presents Is Paying Car Insurance in Full Really Worth the Savings? posted at My Journey to Millions.

If you liked this carnival tune in next week when CanadianFinanceBlog hosts. You can submit posts here.

It's Simple Choices

by A.B.

Sometimes I think people have learned nothing from the distressing economy. I've been looking for a dining room table in our local craigslist. We've decided not to run up credit cards on everything we want, but it's getting a little difficult to cut chicken on our card table.

I came across an ad for the type of table I want but noticed it was priced about the same as it was new. I clicked on it out of wonder ("Is it obscenely good quality?") and was a little disappointed in the answer. It was almost new, never used because they purchased it shortly before they lost their home.

I've considered buying this table before. Brand new, it's a $300 dining table.

Not to be high and mighty, but I'm standing on the soapbox this morning. If you don't have a secure place to live, spending hundreds of dollars furnishing it is probably an unwise use of your funds and time. I am not unaware that I am saying this sitting in my house that we bought this year, and some may find that callous. But there have been many times in my life that I had to decide if something was a need, or just something I found nice.