I have quite a few thoughts to catch up on… Here goes:

• Thanks Washington Post – The Washington Post wrote about me a little over a week ago. Debuting in section A can’t be a bad thing, right? In case you are curious, the Washington Post was referring to my article on how to Save Money at Restaurants.
• Lazy Man Interviewed – Studenonmics interviewed me. If you want to know a little more about me, check out the interview.
• How to Get Your Product Mentioned – Each day 5 or 6 people write me to tell me about their great new product. I obviously can’t give everyone the space and mention everything. To be honest, there are a lot of things not worth mentioning. However, one way to at least get my ear is to send me a sample of the product. Then I can at least give it a shot and give my honest opinion. It’s even better when you give me a hand-written note like Josh did.

  With that in mind, I got sent an EZ-Clean Rack. The pitch goes like this. Put your bacteria-riddled sponge or rag in this plastic rack and either microwave it or put it through the dishwasher. It sounds great. I have two basic criticisms… 1) I don’t have a way to measure bacteria, so I don’t know if it’s really helping. 2) I have been putting my sponges in the dishwasher and my rags in the laundry – no EZ-Clean Rack necessary. Maybe it’s more helpful for the microwave solution, but I can imagine putting those little pizza box tables upside-down to suspend the bench or rag. I apologize that I didn’t have a chance to get back to him with these points before I went to press with this mini-review, but if I have these questions others will.

Enough with the small talk, let’s get to this week’s links:

Money Writers:

• Learn how to pay less income tax at Brip Blap.
• Frugal Dad writes a frugal introduction to college sports.
• Generation X Finance presents 12 things every teenager needs to know about money (and how to teach them.)
• Million Dollar Journey posts is it time to switch to a fixed rate mortgage?
• Digerati Life teaches readers about haggling in do you haggle? How to negotiate a price!
• Take control of your life by finding balance says Money Smart Life.
• My Dollar Plan discusses Lending Club referral bonuses.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary writes Social Security Administration has answers to your questions on $250 one-time payment.

More Financial Posts:

• Mighty Bargain Hunter posts three things I learned at a coin store today.
• Free Money Finance blogs this advice for now, save, save, save, and pay off credit cards later.
• Consumer Commentary explains the basics of the fair tax.