Festival of Frugality #251: Seven Habits Edition

I’m pleased as punch to be hosting this week’s Festival of Frugality. This particular festival has a long and rich history of featuring posts that showcase frugal living and creative ways to save money.

This Week’s Theme

It’s no secret that I have a secret crush on Stephen Covey. This week’s Carnival is organized around Covey’s 7 Habits. If you’re interested in finding out more about how the 7 habits apply to money, be sure to check out my post on the 7 Habits of Personal Finance.

Also, if it’s your first time at my blog, why not head over to the subscription page and make sure you get updates from now on, eh?

Let’s get started, shall we?

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Being proactive means focusing on the things within your circle of control, and making sure that you respect the space between what happens to you and your response to the situation.

This week’s editor’s picks are as follows:

• If you’re wondering how to make a homemade rain barrel, check out No Credit Needed this week.
• Jason from Live Real, Now offers a cool list of 10 ways to re-use shopping bags. Growing up, we always used ours as trash bags (still do for some things).
• Miss T from Prairie EcoThrifter shares ideas for frugal date nights.

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind

This habit encourages you to develop a personal mission statement and set long-term goals for yourself based on that mission.

• Chris from Dealerity shares his thoughts on the optimal driving speed and how much money it could save every year.
• Roshawn Watson tackles the interesting topic of leaving inheritance to your children and why it’s rarely a good idea.
• My Wealth Builder shares the secrets of his incredibly low car insurance premium.
• Hannah from the Cooking Manager challenges traditional thinking and asks if a slow cooker is really more efficient than a stove.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

The habit of “execution,” putting first things first means executing on your mission and goals on a weekly and daily basis. It’s also the habit that encourages you to define your life roles and set up your life around them.

• Flexo talks about ambivalent people at Consumerism Commentary. Apparently, they have a hard time making decisions. This can spell disaster for your money.
• If you’re looking to spend less eating out, check out this week’s guide from PT Money.
• Lauren at Richly Reasonable reminds us of the basics we need to know to save money.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

The first habit of inter-dependence asks you to seek relationships that are mutually beneficial to everyone involved or to go for “no-deal” as the best alternative.

• Negotiating can save you a bit of money. Learn a few tips about mastering negotiation tactics at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
• At Free Money Finance this week, you can read about ways to save on travel by booking a home or rental property instead of a hotel.
• Adam at Magical Penny talks about donating to causes and some of the latest marketing campaigns designed to highlight cancers.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Most people listen through the lens of their own experiences. Seeking first to understand means listening with empathy; not only echoing what the other is saying, but putting yourself in that person’s shoes.

• The Silicon Valley Blogger shows us how to find coupon codes online at The Digerati Life.
• Miranda from the Coupon Shoebox asks us to consider having a gift budget. A separate gift fund can be a great way to deal with unexpected gift-giving.
• Kate Kashman from The Paycheck Chronicles has a couple of tips for getting stains out of white clothing as a last resort.

Habit 6: Synergize

Achieving synergy means taking advantage of differences in a group to create a product or decision that’s greater than the sum of the individual parts, not a half-way compromise.

• Read an interesting story about parking fees and how small changes can have unintended consequences about the micro-economy of a city at Funny About Money.
• J. Money from Budgets are Sexy tells us to hide our money from ourselves. If you make it annoying, you’re less likely to use it!
• Money Beagle shares a story about the importance of those little refunds and how they can add up.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

The habit of personal renewal recharges your batteries in the areas of physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual fitness. It allows you to care for yourself so you have the capacity to participate in the other habits.

• Free From Broke reviews Baker’s “Sell Your Crap” guide this week. There’s a great interview as part of this post that you shouldn’t miss.
• Craig Ford questions the importance of having a good credit score at Christian PF.
• Check out the Squirrelers blog for a story about loading up on free samples and how it can satisfy your cravings.

Next Week’s Carnival

If you missed the deadline for this week’s carnival, or have another great post you’d like to submit, please head over to this Carnival page to find out how.

Thanks to everyone who submitted this week! If you don’t see your post above, it’s likely that it didn’t fit the Carnival’s theme of frugality and savings, didn’t meet the deadline, or you were trying your best to promote a service or product. That’s just the way I roll. 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

Photo of Stephen Covey by Abras2010