Festival of Frugality #182 – Revenge of the Fallen Edition

Welcome to the 182nd edition of the Festival of Frugality. I’m excited to share the wonderful articles written by my personal financing blogging peers that were submitted this week showcasing their frugal lifestyle. First of all, welcome to any new readers! Secondly, this is a historic day at StupidCents as this is my first time hosting a carnival (a special thanks goes out to the Festival of Frugality) and also my 100th post!

So, Revenge of the Fallen Edition? That really doesn’t sound like a personal finance carnival at all! Well, Revenge of the Fallen is the second installment of Transformers that will be hitting theaters on June 26. Transformers is an epic struggle of good vs. evil, just like the struggle in our daily lives of fighting off debt and financial hardships. By sticking to the motto’s of the Autobots, you too can be on the road to financial recovery. The new frugal motto: we’re more than meets the eye!

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. With his leadership, he makes those around him better. Optimus Prime uses his skills to heal and repair to ultimately improve the world around him and serves to  defend all lives, including the people of Earth.

Editor’s Picks

Peter presents 7 Common Questions About The 2009 New Car Sales Tax Deduction posted at Bible Money Matters. If you’re buying a new car, don’t forget to take advantage of the new car sales tax deduction. You wouldn’t be truly frugal if you didn’t!

FMF presents Four Home Upgrades Worth the Tax Break posted at Free Money Finance. The government will help you save money on some home repairs, why not take advantage while you can. We are still in pursuit of our first house, looking for a discounted home that needs some work may be a benefit to get the tax credits. We’ll see…we kind of hope for a move in ready place.

FFB presents Go To The Museum For Free posted at Free From Broke. Bank of America extending their promotion for free admission so select attractions. While we don’t have a BOA card, you have to like them having a promotion to expose us to more culture, especially the youth of our nation. Definitely something we are lacking in this country these days. Besides, you gotta like free!

J. Money presents Bring Lunch or Buy Lunch? I Say a Little of Each. posted at Budgets are Sexy. We pretty much follow this approach exactly. Save money by bringing our lunch each day, such as leftovers, and then treat yourself by going out once in while. Doesn’t hurt to get out of the daily grind and get out from behind of your computer, if only for a little while.

DR presents Say Goodbye to Cable and Hello to Free Digital TV! posted at The Dough Roller. With the transition to free over the air digital TV, it’s now easy to get high definition TV and many cable shows without paying for cable. This article is a step by step guide to show you how.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best Places To Retire For Cheap posted at The Digerati Life. After spending our honeymoon in Mexico and having a wonderful time soaking in the rays, I want to now retire early, learn Spanish and move down there after reading this article. We would like to spend our time volunteering in any way we could, but I think we are years away from retiring.

Bumblebee

Bumblebee is considered small and weak in Autobots standards, but this plays to his strengths of stealth which is useful in reconnaissance missions. Bumblebee is also very efficient when it comes to using resources.  He looks up to the larger Autobots and often takes additional risks in order to be accepted.

Frugality

Chrysa presents Thrifty Baking: Tips to Reduce the Cost of Baking from Scratch posted at Thrifty Jinxy. These are tips for anyone who bakes to make recipes for less while still turning out great. Includes links to recipes.

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com presents How we chopped our grocery bill down by 57% posted at Fabulously Broke ….in the City. All about how FB chopped their grocery bill down by 57% even though they still eat healthy, organic, high-end items and are full. They used to spend around $800/month on groceries buying the best cuts of meat and veggies. I guess being in the city can be expensive!

Erica presents My First Batch of Homemade Soap!! posted at The Sojourner. We all need to use soap!

Nicki presents 30 Things I Do Daily To Spend Less Money posted at Domestic Cents.

Renee V. Rouse presents Frugal-Living-Skills Blog: Family Meals for Under $5 – Tater Tot Casserole posted at Frugal-Living-Skills Blog. How do you feed a family of 8 for under $5…a casserole of course! My wife and I love making tater tot casserole and the leftovers work great for future meals for just the two of us!

Jim presents Buying Discount Postage Stamps posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Does this option work for you? We usually make sure we stock up on forever stamps when we know the rate will increase. Buying postage online is also a good option as it is also discounted when you print exact postage online!

Aryn presents Frugal Office Snack: Homemade Microwave Popcorn posted at Sound Money Matters. Just be sure you don’t burn the popcorn (I hate that smell permeating the office).

Neighbor Nancy presents How To Make Jam — A Beginner Tutorial posted at Recession Depression Therapy. From garden gleanings, you pick or farmers’ market steals, learn to make your own jam. Save a bundle over the bland supermarket kind to boot.

nickel presents Save Money (and Water!) With a Rain Barrel posted at fivecentnickel.com.

Broke Grad presents 7 Ways for College Students to Save Money Over the Summer posted at Broke Grad Student.

Miss M presents Cost/Benefit of a Garden posted at M is for Money.

Tom Drake presents 10 Ways To Save Money On Groceries posted at The Canadian Finance Blog. Here are a few ways that you can stretch your budget the next time you’re at the grocery store.

Ironhide

Ironhide is an Autobot weapons specialist. He is also known to be a little too eager and trigger happy. Ironhide is also known as a technical dork, but a clever one at that.

Investing & Economy

Investing School presents A Great Inflation Indicator posted at Investing School. Here’s a seldom talked about but great inflation indicator. Be sure to check out the video.

ABC presents Safe withdrawal rate for retirement funds – 4% rule posted at ABCs of Investing. How much can you withdraw from your portfolio in retirement? The 4% safe withdrawal rule explained.

Jeff Rose presents Four things that are making you poor posted at Jeff Rose. Be sure to heed the advice of starting a rIRA if you are eligible.

Patrick @ Military Money presents 529 College Savings Plans Tax Advatnages posted at Military Finance Network. Take a look at the tax advantages for the 529 College Savings plan.

MoneyNing presents Turbocharge Your Savings with Certificate of Deposits (CDs) posted at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning. Certificate of Deposits may be boring, but it’s a guaranteed way of capital preservation!

David R. Lampsen presents Better Late than Never: Looking at the Recovery Rebate Credit posted at Personal Finance Analyst.

Ratchet

Ratchet is the medic of the Autobots. He has a mentality to avoid any violence, but will obey what Opitmus Prime orders him to do. Given the right tools, he can fix anything and everything.

Debt & Credit

Four Pillars presents Save Money With Zero Percent Balance Transfers posted at Four Pillars. Zero percent balance credit cards can save you interest and money, as long as you are aware of the pitfalls of not making your payments.

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Best 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards posted at Cash Money Life. Now you know you can save money with zero percent balance transfers and Patrick outlines the best ones for you.

Tushar Mathur presents When It Pays To Use Cash For Purchases posted at Everything Finance. For years there have been many consumers who have charged through life (pun intended) putting any and all expenses on their trusty credit card. Roughly half of those consumers managed their accounts responsibly and benefited from the many perks associated with using their credit card and paying the balance in full each month. The other half….well many of those people are dealing with the fall out from the economy and struggling with high levels of debt.

Savvy Frugality presents What to Do When the Debt Collector Calls posted at Savvy Frugality.

d. ninja presents People finance the darndest things posted at Punch Debt In The Face. I won’t spill the beans on what the article is about.

Debt Freedom Fighter presents 5 Effective Tactics for Dealing With Debt posted at Discover Debt Freedom.

Savings Toolbox presents Saving Strategies to Put More Money In Your Pocket posted at SavingsToolbox.com.

Arcee

Arcee is one of the most popular female Autobots. She is small, and like Bumblebee, very fast and agile making her very dangerous. She is very dedicated to the power of information and with that, acts as a teacher to young Autobots especially by separating truth from lies.

Everything Else Money

LiveMoneySmart presents Don’t Get Burned When Buying a New or Used Car posted at Live Money Smart. If you’ve been thinking about buying a new or used car, be very careful or you may be getting yourself into deep trouble.

Wealth Pilgrim presents Can You Change Somebody Else?s Financial Behavior? posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stress Management, & Resources. Is it ever possible to change somebody’s financial behavior?

Chris McClelland presents Saving: Bad for the Economy? posted at Lucrative Investing.

Darwin presents Going Out of Business Sales a Scam or Worthwhile? posted at Darwin’s Finance. This article highlights the dangers of thinking you’ll save money at the “Going out of Business” sales popping up all over and how to actually get the best deal.

ChristianPF presents Are you taking responsibility or playing the blame game? posted at Christian Personal Finance. Taking responsibility for our actions is one of the first things we should do when trying to get our financial lives in order.

The Smarter Wallet presents How To Own A Car For Cheap posted at The Smarter Wallet.

MatthewPaulson presents Buying a New Laptop Computer – 4 Things to Help Your Decision posted at Fine Tuned Finances.

Jason presents Sometimes, It Pays to Complain posted at Automatic Finances.

Northern Cheapskate presents Don’t Be Greedy With Freebies posted at Northern Cheapskate. A great commentary on why you shouldn’t rush to try anything and everything, even if it is free.

Elizabeth G (Modern Gal) presents Staying Motivated to Save posted at Modern Gal.

Passive Family Income presents 3 Reasons not to Outsource Your Passive Income posted at Passive Family Income. A few reasons why outsourcing does not always make sense when building passive income streams.

Thanks to everyone who submitted their articles this week, it my was my pleasure to read them all. Keep the good articles coming and don’t be afraid to stop by once in a while! I even came away with some new sites to add to my daily reading list.  Don’t forget to stay away from those Decepticons!

Stupidly Yours,

Matt

credit: Hasbro

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