Here are the carnivals where I was featured this week.  Enjoy!

 

Carnival of Money Stories @ Live Real Now – A Very Scary Money Story

Carnival of Personal Finance @ Consumerism Commentary – How to Get Rid of the Stuff that Haunts You

 

And, as usual, some good stuff from elsewhere:

"Optimism is not necessarily bad. Delusion is."

  @ Don't Mess With Taxes

 

How to Strategically Evoke Cognitive Dissonance @ I Will Teach You to Be Rich

10 Things You Should Never Pay Full Price For @ Gather Little By Little

9 Tips to Help you Create Passive Income for Life @ Redeeming Riches

Article publié pour la première fois le 05/11/2010

Could You Live Without Your TV @ SmartMoney

How to Work With Your Spouse on the Budget @ Christian PF

Wants that Morph Into Needs @ PF Advice

Article publié pour la première fois le 31/07/2010

Should You Rent or Buy? @ Free Money Finance

How to Make Time to Deal With Your Finances @ Christian PF

Savings Interest Rates Suck, But Here’s What You Can Do About It @ Money Under 30

Article publié pour la première fois le 21/08/2010

1. You really know how to dance.  Seriously, you break it down better than anyone I know.

2. You contribute the full 5% that your employer matches to your 401k.  Great work. 

3. You pay your credit card bill in full at the end of every month. 

4. You clip coupons; not like it’s your job or anything, but you make an effort and that’s groovy.

5. You have a Roth IRA and you feel all warm and fuzzy when you make a contribution. 

6. You aren’t flipping out and considering selling all your stocks every day that the stock market dips.

7. You know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.  Thanks for not dwelling on every single financial mistake you’ve ever made.   Whiners really get me down. 

8. You don’t buy a pallet of anything from Sam’s just because “it’s a good deal.”

9. You take care of the stuff you have so that you don’t have to buy new stuff later. 

10. Seeing anything about “get rich quick” schemes gets you started on one of your world-fameous rants.  

11. You don’t eat out frequently and then complain about being broke (or overweight). 

12. Even though they don’t always stick, you’re always looking for new ways to spend your money better.

13. You don’t buy crap on an impulse. 

14. You’re generous.

15. You don’t expect a raise or promotion without doing above-and-beyond type of work.  You work hard for the money.  So hard for it honey.

16. You don’t buy houses, cars or anything else that would require you to live beyond your means.

17. You can’t stand it when people say things like “ATM machine” or “BFF’s forever.”  They’re redundant and redundant.  This may seem a bit off topic, but it needed to be said. 

18. You don’t pay for things you can do yourself. 

19. You spend less than than you earn.

20. You review, tweak and improve your budget every month.  The fact that you even have a budget is something I like about you. 

 

You rock.

 

Article publié pour la première fois le 11/10/2010

In school your teachers assigned you grades.  At work the boss man monitors your output. Tell me, who’s tracking your financial performance?

It’s pretty popular for financial bloggers to publicly track their net worth.  And that’s great.

Why do they do it?  While I cannot know their intentions for sure, I’m betting they aren’t just being smug (though I would feel pretty smug if I were some of them).  Public accountability works.  

Since I’ve started working from home, I’ve realized that no one, aside from my mother, really cares if I’m up before 8 o’clock.  

Adulthood carries much responsibility; the unpleasant kind that too often seems to go unrewarded.  

Why do you brush your teeth every day?   Aside from the distinctly unpleasant fuzzy feeling, people tend to have a bad reaction towards smelly breath.  

Peer pressure can be a good thing.  For one thing, it can motivate you to ward off cavities. For another, it can keep you from giving up on a goal.

 

Humorous Anecdote (to prove my point):

I committed to running my first 5k with Husband on our Air Force base.  For those of you that don’t know, the U.S. Military requires their employees to stay in freakishly good shape (lucky me :)).  

I workout pretty regularly, so I thought to myself, “This should be a piece of cake.  I wonder if there will be a 5k cake.  That would be awesome.”

I finished in 30 minutes (respectable), but second to last behind all those freaks (with the safety car following close behind).  

If no one had been expecting me at the finish line, I might have ducked into our house (on the route) and crawled back into bed.  5k’s start way too early anyways.  

Perhaps the biggest motivator was that car following me.  I’d be danged if I was going to let that lazy driver see me give up.  

Call it “pride” or call it “Mike,” I really don’t care what you call it, but it kept me going.

 

You may not have a blog to announce your progress to the world.  Heck, I have a blog and I don’t even announce my progress to the world.  The world is much too nosey for my taste. But we do share our big goals with close friends and family.

The lame responsibilities we assume in adulthood somehow seem less lame when we get a little recognition. 

Go on and share your goals with someone; make sure that you are expected at the finish line.  While you’re at it, hire a car to chase you, it’s quite thrilling. 

 

Article publié pour la première fois le 13/10/2010