Welcome to the 79th edition of the Carnival of Money Stories.  My name is LAL and I’m excited to be hosting another Money Stories Carnival.  Please look around and explore the site.  Also check out the Carnival of Money Stories webpage and look around. They are always looking for new hosts.  Also come back on Thursday, I’ll be hosting the Finance Fiesta this week, and please feel free to submit a post here.

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…..I would be very grateful! But onto the 79th Carnival of Money Stories!  I love cartoons so I thought I’d put up some funny laughs for us all in this very trying time of the economy.  Perhaps these stories will give you some great personal finance ideas and distract your mind from the market.

Editor’s Picks

I think that this is the whole reason for personal finance.  We are trying to understand why we have to save for retirement, instead of spending our money now.  It’s the most difficult concept to really understand. I struggle with it all the time.

• Glblguy tells us about his son lesson teaching him to appreciate what he has in Do you appreciate what you have? posted at Gather Little by Little. I definitely am thankful everyday for what I have. I learned it a little this weekend once again.
• Viviana asks how mood affects our spending in Debt and Depression a connection??? posted at The Lean Times. Personally no, but I know many female friends who shop when lonely. So I’m sure it does play a role in our spending habits.
• Bankruptcy Access talks to us about credit and debt in Credit Debt posted at BankruptcyAccess.com. He gives a comprehensive explanation about credit and debt and how we use each. It’s a very good read.
• Jim looks at his veggie garden return in Garden Update: 174.5 oz. of Vegetables on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. I suggest a higher rate of return is to be made from growing basil and making homemade pesto! I found great success in planters.

Frugality/Savings

I think some of us Personal Finance Bloggers sometimes take frugality to a new level.  While it’s good to be frugal, sometimes you have to enjoy yourself as well.  I think my DH feels I’m too frugal sometimes, and I need to learn to live more.

• Mary@SimplyForties tells us her experiences in asking for discounts in A Good Money Day! posted at SimplyForties. Great job on discounts! I try to ask for discounts whenever possible.
• FIRE Finance calculates how much at home haircuts save in Having hair cuts at home saves quite a tidy sum annually posted at FIRE Finance. I used to do it when my DH was in graduate school. But then after he was immortalized as a bald guy in all presentations by his boss, he refused every more. So marriage peace is more important than $20/month.
• MoneyNing gives us tips to outlast the bear in 10 Activities for the Bear Market posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning. I particularly like “do something nice for someone else.”
• J. Money talks about inflation in Bananas and Hair Spray tought me everything on inflation. posted at Budgets are Sexy.. Sounds like a good plan to budget accordingly, you can’t live life frugally always! Otherwise there would be little pleasure in life.
• Kevin Fleming gives us 3 ways to save on cable in How to Save $50 a Month on Cable or Satellite TV posted at Satellite TV Guru. I like my Cable and my DH couldn’t live without sports!
• Kat gives us a freebie magazine tip in free magazines! posted at The Part-Time Life. Sounds like a cool deal.
• SoCal Savvy tells us about her car insurance savings in How I saved $680 dollars this year! posted at So Cal Savvy. Sounds good, I did the same when MA opened up car insurance to multiple companies finally.
• The Smarter Wallet reminds us to get some dog day summer fun activities in before it ends in 8 Summer Fun Activities That Won’t Break The Bank posted at The Smarter Wallet. Love all the tips, and I love funnel cakes!
• Amy @ The Q Family talks about saving gas in 13 Ways to Save on Gas posted at The Q Family Adventure. I guess this is why my DH and I can’t give up our compact cars for a few more years. It’s just too reasonable to fill up.

Personal Finance

Here’s one of the biggest things about personal finance is needing an emergency fund.  There are so many things that can go wrong and right now who knows how secure your job is.  We all are one accident away from disaster.

• Madeleine Begun Kane gives us a limerick why Sarah Palin isn’t middle class in Dear “Everyday Working Class” Sarah posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness. I had to laugh because it’s true, she’s owned 43 vehicles in her lifetime including 17 snowmobiles when most Alaskan families own none.
• Mac summarizes his take on Suze Orman in A Suze Orman Financial Smackdown posted at Actorlicious. A nice, brief book review to get a taste of Young, Fabulous, and Broke.
• FMF tells us about his customer service experience in Props to Bed, Bath and Beyond posted at Free Money Finance. This makes me want to shop there with that type of CS! In this economy stores with good service will get the customers.
• Hank tells us a story of why renter’s insurance is necessary in Every Soldier and Civilian Needs to Have Renters’ Insurance posted at Military Money Might. I agree 100%! My BIL recently had a flood in his kitchen which mostly ruined the apartment downstairs and I can’t imagine what he would have paid if he didn’t have renter’s insurance.
• SingleGuyMoney talks about things you need before you buy a home in Are You Really Ready to Buy a Home?? posted at Single Guy Money. I definitely agree with the questions. Another thing, is where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Will you be happy in the condo or home or will you want something bigger? If so wait and buy what you really want so you can save on moving costs.
• One Family talks about their customer service in Amazon.com Customer Service – Jeff Bezos backtracks on 30-day price guarantee policy! posted at One Family’s Blog. Funny how Amazon is turning people off online shopping, and maybe we will see a brick and mortar store soon enough.
• Rich Leverage talks about the first steps are the hardest towards good financial health in Getting Motivated to Organize Your Finances posted at Rich Credit Debt Loan. I agree it’s a tough thing to start.
• FWP talks about how associating with like minded PF bloggers has helped in socializing is good for your wealth posted at the financial wellness project. I think it helps a lot to keep focused on your goals.

Career

After my DH started MBA school he laughed when he saw this.  They are all about “helping” each other out. Everything in his program is group projects and working together!  That’s what it’s about in business, giving someone a hand. Maybe we “helped” Wall Street too much!

• vh shares her experience in handling rumors of layoffs in Beating the layoff stress posted at Funny about Money. Having been laid off every year for 3 years while working, I can tell you the best thing is keep your resume up to date. I worked in a volatile industry during some of the worse years and everyone I knew had money set aside because we were always worried.
• Cade Krueger tells the story of how subway started in How Do I Find And Choose A Good Franchise Business Opportunity posted at Franchise Business Opportunity. I think this post is a must read if you are thinking about buying your own business.
• Chris gives us job hunting tips in Looking for a Job? Here are 4 Steps to Find a Great One posted at ProsperingServant.com. I personally think tip 3, network with everyone you know is the best way to find a job. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
• Lazy Man talks about his earnings in Alternative Income Streams posted at Lazy Man and Money. I’m impressed with making $2100/month in extra income, as I’m sure many others are as well.
• R talks about being retired in One Year of Retirement: A Look Back posted at Retired At 47. I think his life sounds glorious. Hope we can all retire when we choose.
• Teri Elmendorf tells why being self-employed is good in The Value In Being Your Own Boss posted at Discover True Freedom. Sounds like great reasons to be self-employed.

Investing

This is really how everyone feels right now probably.  We think we sold too early to really get all the benefits and too late as well.  The truth is that we all have made money in stocks and lost money, but overall we’ve made money or else people wouldn’t invest in stocks.

• Mr. ToughMoneyLove talks about staying the course in The Market Falls While Congress Stalls: My Plan Revisited posted at Tough Money Love: Hard Truth about Money and Personal Finance. He’s going to prepay his mortgage, good idea for someone his age. Someone 29 like me? I’m investing more and staying the course in investing.
• Contrarian Profits tells us why the ban on shorting stocks is bad in Escape Financial Meltdown By Moving Assets Offshore Now posted at Contrarian Profits. He discusses that we might be hurting the economy, one could argue the market is going to be more hurt with the bailout and government intervention.
• Kevin talks about taking advantage of a dropping market in A 9% Drop for the Market, More Money into My Roth IRA posted at No Debt Plan. He decided to invest more because of the drop, me too.
• Austin calculates how compounding works in Power of compounding posted at The Orange Paper. Wish I were getting 8% returns nows.
• Dorian Wales talks about investing in the stock market in My Recent Experience with a Manic-Depressive Stock Market (One Wife and Three Lessons Learned) posted at The Personal Financier. I decided to give my DH a year to try playing the market. After this year we’ll have a talk and reallocate funding.

Credit/Debt

Debt comes in so many forms both credit cards, home loans, car loans, even student loans.  I think that our acceptance of debt did play a role in this current economic crunch.  We need to be more accountable for debt.

• Ben Dinsmore tells us how he got a credit card in Credit Card Companies Peddling On My College Campus posted at Trees Full of Money. I was a weird college student, I had a credit card for a few years by the time I went because my mom wanted me to learn before college how to manage money and what credit cards are for. That isn’t to say I didn’t get free T-shirts, but I never used those cards, I just got the freebies. Guess lessons learned early are learned best! Thanks mom.
• Aryn became debt free in 10 months in $37,000 Success: September Debt Reduction Progress posted at Sound Money Matters. Congratulations Aryn! But realize that it depends on the size of your income, if you only make $50k/year don’t be discouraged if you pay off $10k or 20% of your income. At least you are getting rid of debt.
• Todd talks about setting up autopay in Citibank Autopay Issues posted at HarvestingDollars. I’ve found that I prefer autopay for bills like cable, cell phones, etc. But I autopay from the banking end my CC.
• NtJS tell us about the opt out program in I Just Opted Out – Have You? posted at not the jet set. Hmm. I’ve opted out and yet I still get a ton of junk mail. I shudder what it would be like if I hadn’t!

Economy

I thought it was just a representation of our current market conditions. It seems like we are looking at regulating wall street, health care reform, and foreign policy changes.

• Silicon Valley Blogger talks about the pros and cons of the bailout in Failed Financial Bailout Leads To Worst Point Drop In Stock Market History posted at The Digerati Life. I personally think the bailout should have gone through the first time without all the earmarks and I wrote about it here.
• Cathy Stucker tells us that things are not as bad as they seem in Are Things as Bad as the Media Want You to Believe? posted at Cathy Stucker. I have to disagree, I know personally that I am one job away from being broke. I have a 6 month EF, live well, don’t do debt. But if I lost my DH’s job and it took longer than 6 months to find another one we’d be in bad shape. I realize it and I worry. I worry that even with our cushion we won’t make it. We’re not out of our 20s so yes we don’t have a cushion someone in their 30s, 40s, and 50s might have. So I am worried. Plus as more people lose jobs, they spend less, which in turn affects the rest of us as well as business have less sales, so they need less staff as well.
• Ryan Suenaga suggests borrowing will become difficult in Tough Times for Borrowers posted at Uncommon Cents. I agree the days of free borrowing is gone by the wayside, and it’s not a bad thing.

Thanks for coming by to visit the carnival. I hope you had a great time and come by again! Be sure to enter to win Family CFO by leaving a comment as well!  I will be hosting the 19th Finance Fiesta on Thursday 10/9/08!  Please stop by again to check it out and submit articles.