Finances & Money

Festival of Frugality #73 Recap

It feels like just days ago (and it was) that I posted the recap for the 72nd Festival of Frugality, and now we’re already onto the 73rd! Ok, so I was late on the last one, but this time, I have a post included in the festival!

Money Smart Life included my post about How to Plan a Free Wedding. I have “Realist”, who is a frequent Clever Dude commentor, to thank for the article though.

Although there were MANY excellent submissions in this week’s Festival, I realized I just need to trim down my highlights, or else I might as well be reposting the whole Festival! I’ll limit it to my 5 favorite, but I highly recommend for you to check out all the articles:

1. Phil for Humanity rants that the lottery is the “Stupid Man’s Tax”. I know he was talking about the majority of lottery purchasers who happen to be low income earners, but I know my odds, and I just don’t care. I have my own reasons for buying lottery tickets, just like you have for buying baseball cards, figurines, or anime. I don’t collect the tickets, but I don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on clutter in hopes it will be worth something someday!
2. PF Odyssey writes about how he/she (dang I hate sites who don’t have an About page) and their frugality need couples counseling. I myself find that I lose interest in staying frugal when I get a big raise, or just want to go on a spending spree. However, sometimes you need to splurge, but you should always Research, Wait and Repeat
3. Golbguru posts a way to rethink your spending. I posted “How many hours do I need to work for that” back in January, but Golbguru elaborates much more, with an added chart to compare different income levels. Definitely a good article to check out!
4. John at Queercents gives a good explanation of car sharing options. I’ve looked into Zipcar, which houses some cars at nearby metro stations, but since we have free street parking and 2 of our cars are almost paid off, it doesn’t fit into our budget. However, it’s a great option for many city dwellers.
5. And finally, FMF informs us how to save money on home improvements and auto repairs by using cheap student labor