Tuesday, September 04, 2007

90th Festival of Frugality

Maybe I boobooed when I agreed to host two blog carnivals on two consecutive days. Apologies to Bean Sprouts regulars who feel all carnival-ed out, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Bean Sprouts is proud (if a little chagrined) to present the 90th Festival of Frugality.

Organisation

If I was more organised, I would have spotted this carnival clash much sooner, so the following submissions seemed very apt:

Lynnae
at BeingFrugal.Net presents One Must be Organized to be Frugal saying "This article discusses how being unorganized can impact your ability to be frugal. It also lists several resources to help someone who wants to get organized." I agree with that - it's much easier to waste money when you're disorganised and one of the best aids to frugality is a big wall calendar kept scrupulously up-to-date.

Stephanie considers how a bit of organisation and forethought can help you make the best frugal decisions in Is It Worth My Time? posted at Stop the Ride!.

Millionaire Mommy Next Door made me laugh, and feel a bit better about my failure of organisation with Help Me David Wann Kenobi; You’re My Only Hope! posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door.

She needs to read Shannon Christman's article 10 Ways to Thrive in Clutter posted at Saving Advice Blog. "You don’t have to be neat to be organized. If you are an incurable clutterbug, test out some of these ten ways to thrive among clutter before you spend any more time or money trying to declutter your life."

After my wall planner, my top organisational tool is my kitchen timer, so I really new what mom & dad were talking about in Shower Timers to Speed up Showering posted at raising4boys.com.

Leorita Seneres-Velasquez presents How NOT to overspend posted at Money Matters and most of her tips seem to come down to "be more organised"

Transport

plonkee presents car sharing clubs posted at plonkee money.

And if you really need to have your own car, Tushar can tell you how to Save Money on Auto Insurance posted at Everything Finance.

Food

GP presents Going Kosher... Naturally posted at Fish Creek House - INNside Innkeeping, saying " Going kosher naturally - and baking from scratch.. .delicious and ultimately frugal"

If you don't want to cook from scratch, FIRE Finance has some Tips To Save On Dining or Eating Out! posted at FIRE Finance.

jeanjeanie presents The Food Problem - Link Roundup posted at Growing Up .... saying "We've been going way over on our food and grocery budget. This is a round up of coupon links, advice and strategies I'm employing to try to reduce spending in this area"

Sounds like she could use some of the tips paidtwice suggests in Ebaying for Coupons posted at I've Paid For This Twice Already....

DeputyHeadmistress discusses creative ways with leftovers in What 's In My hand Fridge posted at The Common Room.

Melissa presents You Better Shop Around: Getting The Best Deals On Groceries posted at A Penny Closer.

But beware - Wenchypoo points out the hazards of stocking up on "cheap" food to save the budget in How’s Your Health Been Lately? posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

And if you're buying a new fridge to put your food in, KRG presents Recycle Your Old Refrigerator To Save More Money posted at FILAM Personal Finance.

Communication

Ms. M&P presents Finding the Best, Cheapest Cell Phone Plan posted at My Money and Politics.

Housing

FMF presents Great, Cheap Way to Learn Building Skills - Volunteer to Build a Habitat for Humanity House posted at Free Money Finance saying " A cheap way to learn building skills and help people at the same time!"

Super Saver considers the pros and cons of Renting versus Owning posted at My Wealth Builder.

Nina presents the case for smaller homes in McMansions and the Carbon Tax posted at Queercents.

Want to brighten up your home with cut flowers? Then be sure to read Frugal Duchess's article Feed Flowers Sprite & Other Frugal Tips for Cut Flowers posted at The Frugal Duchess. "Let them drink Sprite. Believe it or not, Sprite, a citrus-flavored soft drink, is good for cut flowers. The sugar supplies nutrition and carbonated water serves as an anti-bacterial agent. The drink's citric acid provides a low PH environment"

Entertainment

Kyle James presents 10 Frugal Summer Fun Ideas posted at Rather-Be-Shopping.com Blog saying "Have fun with the family without it being a strain on your wallet."

And there are more good ideas on this topic at Save Money on Movies, Music, Television, and Books posted at Lazy Man.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 17 Cheap Ways To Keep Cool And Survive A Heat Wave posted at The Digerati Life.

Shadox presents Money and Such: Free Fun for Little Ones posted at Money and Such saying "Rather than spending $20 or $30 on software for your pre-schoolers, here are some free websites that do the job just as well, if not better."

Work and College

Super Saver presents Renting versus Owning posted at My Wealth Builder.

Dianne M. Buxton presents Work From Home Shopping posted at manifestingsuccess.

Ted Reimers has some ideas about Where to Buy and Sell Textbooks posted at College News.

story also has ideas about buying books in Cheap used books (and what to do with the books I have) posted at My money and my life.

Finance

Ashley asks Why Don't People Want Free Money? posted at College of Cash.

Steve Faber asks - What Does That Warranty Really Cover Anyway? posted at Debt Free.

teaspoon presents Solving Our Savings and Budget Issues - The No-Budget Budget Way posted at www.TeaspoonFinance.com - Financial wisdom, one teaspoon at a time... saying "Proposing a way of looking at handling your savings and budgeting called the no-budget budget."

WorksForUs presents What Works For Us: Easy Ways To Reduce Budget posted at What Works For Us.

Grace presents Ebay for the Cheap & Nervous posted at GRACEful Retirement.

Nenad Ristic presents food for thought in Attribution Theory posted at Money Conciousness.

Clothing

Juggling Frogs presents Frankendress: How to make play dresses from recycled t-shirts using only one seam posted at Juggling Frogs.

Simplify

There are lots of reasons for choosing frugality, one of my reasons is expressed very well by David B. Bohl in Voluntary Simplicity - The Path to Happiness? : Slow Down Fast Today! posted at Slow Down Fast Today!.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Melanie,

Thanks for including my post.

David

FIRE Finance said...

Thanks Bean Sprouts for including our post and hosting the festival. We enjoyed it. Keep up the excellent blogging.
Cheers,
FIRE Finance

Anonymous said...

Thanks for hosting Bean Sprouts!

Ms. M&P said...

thank you for hosting and for including my post! I've been to a lot of sites today that I didn't know about before, so this was great.

Stephanie Appleton said...

You are a hosting queen! Thanks for hosting (again!) ;)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for hosting and for including my post!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for including my post! Great job on the festival!

Anonymous said...

Wow, some great articles. Thanks for including mine.