What’s Sizzling? – October 24th Edition

Links 3 Minutes

This weekend marks my wife’s birthday! Luckily, it falls on a Sunday, so there should be ample opportunity for joy and celebration. This year is particularly special because we’re having our first child! It’s a gentle reminder that no matter how much we worry about the day-to-day stuff of life, we have so much to be thankful for. Think about that.

As always, the quality of writing from my personal finance peers is very impressive. Here’s the best of what I’ve been able to find over the last two weeks:

  • I have no concept of when winter starts in South Florida. I think the last time it snowed here was in the 80’s. But for those of you in most other parts of the world, it’s time to get ready. Suburban Dollar has some great tips for preparing your home for winter.
  • Craig Ford writing at Moolanomy makes us consider whether we should have double money standards for our kids between genders. He’s right – what was once thought of as ‘tradition’ is changing, but these are still questions to ponder.
  • A lot of people become so money-centered that they fail to see or enjoy their actual life. Don’t let this happen to you. The Simple Dollar presents fifteen things that are more important than money – a comprehensive list of focus points outside your financial life.
  • Mr. Credit Card has a great post at Len Penzo dot Com talking about why low-cost and no-fee products may not be such a good deal. Remember, frugality is not the same thing as being cheap. For many things, we still get what we paid for.
  • I don’t normally link to book reviews, but this one peaked my interest – The Simple Dollar reviewed Janet Luhrs’ Simple Living Guide. It looks like a fantastic source book for making your life just a little bit simpler.
  • Finally someone went out and did this! Cudos to Len Penzo for beating me to it. It took years to convince my wife that generic foods were just as tasty as their name-brand counterparts. Len rounded up his panel of judges and conducted a blind experiment – see the results. Turns out it’s not as clear-cut.
  • There are plenty of reasons to get a budget and stick to it. On the other side of the coin, there are also reasons to dump your strict budget. Frugal Dad shows us why.
  • J.D. of Get Rich Slowly is finally able to get most of what he wants in terms of finances. So why is he feeling guilty? Find out in The Guilt of Wealth, and make sure you read some of the great comments.
  • If you’re a frequent shopper at Costco like us, you’ll appreciate this post from Gather Little by Little which warns us about the pitfalls of buying in bulk. Most of us have learned these lessons the hard way. If you haven’t yet, take the shortcut and read his post.
  • Hindsight truly is 20/20 as this post from Shrinkage is Good tells us. Learn about seven financial mistakes that ended in disaster. Some are just amusing, and some are great warnings for what to avoid.
  • Consumerism Commentary shares Money Magazine’s list of ten things you could do with $1,000 right now. All too often, we squander unexpected windfalls, like tax refunds. Keep this list around and pull it out the next time you’re in a position to allocate some serious cash.
  • Finally, Leo Babauta’s new blog – Mnmlist, shares 7 ways to avoid buying new stuff. In these times of tight wallets, this is a great resource for making the most of what you have and what you need to get.

For my latest links without the wait, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and join my network on Delicious!

I’d also like to recognize the personal finance carnivals I participated in over the last two weeks. PF carnivals are a great way to expand your reading with a lot of amazing posts:

Fiscal Fizzle is popping up all over the Internet! I’d like to thank a couple of bloggers in particular this week for their links:

Have a happy and healthy weekend, enjoy your family and friends, and take this fantastic quote with you:

“The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” – Dale Carnegie

Published by Peter

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