Festival of Frugality

Welcome to this week's edition of the Festival of Frugality.

For those of you who don't know, this carnival is about frugal living and saving money. Somewhere this got lost in the translation since I received entries that weren't about either of these topics. Needless to say, they are not included in this re-cap.

I'm sticking with my usual method of hosting a carnival -- listing a summary of each piece with the author's reason for submitting the post to the carnival (for those that submitted one) and/or a bit of the post itself as a summary -- so you readers know what to expect before you get to the post.

With that said, here we go:

• I bought an Engagement Ring! - This was my experience buying an engagement ring, and some advice on how to not spend two month's salary. 
• The cost of frugality - Is being frugal always worth it?  Some things to consider ...
• Savings or Latte Factor? - Is Neflix saving me money or is it just a payment for convenience?
• Shopping Lists - How I use and organize a shopping list to save time and money.
• Sewing Tips: Coat Buttons - How to sew on a coat button. It's good advice for the beginner and the experienced.
• Jetsetters, take note - Some pointers on airline mileage acquiring credit cards - how to make the most of them so that you can get more free trips!
• How I Cut My Water Bill In Half - My water bill for the last 3 months is half of what it was the three months prior to that, I write why.
• Why you should use online bill pay - Does your bank or credit union offer free online bill pay? Do you use it? If not, why not? In my opinion online bill pay is perhaps one of the best innovations for managing your money available today. Let's take a look at some advantages of online bill pay.
• Can you afford to be so frugal? - In this post I look at the added expense of being frugal and wonder if we're overly discounting the value of our time.
• Can Money Buy Happiness? - A froogle frugal attitude from the guys at Google?
• Razors and Money - Razors can be extremely expensive - some tips to reduce the cost of shaving and make your blades last longer.
• Saving Money On Energy - Contact your energy company to find out ways that they can help you save money
• Bottles vs. Breast milk...no contest - A (humorous) look at the cost of bottle feeding and breast feeding from a man's point of view.
• What's the Best Way to Budget? - What does the word “budget” mean? I think for most people it means pre-determining how much money can be spent on each expense category per month; for example, $100 for food, $30 for entertainment, $75 for gas, etc. This type of budgeting is often compared to losing weight by dieting because, like dieting, it’s tedious and requires a lot of motivation to stick to it. It seems to focus too much on the “means” rather than the “end”, and that’s not satisfying. This is not the way I budget.
• Thrifty people - We have some very, very dear friends who are, um, thrifty. Their apartment in New York City was not air-conditioned, not because they couldn't get air-conditioning, but because of the cost. We considered air-conditioning, in New York, as about as necessary as running water.
• Book Review: Not Buying It, My Year Without Shopping - Last week Simon and Schuster sent me a copy of the book Not Buying It, My Year Without Shopping, by Judith Levine. The book is a day-by-day account, written diary-style, of Levine's year-long experiment to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for one year.

Thanks for visiting the Festival of Frugality! If you want to know a bit more about Free Money Finance, see my posts of the week for last week.

Comments

[mapgirl]

Thanks for hosting!

[Jose]

Just referenced your posting on my blog:
http://www.MoneyAndInvesting.net

Thanks!