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Welcome to the 149th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! Below are 86 personal finance articles from the last week or so. In the articles you will find awesome information, but the real question is…”why do we care”? What motivates us to spend less and save more? Without being lead by our dreams and desires our enthusiasm and motivation can quickly fade, but if you figure out why you want to get out of debt or save money than it becomes amazingly easier to make wise money decisions. This is edition is dedicated to those dreams!

Without further adieu, here are all of the entries organized by category. Pay special attention to the Editor’s Picks which are listed in the first section. As you read through the carnivals, you’ll notice pictures that represent some of our common dreams to help inspire us to greater heights.

Editor’s Top Picks

• Frugal Babe presents The Choices We Make – Frugal Babe gives an inspiring snapshot of the money decisions that have set the foundation for their happiness and success.

• MomAdvice presents This American’s Dream – Amy Allen Clark shares an motivating post about their completed journey out of debt and what it means to their family.

• Free Money Finance presents The Spending Smart Philosophy: Controlling Spending is the Key to Building Wealth – FMF writes that controlling spending is the key to wealth. A long but energizing read.

• You Might as Well Burn $5! presents What If Rent Was Already in the Bank? – Margaret tells us how to reframe our emergency fund saving. Sometimes these little tricks can go a long when in seeing us through to the end.

• Greener Pastures presents The Psychology of Money-“I Have to Have It”-The Impulse Purchase – Lisa teaches us where impulsive shopping urges come from and how can we control them. The layout and insight here is helpful in examining our own spending foibles.

• Rather-Be-Shopping presents 5 Ways to Survive on One Income – Kyle James writes that having a parent at home with the kids is often more doable then you might think. These personal glimpses into lives of others provide a great backdrop to give us perspective about our own decisions.

• I‘ve Paid For This Twice Already presents The Psychology of the $1000 Emergency Fund – paidtwice shares his thoughts on why having a small emergency fund helps you attack your your debt. $1,000 is just the beginning, but it shares a big psychological and practical purpose.

Saving

• The Personal Financier presents How to Make Saving more Rewarding and Tangible: 5 Practical Tips – Dorian Wales writes that increasing the tangibility of your savings and rewarding yourself for achievements is crucial for success in this long term effort.
• The Baglady presents Is Inflation Eating Away Your Savings? – The baglady discusses protecting your savings from inflation.
• How to make $7 million in 7 years presents How much interest do you earn on one million dollars? – AJC writes teaches us why just leaving your money in the bank is a high risk strategy … you are much better off OWNING the bank!
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents Laddering Your Emergency Fund – jim discusses maximizing earnings for emergency funds.
• Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents How I Use My Bank Accounts to Manage My Bills and Save, Save, Save – BeThisWay shares about her banking setup.
• Smart Easy Money presents How I Save Money (aka Why I Have Seven Savings Accounts) – Shana writes about here savings setup with seven accounts.
• Sick of Being Poor presents Thank Goodness for My Emergency Fund – shelbug99 shares about needing to dip into her emergency fund.
• Saving to Invest presents I am NOT going to cut back on my cup of coffee – Andy S writes that life’s daily little pleasures like my morning cup of coffee have an intangible value to me which far exceed the $3 or so I spend on it.

Debt

• Dreaming of Ferraris presents Preparing for the Debt Attack – Foxie writes that it’s always good to have some idea of what you want to do in the future with your money. and outlines here own future plans for reducing my debt.
• LivingAlmostLarge presents Should you Pay off your student Loans? – livingalmostlarge asks should you pay off your student loans? Or are they last on the list after even a mortgage?
• Chic Saver presents Sharper Image? – Chic Saver shares how some business are using debt too much like herself and other consumers.

Career

• INDEBTED 2 YOU – Freelance and Contract Technical Writing Rates – Starving Artist presents an excellent personal look at trying to find out what your worth.
• The Digerati Life presents Get Hired, Get a Raise and Get Paid More By Improving Your Appearance – Silicon Valley Blogger writes about the effect that appearances can have on your income.
• Know The Ledge presents When Opportunities Knock You Better Be Prepared – Joe D shares his experience on being laid off and how he learned to prepare in the future.
• Think Your Way To Wealth presents Two of the Most Important Work Habits for Increasing Your Income – RC gives his insight on two solid career tips.
• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds presents Beat The Rat Race: Work from Home as a Virtual Call Center Agent – Ginger writes that opting out of the rat race is an eventual goal as I’d like to be ale to pursue different interests as long as I have an internet connection. However, there are a few considerations before jumping ship.
• Feminist Finance presents Equal Pay Day – f.f. shares about getting equal pay for women.
• HelpMyCashGrow presents Retirement Is Not For Everyone – Anthoney Grigsby shares how retirement isn’t what he is shooting for.

Money Managment

• Debt Marathon presents The Freedom – Cynthia shares the freedom a budget has given their family is a wonderful thing!
• Alpha Consumer presents Debunking the Money Myth – Kimberly Palmer writes that Despite all the bestselling books, women really aren’t worse with money than men!
• Life Lessons of a Military Wife presents Place Oxygen Mask Over Your Face Before Helping Children – Veteran Military Wife writes Teach ’em right so they don’t have a lifelong screwed up relationship with money.
• The Penny Mine presents On Intermediate Goals and their Importance – Hannah shares here success with setting intermediate financial goals.
• squawkfox presents Ten Things You Should Never Carry in a Purse or Wallet – squakfox writes that he opened my wallet and dumped my purse. The results are financially terrifying as I found ten things you should never carry in your purse or wallet!
• Saving Advice Blog presents When Staying In Becomes More Expensive Than Going Out – Jennifer Derrick shares an example of how not to manage your money.
• Move To Portugal presents Organising my paperwork – Laura shares how they organize their financial paperwork.
• My Dollar Plan presents Do You Back Up Your Financial Data? – Madison DuPaix shares his experience with backing up his financial data.
• The Financial Blogger presents How To Create An Alternative Source Of Income Part 7 – The Financial Blogger that administrating profit from an alternative source of income can become tricky.
• Ask Mr Credit Car presents Emergency Sources of Funds + Income Compliment Your Emergency Funds – Mr. Credit Card talks about various possibilities for backup emergency funds.
• Moolanomy presents eFinPLAN Online Financial Planning Software Review – Pinyo shares his initial thoughts on a trial run with some financial planning software.

Finance

• Master Your Card presents Banks vs. Credit Unions: Which is Better? – Jonathan gives us his take on the beauty of the credit union.
• The Wealth Accumulator presents Calculating your expected net worth – Enoch Ko teaches us to calculate our expected net worth.
• Tales from the road less traveled presents I’m Only On Page 7! – Momma shares how she has problems with the victim mentality of Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.

Investing

• Thicken My Wallet presents Share Buyback or Dividend Increase – Thicken My Wallet shares a look into whether a share buyback is all that it is cracked up to be.
• Investing Lessons presents Are You Ready for the Next Bubble? – Mark Runta arms us with some information on how to protect ourselves from the dreaded ‘bubble’.
• Save and Conquer presents Protecting Downside – Stop Loss Order – Bryce teaches that a stop loss order is where you set a price for a stock at which it will be automatically sold. This is a very useful tool if you will be away from investing for a while, or want to limit a possible loss.
• Dividends4Life presents Who is Charles Mangum and Why Should We Listen to Him? – Dividends4Life says Charles Mangum is an interesting man with an excellent investing track.
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• Canadian Capitalist presents Top Three Investing Mistakes – Canadian Capitalist explains why chasing performance, not paying attention to expenses and not focusing on the big picture were my biggest money mistakes.
• Quest For Four Pillars presents Early Excitement in New Investments – Mr. Cheap says that Mr. Cheap new investors get too excited!
• The Dividend Guy presents Do Stock Charts Have a Place for Long-Term Investors? – The Dividend Guy suggests that stock charts do have a place in long term investing.
• Mrs. Micah presents Spousal IRAs Make Sense for Stay at Home Moms (SAHMS) – Mrs. Micah talks about retirements planning for stay at home moms.
• ProBargainHunter presents Stocks investment strategy – buying on weakness – Yan discussing buying stocks on weakness.
• My Retirement Blog presents Guaranteed 4.625% Ain’t Bad – retirehappy talks about investing in treasury notes.
• financesimplified presents How to identify the quality of a share – sunitha writes about finding a quality stock.
• Asset Allocator presents Invest In The Long Tail: An Amazon.com Case Study – Kyle writes that the term long tail refers to a socio-economic trend away from a hit-based economy to a niche-based one. See how companies like Amazon.com profit from this trend by capturing the long tail of retail sales.
• Uncommon Cents presents High and Low: Keeping Perspective – Ryan Suenaga writes that eeping your head on straight whether the market’s soaring or diving is critical.

Budgeting

• TV Girl and Money presents Choosing Fight Over Flight – TV Girl shares about the day she decided to do something about here debt.

Real Estate

• Funny about Money presents Home Inspections: Hire Your Own Craftsmen – vh shares advice on how to get around the home inspectors conflict of interest.
• Smart Money Daily presents Selling Your Home Series – Part One – FSBO – JS shares the pros and cons of For Sale By Owner selling.
• All About The Ben presents Save Money On Your Home Purchase With The Broker’s Commission – Jacob teaches us a about For Sale By Owner buying.
• Living After Foreclosure presents Why get foreclosed on when you can just “walk away” – mbhunter thinks that there will be a lot of companies doing this.
• Searchlight Crusade presents Retirement Account Contributions and Mortgage Loan Qualification – Dan Melson discusses the effects of 401k contributions on mortgage qualifications.

Taxes

• Don’t Mess With Taxes presents The out-of-control tax code – Kay writes that Congress talks a lot about making our tax chores easier, but every piece of tax legislation adds more pages to the tax code and turns into “The Accountants Full Employment Act.” This article is worth the read for the tax code size graph alone!
• FiveCentNickel presents Ten Things to Do With Your Tax Refund – nickel give us ten tips for using your tax refunds.
• Money Blue Book presents How To File A Form 1040X To Correct A Tax Return Mistake – Raymond share his experience about fixing his tax mistakes.
• FIRE Finance presents Short on Tax Money – Pay in installments via IRS’s OPA! – FIRE finance gives us information on filing for extensions or requesting installments for our US Federal taxes.
• Finance Gets Personal Next Year Will Be Different – Finance Girl writes that it is time to get organized for next year’s tax season!

Frugality

• Wealth Junkies presents Going Green In The Wallet – Alexander writes believe it or not, going “green” isn’t just good for the environment; it is great for your wallet as well.
• Sound Money Matters presents Six Affordable Summer Vacation Ideas – Aryn writes that you can still take a vacation without going into debt. Here are six ideas for affordable summer vacations.
• SavingFreak presents Cutting the Cost of Food – Paul shares his tips on how he saves at the grocery store.
• Hustlermoneyblog presents Free DVD Rental Every Monday – Hustler shares how to get some free Redbox rentals.
• Money Under 30 presents An Expensive Mistake: How I Overslept and Missed My Flight – David shares about his non-frugal mistake.

Credit

• creditaddict presents Beware the Promise of Interest Free Purchases – Credit Addict teaches us about some of the caveats with zero percent purchases.
• Not the Jet Set presents Ever Taken a Financial Beating? – NtJS gives us a look at the Universal Default policy and shares that some credit card companies seem to follow patterns of abuse.
• Trees Full of Money presents The Complete Guide To Protecting Your Identity and Credit – Ben Dinsmore shares his attempt to write the only identity theft prevention article you may ever need.

Reviews

• Dividend Growth Investor presents Rewards Checking Accounts Overview – An inside look at the mechanics of rewards checking accounts.

Economy

• Wide Open Wallet presents Are hybrid’s cheaper – Mom her analysis on why a hybrid isn’t cheaper for them.
• Journey To Financial Freedom presents Understand Recession in Simple Language – Harrison teaches us more about Recession with the simple language.
• Pinching Copper presents Being poor is a state of mind – Seb writes that some people are portrayed as poor in today’s society, and they live like kings.
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents Retirement for Gen X: Black Hole or Perfect Storm? – Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck writes that some experts blame Gen X’s high expectations for their financial challenges. Yet a recent study found that 43% of Gen Xers don’t ever expect to be able to retire. Sounds like pretty low expectations to me. Maybe the black hole of Social Security should shoulder some of the blame too?

Other

• Prime Time Money presents My Interview with United States Postal Inspector J. Krafels: All About Identity Theft – PT shares a a great interview packed with identity theft information.
• Chief Family Officer presents Teaching our children value and to accept – Chief Family Officer shares teaching children the value of money and potentially saying no to paying for college.
• Cash Money Life presents Spending Money is Good – Patrick writes that sometimes it’s easy to forget that spending money is a good thing.
• MoneyNing presents Being in Las Vegas and not Gamble – MoneyNing shares how he is in Vegas and not gambling. How do you treat gambling?
• Living the Cheap Life presents How to work at McDonald’s and retire rich – Mike runs some numbers on being able to retire while only working for McDonald’s.
• Lazy Man And Money presents Monavie scam? Was my wife recruited sell snake oil – Lazy Man writes about a multi level marketing drink sale that his wife was presented with.
• Growing Money presents My Goals and Project Statuses April 2008 – Smarty discusses how we plans to make his money in the upcoming year.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Why PayPal makes it a chore to pay by credit card – mbhunter talks about the hoops PayPal goes through to keep people paying by checking account.
• Can I Get Rich On A Salary presents The 9 Or So Paths To Getting Rich—And My Purported Analysis Of Them(Part 2 of 2) – GBlogger writes about 9 paths to “get rich,” what are the upsides, downsides, risks, andtimelines of each path?
• Millionaire Money Habits presents Title: Teenage Millionaires – Ryan Taylor writes that making millions even for these teenage millionaires did not happen overnight. Maybe it was a bit of luck or being at the right place at the right time, but these kids found a way to provide something of great value and capitalize on it.

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