The Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #33

Welcome to the 33rd edition to the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie. Next weeks carnival will be hosted by Financially Digital and you can apply to host here. Grab some coffee and enjoy the reads!

Budgeting

Green Panda presents Negotiate. Negotiate. Negotiate… and Get What You Want. posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, You can save a ton of money by negotiating the price.

Corey presents 99 Bottles Of Beer Prices Of The World posted at Bar Whiz Blog, saying, The interactive map gives you an idea of the average price of beer in almost 100 countries around the world.

Jefferson presents The Big Bag o’ Frozen Chicken posted at See Debt Run, saying, Buying frozen chicken by the bag is cost effective, versatile, and can create a variety of great dishes: chicken pasta, chicken salad, and chicken tacos!

Earth and Money presents Planning a Green Frugal Wedding – Guests posted at Earth and Money, saying, At most weddings, there is a fixed cost associated with every guest that attends – food, dishes, venue, all these things are related to the number of guests that you have. So that begs the question – do you really want to invite your dad’s cousin’s nephew’s boyfriend who winds up getting drunk at the open bar?

Beating Broke presents Are You Rationalizing Your Way Into Debt? posted at Beating Broke, saying, Pay special attention the next time you’re looking at purchasing something. See how many times over the next month, you attempt to rationalize a purchase based on what it will cost per month on credit over what the total price will be. I think you’ll be surprised just how often you use that same sales tactic on yourself.

Business

krantcents presents How to Finance Your Start Up posted at KrantCents, saying, Starting a new company is an expensive proposition. A new business owner has to pay for land, supplies and employees. Financing all of these purchases is not easy considering there is little revenue coming in.

Lance presents How I Paid for My Hobby posted at Money Life & More, saying, Hobbies are a lot of fun, but there is one thing that prohibits many from taking part in their favorite hobby as much as they would like to. Cost. Hobbies, while fun, can be expensive. This post explains how I paid for them.

Investor Junkie presents Small Business Marketing Strategy for the Best Results posted at Investor Junkie, saying, Thousands of businesses tend to “waste” even more money by advertising an already differentiated product in non-differentiate channels. Here are a few of my least favorite money drains:

Robert presents 4 To-Dos When Starting a Small Business posted at The College Investor, saying, Starting a small business is not for everyone. Some people just don’t have the drive or self-discipline to keep up with a business, while others are better suited working a 9-5. For the ones who are business-minded, and have a talent that they would like to share with others, a small business can be just the thing. The important thing is to make sure that you are fully dedicated and willing to learn the tricks of the trade, and you are well on your way.

Career

Philip presents Become a Dog Sitter and Make Extra Money posted at PT Money Personal Finance, saying, Discusses the idea of making extra money by creating a dog sitting business and shares 2 websites that can help launch your new part-time gig.

Danny presents Do Higher Status Occupations and Higher Income Lead to More Stress? posted at One Money Design, saying, Moving up the corporate latter and earning more pay and responsibility may be impacting the stress in your life. Is it worth it?

Curtez Riggs presents How To Make Yourself An Easy Decision To Employ posted at Life After The Army, saying, How Do You Guarantee You’ll Get ANY Job You Apply For? The answer is, of course, incredibly simple: Be the best candidate your potential employer is looking for, and you’ll get the job every time. Remember personal branding is key! Unfortunately, being that candidate isn’t as easy as it used to be. For one, there are fewer jobs to go around, so naturally things are more competitive. But it goes deeper than that – your employers also have more ways to get an accurate idea of what kind of person you really are thanks to the social networking sites that have become popular over the past four to six years.

Miss T. presents Want to Impress Your New Boss? Here’s How posted at Prairie Eco Thrifter, saying, Bosses don’t want to lay off staff with whom they have a genuine work friendship. Here is how you can get started on the right foot:

Daniel presents Secure Your Future by Developing Multiple Streams of Income posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, If you are like most people, you work hard at your day job. Maybe you used to make what you considered a good salary, but now, with the economy, your income seems to be dwindling. Perhaps you haven’t gotten a raise in several years, or if you have gotten a raise, you simultaneously face an increase in health.

Dr Dean presents Talking About Ourselves: A Turn On? posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog, saying, Does talking about ourselves really give us pleasure? And how can that knowledge help us in our everyday life?

101 Centavos presents Career Tips For Young Folks posted at 101 Centavos, saying, This is a series of blog posts, dormant for a while, resurrected for a while. These would be career tips #15, #16 and #17, meant for young people entering…

Credit

Mike presents Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards posted at Rewards Cards USA, saying, Paying credit card interest can hinder your efforts to become debt free. Here are some of the best balance transfer credit cards on the market:

Sean presents How is my Credit Line Determined? posted at One Smart Dollar, saying, Understanding how your credit line is determined can be a great way to start understanding your finances.

Penny Thots presents Six Signs That You May Have Too Much Debt posted at Penny Thots, saying, Today, I’ll make it worth your while because I’ll tell you about the six signs that say: ‘You are in debt; it is painful but if you don’t go and do the numbers it is going to become so much worse!’. Here are the six signs.

Janet presents The Anatomy of a Balance Transfer [Infographic] posted at Credit, Eh, saying, Once you’re done with the balance transfer, try to pay down your debt as quickly as possible. The best situation is when you are able to pay off your debt before the regular rate takes effect.

Matt presents If You Feel You MUST Get a Credit Card, Keep These Tips in Mind posted at Living in Financial Excellence, saying, Our regular readers know how much I dislike credit cards. Actually, dislike is a really weak attempt at describing how I really feel. Still, there are tons of people who disagree with me and feel they just can’t get by without a credit card. So I figured if you’re going to ignore my advice to stay away from credit cards, I might as well give some tips on finding a good one.

Jon the Saver presents Why You Should Be Debt-Free on Your Car posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, There are many reasons why you should be debt free on your car. You can spend the money elsewhere instead of on a car payment.

Education

Ben Feldman presents How the Debate Over Student Loan Interest Rates Affects You posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, By now you’ve probably heard about the debate over student loan interest rates that’s been happening in Washington, D.C. It’s taking place because interest rates on certain federal student loans are scheduled to rise from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on July 1st, when a previous law that lowered the rates temporarily is set to expire. Democrats (including President Obama) and Republicans have both argued for keeping these interest rates at their current level, but they’ve disagreed on how to pay for the extension of the low rates. So how will this debate affect you? Here we’ll describe the arguments on each side of this debate and how it may change (or not) your repayment of student loans.

Financial Advice

Echo presents How Young Adults Can Still Thrive Financially posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, It’s hard to see the silver lining for today’s youth, but luckily there are still plenty of opportunities for young adults to thrive financially.

Little House presents Your Money or Your Life Thoughts posted at Little House in the Valley, saying, I’ve finally gotten around to reading Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominquez which I’ve had in my closet for almost 2 years. I had hesitated reading this book because I really thought that the original publish date was so outdated it would have antiquated personal finance information, but what I’ve found is that even though the data is old, the ideas and concepts behind the book still make sense today.

Everything Finance presents Top Four Budgeting Apps to Keep Your Finances on Track posted at Everything Finance, saying, If you are like most people, you have a smart phone or an IPad or something similar. Why not put these savvy technological devices to work for you by using apps that will save you money.

Emily presents Joint and Separate Money Series: Individualized Marriage and Money Management posted at Evolving Personal Finance, saying, I review a paper wherin the hypothesis is that couples who have more individualized marriages will tend to have more separate money management styles. Results include which group has higher marital satisfaction – joint, separate, or hybrid. What do you think of the authors’ definition of individualized marriage?

Frugality

SB presents How to shop at Garage Sales – A Guide to Garage Sale Shopping posted at One Cent at a Time, saying, A shoppers guide to garage sales. What to buy, what not to buy and tips for a successful treasure hunt at a garage sale is included in this post.

Jeremy presents Keeping Up With The Joneses In The Digital Age posted at Modest Money, saying, As the internet has evolved and we truly enter the digital age as a society, the biggest enemy of our personal finances has been quietly growing stronger and stronger. No it’s not inflation. It’s not government taxes. It’s something much less obvious. It’s those pesky Joneses!

Steve Zussino presents Why Facebook should be scared with its Revenue Strategy posted at Canadian Personal Finance, saying, We all know the Facebook IPO is happening soon but some big news happened yesterday that, GM (the third largest advertiser in the US) pulled a $10 million dollar order because they figured out that Facebook ads don’t work.

Steve Zussino presents BBQ Buying Guide Tips and Tricks posted at Grocery Alerts, saying, With all the new bells and whistles available in BBQs – grill shopping can seem more like luxury car shopping. We wanted to share these tips to save money on your next barbeque purchase.

Investing

Mr. Money presents TD Ameritrade Review: Highly Rated Discount Broker posted at Smart on Money, saying, In the past year I’ve reviewed quite a few online brokers on this site. Many of them were very highly reviewed by customers and industry press alike. One that stands out among the pack, however, even with all the other great brokerages out there is TD Ameritrade.

PK presents Who Will Rate the Raters? The Analyst Crisis on Wall Street. posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job…, saying, Something’s not right when you note that only 4.11% of analyst equity recommendations are negative… why you can’t trust the ratings!

Nick presents Sometimes it’s about way more than math posted at Step Away from the Mall, saying, Am I the only one who gets way too caught up in “math” sometimes? Sometimes I lose track of what’s really important to me.

KT presents Can You Afford NOT to Save for Retirement? posted at Personal Finance Journey, saying, Saving for retirement can be difficult. With the recent increases in the cost of gas and groceries and other basics combined with a loss of income because of the economy or a lack of raises over the last few years, saving for retirement can seem like a goal that is out of reach.

Other

Mike presents Why Cash Back Beats Travel Rewards posted at Rewards Cards Canada, saying, A free vacation keeps many Canadians loyal to their travel rewards program, but for me, cash back is king. Here’s why cash back beats travel rewards

Aloysa presents How to Lose Friends and Alienate People posted at My Broken Coin, saying, This post is presented by Beaker. If you want to see more posts written by him, make sure to check out Under Beakers Microscope tag at the end of this post. Money is very important in our society. We are all working very hard for all the money we can get our hands on.

MMD presents Yes, People Still Fall for Pyramid Schemes posted at MyMoneyDesign, saying, Do people still fall for get-rich quick schemes? This group of people I came across in OH did. While traveling for business, I stumbled upon a meeting of people at a restaurant who were being given a sales pitch for something that clearly sounded like a pyramid scheme. Here is my story.

Suba presents Should you buy Supplemental Unemployment Insurance posted at Broke Professionals, saying, Unemployment is one of life’s setbacks that can seriously damage a person’s financial security. It can happen to anyone, even you.

Eddie presents How to Access Cash in a Hurry posted at Finance Fox, saying, Your home is equipped with smoke detectors, and your car carries a spare tire in the trunk, but are you equipped for a financial emergency?

Invest It Wisely presents Getting Screwed Out of Your Hard-Earned Capital: How CDs and GICs Are Rip-Offs for Long-term Investing posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, Is there such a thing as a guaranteed rate of return? There seems to be a trend for people to flock to safety by buying certificates of deposit.

PITR presents Why Quality is Important posted at Passive Income To Retire, Find out why quality content is important to help your site’s traffic grow and how I am changing my writing strategy.

Corey presents Facing Foreclosure? Here are Some Programs that Might Be Available for You posted at Steadfast Finances, saying, Here are several programs that you can take advantage of when facing foreclosure. The possibility of foreclosure isn’t without hope to evade it.

Jen presents What is Manilla & Why Should You Try It? posted at Master the Art of Saving, saying, Manilla is a free yes, that’s right! 100 percent free web based service to make our financial lives more organized and easier to manage.

Kyle presents University Will Pay You $3,500 to Eat Only Fast Food for 3 Months posted at The Penny Hoarder, saying, Oh, brother… A new study at Washington University in St.

Kevin presents How to Save Money on a Date posted at Thousandaire, saying, Save money on your dates by using daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social to find interesting cheap dates.

Hank presents How A Little Preparation And One Question Saved Me Over $1,000 posted at Money Q&A, saying, I hate buying a new car, but a little preparation and one simple question he me save money buying a new car this time with a little preparation.

Sustainable PF presents Green Tip #242: Sharing Toys posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, Share toys, keep your baby stimulated but save money.

A Blinkin presents Convenient Banking Technology posted at Funancials, saying, Banking used to be an incredible hassle. I hated going to the bank, waiting in line, making sure that your forms or deposit slip was filled out properly, being lectured by the teller if it wasn’t, having to deal with specific hours…the list goes on and on.

YFS presents 10 Common Characteristics of Millionaires You Can Follow posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, Back in 2007, Forbes Magazine reported that all over the world there are a total of 946 billionaires, and according to Capegemini, a financial consultancy firm, in 2011 there are about 10 million millionaires. All of us probably have this dream of becoming millionaires ourselves, and sometimes we’re left wondering how these once ordinary people manage to make it big.

Jason presents Should You Buy a Car Through CarMax? posted at Work Save Live, saying, Rust buckets, over-sized purses, methods of transportation, and a means of showing worth and status. Maybe its needless to say, but there isnt a topic I detest more. When I hear the word car all I can think about are over-priced machines that have gone from performing a function to being status symbols.

Maria presents Politics and economy in the Eurozone part 2 posted at The Money Principle, saying, The immediate response of the markets last week was quite muted. They assumed that with Germany in charge of the Euro and Merkel in charge of Germany, the austerity programmes will continue to the bitter end. Simpletons.

Corey presents How to Increase Net Worth posted at 20s Finances, saying, As many of you know, several months ago, I challenged myself with several short-term financial goals. One of them, which I haven’t talked about too much is to increase my net worth by 50 Percent . For those who don’t know, net worth is the difference between your assets and liabilities.

Wayne presents Why Hobbies Save You Money posted at Young Family Finance, saying, Staying active and finding things that you enjoy can actually save you money. Find out how to define yourself not by the things you buy.

Paul Vachon presents The Cost of Currency – Is it Time to Ditch the Penny? posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, Is it time to ditch the penny? Since 2006, it has cost the United States Treasury more to produce the penny and nickel than the value of the coins themselves. For 2011, each penny cost American Taxpayers almost 2 1/2 cents while each nickel cost taxpayers 11 cents.

SB presents PerkStreet Platinum Visa Debit Card Review posted at Finance Product reviews, saying, An honest and case based review of PerkStreet financials Platinum Visa debit card. Read to find out more.

Don presents What is Inflation? posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, You hear about inflation all of the time, yet many do not understand what it is or how it is measured. If you’re one of those people, this is a must-read!

Saving

Glen Craig presents Ally Bank Online Savings Account Review posted at Free From Broke , saying, Sick of barely existant interest rates and all sorts of confusing fees for your saving account? Take a look at Ally Bank and their online high yield savings account in our review.

Jeff Rose presents Best Online Checking Accounts posted at Good Financial Cents, saying, The key thing for anyone starting to save is to make sure making the most on your savings account and paying the least amount of fees. One area that gets neglected is people’s checking accounts. Here;s a look at some of the best online checking account options.

Evan presents Would Seeing an Older Version of You Make You Save for Retirement? posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, Would seeing an older version of yourself make you save more for retirement? I am not talking about a cartoon older version of yourself, instead a legitimate rendering using the same technology “they” use to produce an older rendering of a missing child.

Janet presents Have You Thought about a TFSA? posted at Credit, Eh, saying, If you aren’t taking advantage of the opportunities allowed by the TFSA, you could be missing out on opportunities to grow your wealth in a tax-advantaged manner.

Jason presents Reason #45,682 Why It’s Good to Have an Emergency Fund posted at Live Real, Now, My mother-in-law died two weeks ago. It’s sad, but I’m not going to get into the emotional devastation that comes with the death of a loved one here. At least, not today. Today, I’m going to talk about the money, but not the funeral expenses. I’m talking about the expense of taking over her stuff. When she died, she was living in her own home, paying her own bills. Now, we have a small stack of expenses we weren’t planning for.

Carnivals

• Carnival of Financial Camaraderie
• Tax Carnival
• Totally Money Blog Carnival #65 – Success, Wealth & Happiness Edition
• Carnival of Wealth
• Financial Simplicity Carnival
• Festival of Frugality

Have a great weekend!