High of 85 today and tomorrow.  I’ve finally admitted it’s not going to be cool again any time soon and broke out the shorts.  :(  I know in other parts of the country it’s a happy day when you wear shorts for the first time.  But not here… if it’s 85 in February what is it going to be in July?

But I’m not going to let that ruin the truly gorgeous day we have in front of us today.  My husband and I are going on our monthly date tonight (just under the wire) so I’m looking forward to that.

Ok, I have to share this with you… I was sitting here typing away on this post and my husband comes in and says..

“I want a watch I can wear to work.  I don’t want to wear this one (pointing to his nice watch).  I want something cheap, but not too cheap.  The other one I have is too cheap for work….. You know, that one I found in the bushes.”

LOL… How weird that the watch you found in the bushes is too junky to wear to work.

Well… here’s your round up.

The Carnival of Personal Finance included my post How to help your schools without spending and extra dime.

Remodeling this Life gave a list of things she can do in 10 minutes.  It reminds me of a quote… “Some people spend years putting off a 10 minute job.”  True huh?

Master Your Card talks about a customer-centric culture.

One Frugal Girl asks if overweight citizens be financially rewarded for exercise?

Money Ning shared some strange ways that companies sometimes do layoffs.

The Digerati Life gives some cheap meals and easy dinners.

No Debt Plan talks about peer to peer lending in a down economy.

My Super Charged Life discusses living up to your full potential.

M is for Money lays out Adjusted Gross Income.

My Wife Quit Her Job gives mental tips for lazy people on starting a business.

Financial Nut suggests moving your Excel spreadsheet budget to Google Docs so you can access it from anywhere.

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Happy Saturday!!

I think I will be painting my new office today.  I can’t wait.  I have some sky blue paint left over from my daughter’s bedroom that will go perfect in there.  Then when it drys I can start moving in all our officey type stuff like envelopes, printer paper, the scanner, ect.  This will seriously clear out some room in the hall closet which is desperately needed.  For a 2400 square foot house we have no storage to speak of.  So I’m pretty excited to get things better organized. I’ll try to take some pics so you can see a before and after.

Oh!  And a quick update on my Goodwill vs. Ebay debate.   I ended up selling a text book and one movie on Amazon.  They both sold within hours and I was able to ship them the next day, which is something I love about Amazon, no waiting for the auction to end or for payments.  Anyways, I made $60 which is enough to buy the TV stand I had picked out.  So wohoo!

And the round up…

The Simple Dollar laid out the recipe for breakfast burritos as well as step by step instructions (with pictures!) on how to freeze them for quick, easy, cheap, and healthy breakfasts for the whole month.

Almost Frugal listed some free online activities for kids.  All educational of course.

Financial Nut had a hilarious post of an email exchange between a customer and a debt collector.  I was in tears with laughter.

Four Pillars discussed Conotels.  I had never heard of such a thing.

My Super-Charged Life gives step by step instructions on how to be a control freak.

The Ultimate Money Blog listed some unique uses for Baking Soda.  Pair this with my 100 uses for Vinegar and you’ve really got some money saving tips there.

Get Rich Slowly tells us how to build confidence and destroy fear.

Frugal Dad asks who handles the bills?

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Happy Valentine’s day!  My husband got me roses and wrote a very nice letter.  We have a nice chunk of salmon to grill for dinner and then we are just going to hang out together after the kids go to bed.  I’m looking forward to it.  I like Valentine’s day.

I didn’t do a round up last week so some of these posts are from last week that I liked.  So here you go…

Master Your Card gave 10 steps to reduce your energy costs in an apartment.

The Simple Dollar did some research on the different kinds of light bulbs.  Trust me, it’s more interesting than it sounds. I didn’t even know they had LED light bulbs.  Did you?

Sense to Save listed 15 ideas to save money at restaurants.

The Wisdom Journal gives 15 ways to tell if someone is lying.  Oh I love this kind of stuff.

One Frugal Girl gives some sandwhich recipes.  You can brown bag it and still have something to look forward to.  It is possible.

Bargaineering talked about your financial fortress.

Yielding Wealth asked if your attitude about money is affecting your future.  How could it not be?

Remodeling this Life gave some secrets about a simple lifestyle.

Brip Blap admits he wasn’t couragous when he decided to become an entrepreneur.

Moolanomy explains reverse mortgages.

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Really quick…

This week, I participated in The Festival of Frugality with my post, Finding Frugality.  Make sure you check that out.

The Simple Dollar has a bunch of crock pot recipes, each with only 5 ingredients.  Less ingredients often mean less cost.  Gotta love that!

My Two Dollars wrote about a restaurant where the servers offered to work for only tips.  I mention it because it’s much like my post, Pay cuts vs. Layoffs.

Digerati Life gave a list of things to teach your kids about money.  You know I love these kinds of posts.  If you don’t teach your kids, no one will.

The Happy Rock gave an example of why you should teach your kids about money.

The Wisdom Journal listed 6 ways to motivate yourself.

Budgets are Sexy complied a list of crazy jobs.  Check it out.

Lazy Man and Money dispelled some common college personal finance myths.

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Happy Saturday.  My husband and I are going on a date today.  Yay!  We are going to dinner and a movie, for $3.  awww yeah.  We’ve had a gift card to the movies hanging around since August 2007.  (Shows how often we go out.)  It has enough left on it to pay for most of our movie.  Then last month our favorite restaurant had a thing where if you bought a $25 gift card you got a free lunch.  So we each did that.  Granted, our lunches wouldn’t have cost us $50 but still, it was a good deal.  So we have that gift card too.  We can debate the actual cost of today’s date, but it’s going to be about $3 out of pocket.

And on to the link love…

Bruce from L&R Tax Prep and author of The Tax Guy participated in an article over at BankRate.  Congrats to him!  You can hire this now famous tax preparer to do your taxes by clicking that blue button over in my side bar.

Blunt Money takes the two year test.   For me, this is one of those posts that stuck in my head for days.  I’ve been thinking about it since I read it.

Clever Dude listed some ways he is not frugal.  I just really like this article.  He’s not frugal in a lot of the same ways I’m not frugal.

Frugal Dad talks about focusing too much on the outgo when it comes to frugal living.

Five Cent Nickel asks if you should pay your kids for good grades. Always a hot topic and the 43 comments prove it.

Saver in the City takes a look at some alternative income streams as she saves up for a trip to Africa.

Ultimate Money Blog cooks up some Spaghetti with Pancetta, Green Beans, and Basil.  This dish needs a shorter name.  Off the top of my head, how about 3B Spaghetti?  (The 3Bs are Bacon, Beans, and Basil)  I don’t know…  I’ve also included this dish on my Frugal Recipe Page.

The Simple Dollar talks about why an annual rate of return isn’t the whole picture.

Moolanomy gives steps to a do it yourself debt consolidation.

Money Ning has 50 ways to save money on vacation.

pic by: Williac

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So I’m leaving for Disneyland tomorrow! Wohoo.  I’m not bringing my laptop and I won’t be back til Thursday night so I won’t see you guys til then.  But don’t worry I have lots of stuff lined up for you.  On Monday I will be asking for advice on a little moral dilemma I’ve been mulling over.  And I also have a guest post lined up, so make sure you check that out.

This week I participated in the Carnival of Debt Reduction hosted at American Consumer News with my post Debt Reduction for 2008.

Money Smart Life wrote a post that highlighted some of the best money posts of the year.  My post 10 tips to get your house sold was listed.  Yay!

Money Grubbing Lawyer has a guest post from an ex-con.  What do you think prison taught this guy about finance?  A lot.  Go check it out for yourself.  It’s not everyday you get read an article from someone who was in the clink.

Frugal Dad talked about a guy who was killed by his own clutter.  Ew.

Prime Time money asked “What was your most unfrugal moment in 2008“  Mine was the elliptical machine.

The Digerati Life talked about Secrets of the Super Rich.

Master Your Card gave 10 common mistakes when making resolutions.

Fabulously Broke in the City has some great frugal laundry tips. A must read, unless you don’t do laundry.

My Super Charged Life listed the eight best foods to eat every day.  A must read, unless you don’t eat.

Pecuniarities suggested to build a home gym to save money.

The Wisdom Journal gave 21 ways to save some cash by letting your fingers to the walking.

My Wife Quit Her Job asked “Should you trust your customers?“  The answer:  Usually.

Single Guy and Money taught us how to live like a millionaire in 2009.  It reminds me of my post Millionaires drive minivans.

Northern Cheapskate talked about getting over the holiday hangover.  It’s so hard to get back on track after the holidays.  Once you’ve trained your eye for those great deals it’s hard to turn it off.

Finance for a Freelance Life tells us how to start and manage a debt snowball.

Think Your Way to Wealth teaches how to make a budget and why it’s important.

Tight Fisted Miser listed 5 things you should always get for free.

Blunt Money talked about budgeting by percentages and inspired my budget percentages post.

Remodeling This Life wrote about finding herself.

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A few days ago, I was walking in our neighborhood with my 7 year old daughter.  Sitting out by the sidewalk was a metal filing cabinet with a sign that said “Free” being held up by a rock.  My daughter said “Oh, look!  They are giving that rock away for free!”  I said “No….”  She replied “Oh, the house is free.”   LOL.  Luckily the housing market isn’t quite that bad!

Oh also… I’m going to be out of town coming up here soon.  If you would like to write a guest post for me shoot me an email.  Diaperbagdiva[at]gmail.com.  Thanks!

I found a lot of great articles this week.  I found this one just cruising around…  How to control the minds of customer service reps.  Do this!!  Read it, reread it, and then read it again.  Have it ingrained into your head.

Saver in the City wrote about money lessons she learned from her mom and dad.  I wrote a similar post back in April money lessons I learned from my parents.  Check them both out.

M is for Money talks about living in 750 square feet.  This is the size of my master bedroom, bath, and closet.  But I have lived in this size space before.  With a kid!

Spilling Buckets gave directions on how to make a homemade sun jar.  This looks so cute!  I really want to do it.

One Frugal Girl gave a definition of what it means to live beyond your means. I can safely say I’m not living beyond my means.  Even my the official definition.

Frugal Dad lays out a plan to give yourself a bailout.  You can do it!

Master Your Card tells us 10 things you will face on the road to being debt free. It’s good to know what to expect so that you don’t feel like your failing when you hit bumps in the road.  Everyone seems to hit the same roadblocks.  Be prepared for them!

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Hello everyone!  I hope you had a great Christmas.  We did.  My big presents from my husband were a string of pearls, a heart necklace with diamonds, and a GPS for the van.  All of which I love.  I got my husband a big tool set of Craftsman tools and a drill.  My daughter got a digital camera.  I was worried about that since it wasn’t something she asked for, but she seemed to love it.  And my son’s favorite toy so far wasn’t even from us.  My brother in law got him a scooter and he’s been riding it everywhere he goes.  I don’t think he will ever walk again.

But I’m taking a break from cleaning up the Christmas tornado to highlight a few of my favorite posts this week….

Saver in the City gives some tips on writing thank you notes.

Budgets are Sexy wrote about a little girl who wants letters for Christmas.  I know this is a bit late, but I highly doubt she will stop wanting letters just cause Christmas is over.  And it’s his birthday today so make sure you stop by and give some birthday wishes.

Master Your Card asked if money and ethics mix.  She talked about paying for or selling college papers.  She even mentioned she saw someone looking to buy a term paper on ethics.  LMAO!  I love irony.

Brip Blap asks “Who watches the watchmen?“  Good Question.

Yielding Wealth talked about an interesting trend in the drop of State Lottery sales.  Weird.  I would think in hard times ticket sales would go up.

Ok, guys… now back to cleaning!!

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I’m thrilled to announce that my post 10 Holiday Budget Busters got an editor’s pick at the Carnival of Personal Finance over at The Frugal Duchess.  Very nice!  Make sure you go check it out.  I am also excited to tell you that the same post was mentioned over at MSN Money in a great post about reducing the commercialism at Christmas.

Tomorrow I am interviewing and being interviewed by Kevin over at No Debt Plan.  Make sure you stop by for that!

Master Your Card has 42 ways he’s going to make 2009 awesome!

Saver in the City posted a fudge recipe.  Mmmm… Momma does love her some fudge.

Pecuniarities wrote about her favorite Christmas memories.

Budgets are Sexy breaks down exactly how they are going to send his wife to school full time.

Brip Blap listed some inexpensive ways to keep warm this winter.

Ultimate Money Blog let us in on all her homemade Christmas gifts.  I hope she posts the recipe for the homemade candy cane sugar scrub… cause that sounds amazing.

Pic by: Williac

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Apologizes to everyone who tried to stop by yesterday.  As you know my site was down.  Then top it off my daughter was sent home from school with pink eye.  UG.  It was just one of those days.

I’m almost done Christmas shopping.  If you look back at my recent posts you can see it’s been on my mind quite a bit.  It’s pretty much all I’ve written about.

Master Your Card wrote a great 12 days of Christmas song about credit cards.

Pecuniarities gave instructions on how to wrap a present in an egg shell.  Yeah, an egg shell!  I can barely wrap present in paper… but maybe you are more crafty than me.

Budgets are Sexy outlined his Christmas budget.

Brip Blap talked about changing your words, to change your thinking, to change your life.

My Wife Quit Her Job told some stories about bad customer service.

Remodeling this Life gave 10 ways to look and feel good on a dime.

Saver in the City changed her whole attitude by volunteering.

Yielding Wealth listed 5 tips for dealing with anxiety brought on by the economy.

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