Highlights of the Carnival of Personal Finance #218

This week the carnival is at Budgets Are Sexy.

Right there at the top in the editor’s picks was a submission from Free Money Finance, telling us that a pleasant attitude and personality will help you Island Crop - Erik Christensen succeed. I’ll have to take his word for that.

Realm of Prosperity had a brilliant idea to help us all pay down our debt. "Create the illusion of a smaller amount through the use of many 9s." Don’t pay $20 each month on a debt, pay $19.99. You’ll feel better. Somehow.

I was encouraged by a post from Financial Methods on Stupid, Pointless and Worthless Frugality Tips. The author is obviously new at this. Neither toilet paper nor dryer lint is mentioned. Still, it’s always good to see another blogger willing to take a stand against dumpster diving.

Single Guy Money had a post on saving for Christmas. He has a theory that if you start saving for Christmas gifts in January instead of August you will have to save less per month for the same amount of total savings at the end of the year. He shares a spreadsheet to prove it.

And we got another great (and sound) tip from Sound Money Matters, in How to Avoid Overdraft Protection Fees. [Spoiler Alert!] Don’t overdraw your account.

On a more philosophical plane, Automatic Finances made the argument that There Is No Level Playing Field when it comes to investing. The pros will always have more information about stocks/bonds/whatever than you do. I don’t quite agree. The pros will beat you in the long run, but not because they have more data. That is (mostly) a level playing field. The winners in the stock market are not people with more information, but players who can best use the same information everybody else has to predict the future.

Darwin’s Finance shared a useful post explaining the basics of options, something I thought about doing the other day but didn’t. Because it was too much work.

And finally, the recession is apparently over in Canada. The Canadian Finance Blog had a post touting bargains to be had if you are in the market to buy your own island. It even has links to two websites devoted to listings of islands for sale. I’ll admit that the buy-in is a lot less than I would have thought, but the islands available on the cheap are all pretty small. Few of them are large enough to accommodate the underground laboratories I would require and not a single one has an active volcano.

[Photo: Erik Christensen]

Carnivals | Frank Curmudgeon | August 18, 2009 12:59 pm

12 Comments

By Neil, August 18, 2009 @ 3:00 pm

People save for Christmas gifts? I just buy gifts instead of saving in December. Seems easier to me. Otherwise, I’m going to say that Single Money Guy must be wrong. You can’t possibly save the same amount by saving less.
By gpr, August 18, 2009 @ 4:12 pm

The Christmas savings plan spreadsheet is awesome! There’s no way you can argue with that, when it’s all proven out in Excel and everything.

Good Curmudgeonly post.
By Darwin's Finance, August 18, 2009 @ 5:02 pm

Hey thanks for the mention. That options post took way too much time if it makes you feel any better . That’s hilarious that you called out dryer lint savings. I ripped on the ‘ole ‘tear the bounce sheet in half’ rip as useless since saves about a dollar a month on my blog.
By Matt @ Financial Methods, August 18, 2009 @ 5:22 pm

While I am relatively new (Started in Jan.) I decided against touching the toilet paper topic, and as for dryer lint…I use it as a kindling for fires in the back yard. It flames up like you would not believe!
By TFB, August 19, 2009 @ 12:17 am

A great money saving advice I read on a blog was to charge your cell phone at work, instead of at home, to save on electricity bill. Brilliant.
By SingleGuyMoney, August 19, 2009 @ 7:39 am

Thanks for the mention!
By Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog, August 19, 2009 @ 5:44 pm

Thanks for the mention!

I doubt the recession is over in Canada, though the press keeps telling us that!
By AlaraPuckett, November 21, 2019 @ 3:55 am

This is a great and very interesting! I would like to hear more about your awesome ideas. Please share us your motivation in creating an informative website like this one.
By Doups, May 18, 2023 @ 12:55 am

Poker Tournaments are a lot of fun and let you compete against a few or hundreds of players at a time. Facebook pages get Liked and Followed, as opposed to being joined. Please visit the page for your region and click “Like,” to begin seeing posts from the page in your news feed. 888Poker is one of the first sites that has actually developed a Facebook poker application. I’m surprised that many online poker sites have not followed suit, but it seems many online poker sites are inept at social media. You will notice that the 888Poker Facebook application is actually called the Pacific Poker application. Pacific Poker is part of the 888 gaming group, and 888 seems to be in the process of rebranding all Pacific Poker related things over to 888. Ring Games are single-table poker games which you can enter and leave, when you like, just as long as you have enough chips to pay the minimum buy-in.
http://hanbiz.apat.biz/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=42636
If you’re a serious poker player, I’d recommend looking in to a downloading a full poker room client. The extra features and stability that comes with the full poker software more than makes up for the time it takes to download and install the program. The best poker sites like BetOnline, Black Chip Poker, or Americas Cardroom have daily freerolls in their program. Check out the list of recommended poker sites for the providers that have the most freerolls on their tournament schedule. In addition to free poker games, we offer you the chance to win free money with the many freerolls that run every day. Enter these free poker tournaments and you’ll have the chance to come away with real money in your account – and it’s all on the house. To find freerolls, head to the ‘Tournaments tab’ (desktop), or ‘Tourney’ tab accessed via the Lobby (mobile), and select ‘Freeroll’ from the ‘Buy-in’ filter.
By Ccf3j3, May 24, 2023 @ 4:16 am

第348章血祭血神，颅献颅座！（5000字）就在我流浪即将强行撤下高地之时，飘第七百九十二章激战神的蓝猫果红枣适合牛皮癣患者补充蛋白质吗断飞出，将我用电子涡流拉住。而在蓝猫和一姐的集火之下，我的流浪血量持续滑落，眼见即将扑街掉盾――这时蓝猫却没有像大部分人会做的那样选择先把流浪a死，而是突施冷箭，直飞我方后排！想打我们一个措手不及，进退两难！由于此时li的身上拥有梅肯、羊刀两件关键装备，所以飘神的第一目标本来是他，结果猫在半空，想把先知变羊时――却发现小快手li 红皮型牛皮癣遗传吗已经及时开启了bkb护体。顺便提一句，得益于蓝猫整场的完美发挥，和高效farm，所以尽管身处劣势一方，但仍已作出紫怨、bkb和羊刀三件神装，甚至与我手下爆炸肥的流浪相比，也仅仅只差
By Cce7g3, May 24, 2023 @ 4:19 am

第2176章很快！轰轰轰！！！双方展开激烈搏斗。米切尔第2006章君总给你的和雪狼王，虽不是很强，但神境圆满之下，基本都不是他俩牛皮癣护理的重点有哪些呢的对手。而恶龙，经过这段时间的静养，伤势已经好的差不多了,第2006章君总给你的，比牛皮癣护理的重点有哪些呢起雪狼王和米切尔，要厉害非常多，实力能达天镜入门，在他的一番横扫一下，不少门派世家的人被扫伤。但很快，恶龙和米切尔、雪狼王，就被这群人中的三个天镜打伤，恶龙还好点，雪狼王和米切尔伤的尤为严重。“哈哈！”门派和世家的人大笑。为首一位老者大手一挥银屑病能根治吗，喊道：“跟我一起杀进去，一个不留，全部杀光！”“杀呀！！！” 银屑病能根治吗一群人，蜂拥一般，朝别墅大厅冲去。就在这时，一声暴喝，从大厅里头传
By scbjwj, May 24, 2023 @ 4:21 am

第1742章凤族篇:九儿小姐肯定也想你第1742章凤族篇:九儿小姐肯定也想你“在哪？”毛林晔的视线，牛皮癣发作的原因是什么在左右的房门扫过。男子来不及多想，站起，指着两间房间。“妈妈在这里，是小姐大哥的房间，敏敏姐在这里，是小姐二哥的……”里面的第43章您怎么在这儿？人，似乎听见了什么声音，一扇房门被推开。妈妈桑抬眸看了一眼，立即低头，整理衣裳。“老、老板，你怎么来了？这么晚了，出什么事情了吗？”她头发凌乱，刚系好了衣绳。毛林晔看着妈妈桑那张红得有些不正常的脸，眸光一沉。他余光瞄到披在衣裳出来的乔木，问道:“你一直都和他一块？”“嗯。”妈妈桑回头看了乔木一眼，脸色更红，“我……亥时末来的。”另一边，龚新月房间的牛皮癣患者可以多吃甜食吗门也打开了。出来的人，是