Reader Scott has given me the honor of being a part of his new interview series – Money Blogger Podcast. It looks very promising. I’ll be perfectly honest – I haven’t yet figured out how to listen to the podcast (iPod is now charging). I’m creeped out when hearing myself anyways, but I would like to listen to his interview of fellow blogger Dawn of FrugalForLife.

While in the interview I babbled truthfully that I don’t have a favorite post, in retrospect I would say I am most often referred to for my zeal in giving detailed instructions on how to extract money from credit card companies. Also, I stated I don’t have a favorite blog. Another truth. I read every single blog on my links list, and like them all. I’m all about personal experiences.

Carnival of Debt Reduction – Canadian Capitalist
Carnival of Personal Finance – Be Capitalism
Carnival of the Capitalists – Patent Baristas
Carnival of Investing – Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
Festival of Frugality – Canadian Capitalist

Don’t got ’nuff money writings to read? Check these Carnivals out:
Carnival of Personal Finance #30
Carnival of Debt Reduction #17
Festival of Frugality #5
Carnival of Investing #4

I don’t always get a chance to talk about all the posts I find especially helpful during the week, so I think I’ll start doing that.

JLP of AllThingsFinancial put in some hard work and posted his guide to 2006 resolutions.

Savvy Saver informed me of AmazonCreditsYou, which helps you automatically take advantage of Amazon’s 30-day Price Drop policy.
[Read more…]

Now that my classes are over for this term, I want to spend some time thinking about how to make some side money while going to school full-time. This got me thinking about jobs that I’ve done before when I was studying for undergraduate. There has been a good variety. Let’s see what we got, from lowest paying to highest:

Drive-Through Cashier, $6/hour – A mom and pop fast-food type restuarant. Took orders for drive-through, made drinks, cashier stuff.

University Security Escort, ~$7/hour – Walked people home at night from the library to their dormitory or off-campus housing. It was nice, you get to work at night and meet a lot of new people. I actually met my wife this way!
[Read more…]

I guess I’ve been leaving newer readers behind with all this talk about taking advantage of credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers. Sorry about that. Check out this old post:

How to make money off of 0% APR balance transfers

To all the people being dragged to all the outlet stores and shopping malls within a 100 mile radius this weekend… Sorry. I’ll be the guy keeping a spot in line while various women pile items in my sore arms.

I have countless things to be thankful for today. One of them is you – the readers. Not only have I learned a lot from y’all, but having readers helps me blog, and blogging has helped push me towards my new career path. And then there’s the bloggers, from whom I’ve also gained knowledge and inspiration. Finally, I am thankful I’m not a turkey. So… Thanks! =)

If you haven’t seen it already – Black Friday Ads 2005.

This week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction #10 is up at Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, and the Carnival of Personal Finance #23 is up at Frugal For Life!

This week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction is up at FrugalForLife. Has anyone out there ever gotten one of those little red rings around a 2-liter bottle? I swear they just pay 1 family to walk around with that huge stuffed animal so we all think the ring toss is legit.

My parents do not know this blog exists. If they did, they’d probably yell at me for sharing all this financial information with the entire world. I mean, some guy in Estonia knows much I spent on groceries last month.

But, when talking to my mom today, somehow the conversation turned to school and money, etc. I ended up telling her that on the side I make almost $100 a month from interest from borrowing free money off credit cards. I expected her to call it risky and me stupid. Instead, she told me that she did almost the exact same thing – to finance my education. She would borrow money at 0% APR to pay off my tuition bills instead of having to pay interest to unsubsidized loans. She has pristine credit history and some huge credit lines! Anyways, I thought that was hilarious.

Welcome to the 8th edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction, which is a weekly smorgasborg of the best debt reduction articles as submitted from bloggers. While I don’t talk about debt reduction very much, I would suggest that they key is first to find out where your money goes now. I dislike budgeting myself, but every month I track my spending and focus on certain target areas like Dining Out. What? You want more? Ok, ok, here:
[Read more…]