Uncommon Cents

This week Uncommon Cents was featured in:

The Festival of Frugality, hosted this week by Miss Thrifty;

the Money Hacks Carnival, this edition brought to you by Moolanomy;

and A Mighty Good Money Carnival, a new one for us, seen over at Gobs Channel.

If you’re visiting us from one of these celebrations, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed! Aloha and mahalo!

Welcome to the it’s almost the holiday edition of the Link Payday for December 20, 2008–your last link payday of the year! I just finished my holiday shopping and I’m in the midst of considering helping mom refinance her house (for the second time). While I attend to that, here’s some of the best posts in the personal finance blogosphere over the last couple of weeks:

Larry Swedroe shared his Thoughts on the Madoff Scandal over at All Financial Matters. He gives a nicely detailed account of what appears to be a gigantic–if not the most gigantic–Ponzi scheme. While I appreciate the detail and the points made, I think it can be summed up pretty simply: if it seems to good to be true, it is.

Mrs. Micah, who recently started a new job, writes that Building Discipline Sucks. She is correct in the sense that it takes dedication and hard work to get to your goals. I am currently working my way through a book on just this type of topic…

Frugal Dad breaks down some pretty simple actions that you can do when he tells you how to Improve Your Financial Life with Five Daily Actions. I’m proud to say I’m doing four of the five and am working on doing all five very soon.

Moolanomy considers When is the Best Time to Buy Bonds? This is an important question, although if you, like me, believe that market timing of any kind is a loser’s game, then it’s always a good time to buy bonds. The author does cover asset allocation a bit in his discussion; to me, I would say that it’s important to consider the quality of your bonds (especially after this subprime mess) as much as anything, which leads me to Ginnie Mae bond funds.

Finally, I have to say that I love this picture in my buddy Kyle’s post over at Rather Be Shopping–his “Un”Frugalist Picture of the Day. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve owned that many shoes in the last five years, let alone at one time. I do, however, admit to buying a bunch of Reeboks that was on sale for $10 at Sears a bunch of years ago–eleven pairs, all in my size. I didn’t need to buy any more work shoes for almost a decade!

And that’s your December 20, 2008 Link Payday!

This past week, Uncommon Cents was featured at the following sites:

the Money Hacks Carnival, hosted this week by Liberta;

the Carnival of Money Stories, this edition brought to you by Retire at 40;

and two brand new ones (the first I think is totally brand new; the second is just new for us)–the Stock Market Carnival, brought to you for this episode by Crash Market Stocks;

and the Carnival of Personal Development, brought to you this time by Momentor.

If you’re visiting from one of these, welcome, and please consider subscribing to our RSS feed!

This week Uncommon Cents was featured at several blog carnivals or festivals:

These two are new to us:

The Rich Life Carnival, this edition hosted over at RichLifeCarnival.com;

Make Money Blogging Carnival, this one brought to you by SuccessPart2.com.

These three are old favorites:

Money Hacks Carnival, seen this week at Financial Wellness Project;

the Carnival of Money Stories, this episode posted at The Dough Roller;

and finally, the Festival of Frugality, hosted this week by Greener Pastures.

Welcome to those of you who are visiting us from these great sites, and please consider subscribing to our RSS Feed!

Welcome to our lingering cough edition of Link Payday! Almost back on schedule but running (still!) a little late; fighting a lingering cough but making a comeback and not letting it stop me. Here’s a look at some of the best posts in the personal finance (and maybe other) blogosphere over the last couple of weeks:

One of my favorite personal finance bloggers, my buddy Mrs. Micah (congrats on your new job, by the way!) puts into words and a useful list some ideas for your Geeky blogger’s holiday season when she lists Christmas Gifts for the Blogger in Your Life.

In line with Mrs. Micah’s post above, LuLuGal over at How I Save Money.net lists Three Tools That EVERY Personal Finance Blogger Should Have. Quite honestly, I think these are three tools that every person needs, not just every personal finance blogger.

Ron over at The Wisdom Journal helps to get to the bottom of the emotional upset many (well, at least the blogger in the mirror) goes through when the word “bailout” is heard as he asks an incredibly important question: What About an Integrity Bailout?

J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly summarizes The Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 2008 “Best List”. Some of the choices were total no brainers (Roth IRA as best all-around retirement account) and others were puzzling (a category for best tech gadgets?). Still, all of these were entertaining.

Finally, one of my personal (but not personal finance) heroes, Merlin Mann of 43 Folders discusses Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking. The point, obvious yet unrecognized, is that there’s really no substitute for practice and hard work–and practice and hard work will inevitably get you to improve.

And that’s your December 7, 2008 Link Payday!

This past week Uncommon Cents participated in three blog carnivals and festivals:

The Carnival of Personal Finance, brought to you this week by Mighty Bargain Hunter;

the Money Hacks Carnival, hosted this week by Ask Mr. Credit Card;

and the Festival of Frugality, seen this week over at Living Almost Large.

If you’re visiting from one of these carnivals, mahalo, aloha, and please consider subscribing via email or RSS. Welcome!

Another week gone by; a bit of a short one given Thanksgiving. Still, since I post daily on Uncommon Cents, we still had a lot going on. Looking back at the carnivals and festivals we participated in:

The Money Hacks Carnival, brought to you this week by Steadfast Finances;

The Carnival of Money Stories, with this week’s edition hosted by Funny About Money;

and finally, the Carnival of Personal Finance, brought to us this week by Living Almost Large.

If you’re visiting us from one of these, welcome!

This week Uncommon Cents was featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week by Money Ning; the Festival of Frugality, brought to you this week by the Financial Wellness Project; the Carnival of Money Stories, this week over at Ask Mr. Credit Card; and the Money Hacks Carnival, brought to you this week by Moolanomy. If you’re coming to us from one of these great showcases, welcome!

Welcome to the pre-Thanksgiving version of our Link Payday for November 21, 2008! We are very close to being back on schedule (and would have been totally back on schedule had I not felt the need to document the incident with my truck), so here are some of the best posts I’ve read over the last couple of weeks:

Trent over at The Simple Dollar has yet another pick here, this time on Accountability. This begs the question: who are you accountable to? For me, I’m accountable to my self, my coworkers, my family, my friends, and many others.

JLP from All Financial Matters discusses “structured products”–think annuities, folks–and the possible illusion of safety in investing with the article Sometimes “Safe” Doesn’t Mean Squat! The point of this is that if an investment product is backed by insurance (or really, any product is backed by insurance), the insurance doesn’t work if the insurance company goes under.

Pinyo at Moolanomy echoes my opinion when he answers a reader’s question asking Is Now the Right Time to Invest? I fully agree that anytime is the right time if it fits in with your plan (it does with mine!).

Spilling Buckets has a Weekend Debate: Should Taxpayer Dollars be Used to Bailout the Big Three Auto Companies?. I call them the Detroit Three at this point since they’re no longer all that (Toyota is definitely number two with a bullet as far as auto sales go, and Honda is right there as well), but they weigh in with pretty well thought out arguments about what to do. Frankly, while I greatly dislike the idea of using taxpayer dollars for this, if the companies can come up with improved products and a reasonable business plan, I would at least be wiling to entertain the idea.

Finally, my buddy Ron over at The Wisdom Journal discuses The Silver Lining on this Dark Economic Cloud. I agree with him; there’s actually lots of silver linings, including declining energy prices. Even though my investments have done very poorly this year and I have a current crisis with my truck, things are not awful. I have a couple of pretty secure jobs, a growing blog, and appear headed for more income in 2008 than any previous year. Things are not perfect, but they’re not horrible either, and every day we get closer to a turnaround.

And that’s your Link Payday for November 21, 2008!

This post was delayed approximately 22 hours due to a technical glitch–namely, the site administrator not being oriented to time. D’oh!

We’ve discussed Internet coupon sites here in the past (and of course, we’ve had the fabulous Kyle of Rather-Be-Shopping.com do a bunch of guest posts!), so they’re not new to us. But there are other sites out there and other ways to spend less or get rebates, and I’m wondering which do you like?

For instance, DealMac.com and its affiliates like DealRam.com and DealCam.com are ones I use to either hear about new discounts or compare prices. But there’s also Shopper.com and Google Products for price comparison as well. A lot of times I’ll see if a retailer (usually a large one like Best Buy or Circuit City) offers a ShopDiscover increased rebate (like 5%). Or I may see if I can find a product I want on eBay or Amazon for less than it sells locally.

Recently I’ve been investing gift card swap sites to see if some of those cards I never use (Barnes & Noble, anyone?) could be used by someone else and I could get one I need for a holiday gift (anyone out there have a Guess gift card they want to sell or swap?). And of course, there’s blogs (including Kyle’s) like Frugal Shopping With Julie that point you to ways to spend less or get money back.

What are your favorite Internet sites for spending less? I’m sure my list is far from comprehensive, so I’d love to hear more!