Hi and welcome to the latest edition Festival of Frugality hosted today by Frugal Rules. There were some great submissions this week. If you have the time, check out some of the selected posts on frugality and saving money. Please remember to link back to the Carnival if your post was included and if you’d like to submit a post for next week you can do so here.

Shannon at Ready For Zero presents Do Your Loved Ones Understand Your Career Priorities? It can be quite a challenge to balance your career goals with your personal goals in a way that gives you both financial stability and a lifestyle that allows you to nurture your relationships with loved ones. We’ll describe how to evaluate how your career priorities are meshing with those important relationships.

Louis at Wallet Hub presents Living Within Your Means: Tips for Buying Wine on a Budget. Just like there are bad credit card offers that charge hundreds of dollars in annual fees, many expensive wines are truly inferior to the right bottle at a much lower price point.  So, rather than throwing a pity party, have some fun trying to find the best bottle that fits your budget.

CF at Outlier Model presents Why Not to Have Children…Ever.  Having a family is a big commitment – for a number of reasons, it’s not something that I plan on doing.

Miss T at Prairie Eco-Thrifter presents How to Pack a Waste-Free Lunch . There are well-made reusable and washable containers, bags, drink holders, and even straws sold at places like Reuseit.com. With a small upfront investment, you can reduce – or even eliminate – all the waste that comes from eating a “disposable” lunch at work or school.

Matt Allen at Pay Off Credit Card presents Use a Credit Card Protector Sleeve to Avoid Unwanted Debt. A few of the most common uses for a credit card protector sleeve are to protect yourself from payment fraud or identity theft, or just to keep your card nice and clean and neat looking. But, did you know that these sleeves can also be used to avoid spending and possible unwanted new credit card debt?

A Blinkin at Funancials presents The United States Will Absolutely Default. The Debt Ceiling debacle has posed a question to Americans: Will the United States, for the first time ever, default on its debt? The answer is absolutely, yes. The debt has grown too high for us to pay. We will not default in the traditional sense, but we will devalue the dollar so the end result is the same. The United States will absolutely default.

Sustainable PF at Sustainable Personal Finance presents Are Your Really Financially Responsible?  Most of us like to think that we are financially responsible. However, it’s very possible that you aren’t actually as financially responsible as you think.

Kyle at The Penny Hoarder presents 5 Weird Ways to Save Money at Home. With home-related expenses on the rise, it’s not surprising that people are looking for creative ways to trim their expenses. Did you know you can do so in your very own home or neighborhood? With a bit of creativity and extra effort, you can easily trim your household expenses.

Aloysa at My Broken Coin presents Ten Things You Gain When You Stop Being Cheap. Read my list of ten things that you gain when you stop being cheap.

Amanda Grossman at Frugal Confessions presents Savings Accounts for Us Lower and Middling Sorts. Thomas Eddy and other businessmen and economists of his time believed that they had a cure to the alarming poverty rate levels in post-War of 1812 New York.

Corey at Steadfast Finances presents 5 Ways to Manage Marriage and Money. Getting married affects your finances. Learn how to manage both marriage and money.

Jason at Work Save Live presents How to Get Your Family On Board When Paying Off Debt. For some families embarking on their debt payoff journey, your family may be completely on board. However, the majority of you may be dealing with a spouse or kids who are reluctant to change their lifestyle, and honestly, who can blame them?

Maria at the Money Principle presents January – Time to Get Financially Fit. January is a time for re-newal; this includes dealing with your debts and becoming financially fit. Don’t panic, just act!

Hank at the Money Q & A presents The Rainy Day Account You Need to Have. In being prepared for emergencies, the top of the list is to have access to immediate cash to meet your obligations in the short term in a rainy day account.

KT at Personal Finance Journey presents Parting With Your Debt for Good. Smart simple and easy to implement ideas on paying off your debt and keeping your household debt to a minimum.

Eddie at Finance Fox presents Doing Business With Friends – Could it Work. Doing business with friends can sometimes have negative results despite our best intentions. Even with our best hopes, wants and intentions – results can be negative.

SFB at Simple Finance Blog presents 4 Ways to Save for Your Kid to Go to College. When it comes to saving money for your child’s college education, there are many, many ways to save. Here are four popular ways to save for your kids education.

Ray at Squirrelers presents Is AAA Worth it? Saving money is something we look forward to doing, right? This post discusses the merits of spending on a membership to save money on potential car and travel expenses.

Brad at Structured Settlement Quotes presents Information on Using Structured Settlement Money for Needs of Today. The structuring of your settlement was done for a number of reasons, including to help ease the financial burden on the defendant, and it was also based on your needs at the time, but needs change. Can you use structured settlement money for todays needs?

Darwin at Darwin’s Money presents How I Negotiated 10% Off My Purchase When No Sale Was Being Offered. Proof that you can negotiate ANYTHING! See how I negotiated 10% off a major purchase when no sales were being offered.

Jon at Novel Investor presents How to Save More Money Now. Savings is the foundation of a successful financial plan. That is why many of us want to save more money now. The hard part is knowing where to start.

Girl Meets Debt at Girl Meets Debt presents Saving for Retirement Early: I “Get” it Now. It is a given that most people know you are supposed to start saving for retirement early. The ambiguous part is how early?

Mike at Modest Money presents The Fastest Way to Get Started Flipping Houses. I meet many people who want to learn how to get started flipping houses. Many of them seem to want to do their twelfth house flip before they have even done their first one.

John S at Frugal Rules presents Tips for Shopping Smarter. In today’s marketplace there are many ways you can save money while shopping. By doing a little homework online before shopping or using your smartphone you can find some great deals.

Jeff Rose at Good Financial presents 4 Practical Money Skills You MUST Teach Your Children. One of the best things you can teach your children is the skill of  money management. Here’s the most basic practical money skills that everyone should have and how to teach them to your children.

Pauline at Reach Financial Independence presents 13 Money Resolutions for 2013: Stop Buying.  This post is part of a 13 money resolutions for 2013 series. There are lots of things in your life that you can get for free, and lots of other that you don’t need to buy altogether. Here are a few.

Emily ay Evolving Personal Finance presents Frugal Practices I Have Come to Love. I list six practices that save us money that I wasn’t crazy about to begin with, but now wouldn’t give up.

Jacob at My Personal Finance Journey presents Use Low Cost Spay/Neuter Programs to Fix Your New Pets. This post describes the money-saving low cost spay/neuter programs for your pets. The post illustrates how these programs are not only legitimate and money-saving, but also safe and effective for “fixing” your pet.

Mama Squirrel at Dewey’s Treehouse presents Scrapbooking (Expensive Hobbies, Cheap Supplies and a Book Review).  “I came across an e-book recently by a frugal scrapbooker who really ‘gets it,’ as Amy Dacyczyn used to say.”

Adrienne at My Dollar Plan presents How to Save on Prescription Drugs. Do you have a prescription drug that you take regularly? Even with insurance, these regular expenses can add up. Most of us take a prescription at least occasionally. Here are some tips on how to save on this expense.

Mike Collins at The Wealthy Turtle presents 4 Exercise Alternatives to Joining the Gym. Losing weight and getting in shape doesn’t have to cost you and arm and a leg if you follow these simple money saving tips.

Suba at Wealth Informatics presents Cheap Eats: Save Money By Eating Out By Reverse Engineering Restaurant Menu Psychology. How to have fabulous eating out experience and not damage the wallet? Here is a list of psychological & tactical tips to save money eating out and portion control.

Will at Card Guys Blog presents Do You Have a Spending Plan? 3 Budgeting Strategies to Try . One type of strategy doesn’t work for everyone. Here are three different budgeting strategies you can try. Choose which is most likely to work for you.

Penny Thots at Penny Thots presents Soup, Beautiful Soup. Winter days (and nights) are perfect for a hot, steaming bowl of soup. Not only is it good for you — it’s good for your budget!

Everything Finance at Everything Finance Blog presents 3 Inexpensive and Easy Ways to Organize Your Finances This Year. Below are a few helpful tips for getting organized without spending too much money in the process.

Green Panda at Green Panda Treehouse presents How to Achieve Financial Happiness in Your 20′s. How to make the most out of your money.

Lance at Money Life and More presents How We Set Up My Girlfriends Budget.  A lot of people can’t stand them! My girlfriend isn’t a huge fan of budgets either but she recognizes how budgets help you achieve your financial goals. More importantly, my girlfriend’s budget was made specifically to achieve her number one goal.

Harry Campbell at Your Personal Finance Pro presents My New HSA Strategy – Rollovers and Trustee Transfers. Since my company was acquired by an even larger one last year, 2013 will be our first full year under the new administration.  That means a whole lot of changes to our benefits and one of those will be to our HSA provider.  Although the HDHP insurance portion will still be served by Aetna, our HSA provider will be switching from Fidelity to Chase.  Chase is similar in respect to Fidelity but their investing options are more expensive and more limited.  And since I don’t rely on my HSA for medical expenses, low cost/low fee investment options are very important to me.

Photo courtesy of: McGoo84

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