The weekend is here, and it’s a fantastic one! I spent Saturday furiously cleaning and writing, so I could enjoy Sunday with a little tennis and relaxation. Wherever you are, I hope you’re taking the time to be with family and remember what’s important in life.
Onto financial things – here’s a rundown of posts I found inspiring, useful, timely, or just plain fantastic in the last few weeks:
- I have a number of career resources for you this week. Squawkfox did a great analysis of a killer cover letter – a play-by-play of sorts for pitching yourself in one page or less. Once you’re done reading that, head right over to Bargaineering and read 10 tips to a kick-ass resume. Then, check out Wise Bread’s career advice: Act Like You Own The Place. Oh, how we change when our perspective does. Finally, if you’re still working but things don’t look good, go to The Debt Hawk and absorb 10 Ways to Prepare for a Layoff.
- Craig Ford has written a fantastic post that fits very well with the concepts I’ve been writing about recently – go to Bible Money Matters and read The Importance of Financial Focus and How it Leads to Results.
- If you use a lot of batteries for stuff around the house, Len Penzo dot Com has done some great analysis of when it’s worth it to go rechargeable in ‘Why Rechargeable Batteries Are Rarely Cost Effective.’
- Another goodie from Shrinkage is Good is The Best Times to Make 14 Major Purchases – which focuses on the when of buying for maximum dollar optimization.
- Did you like Fight Club? Baker from Man vs. Debt did too, and he put together Tyler Durden’s Guide To Personal Finance. Highly entertaining and surprisingly informative! Another sizzler from Baker sits at Get Rich Slowly in 11 Ways to Spice Up Your Emergency Fund. I like spicy!
- Tackling any kind of debt can be hard. Thankfully, The Dough Roller has prepared 23 Powerful Tips and Tools to Eliminate Debt. This is a very comprehensive list.
- Medical insurance is on a lot of people’s mind, especially as the recession tightens our wallets. Finance for a Freelance Life shows us three medical basics that we shouldn’t live without. I think this nails it on the head.
- J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly has prepared a list of Essential Personal Finance e-Books. There were a few on the list that I had not seen before.
- It’s truly becoming the ‘freelance economy.’ If you still have a job, but are interested in working from home anyway, look at Money Under 30’s post on How to Ask Your Boss to Work From Home.
- A bit of current events, if you missed it – the online financial management giant Mint is being acquired by none other than Intuit, the makers of Quicken products. More on Mint’s blog here and here.
- Non-financial, but very useful anyway, is a post from Dumb Little Man that talks about 47 Ways to Fine-Tune Your Brain. This is one I’ll be referring to for a long time.
Word about Fiscal Fizzle is getting around! I have a couple of special thanks to dish out this week:
- J.D. Roth graciously featured me on Get Rich Slowly, with Finding Financial Values. This was a follow-up to my post on finding your financial heart, and I got to read some fantastic comments at GRS.
- Lots of thanks to Baker from Man vs. Debt for being a source of great encouragement over the last few weeks.
- I was able to guest post on the MSN Smart Spending Blog with ‘Finding Your Financial Heart.’ Thank you to Karen Datko for setting that up!
- There are too many to mention, but thank you to everyone who included my posts in their weekly round-ups!
I’d also like to mention a couple of carnivals from the last few weeks:
- Money Hacks Carnival #83, hosted by Cash Money Life
- Carnival of Pecuniary Delights #24, hosted by Pecuniarities
- Carnival of Personal Finance, from SimplyForties
I’ll leave you with this great quote I overheard for the first time at a Karate studio last week:
“What is a black belt? A white belt that doesn’t quit!”
Fiscal Fizzle 
Thank you very much for mentioning my article. I hope that your readers like it.