Personal Finance Links (Super Sunday Edition)

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Today, I'm focused on three thoughts.

• In a few hours, I'll probably be partaking of more calories in one meal than I should have in a whole day... or two days. Many of you will probably do the same.
• Having spent some 90%+ of my life in Boston, I'm a New England Patriots fan. As a New England Patriots fan, my heart is with New Orleans. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? It's not too hard to root for them. Having been a Red Sox fan for some time, I understand a bit what New Orleans fans are going through. Add to that, what they've been through the last 5+ years and I'm one of the least conflicted fans around.
• However, my head says that the Colts will likely win today. The team is so talented that they really only need to put together 10 minutes of solid playing time to put up 21 to 24 points. Then again I guess New Orleans can do that as well. Still, I'm not one to bet against Manning. My prediction is that the Colts win 38-31.

Here are the some personal finance links for this weekend:

Money Writers:

• The Sun’s Financial Diary is also having a giveaway. You could win a compound interest calculator iPhone app.
• Brip Blap talks about our debt to the future and past.
• Digerati Life says be vigilant of car recalls: lessons for car owners.
• Ben of Money Smart Life has three Turbo Tax codes to giveaway to lucky readers. More details: Free Turbo Tax Software!.
• Frugal Dad blogs about a reader’s credit troubles in we owe $80,000 on credit cards – where to start?
• Generation X Finance posts how to avoid and prepare for a tax audit by the IRS.
• Million Dollar Journey says beware of the upsell!
• My Dollar Plan says you can throw a 50th wedding anniversary on a budget.

Top PF Posts:

• Free Money Finance shares the following guest post: why I report my daughter's babysitting income to the IRS.
• Is the Economy Improving? Views from Everyday Folks
• Smart Money Daily gives 9 Reasons Dave Ramsey Hates HELOCs.
• Get Rich Slowly share this reader tip: Pay your bills as they arrive.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter warns used clothes washers aren’t great deals for everyone.
• Saving Advice explains the difference between living below and within your means.
• Frugal For Life blogs the lay off notice, shock and recover.
• Suburban Dollar shares 3 websites that save me money.
• Wise Bread offers 10 budget-friendly ways to get it right this Valentine's Day and beyond.
• The Smarter Wallet looks into peer to peer lending sites: Lending Club vs Prosper vs Kiva.

This post deals with:

colts, saints, super bowl

... and focuses on:

Links

Posted by Lazy Man on February 7, 2010 in Links

Save Money on Valentine’s Day (Win $25)

12 Comments

[Last year I posted these tips to save money. I'm disappointed in myself for not being able to come up with more original ideas. I'm going to pay that penalty with my wallet. The person with the idea that I like the best will earn $25 via Paypal, Amazon, or Ebay gift [...]

This post deals with:

frugal ideas, romantic time, saving money, valentine's day

... and focuses on:

Spending

Posted by Lazy Man on February 5, 2010 in Spending

Public Storage: Problem Ignored

7 Comments

I love it when a blog post writes itself. I’m that Lazy. For instance, watch this commercial for Public Storage:

I saw this yesterday. Fortunately, through the magic of DVR, I was set it up for my wife to watch. I asked her if she could guess why I wanted her [...]

This post deals with:

public storage

... and focuses on:

Dumb Purchases

Posted by Lazy Man on February 2, 2010 in Dumb Purchases

Hired a Cleaning Service (and Personal Finance Links)

14 Comments

About 6 weeks ago, my wife and I decided to finally bite the bullet and hired a cleaning service. I’m a frugal person, so I put this off for a long time thinking that things were “good enough.” For the most part they were. However, when I started to go back to [...]

This post deals with: ... and focuses on:

Links

Posted by Lazy Man on January 31, 2010 in Links

Ask the Readers: What’s Your Take on Paid Book Reviews?

19 Comments

I got a request a couple of weeks ago from a company to see if I wanted to review a business book. I get a lot of these as my email address seems to have gotten out on some public relations circles. Usually, the pitch goes something like:

PR Person: Would you like a [...]

This post deals with: ... and focuses on:

Ask the Readers

Posted by Lazy Man on January 28, 2010 in Ask the Readers

HaitiHealth.org (and personal finance links)

Comment First

I’m trying to spread the word of HaitiHealth.org. It’s an organization that people close to me have been supporting with their time for more than a dozen years. If you are able to donate some money, it’s a worthwhile cause.
[Update: A reader passes on that they have the highest rating (4 [...]

This post deals with: ... and focuses on:

Links

Posted by Lazy Man on January 26, 2010 in Links

Saving for College – An Exercise in Depression

14 Comments

My friend from Rich Credit Debt Loan asked me a simple, but thought-provoking question last week. I’m probably going to tease you with the actual question for a little while. We decided the best answer for the question was to create a calculator and I haven’t had the time to do such a [...]

This post deals with:

tuition

... and focuses on:

College, Financial Planning

Posted by Lazy Man on January 22, 2010 in College, Financial Planning

8 Things I Think I Think (and Personal Finance Links)

6 Comments

As I do every now and again, I steal ideas pay homage to Football Writer Peter King and the 10 Things I Think I Think part of his column. Most of the time the thoughts are on football, but there’s always a section where he talks about any non-football thoughts.
I thought I’d [...]

This post deals with: ... and focuses on:

Links

Posted by Lazy Man on January 20, 2010 in Links

Seven Things You Must Do to Prepare for An Emergency

39 Comments

Given the situation in Haiti over the last week, I thought it was appropriate to revisit this post that I originally wrote on January 8th of 2008. We took a little time this weekend to look at our emergency plans and realized that we didn’t update them for when we got a dog. [...]

This post deals with:

emergency preparedness

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Smart Purchases

Posted by Lazy Man on January 19, 2010 in Smart Purchases

Who Else Wants To Join Dream Routine?

1 Comment

[Editor's Note: Today's guest post is from Andrew Kuo, the founder of Dream Routine. He's put together a financial program that aims to motivate you to get into good financial condition. In that sense, it's not too far from this week's earlier post, Get Paid for Getting in Shape. I haven't had [...]

This post deals with:

Dream Routine

... and focuses on:

Financial Planning

Posted by guest on January 15, 2010 in Financial Planning